Winery SolderaRosso Toscano di Brunello

I started to write my thoughts on the vintage as the dust settled from the annual primeur’s week (or month in my case) and when my teeth and lips had finally lost their purple hue – an unsightly image I documented once on Instagram. This year more than 7,000 eager wine tasters were welcomed onto the red carpets of various historic châteaux buildings, past manicured gardens and into beautifully decorated tasting rooms to taste the new batch of baby wines before tucking into lavish spreads, often ...

The French photographer captured his subject resting against the side of the vat after completing the arduous task. ‘This beautifully lit and framed image encapsulates the dedication, the sheer physical hard work involved in making wine – no glamour here,’ said Caroline Kenyon, the founder of the awards ceremony. ‘There’s so much character in the subject’s face – weary but triumphant, she knows it’s a tough job well done.’ Gaudillère had already won the ‘People’ sub-category of the Errazuriz Win ...

The latest survey from trade body WineGB shows that sales of English and Welsh wines have now increased by 69% between 2019 and 2021. The star performer is the direct-to-consumer sector, which is up by 265% over two years. It now represents 57% of all sales, up from just 36% in 2019. That means English and Welsh wine producers are increasingly cutting out the middlemen – supermarkets, specialist merchants, bars and restaurants – and selling directly to their devotees, either via their ecommerce ...