David Kermode

March will be a milestone month for Greencroft Bottling as it marks the move into its enormous new home, hailed by founder Tony Cleary as “the most sustainable building of its kind on the planet”. Greencroft Bottling celebrates its 21st birthday later this year and, by that time, it should be settled in to its new County Durham HQ, which will also house spacious offices. The expansion will offer the opportunity to more than double production capacity, but as Greencroft Bottling’s managing director, Mark Satchwell, tells David Kermode, in a rare interview, the move is about giving the business a sustainable future and a chance to adapt to the next generation of formats, which he firmly believes will continue to include glass.

With a life story that runs like a Netflix box set, Daniel Daou has finally found his true vocation – making the Bordeaux-style wines that his Lebanese father treasured so much… in the Californian region of Paso Robles. Just don’t ask him whether the area is too hot or not – he prides himself on having found ‘European’ soil with altitude, where the nearby Pacific breezes help to make the DAOU wines some of the most sought-after in the Golden State. To celebrate the release of the new crown jewel of the estate, Soul of a Lion 2018, Daniel Daou hosted a real life mini-vertical tasting of the wine as well as a horizontal tasting of portfolio highlights. David Kermode was one of the lucky ones at the event.

A few years ago, the esteemed Leclerc Briant looked destined to disappear. An organic trailblazer in the Champagne region, its best days were behind it. That was until passionate new owners hired one of the region’s biodynamic veterans, Hervé Jestin. Now, the house is bang on trend with its range of low to zero dosage Champagnes, which are being launched into the UK market by Berry Brothers and Rudd and its on-trade division Fields, Morris and Verdin, as David Kermode reports for The Buyer.

It is a direct link to the consumer through its retail outfit that gives Lea & Sandeman insight into what wines do and do not work, says co-owner Charles Lea. Celebrating 30 years in June this year, and just receiving a Royal Warrant from HM Queen Elizabeth 2 last week, Lea explains to David Kermode that it is this insight that has allowed Lea & Sandeman to see, for example, that millennials are finally waking up to German Riesling and realising it isn’t at all bad.

For decades, California has had a special place in the hearts of UK wine lovers, the accessible fruit-forward style offering a ray of sunshine in a bottle, but in recent years the effect of the strong dollar, combined with soaring demand and climate factors, has pushed the price out of reach for many drinkers. It’s a challenge that Lanchester Wines and its County Durham-based buying team have taken head-on, sourcing two new ranges from Sonoma’s Don Sebastiani and Sons , both of which offer the best of The Golden State, without the need to sell the family silver. David Kermode caught up with Donny Sebastiani, the winery's owner, and Mark Roberts, director of sales at Lanchester Wines to find out how two successful family businesses have worked together to offer a new route to California for fans of its wines.

As Tim Atkin MW prepares to launch his Ribera del Duero 2024 Selection , at an eagerly-awaited tasting in central London next week, showcasing 170 wines he has personally selected, David Kermode visits Ribera del Duero for the first time. In this report for The Buyer, he reflects on his initial impressions of what he describes as ‘a New World of the Old World’, meets two key figures, Almudena Alberca MW and Peter Sisseck, and finds a surprisingly diverse region that’s celebrating its old vines, embracing change and genuinely seems confident about the challenges of the future.

Europe has a new top sommelier, after a nail-biting final in Belgrade to find the ASI’s Best Sommelier for Europe, Africa and the Middle East . In all, 48 sommeliers battled it out in a series of heats last week, with the semi-finals resulting in a contest between three contenders: Mikk Parre of Estonia, Martynas Pravilonis representing Lithuania and Pascaline Lepeltier of France. Each navigated a gruelling series of tasks, performed in front of a judging committee and a live audience at the Serbian National Theatre, with Parre emerging victorious. The Buyer’s David Kermode watched the event unfold, details the challenges they faced, and catches up with the winner.

As Europe’s ski resorts opened for the start of the winter season, the wine world’s leading figures were heading to Lech for Arlberg Weinberg , an annual conference that showcases the destination’s impressive hospitality, combined with discussion on the hottest topics in the industry and an opportunity to taste some of Austria’s stellar wines. David Kermode donned his thermals to take the temperature of the event, where debates included water conservation, natural wine and the often overlooked role of Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc in Austria’s lexicon of grape varieties. Here, he reports on the highlights.

As the world gets ever more corporate and impersonal, with 2025 posing the wine industry a whole clutch of searching questions, let's not forget family-run businesses that have found success by keeping things tight and personal. For wine writer, judge and podcaster, David Kermode, 2024 was all about keeping in touch with family wineries, like Harlan, Drappier and Ramón Bilbao and helping them celebrate the qualities that have maintained their endurance during these uncertain times.

Despite only being established just over 50 years ago, the Margaret River region now accounts for more than a fifth of Australia’s premium wine exports, punching well above its share of the country’s annual grape harvest. Broadcaster, journalist and wine judge David Kermode visited the region as part of the IWSC’s hugely successful programme of global judging, where international experts are teamed up with local specialists to assess a region’s wines.In this special report for The Buyer he reflects on what turned out to be a poignant trip that yielded a haul of medals vindicating the confidence of the pioneers who put Margaret River on the world’s fine wine map.