We can't wait until the Wines of California Annual Trade Tastings to tell you about the new Cycles Gladiator labels so here's a sneak peak at the news from Hahn Family Wines and several good reasons to register for the tastings in London or Edinburgh!

In keeping with our pledge to follow the Harpers Merchants Best Practice Guidelines we have just received our first shipment of Mount Riley’s new Limited Release range.

My amazing time in the London wine trade began with a random email I sent from my computer in May 2011. After many attempts and a missed interview at a famous bank in Luxemburg, I had an inspired idea after with one of my friends to try and find work in an industry I’d enjoy. Why not do my six months work experience in the wine trade!

Everyone’s talking about Independent wine retailers, which is music to our ears because it’s an area of the trade that is long overdue some time in the limelight. Harpers Wine & Spirit magazine have paved the way with their Top Merchant initiative which has facilitated the platform for these very important players to voice some of the frustrations and limitations they are faced with by their suppliers.

A year after being awarded 5 stars in Decanter’s Vintage Champagne tasting, De Castelnau’s Vintage 2000 hasn’t left the limelight.

Together with a list of accolades longer than the CRVC’s bottling line the wine has again been recognised by Decanter magazine in their December issue this year who have listed it in their ‘Top 50 best value French wines of 2011’.

In the middle of the renowned Côtes de Nuits, lovingly referred to as the “Champs Elysées” of Burgundy, the Nuits-Saint-Georges vineyards lie on brown limestone soils with varying amounts of clay derived from Jurassic sub-soils. These soils are paradise for Pinot Noir, and with the excellent weather conditions the region experienced in 2009 it was no surprise that the vintage was declared as a great one!

I’m just back from a weekend in Beaune, a wonderful but freezing weekend of discovery that just so happened to coincide with the opportunity to cheer on Les Bleus (albeit fruitlessly) during the Rugby World Cup final! My trip was definitely more pleasure than work this time as I was lucky enough to be hosting our National Wine Month winners on a Patriarche VIP tour of Burgundy. It seems a long time ago now but it was the result of the competition we ran in conjunction with National Wine Month and The Daily Mail online back in May

The wines from Western Australia are more en vogue than ever so our antipodean portfolio review wouldn’t have been complete without the addition of Domaines & Vineyards. If it’s a winery you’ve not come across before its certainly one to look out for, its acclaimed wines will soon be needing a new trophy cabinet if recent plaudits are any indicator

If you don’t know already the climate and landscapes of the Orange region in Australia are pretty perfect for growing wine grapes and the quality of the wines they produce is pretty good too! That’s why we’ve taken on the wines from Logan, a highly acclaimed winery you may already have heard of. Logan is a family owned and operated business with an emphasis on cool climate quality wines from Orange and Mudgee in the Central Ranges of NSW Australia.