Jilly Goolden says to ‘put a cork in it’!
Well known wine critic, Jilly Goolden unveiled the world’s largest natural cork sculpture at Speaker’s Corner in London’s Hyde Park on September 2, to tell the story of cork from bark to bottle.
• Read the report
Birthday Jack all dressed in black
In celebration of Jack Daniel's 160th birthday, a limited edition bottle has been created for whiskey. The distinctive square 70cl black bottle is decorated with red accents and a smoky gray metallic foil, it contains 40% ABV Tennessee whiskey, and available in September 2010 from premium retailers, RRP £24.99.
UK launch for historic rum
First Drinks is to launch Mount Gay Rum 1703 Rare Cask Selection in the UK. The super premium selection has been created to honour the Barbados rum's heritage as the world’s oldest rum. It is blended from rums aged for between 10 to 30 years and will be available in prestige on and off-trade outlets from August with a RRP of £125
Semillon Blanc
– the new Sauvignon
Blanc? Neil McGuigan, the multiple award-winning winemaker and new interim CEO for Australian Vintage, talks about his plan to revolutionise the Australian wine category
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Masterminds in malt sought
The Glenfiddich Malt Mastermind of the Year award is an on-trade initiative by the Scotch whisky brand and UK distributor First Drinks. It aims to showcase the bar trade’s most passionate malt enthusiasts.
The competition is open to anyone in the on-trade and the winner of the title will receive a trophy, £1,000 cash prize and a VIP trip to the Glenfiddich distillery where they will get the exclusive opportunity to taste a range of rare expressions.
Macallan in a Lalique ‘cire perdue’
Luxury brands The Macallan and Lalique are showcasing a one-off decanter as part of an eight month global fundraising journey for charity:water. The decanter, created by the ancient “cire perdue” or “lost wax” method, holds the oldest and rarest bottling of Macallan – a 64 year old single malt whisky. It will auctioned by Sotheby’s on November 15 in New York with all proceeds donated to charity
Celebrating the 150th anniversary of Rene Lalique’s birth, the decanter’s fundraising tour which started in Paris in April includes stops in Madrid, London, Moscow, Seoul, Hong Kong, Taipei, Shanghai, Singapore, Tokyo and Beverly Hills, before ending in New York on 15 November.
Champagne loses weight
As part of a larger carbon reduction campaign to cut Champagne’s emissions by 25% by 2020, the Comité Interprofessionnel du Vin de Champagne (CIVC) has officially launched a new standard bottle for Champagne that is 65 grams lighter than the present 900g bottle. The new bottle will reduce annual CO2 output by 8,000 tonnes.
• Read the report
Make it at Bushmills
winner announced
Ivan Ivanov, a 28-year old lifeguard from Svishtov Bulgaria, has won the Bushmills Irish Whiskey global competition with a prize described as ‘the whiskey lover’s ultimate dream’. He was chosen from finalists from nine countries as the winner of the Make it at Bushmills challenge.
• Read the report on the announcement of the competition
Pioneering
wineries
Chile is a wine-producing country with seemingly endless potential. New plantings in previously unexplored territories are bringing new styles to market.
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Breakthrough in cork technology
UK-based Bacchus Wine Closures in partnership with Álvaro Coelho & Irmãos (ACI), the second largest cork producer in the world, has developed Nanocork – a natural cork, topped and tailed with a specially developed barrier coating.
The Bacchus Barrier coating offers a number of benefits, which the company believes will encourage synthetic cork users to return to natural cork as the preferred closure for wine.
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| Welcome to The Drinks Report The Drinks Report is an online business magazine focusing on the global marketing and packaging of wines, spirits and other alcoholic beverages. Felicity Murray, editor@thedrinksreport.com |
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Campaign to put a cork in the myths
A campaign to make consumers aware of the need to save Portugal’s cork oak forests has been launched in the UK by APCOR, the Portuguese Cork Association. The ‘I Love Natural Cork’ campaign asks consumers to ‘Sign the Pledge’ and choose natural cork over artificial closures. |
| Winemakers in France's 'Wild West' champion diversity and creativity The Languedoc-Roussillon is an exciting wine making region unlike any other in the Old World and one which is rapidly becoming known as the French “Wild West”. Here creative winemakers have the liberty to change the rules and use the region's diversity of terroir to bring a new ideas to market. Felicity Murray reports on some of the innovative products and packaging formats emerging from this dynamic region. • Read the report |
 Imaginative labelling is abundant in this creative region |
Jim Beam launches travel retail exclusive Beam Global Spirits & Wine has launched a premium expression of its bourbon whiskey, Jim Beam, exclusively into travel retail. RSP of €29.99/1litre |
 The deep amber flask-style bottle is presented in a soft faux leather bag. A neck tag tells the story behind the whiskey |
| The taste of tradition In the face of the current trend for gins with a difference in botanical emphasis, Berry Bros & Rudd Spirits has launched No.3, a 46% abv traditional-style London Dry Gin with juniper firmly at its heart. No.3 is distilled in traditional copper pot stills with just three fruits and three spices: Juniper berries, orange peel, Angelica root, Coriander seed, grapefruit peel and Cardamom pods. No. 3 London Dry Gin will be available from April at Berry Bros & Rudd and through InSpirit in the UK at £32.95 for a 70cl bottle and in the US through Skyy at US$39.99 for a 75cl bottle. The bottle, designed by Dave Beard at BrandHouse, is manufactured by Saverglass and closed with a JC Ribeiro cork stopper and AC Relvas capsule. The distinctive key embellishment was supplied by Segede. • Read the report |
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How to bring the sensory experiences of the on-trade into the off-trade We are experiencing an ever-shrinking on-trade with consumers drinking more at home to pay less and save more. Traditionally the on-trade has been all about building brand image, while the off-trade has been treated just as a distribution channel. Are brand owners missing a big trick here? Pete Hollingsworth, managing creative director at global design agency FutureBrand, thinks so. In this exclusive report, he explains how he believes brands can bring the sensory experiences from the on trade, and advertising, into the off trade. • Read the report |
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| Self-adhesive labels offer a broad canvas for designers in the wine industry
As increasing numbers of people around the world are discovering a taste for wine and exploring the immense choice of styles now available, never before has label design had such an important role to play. Felicity Murray investigates the visual and functional advantages of purpose-made self-adhesive labels Today’s ‘new generation’ younger wine drinkers may be more open to creative and imaginative design, but they are equally discerning about the quality. Packaging communicates all there is to know about the product inside, so wineries need to consider their choice of bottle, label and closure with as much care and passion as they do the wine itself. |
| Innovative drinks from around the world In an exclusive collaboration with Minte, The Drinks Report highlights the most interesting new product packaging developments in the alcoholic beverages sector. These are featured as they are discovered in retail outlets across the world and recorded by Mintel's Global New Product Development – Packaging database researchers. In the US, Infiniun Spirits has introduced a Kosher certified vodka that is quadruple distilled and triple filtered through polished crystals known as Herkimer Diamonds. Crystal Head Vodka is packaged in a 75cl skull-shaped bottle manufactured by Bruni Glass finished with a synthetic stopper with wood top and retails for US$49.78 (€36.60). • Read the report for more new alcoholic beverage innovations |
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Gift packaging – it's not just for Christmas. . . |
Glass wine bottles that dare to be different |
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| Champagne loses out to sparkling Consumers are switching from Champagne to sparkling wine, with three in 10 Champagne or sparkling wine drinkers admitting that they drink sparkling wine rather than Champagne in order to save money, according to new Mintel research. The report also finds almost a fifth of drinkers feel that own-label Champagne is as good as branded Champagne. Champagne has declined in value sales by a massive 28% in the past two years of economic downturn (2007-2009) despite growing by 17% in the previous two years. Sparkling wine, however, has continued to see growth. In 2005-2007 value sales increased by an impressive 27%. Champagne's value share of the overall market has fallen from 69% in 2007 to 55% in 2009, while sparkling wine has jumped from 31% to 45%. In volume sales, Champagne was worth 38% of the total market in 2007 and is now worth 30% of the total market in 2009. Sparkling wine was worth 62% in 2007 and is now worth 70%. • Read the report |
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Beer packaging trends report PET and can formats are challenging the dominance of glass bottles in beer packaging. Environmental concerns, cost-savings, convenience issues and novelty elements are bringing new formats under the spotlight. • Read the trends report |
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Wine packaging trends report Can packaging for wine, much maligned by purists in previous years, is currently at the forefront of development in the wine industry. • Read the trends report • More about cans and packaging |
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Malt whisky and food pairings Whisky makers have been matching malts and food with some surprising results. Now they are asking people to explore some of these wonderful flavour combinations and discover more malt-drinking occasions. It makes good drinking as well as good commercial sense. Pictured left: frozen Dalwhinnie and lemon tart. • More food and drink matching |
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| Low cost natural cork developed for mass market A natural cork wine stopper that is so competitively priced that it can undercut alternatives by as much as 50%, has been launched by Corticeira Amorim, the world’s largest producer of cork closures. Acquamark is a premium whole machine-punched cork with a water-resistant coating to keep all the cork particles in place while providing maximum elasticity for the bottle-neck seal. It is aimed at the high-volume sectors of the wine trade, currently accounting for almost 80% of the market. • Read the report Science proves how wine closures work |
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Wine in cartons: a growth market Wine in cartons is the fastest growing sector of the still wine market. Driven by convenience, concern for the environment and value for money, more consumers are turning to carton-packed wine. The compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of wine in cartons is expected to be 4.1 percent over the next four years, compared to 2.5 percent for glass bottles over the same period. Over the last three years 116 new wine products were launched in Tetra Pak cartons, made from paper – a renewable and recyclable resource. |
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