Week in pictures

Bordeaux, Beaujolais, The Kings of Leon and a magical neon sink experience all feature in our latest pictorial round-up of life in the drinks industry.

 

 

 

 

 

Gabby’s groupies: The Kings of Leon sought out db deputy editor Gabriel Savage backstage before their Hyde Park gig this week and insisted they had their picture taken with her.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The band were presented with their own engraved bottles of Gran Patrón Platinum, complete with crystal bottle and carved wooden box.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Visitors to Vinexpo sweat it out as they walk outside the vast exhibition centre in scorching temperatures.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These crumpled boxes were among an eclectic selection of sculptures lining the lake outside Vinexpo.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Head on a platter: Voice PR’s Eugene Bacot poses alongside his dinner as he dines with db in Bordeaux.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

db‘s David Hennelly and Gabriel Savage unwind in the evening sun after another hectic day at Vinexpo.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Patrick Schmitt, db editor, poses alongside Michel Chapoutier, Mentzendorff’s Andrew Hawes and cycling legends Charly Mottet – who won a total of 67 races in his career, including the Tour de Romandie in 1990, and participated in the Tour de France eight times – and Bernard Vallet, who won the Polka dot jersey in the 1982 Tour de France. The group were met by Chapoutier at the end of an epic 600km ride across France to raise money for the drinks industry’s Benevolent charity.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The cocktail menu comes to you at Taste of London, where brands including Russian Standard vodka, Mount Gay rum and Hendricks gin were all on hand to quench the thirst of festival-goers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Beaujolais boy Charly Thévenet strikes a pose in his three-hectare vineyard in Régnié during a recent db visit. Thévenet is one of many bright young winemakers to have emerged from the region in recent years. Look out for our article on Beaujolais winemakers to watch in the next issue of the drinks business. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

db enjoyed a Douro wines evening at Pichon Baron during Vinexpo. The letters on the Château walls are the names of the wineries participating in the event, held in a marquee out the back of the property.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

db‘s Lucy Shaw meets the godfather of Spanish wine, Miguel Torres, at the Torres HQ in Villafranca del Penedès after the Wineries for Climate Protection conference in Barcelona.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Both db‘s Patrick Schmitt and Lucy Shaw had an encounter of the curious kind when visiting the loos at La Terrasse du Beaujolais restaurant in Chiroubles. Seemingly normal on entry, when a hand is placed under the tap, the lights go out and the water glows neon pink. Cosmic!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wenneker illuminated its Vinexpo stand with a chandelier made out of its own liqueur bottles.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hotelier Richard Balfour-Lynn holds court at the unveiling of his new winery, built in an old cow shed at his Hush Heath estate in Kent. A large chunk of the wine trade made the pilgrimage for the opening, and were treated to a taste of his new still wine – Nannette’s English Rosé 2010. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And finally… Michel Chapoutier ensured that a little tongue-in-cheek humour accompanied the cyclists on the Benevolent ride through France.

db, 24.06.2011