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Berry Bros & Rudd is globally renowned for being Britain's oldest wine and spirit merchants, trading from the same premises since 1698. Yet it also prides itself on being at the forefront of technical innovation.

Austria is ticking a lot of boxes for wine drinkers, finds Sonya Hook

Wine in cans is starting to take off in the UK as consumers buy into more portable formats, by Sonya Hook

Dawn Davies MW of The Whisky Exchange and Jen Baernreuther of Speciality Drinks predict the leading trends of 2020:

Borough Wines owner Muriel Chatel was busy wholesaling French wine to the on-trade when Britain was plunged into an economic crisis in 2008. She had been running a stall in London’s Borough Market for six years by that point, but the wholesale arm of the business provided a crucial revenue stream. Suddenly lots of restaurants stopped paying their bills and she needed to change tack, so Chatel decided to embark on an expansion drive. 

DRN caught up with Mike Robinson, founder and managing director of tonic brand Jeffrey’s, to find out more about the opportunities in the tonic category.

The Brits and the Americans can’t even agree on the differences between the words chips, French fries and potato crisps, so it’s not surprising that food and drink producers tend to proceed with extra caution when introducing a consumer trend from one nation to the other.

Drinks retailers that have noticed sliding sales of beers, wines and spirits might be inclined to lament the chasteness of those pesky millennial and generation Z consumers. “Why aren’t they binge-drinking like their forebears?” they may ask. “And what, pray tell, is a protein ball?”

Retailers are gearing up for the crucial Christmas trading period after enduring a tough year blighted by poor weather, Brexit fears and plummeting consumer confidence. Like-for-like sales are down across most BWS categories in 2019 and Christmas represents the last bastion of hope for retailers aiming to record a strong profit.

We’re on the path to Christmas now so it’s a good time for retailers to revisit their whisky ranges. There has been a lot of noise about Irish whiskey and also some global options, including bourbon from the US. But will the popularity of these overshadow Scotch this festive season?

Last summer Fells pulled off a significant coup by taking on distribution for the Hill Smith family’s Negociants portfolio. Until that point, the likes of Yalumba, Oxford Landing and Vasse Felix had been distributed by Negociants UK, which the Hill Smith family decided to close. Fells hired eight members of the Negociants UK team and sold a 10% stake in its business to the Hill Smith family to cement the relationship. 

Chianti needs a bit of a revamp in the UK and the market is crying out for a strong brand, one which offers a range of Tuscan wines at different price points.

Tonic and mixer producers have done a stellar job of keeping up with the evolution of the premium spirits market and, in particular, gin. The category now has a number of premium players and

It’s now easy to find soft drinks that command higher prices and boast more natural ingredients than many alcoholic beverages, and it seems consumers are crying out for even more choice.

As glass bottles gradually fall out of favour with brewers, one specialist drinks retailer in north London has taken this format shift to heart. House of Cans, a tiny beer bar and off-licence, is pushing a can-only concept that it hopes will set it apart from more traditional craft beer bottle shops.

The word “botanical” neatly conjures up images of plant and herb extracts, all expertly blended to create a product with natural and authentic flavours. It’s a popular word nowadays, having shot to stardom after being adopted by various beverage categories including tea, soft drinks, juices and, of course, gin.

Michael Saunders was sitting at home, twiddling his thumbs and annoying his wife when Conviviality collapsed in spectacular fashion last year. He could only watch on from afar as his beloved Bibendum was pushed to the brink of extinction by a series of calamities at the parent group. Saunders was pleased to see C&C swoop in and save Bibendum PLB and Matthew Clark from the wreckage, preserving hundreds of jobs, but he was still acclimatising to life outside of the firm he joined in 1982.

The Buyers Guide to Cider 2019 focuses on the opportunities and challenges facing the cider category, with details of exciting NPD and it also discusses the role that the apple, pear, fruit, craft and heritage cider categories can play in the off-trade. There is news, analysis, features and partner profile pieces, along with insight from leading cider writers and commentators.

The rush to produce Instagram- friendly pink, colour-changing and fruit gins has been well- documented, but amid all the excitement, a kick-back against outlandish innovation has been slowly gathering pace among those who see proper gin as the route to long-term sustainability for the category.

Producers of high-strength beer and cider need to step up to the mark and show their commitment to behaving resposibly, says Portman Group chief executive John Timothy:

Dariusz Plazewski and Ewelina Chruszczyk emigrated from Poland to London in 2003 and now, just a few years later, their much-talked-about Bimber Distillery is poised to launch one of London’s first single malt whiskies.

Mike James is moving on after 10 years of heading up Aldi’s wine buying team. As he prepares to take on a new role at the retailer’s global wine team in Salzburg, Austria, he talks about the highlights of his career in the UK trade.

Thatchers Rosé had a soft launch at the end of last year and it’s getting a much bigger push this summer, supported by a hefty cash injection.

If you take a leisurely drive through the English countryside – imagine, perhaps, a journey through some of the sleepy villages of Kent or Sussex – you would be hard pushed not to spot some vines growing somewhere in the distance.

Back in 1995 Brothers Cider started selling its pear offering at the Glastonbury Festival, and the popularity of its seasonal and flavoured variants quickly gave the company a green light to extend into retail.

It is a good time for retailers to focus on Scotch whisky.

Irish whiskey is a much talked about category at the moment and it’s easy to see why. In 2013 there were just four operational distilleries in Ireland but this has risen to 23, with the industry now supporting more than 350 jobs.

The clocks have gone forward, the sun is battling its way through the clouds and the season of barbecues, festivals and picnics is almost upon us. Drinks retailers are urged to stock up on RTDs to boost sales and margins ahead of this crucial trading period.