The United Kingdom has one of the highest tax regimes on alcohol in the world. It was feared that a new regime to be applied next February would have made matters even worse, while introducing unworkable impracticality into the UK trade. Those threats have been lifted. For the moment.

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In 2021, thirsty US wine drinkers popped 69% more Champagne corks than the previous year. Some of that dramatic increase can be attributed to the impact of Covid on 2020, but sales are still growing and, as Sarah Philips McCartan reveals, France’s iconic fizz is not the only beneficiary of this trend.

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Sales of Italian wines in Germany, the US and the UK fell significantly in the first half of 2022 compared to the same period last year. According to NielsenIQ's surveys, volume in off-trade (food retail, discount, cash & carry, liquor shops) in the three countries fell by 10.6 % overall, with value down 8.1 % to €2.26bn.

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The UK has its first wine PDO, with boundaries that reflect a county, rather than an area with specific vinous characteristics. Robert Joseph wonders how much this matters.

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Three decades ago, thousands of wine professionals made their way to London to attend the annual wine trade fair. Today, that event is a far more modest affair, as Robert Joseph reports.

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Even as recently as 25 years ago, the suggestion that Sauvignon Blanc would become the most popular grape variety – of either colour – in Britain, the most competitive wine market in the world, would have been dismissed as fanciful. Robert Joseph looks back at this unlikely success story.

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Despite Brexit and the growth in the number and importance of other wine trade fairs, the one held in the UK capital since 1981 remains a favourite with the industry. Robert Joseph asked its organiser, Hannah Tovey to outline what the 2022 show, which opens on June 7th, has to offer – both to those who visit in person and online.

Reading time: 6m 35s

British wine professionals have just over the weeks to dissuade their government from introducing new duty rates that will complicate the market and raise prices for consumers. Robert Joseph reports. 

According to a recent report in the Financial Times, three quarters of Britain’s smaller importers are not prepared for new post-Brexit EU border regulations that come into force on January 1, 2022. These will, according to 2019 estimates by the UK government involve nearly 200m extra customs declarations.