From the db archive: how drinks news has (and hasn’t) changed

In the first of our series taking a look back through the drinks business archive has revealed how much – and how little – has changed in the past decade.

February 2013:

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie partnered with the Perrin family to produce a new label from the famous couple’s Provençal estate, Château Miraval.

In 2023…the on-going legal battle and so-called ‘War of the Rosé’ between Pitt and Jolie around Miraval continues.

March 2013:

Budget: Chancellor George Osborne focuses on the big breweries and scraps the beer duty escalator — but didn’t have a huge amount to offer the wine and spirits trade.

Miles Beale, chief executive at the Wine and Spirits Trade Association, said it was “bad news” and “makes little sense to single out beer”, especially if it was to support pubs, in which he said more than 41% of drinks sold were spirits or wine.

In 2023…Chancellor Jeremy Hunt – who was culture secretary in the coalition government –  announced draught beer relief for the on-trade in the Budget, but announced the planned changes to alcohol duty would still come into play from August.

April 2013: 

UK beer sales in pubs were down almost 50 million pints in the first quarter of 2013, compared to the same period in 2012, according to new figures released by the British Beer & Pub Association’s (BBPA) quarterly “Beer Barometer”.

In 2023…although the decline of the pint continues, sales have been buoyant since the pandemic, despite the pressures on breweries and closures.

May 2013: 

Parker slams concept of “Parkerisation”: US wine critic Robert Parker slammed the idea that wines have been made specifically to suit his palate, defending his tastes as “complicated and varied.”

In 2023…Times columnist Giles Coren received backlash for his characterisation of “male wine bores” with their “indigo teeth” and “jowls like Regency curtain swags”, but, db asked, was that fair?

June 2013: 

UK music group Madness followed the trend set by Iron Maiden with its Robinsons-produced Trooper and has put its name to a beer.

In 2023…Bruce Dickinson from Iron Maiden writes a foreword to the Good Beer Guide and is announced as a speaker at Wine Future 2023.