Below is a snippet of some of the stories shared and events organised
Instagram Live Interviews
Collaborating with the wonderful Brad Horne, Wine Communicator, and host of Instagram live show #WineSocial. With nearly 9k followers Brad’s show is designed to help show case wines from different wineries around the world and the people behind them.
WineTime London is a social media platform set to engage, inform and entertain anyone interested in the drinks world. I am delighted to have had George Sara,(Chateau Ksara), Danny Walker (Circumstance Distillery) Sam Burrows (Bristol Beer Factory)and Yours truly (CSWWC) all feature on WineTime London.
How Xisto Wines is sailing toward zero carbon emissions.
Greta Thunberg is too young to drink, of course, but when she does she’ll probably reach for a bottle of Portuguese wine imported by Xisto Wines. For while reducing carbon emissions is high on the agenda of most respecting drinks companies, Bristol-based Xisto has taken it one step further. Part of its Circle of Zero Waste philosophy is to sail artisanal wines in traditional cargo ships from Porto to Bristol in barrels, bottle them using re-purposed Espumante bottles and deliver without using plastic or fossil fuel. Peter Dean caught up with Xisto after its first voyage into London Docks, where I also hosted a socially distanced trade tasing onboard the ship…
Collaborating to save lives
Bristol Beer Factory has collaborated with Talk Club, a male mental fitness charity to launch Clear Head, a 0.5% ABV combines two of the US’s best hops, Mosiac and Citra. Clear Head isn’t just an awesome AF IPA. This liquid will save lives. Because this beer has the power to prevent men becoming mentally ill.
5% percentage of every bottle or pint sold will go directly to keeping TALK CLUB sustainable. To help us keep building this community of positivity and mental fitness. Which is good for all men and their partners, parents, kids, friends and colleagues…
Zooming to Lebanon…
With lockdown in full swing and all travel and tastings off the agenda for the foreseeable future, Madeleine Waters of co.co PR myself came up with the concept of a Virtual Press Trip to Lebanon. We represent two of the oldest wineries in Lebanon – a country that was not only suffering from the effects of COVID-19, but also its worst economic crisis since the Civil War. There is a genuine need to keep the wines in the forefront of the press and trade’s minds, to keep sales going and export dollars going back into the Lebanese economy. We had to think creatively about how best to do this…
Fancy a career change?the English Wine Industry Needs you!
We've seen that the UK wine industry is booming over the last couple of years. Wine GB reported ongoing expansion of vineyards across the country, as acreage planted has grown 160% in the last ten years. In 2019 alone around 2m vines were planted, confirming the UK wine industry as one of the fastest-growing agricultural sectors in the UK.
Forging the next generation in the industry: Education and training is the key to fostering the vineyard managers, winemakers and marketers to fulfil the demands of an ever-expanding industry. With this in mind I approached Victoria Moore to share the story with her Telegraph readers…
A brave “New World” of distilling.
Thankfully Liam Hirt and Danny Walker are not only close friends, but have become successful business partners in not one but two craft spirits businesses based in Bristol. First the Psychopomp Distillery, which is the result of what happens when you take a hobby that started out in a basement and open it up to the public. Its limited edition craft gins now sell out on demand. It is now looking to do the same with its grain and whisky concept, the Circumstance Distillery which is as much about combining flavours and ferments as it is about craft distilling. Richard Siddle caught up with this fascinating duo who have also created their own craft spirit cryptocurrency…as you do…
Battle of the sparkling wine world at the CSWWC virtual awards ceremony
Corks have been popping all over the world this week as the Champagne & Sparkling Wine World Championships hosted its Virtual Awards Week announcing a total of 37 trophies to the greatest sparkling wine producers from around the globe. The week kicked off announcing the Best in Class winners followed by the virtual audience being able to discover the 13 Regional Champions, 12 National Champions and finishing thew week off with the announcement of 9 World Champions, the Tony Jordan Rising Star Award and the Chairman’s Trophy. With no awards ceremony to plan and organise I had to come up with a marketing plan to announce the 2020 results on a global platform…