Best reads of the week

This week we had a lot to chew over on the news desk of the drinks business.

There were lots happening from the En Primeur week as confidence grew that the vintage is a good deal better than expected.

On the domestic front; Ocado launched some online wine videos, US consignor boosted Sotheby’s sale and Rhubarb liqueur was announced as coming to the UK.

More solemn news was that Guy Wilkes, aged 49, died after a battle with pancreatic cancer and plans were announced to celebrate the life of Alan Lodge, as the drinks business invited members of the drinks industry to join us and remember Alan.

At the drinks business we always like to keep an eye on what pranks are taking place in the drinks world, so we compiled some of the better April Fools jokes doing the rounds this year.

2012 was a busy year for alcohol-inspired jokes. Take a look at the top 5 foolish stories.

2. Moueix: I’ll slash my top wines by 50%

Christian Moueix revealing he is willing to slash the price of his top Bordeaux 2011 wines by up to 50% was a major story this week.

Moueix also revealed exclusively to db that he has added to his portfolio with a 4.7-hectare property in Pomerol.

3. Do hotels help wine brands?

In the March edition of the drinks business we considered a range of wine hotels and questioned whether they are effective brand extensions, or expensive and hard-to-manage distractions.

We discuss why good winemakers don’t always make good hoteliers.

 4. Cazes: We’ll lower our prices to a reasonable level

People love to read about wine becoming cheaper and that was what this story was all about.

“Our 2011 prices will have to come down, but it’s a case of what’s reasonable – we’re looking at 10-15%”, said Sylvie Cazes, director of Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande.

5. 007’s Top Tipples

James Bond is very prominent at the moment, especially since he is going to swap sipping vodka martini’s to Heinekein in his newest movie “Skyfall’.

His books and subsequent movies have lots of examples of the secret spy drinking, so the drinks business compiled the top 10 James Bond drinks.