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German wine harvest hits 15-year low

Rheinhessen alone is down 23% thanks partly to autumn rains
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IRREGULAR THOUGHTS

Cold callers make David Perry hot under the collar
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SCAMMERS TARGET WINE RETAILERS

CNP payment option leaves retailers vulnerable
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PROFILE: CRUSHED & CURED, SOUTHSEA

George Bovill’s pivot from pure retail to hybrid has paid off
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Cape Winemakers Guild Auction raises record £746,000

Around 18% of rare wines on offer were bought by UK bidders
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English wine pioneer Peter Hall dies

Charismatic Breaky Bottom owner was a self-proclaimed hermit
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Spottswoode joins Mentzendorff

Legendary Napa producer is UK business’s sole California agency
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HOW BAD ARE SUPERMARKET WINES?

Three brave merchants blind-taste some big sellers
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IT’S TIME TO TAKE NO-LO SERIOUSLY

Reserve Wine’s Nic Rezzouk is in favour of this growing category
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THEATRE OF WINE branch to close

It’s the final curtain for the Leytonstone store
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PROFILE: ND JOHN WINES

Indie merchant is celebrating 30 years in Swansea
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Two new Spanish agencies for Liberty

Caso Castillo and Cellar del Roure join the roster
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MOUSE & GRAPE OPENS IN PINNER

Owner Jessica Summer thanks mentors for their support
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Majestic reports record Christmas sales

Multiple is jubilant, but increases are cancelled out by inflation and duty
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HOUSE OF TOWNEND’S 5TH GENERATION

Georgia Townend joins the family business
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Sales of rosé Prosecco rise 20%

Prosecco DOC consorzio says 60m bottles were sold in 2024
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Bellavista signs for Hallgarten

Franciacorta pioneer is fourth Italian recruit in recent months
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Off to Navarra with five indies

Reporting back from a memorable buying trip in late 2024
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Jancis wants a greener industry

Excerpts from a keynote speech at Sustainability in Drinks
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Secret Cellar has a new owner

Heritage Wine Company is also planning to bid for other independents
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Shekleton Wines, Lincolnshire

Charlotte Shek left accountancy during lockdown to start a wine business
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IRREGULAR THOUGHTS

David Perry styles it up with lemon trees, stilettos and metal polish
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BAKKUS IS OPENING IN LANCING

West Sussex town gets a new wine merchant
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LEBANON’S CRISIS VINTAGE

The missiles rain down, but the harvest comes in
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Issue 150 (September 2025)
Issue 149 (August 2025)
Issue 148 (July 2025)
Issue 147 (June 2025)
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Issue 151 of The Wine Merchant is here. What's i Issue 151 of The Wine Merchant is here. 

What's inside? Nasty scammers, majestic hawks, repurposed wine bottles, guilt pangs, bleeding cocoa nibs, Sting (the singer), stings (from bees), 10,000 wine louts, people who lie about chocolate, hedonistic vermouth, Torres v Walkers, hairdresser puns, Lennon and McCartney in the northern Rhône, sesquiterpene rotundone, Leicester City and a small cheese sandwich. 

See if you can spot them all!
So sorry to hear of the passing of Peter Hall, pio So sorry to hear of the passing of Peter Hall, pioneer of English sparkling wine, self-proclaimed hermit and a wonderful raconteur who was generous with his time. Anyone with a bottle of Breaky Bottom in their collection will be toasting the memory this week of a lovely man.

Report on the Wine Merchant website, where you can also read the Q&A we did with Peter in 2022. It was the best article we ran that year – and perhaps in any year. RIP.
We used to be the only wine magazine in the world We used to be the only wine magazine in the world to publish album reviews. Now we're the only one with a psychotherapy column.

Plus: a horrible quiz, a stupid cartoon, in-store opera, people covered in treacle, the black hole of wine retailing, disappointing Belgian cuisine, and David Perry's plums.

Open your copy now while it's still got that strangely intoxicating aroma.
The 149th edition of The Wine Merchant is out ther The 149th edition of The Wine Merchant is out there in the wild. A huge milestone. We enjoyed putting it together for you and yesterday we celebrated its publication by tasting so much vermouth that parts of our mouths are jammed into unfamiliar positions and we’re talking in Dutch accents. Other than that, all good thanks 🤜
Loads of new openings, relocations and expansions Loads of new openings, relocations and expansions to read about in the latest edition of The Wine Merchant. But no closures. 

As Kate Goodman of Reserve Wines tells us in her interview, it's "probably as hard as it's ever been" for indies to keep going. But that's exactly what they're doing – and store numbers continue to rise.
We're delighted to confirm that your repeat prescr We're delighted to confirm that your repeat prescription for The Wine Merchant magazine is ready. If we haven't delivered it to your door, visit the website and follow the links to the digital version. 

The Wine Merchant has no known side-effects. And not only are you able to operate heavy machinery after consumption, it's something that we actively encourage.

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