What The Drinks Business does

The Drinks Business is a London-based B2B trade media company serving the wine, spirits, and beer industries across Europe and Asia. Founded in 2001 and operated under the legal entity Union Press Ltd, it publishes daily news, features, and analysis via its main international edition and a dedicated Asia edition out of a Hong Kong regional office. Its audience comprises drinks industry professionals, including producers, distributors, retailers, importers, hospitality operators, and fine-wine investors.

The product portfolio centres on a multi-channel editorial platform (website with more than 2,266 pages of archived content, a print magazine, daily email newsletter, The DB Podcast, and dbTV video). It is complemented by a programme of competitive moats: the Global Wine Masters tasting series spanning over 30 competitions annually, the db Awards, db Green Awards, and dbAsia Awards, the annual DB Conference, Wine List Confidential restaurant reviews, and a jobs board. The core technology layer is an AI Unified Search tool that applies natural-language retrieval across the publication's archive and award-winning wines with date and vintage filtering.

Revenue is generated through three primary streams: paid magazine subscriptions (digital and print), advertising and sponsorship across the website, magazine, and newsletter, and event-related income from awards, conferences, and tasting competitions. Distribution is direct-to-professional via owned channels plus media partnerships (notably Bordeaux Index for live fine-wine pricing and Comexposium for Vinexpo Asia coverage). Pricing for subscriptions and events is not publicly disclosed and is handled via sign-in or direct enquiry. The company is privately held with no disclosed funding rounds, revenue, or external investors.

Name

The Drinks Business

Legal name

Union Press Ltd

Website

https://thedrinksbusiness.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2001

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

The Drinks Business is a London-based B2B trade media company serving the wine, spirits, and beer industries with news, events, and awards. It operates across Europe and Asia, with a portfolio spanning publications, competitions, conferences, podcasts, and an AI-powered archive search.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

London

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Magazine Subscriptions: Paid subscriptions providing access to The Drinks Business magazine content, both digital and print formats. The publication publishes regular issues including country-specific reports (Italy Report, Spain Report) and regional editions.
2. Events and Awards: Revenue generated from organizing and hosting industry events including The db Awards, db Green Awards, dbAsia Awards, db Conference, and the Global Wine Masters tasting competitions. These events serve as major industry gatherings.
3. Advertising: Display advertising and sponsorship opportunities across the website, magazine, and newsletter properties, targeting drinks industry professionals.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

The Drinks Business is a B2B trade media platform covering the wine, spirits and beer industries through daily news, features and analysis delivered via website, daily email newsletter, podcast and print magazine. Its offering extends beyond editorial content to include industry events and awards programs (db Awards, db Green Awards, dbAsia Awards), an annual DB Conference, the Global Wine Masters blind tasting competition series spanning more than 30 categories annually, restaurant wine list reviews (Wine List Confidential), video journalism (dbTV), and an industry jobs board, with regional editions for the UK and Asia.

Product overview

The Drinks Business is a B2B trade publication platform serving the global drinks industry with news, analysis, awards, and events. The core offering is its news publication covering wine, spirits, and beer. The portfolio includes award programs (db Awards, db Green Awards, db Asia Awards), annual conferences (DB Conference), wine tasting competitions (Global Wine Masters with multiple category-specific events), restaurant wine list reviews (Wine List Confidential), video content (dbTV), Bordeaux tasting notes, industry jobs board, and newsletter subscriptions. The platform operates both a main international edition and a dedicated Asia edition, with a total archive spanning over 2,266 news pages.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• db Awards: Annual drinks industry awards program
• DB Conference
• The DB Podcast
• dbAsia
• The Global Masters
• dbTV
• Wine List Confidential
• db Green Awards
• db Jobs

Products and services

• The Drinks Business Main Publication

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Bordeaux IndexcoreGTM or Marketing PartnerBordeaux Index provides live trade prices for fine wines displayed on The Drinks Business website through the LiveTrade marketplace partnership. The partnership enables real-time wine pricing data for readers while driving traffic to Bordeaux Index's trading platform.
• ComexposiumcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Drinks Business provides editorial coverage of Vinexpo Asia events organized by Comexposium, the exhibition organizer. The publication serves as a media partner covering the trade exhibition which has moved permanently to Hong Kong.
• Champagnes & ChâteauxminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorChampagnes & Châteaux organizes the annual Champagnes & Châteaux Portfolio Tasting 2026, which is featured and promoted through The Drinks Business events calendar.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Decanter: Decanter is a long-established wine media brand offering news, reviews, competitions (Decanter World Wine Awards), and events. It directly competes with The Drinks Business in wine trade journalism and tasting competitions, serving overlapping producer, trade, and enthusiast audiences.
• Wine Spectator: Wine Spectator is a major wine-focused media outlet combining editorial coverage, ratings, and events. It competes directly with The Drinks Business in wine trade news, reviews, and industry events, though with a stronger U.S. footprint.
• The Spirits Business: The Spirits Business is a sister-titled trade publication covering the global spirits industry with news, awards (Spirits Business Awards), and events. It overlaps directly with The Drinks Business's spirits editorial coverage and awards programming, and both are widely viewed as part of the same drinks trade media cluster.
• Harpers Wine & Spirit: Harpers is a UK-based B2B wine and spirits trade magazine covering the on-trade and supply chain. It competes with The Drinks Business for UK and European trade readership and advertising spend from producers, distributors, and hospitality operators.
• Meininger's Wine Business International: Meininger's Wine Business International is a Germany-based global wine trade publication with bilingual (German/English) coverage and industry events. It competes with The Drinks Business for European wine trade readership and international advertising budgets.
• Just Drinks: Just Drinks is a digital-first B2B publication covering the global beverages industry, including wine, spirits, beer, and soft drinks. It overlaps with The Drinks Business on news, analysis, and trade audiences, with a comparable subscription and advertising model.
• BeverageDaily (FoodBev Media): BeverageDaily is a B2B website within the FoodBev Media network covering the drinks industry with news, features, and supplier directories. It competes with The Drinks Business for producer and supplier marketing budgets across wine, beer, and soft drinks.

Emerging players

• SevenFifty Daily: SevenFifty Daily is a digitally native trade publication covering the on-premise beverage industry, particularly wine, spirits, and beer in the U.S. It competes with The Drinks Business for trade readership and producer marketing dollars but focuses primarily on U.S. hospitality buyers.
• VinePair: VinePair is a digitally native drinks media outlet covering wine, beer, and spirits with strong social and newsletter distribution. It competes with The Drinks Business for advertising and audience attention in the trade-adjacent consumer and on-trade segments.
• Wine Enthusiast: Wine Enthusiast combines editorial ratings, e-commerce, and events across the wine and spirits space. While more consumer-leaning than The Drinks Business, it overlaps on editorial coverage, competitions, and trade audience in the U.S. market.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/teamdb
• Facebookfacebook.com/TheDrinksBusiness
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/the-drinks-business
• Instagraminstagram.com/thedrinksbusiness

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about The Drinks Business