Ken Sternberg

Retailers, restaurateurs or wholesalers wedded to the notion that wine and spirits sell themselves could be losing a lot of money. Gone are the days when all you needed to do was stock products and wait for customers to come in and buy them. Now, every product category – from... Read More

Three-liter boxes have been used for packaging good quality wines in Europe, Australia and elsewhere for many years, and consumers there rarely attach a stigma of cheap, unpalatable wine to such packages. These contain the equivalent of four 75Oml bottles and are popular with consumers who want wine on their... Read More

Given its consistent, if undramatic, pattern of steady growth over the last few years, it appears that consumers’ tastes are moving upscale. Instead of VS and VSOP marques pushing the depletions meter upward, XO and higher designations are gaining solid ground and appeal among mainstream consumers and the trade. This... Read More

Although low end, bottled in the US Scotch sales appear to be ebbing, in the premium and higher segments, a two percent yearly growth in dollar sales and a 1.2 percent growth of foreign bottled scotch volume are certainly cause for optimism. Some insiders are even predicting that brown spirits... Read More

Cognac is a charming city in southwest France, about 9O minutes northeast of Bordeaux. Cognac and the surrounding area remain quintessentially French, largely ignored by tourists and thus offer reasonably priced hotels, restaurants and a wonderful look at authentic French life. It’s a beautiful place to visit, about a five-hour... Read More

Many consumers no longer shun the drink because it’s sweet, say several industry insiders. This itself is progress, since to dismiss a good Port simply because it’s sweet would be like avoiding a rich molten chocolate-filled torte topped with ginger-laced ice cream just because it contains a little sugar. Moreover,... Read More

As energy costs rise almost daily and people worry about the overall economy, it appears that many consumers are spending less disposable income on cognac, at least when it comes to home consumption. And when they do buy it, it’s often likely to be VS or VSOP, and not the... Read More

The ruling concerns only wine, not beer and spirits, and throws out as unconstitutional New York and Michigan’s restrictions on direct wine shipments from out-of-state if in-state vintners can ship their wines within and beyond state borders. It will not open the floodgates and let wineries immediately start shipping their... Read More

Steeped in vodkas. “At this point it’s next to impossible for me to put another vodka on the back bar. We have 26 vodkas now,” comments Stephen Clark, bartender at Cuffs, the bar at Jurys Hotel in Boston’s Back Bay. “Our main restriction is space. All 26 sell well.” Ketel... Read More

A voter initiative proposed for November’s ballot could radically change how wine is sold in Massachusetts by expanding the number of wine retail outlets by as many as 2OOO – about double the number of outlets now licensed to sell wine. The proposal, sponsored by the Massachusetts Food Association, would... Read More