Wine features

How an American Made an Italian Region Famous

It was only towards the turn of the last century that Brunello became a commercial success, an achievement undersigned by an Italian American family, a Piedmontese oenologist, and a jaw-dropping investment.

The Drop/Pix Wine - July 2021

Will Loïc Pasquet of Liber Pater turn Georgia into a fine-wine frontier?

The regarded Liber Pater winemaker is turning his eye from Bordeaux to Georgia. Jacopo Mazzeo wonders if the cradle of wine’s reputation is about to become less about its ancient roots and more about its prosperous future?

Club Oenologique - June 2021

Burgundy Embraces New Varieties to Combat Climate Change

Wine Enthusiast - April 2021

After Tragedy, Italy’s Taurasi Wines Rise Again

Discovering the best subzones for this earthy, elegant red from Campania

The Drop/Pix Wine - June 2021

Winemakers in this Italian Region Eschew Oak for Cherry Wood

Wine Enthusiast - June 2021

English Pinot Noir comes of age

Pinot Noir has long had a place in UK winemaking, as part of the classic Champagne varieties and, to a lesser extent, still variants often from select vineyards or small parcels. Now, with an increasingly changing climate helping to ripen and tease out those darker fruits, it could be poised to strike out on its own.

Harpers - February 2021

White grapes in red winemaking

Will the fashion for lighter, brighter reds bring back the much misunderstood practice of adding white grapes to red wines?

Imbibe Magazine - Spring 2020

At High-Tech Wineries, Robots Prune Vines and Precision Sensors Analyze Disease

Wine Enthusiast - June 2021

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Beer & Spirits features

A new way forward

Distillers in New Zealand have agreed to a new set of production and labelling standards to define the country’s whiskies.

Whisky Magazine - June 2021

The Great Terroir Debate

How Can We Describe Beer’s Sense of Place?

Good Beer Hunting - May 2021

The Master Cooper

Ger Buckley is one of Ireland’s only master coopers and has seen the whiskey industry go from zero to hero.

Whisky Magazine - June 2021

Behind the Caipirinha

Exploring the vast potential of Cachaça, rum's underappreciated Brazilian cousin.

Rum Magazine - June 2021

Cambridge Distillery: Playing with your food

For Cambridge Distillery, seasonal produce and culinary experimentation are key pillars in its gin distillation.

Gin Magazine - May 2021

White smoke

It’s not just dark spirits that can pair with cigars
– we found mezcal makes a mean match too.

Imbibe magazine - Spring 2020

Moves like Jaega: Meet the brewer changing the face of craft beer

In just six years, Wild Card Brewery’s Jaega Wise has become one of the craft beer scene’s most influential – and visible – operators. She talks sours, sexism and start-ups with Jacopo Mazzeo, and tells him why she owes everything to a pint of Castle Rock.

Imbibe - Summer 2019

Brewing with rye

Jacopo Mazzeo looks at the resurgence of the traditional multi-purpose grain that adds spice and depth to many popular craft beers

Ferment - July 2021

A glass for all whisky

Looking back on the birth of an icon - the Glencairn glass.

Whisky Magazine - March 2021 (original pdf copy available upon request)

Bohemian rhapsody

Decades of turmoil once threw the Czech brewing industry into disarray. But now a new breed of brewers are working hard to bring it back to its former glory. Jacopo Mazzeo travelled to Bohemia to meet the makers who are behind this exciting revolution.

Imbibe - Winter 2019

In search of the perfect finish

Do beer-finished whiskies really add anything?

Ferment - June 2021

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Trade news, features, and reports

Very Important Wines

For a good century, American personalities have been charmed by business ventures of all kinds, ranging from tobacco to perfumes and
wine and spirits. With the recent history of such investments in mind,
let us take a tour of the world and its most popular wine regions.

Wine World Magazine - July 2021

Foncalieu: A new era of varietally labelled wine

While French shoppers have traditionally been influenced by a wine’s geographical origin, varietal labelling is growing in popularity. Les Vignobles Foncalieu, a Languedoc-based co-op winery, is capitalising on this shift in interest with a growing range of varietal expressions.

Canvas8 case study - Jun e 2021

Ageism in hospitality

Staff shortages in the hospitality industry have reached alarming levels, but will employers relax their natural tendency to favour younger workers and take on older people instead?

Harpers - July 2021

EU appellations to be granted rights for dealcoholised wine production

A new dawn for the no- and low-alcohol wine category.

Harpers - April 2021

Report - Why buying wine online is here to stay

Covid-19 has been wine’s wake-up call to ecommerce. Once a prerogative of younger drinkers, the pandemic has opened online wine buying to all consumers and siphoned it into the mainstream. How can brands keep up with the trend and the changing behaviours associated with it?

Canvas8 - March 2021 (pdf copy available upon request)

Hospitality under major pressure

Jacopo Mazzeo takes the temperature of the UK on-trade as staff shortages and restrictions continue to eat into venues’ ability to turn a profit.

Harper's Magazine - June 2021

Brighter days ahead for Italy

Despite a challenging year for all involved across the trade, Italian wine is showing promising growth potential.

Harper's Italy issue - June 2021

Why is wine thriving among wellness fans?

No- and low-alcohol wine report.

Canvas8 (paywall) - May 2021

Wave of Portonic RTDs to fortify Douro sales

The Instituto dos Vinhos do Douro e Porto (IVDP) has given Port producers the green light for the commercialisation of Port & Tonic RTDs, dubbed as 'Portonic' by the trade.

Harper's - May 2021

Creating virtual wine trips

After travel to wine regions became impossible, people began experimenting with virtual travel. Jacopo Mazzeo looks at how to make them work.

Meininger Wine Business International - December 2020

Green light

In the wake of global warming and increased awareness, sustainability has become big business for brewers. But are measures going far enough?

Imbibe Magazine - Spring 2020

That shrinking feeling

Circumstances forced venues everywhere to slim down their wine lists, but many are enjoying the newfound simplicity. Jacopo Mazzeo asks if we are emerging from lockdown with leaner and fitter selections?

Imbibe - Autumn 2020

Brewing a greener future

The coronavirus pandemic has turned the entire world upside down. The global hospitality and travel industries are on their knees while sectors like e-commerce are booming. And yet, while much has changed, the wellbeing of our dear earth is just as paramount today as it was pre-COVID. Indeed, the modern consumer’s concern for the earth’s wellbeing is increasingly informing their purchasing behaviour.

First Key Consulting - January 2021

The grape experiment

From Coravin to vacuum pumps, the world of wine preservation is not short of innovations. But do they work? Jacopo Mazzeo reveals the results of his year-long experiment.

Imbibe magazine

Matteo Montone MS: Becoming a Master Sommelier in the midst of a global pandemic

As the UK enters its third national lockdown, we caught up with Montone to talk about his strategy to achieve the MS title, balancing studies and parenting and the importance of the sommelier profession in the post-pandemic world.

Sommelier Business - November 2020

Wholesale re-evaluation

The shutdown has forced suppliers to make radical changes to their business models and reassess their relationships with venues.

Imbibe - Summer 2020

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