Victor Smart | Nov 20 2024 Regulators are laying down governance standards for banks’ growing use of artificial intelligence, but a “fragmented” global approach is posing challenges for compliance teams. Read more: Global approach to AI governance is a ‘big, fragmented mess’ - Banking Risk and Regulation
Victor Smart | Sept 10 2024 Calls are mounting in the US to reform how financial penalties are set and rules are framed by regulators, with SEC Republican commissioner Hester Peirce leading the charge in an exclusive interview. Read more: SEC’s Hester Peirce leads charge for penalty reforms - Banking Risk and Regulation
Victor Smart | July 25 2024 Banks operating in the UK will be forced to “review the status of every politically exposed person on their books” as part of a regulatory overhaul following last year’s debanking scandal. Read more: UK banks must review ‘status of every single PEP’ under new FCA rules - Banking Risk and Regulation
Champagne is not solely the reserve of the 24 Grands Marques. Of course, the likes of Laurent Perrier, Pol Roger et al are responsible for the majority of premium Champagnes and create a halo effect that the entire region benefits from, but a staggering 30 million bottles produced in Champagne year each originate from wine… Continue reading All for one and one for all: inside the world of Union Champagne co-op
Humberto Jardim, managing director of Henriques & Henriques was in London to show off the new releases of his exemplary Madeira wine, including one totally new to the market. Victor Smart hears why Jardim uses an orchestral analogy to work his way through his wines and reviews the Boal 1997, which is new to the market… Continue reading Why new Madeiras from Henriques & Henriques play like an orchestra
Last September Château Galoupet invited The Buyer to Provence to witness first hand the changes made since LVMH acquired the property five years ago. Uppermost was its strategy to make sustainability synonymous with desirability - targeting its ultra-premium rosé at eco-savvy millennials. The winemakers also got Victor Smart to taste through the newly-pressed juices that… Continue reading Galoupet 2023 shows just how far premium rosé has come of age
Victor Smart | Feb 29 2024 The UK has instructed its financial supervisors to take a looser regulatory approach to artificial intelligence than the EU, which is placing an outright ban on AI tools it deems high-risk. Read more: https://www.bankingriskandregulation.com/uk-pitches-for-looser-framework-than-eu-on-ai-regs
Smart wine buyers know that you don’t always have to splash the cash to get great quality wine – one of the points that Bottega Prosecco attempted to prove with a 10-vintage vertical of its Il Vino dei Poeti Prosecco DOC cuvée in a masterclass led by Susan Hulme MW. Victor Smart was The Buyer’s… Continue reading How Bottega proves quality Prosecco can stand test of time
Victor Smart | January 15 2024 Far from slowing down in the face of election fever, the European Union is betting the bank on digital finance with its new blockchain sandbox, writes Victor Smart. ABN Amro and Rabobank have become the first banks to sign up to a new regulatory blockchain sandbox, as the EU strives to… Continue reading EU bets the bank on digital finance with blockchain sandbox
Victor Smart | January 3 2024 The UK's Financial Conduct Authority has warned that banks are failing to instil a firm-wide Consumer Duty-friendly culture, and are still relying on "second-line" risk and compliance teams to pick up infractions. Read more: https://www.bankingriskandregulation.com/fca-to-impose-targeted-and-intrusive-sanctions-on-banks-that-fail-to-comply-with-consumer-duty/
Few wine estates are like Jean Leon that can boast a founder who was a Hollywood actor, then a restaurateur who schmoozed Marilyn and James Dean, and then returned home to Penedès and uprooted Spanish varieties in order to plant Bordeaux vines. Victor Smart takes up this fascinating tale and tastes through the range of… Continue reading Jean Leon – schmoozing Marilyn and Bordeaux wines in Penedès
No Champagne brand has courted such controversy as Armand de Brignac. What’s changed, though, is that lux giant LVMH has bought a 50% stake. Picking up the story is The Buyer’s Victor Smart who hooked up with the team and tasted through the new range, including the new Blanc de Noirs Assemblage Number Four which… Continue reading First taste: Armand de Brignac Blanc de Noirs Assemblage Number Four
There have been many estates in recent years that have tried to push rosé into the premium category, but few have been as successful as Château D’Esclans, Sacha Lichine’s Provence estate that is in the final throes of a takeover by LVMH. To try and unravel some of the secrets of its success, both with… Continue reading How Whispering Angel’s Château d’Esclans hopes to own premium
Victor Smart | October 3, 2023 Victor Smart reports that central banks are facing an increasing struggle to maintain momentum behind their green initiatives, ahead of November’s COP28 climate talks in Dubai. Criticism over the cost of living crisis and the official role of central banks as policy-takers, not policy-makers, is sparking debate about whether ESG is… Continue reading Is COP28 a cop out?
‘The new luxury’ is the tack being taken by LVMH to make sustainability synonymous with desirability – ensuring that its luxury goods will be lapped up by eco-savvy millennials. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the thinking behind Galoupet, the ultra-premium Provence rosé brand it acquired four years ago. Victor Smart travelled to rosé… Continue reading Can LVMH make sustainability a lure in selling Galoupet rose?
What do you do when you’ve made a mint from the soundtrack of The Matrix and are unsure about what to do in the future? Why, buy a run-down winery in the Languedoc and bring it back to one of the hottest properties in the South of France. This is what ‘Clubbed to Death’ composer… Continue reading Robert Dougan – making fine wines at Languedoc’s La Pèira
Returning to Champagne Henriot, to sample the new Hemera 2008, five years since his last visit, Victor Smart finds that a lot of change has taken place. Dynamic chef de cave Alice Tétienne is attempting to get sustainability, science and fine winemaking working in harmony under its new Alliance Terroirs initiative using precision agriculture that… Continue reading How Hemera 2008 Champagne shows off Henriot’s new vibrancy
Victor Smart |June 7, 2023 Tense negotiations between the EU Council, European Parliament and European Commission over the coming months will decide whether financial institutions fall within the scope of the EU’s proposed corporate sustainability due diligence directive (CSDDD). On 1 June, members of the European Parliament (MEPs) approved the parliament’s position on the proposed… Continue reading EU Parliament opts to include financial industry in scope of corporate sustainability due diligence directive
In order to prove the food-matching potential of its wines, Languedoc estate Château Haut Gléon took the brave decision to set up a wine-pairing dinner of its range with 3-Michelin starred food. The cuisine of Gilles Goujon at Auberge du Vieux Puits is notoriously complex with one dish involving an oversize oyster that’s sealed in… Continue reading Pairing wines of Château Haut Gléon with 3-star Michelin cuisine
Victor Smart tastes through the new whites, rosés and reds of Provence estate Château Sainte Roseline with owner Aurélie Bertin at Petersham Nurseries’ La Goccia restaurant in London. The challenge, Smart argues, is for this producer (who also owns and manages Château des Demoiselles) to keep moving with the times as well as keep one foot… Continue reading How Provence’s Sainte Roseline is an estate moving with the times
Alain Ducasse’s three Michelin star restaurant at the Dorchester was the setting for the launch of Ca’ del Bosco Edizione 45 and a full range tasting of Maurizio Zanella’s other Franciacortas from this prestigious North Italian estate. Dodging the blue lobster risotto, ceviche, caviar and top cuvées from the Vintage Collection was our own Victor… Continue reading Why Ca’ del Bosco Franciacorta is holding its own with Champagne
Whether it is through the wide range of wines from Susana Balbo, where he is viticulturist and general manager, or through his personal PerSe project, Edy Del Popolo is at the forefront of viticultural change in Argentina. In town to host a lunch with wine writers Del Popolo showed Victor Smart the Signature range, Nosotros… Continue reading Tasting Susana Balbo wines with viticulturist Edy Del Popolo
To launch the sublime new Brunellos of Ciacci Piccolomini d’Aragona, what better venue in London than Café Murano, where Angela Hartnett’s classic Italian food pairing lunch involved not one, not two, but three meat courses. Adjusting his belt was Victor Smart who tasted the new Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2018, Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2020… Continue reading Tasting the new Ciacci Piccolomini d’Aragona Brunellos
The new Dom Pérignon 2013 is being described in some circles as ‘the last pre-climate change’ vintage. Vincent Chaperon, DP cellar master, was in London to launch the new cuvée, talk about its sheer simplicity, how he harnessed its energy and power and why there’ll be no 2014 and 2016 Dom Pérignon. Victor Smart was… Continue reading Vincent Chaperon & the “sheer simplicity” of Dom Pérignon 2013
Like most Marlborough-based wineries, the majority of Yealands’ output is Sauvignon Blanc destined for the off-trade. But in chief winemaker Natalie Christensen the winery has a talent that is willing to experiment with the on-trade in mind. At a lunch in London’s Apricity restaurant, Christensen showed off her new range of Yealands Estate wines aimed… Continue reading Victor Smart on tasting Yealands’ premium on-trade wines
Victor Smart | September 2, 2022 Supporters say the 1250% requirement will target the projects that do the most environmental damage. Victor Smart reports.
Created in 2005 and now led by 36-year old CEO Rodolphe Frerejean Taittinger, Frerejean Frères is one of the youngest houses in Champagne – allowing it to break free from convention. The company ethos sits somewhere between that of a typical maison and that of a grower as Victor Smart discovered when he visits for… Continue reading How Frerejean Frères is taking a fresh perspective on Champagne
Industry icon Tor Kenward has been making wine in Napa since the early days when the valley was filled with just cowboys, dreamers and a handful of vines. After 27 years working for Beringer, learning from some of the biggest names in wine and setting up TOR Wines, Kenward has opened up in his memoir… Continue reading Napa’s Tor Kenward on Bottle Shock, Parker points & perfection
Riccardo Pasqua, the third generation head of Veronese estate Pasqua Vigneti e Cantine, chose his latest vintages to be tasted at an upmarket London arts destination accompanied by a poetry recital from Arch Hades. But then Pasqua has already got a reputation for boundary-pushing, unconventional winemaking. His multi-varietal and multi-vintage white wine is called Hey… Continue reading Riccardo Pasqua: the man shaking up the Italian wine trade
Nobody could accuse the Chinese of being unambitious. Since they have made their taste for wine felt across the globe the Chinese have started a major programme of cultivating vineyards in their own country, re-orientating middle class drinking habits and putting in place systems that they hope will ensure the wine they produce is not… Continue reading On the road: how China is stepping up the quality of its wines
Champagne Palmer Grands Terroirs 2015 and the Grands Terroirs 2012 in magnum were launched by Champagne Palmer & Co last Wednesday at Skye Gyngell’s Spring restaurant. CEO Rémi Vervier, who is also one of this cooperative’s five oenologists, hosted the dinner in which he laid out the company’s philosophy regarding larger formats and his backing… Continue reading Tasting the new Champagne Palmer Grands Terroirs 2015
Victor Smart | June 2020 for Money Observer. Delve deeper into where your money actually winds up and there can be some unpleasant surprises.
Victor Smart writes for Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. Programme notes: Beethoven's 6th Symphony The Pastoral, Royal Festival Hall 8th November 2021
Victor Smart writes for LSO Insight
Victor Smart writes for Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. Programme notes: Aci, Galatea e Polifemo, Cadogan Hall 23rd January 2022
Ever since Romain Ott has been the winemaker at Château Léoube, a property that is adjacent to his family’s estate, he has been pushing the envelope of the premium rosé category. At an exclusive lunch in the just-reopened Langan’s Brasserie Ott talks to Victor Smart about the new wines and pairs them with a variety… Continue reading Romain Ott: the alchemy behind his new Léoube at Langhan’s
Victor Smart | December 3, 2018 for the Global Risk Regulator. Following the global financial crisis a decade ago, UK regulators imposed one of the toughest conduct regimes seen in banking, but recent events have had some observers wondering whether it really has teeth. By Victor Smart.
Victor Smart | January 10, 2022, for the Global Risk Regulator. Regulators are having to respond fast to avert a wide scale greenwashing scandal on the back of the explosive growth in ESG investments ... This article is behind a paywall, the full version can be accessed here.
Victor Smart May 13, 2022 for the buyer.net. Publication here. Although it makes ports – both red and white – the winemaking team at Quinta da Pedra Alta in the Douro Valley is saving its greatest enthusiasm for the new table wines it’s producing. Its philosophy is to make fresh, approachable, contemporary wines using indigenous varieties like Viosinho,… Continue reading Quinta da Pedra Alta feeds into the buzz for Douro table wines
Victor Smart May 17, 2022 for the buyer.net. Publication here. One of Robert Sinskey’s wines, an orange wine called Orgia, has a label design based on LSD blotters given out at Grateful Dead concerts. The wine was intended as a middle finger to the department of the US Treasury Department that looks after wine labels.… Continue reading Tasting wines & flower arranging with California’s Robert Sinskey
To launch the new Laurent-Perrier Grand Siècle Itération No 25, the Champagne house’s Lucie Pereyre de Nonancourt chose London’s Elystan Street restaurant where Michelin-starred chef Philip Howard and David Hesketh MW presented the new multi-vintage cuvée alongside a paired tasting menu and earlier iterations of Grand Siècle. Victor Smart took one for the team to find out how this stunning new cuvée was born and the guiding winemaking principles behind it.
Victor Smart 