Top 10 drinks tweets of the week

We’ve scoured the twittersphere for the top industry tweets of the past week, including Jancis Robinson MW on the hailstorms bringing Burgundy to its knees and wine writer Olly Smith’s Dolly-mad family.

The first in a new weekly roundup of the trade’s top characters, we’ll be collecting the most interesting and amusing quips from the industry insiders who can boast the strongest online presence.

Jealous that you’re not on the list? Well, get tweeting and and check back with us next week to see if your eye-opening insight, brief witticism or your heavily instagrammed picture of a cat sniffing a bottle of wine has made it onto our list.

Jancis Robinson

Wine critic Jancis Robinson gives her sympathy’s to the French region’s wine producers as they suffer the aftermath of weeks of hail storm damage.

The “seeding thingies” she is referring to is ‘cloud seeding’, a weather-alteration technique used to reduce hail stone formation in clouds.

Hey, you up there. Give Burgundy a hail break, will you? Or is last w/e’s 3rd attack a sign they should invest in those seeding thingies?

— Jancis Robinson (@JancisRobinson) June 30, 2014

William Lyons

Wall Street Journal wine columnist William Lyons isn’t much of a fan of Wimbledon this year. I wonder has he been a victim of the watered-down Pimm’s, too?

The fun has been sucked out of #Wimbledon.Sport is just games, light relief yet with this generation of players it’s all so serious + heavy. — William Lyons (@Will_Lyons) July 1, 2014

Jon Bonné

San Francisco Chronicle wine editor Jon Bonne defends the cocktail aperitif — but gives a useful warning to the uninitiated:

. @ablegrape nothing wrong with cocktails. Europeans have long managed a good cocktail before the wine. but timing, and pace, are crucial.

— Jon Bonné (@jbonne) July 2, 2014

Olly Smith

Wine-man Olly Smith hosts a Dolly Parton party as she plays her headline set at this year’s Glastonbury Fesitval: 

Smith Towers has morphed into Dollywood. Hoards of gyrating relatives hoping this live set from @DollyParton will be unleashed as an album! — Olly Smith (@jollyolly) June 29, 2014

Andrew Neather

Andrew Neather, drinks writer and comment editor at the London Evening Standard, enjoys the great British summer:

Pimms, table football, drizzle: the perfect London summer street party pic.twitter.com/zwPfeYD8bq

— Andrew Neather (@hernehillandy) June 29, 2014

Eric Asimov

New York Times wine writer Eric Asimov feels the pain of Mexico’s defeat to Holland in the FIFA World Cup last week, and is none-too-pleased with a certain Dutch striker:

World Cup heartbreak. Awful way for any team to lose, on a cheap flop. — Eric Asimov (@EricAsimov) June 29, 2014

Roger Potz

Beer expert Roger Potz is full of praise for the pint-prowess of Great British Bake Off winner Ruby Tandoh, who gives interesting and informed recipes for cooking with brews:

Good piece on #cookingwithbeer in @GuardianCook by Ruby Tandoh on stout recipes. She’s good on flavours and even the history. — Roger Protz (@RogerProtzBeer) June 28, 2014

Sophie Atherton

Sophie Atherton, beer sommelier and blogger, has left the Imbibe Live conference in London feeling exhausted but enthused by the passion for good brews:

Busy, fun and tiring two days with @TheBeerAcademy @ImbibeLive. So much excitement for and interest in beer! — Sophie Atherton (@SophWrites) July 2, 2014

Oliver Klimek

Whisk(e)y writer Oliver Klimek has been getting stuck in to a Bourbon cocktail classic, recommending a particular type of sugar for the famous mix:

Trying another Old Fashioned variation with Billington’s unrefined molasses sugar. Nice!

— Oliver Klimek (@OliverKlimek) July 1, 2014

Dana Cowan

Finally, Dana Cowan, editor of foodandwine.com, is getting in the spirit for the Fourth of July:

The best red, white & blue @gov_island @janayepohl. Strawberry & cookies n cream ice creams, blue… http://t.co/n1zNnAWuaW

— dana cowin (@fwscout) June 29, 2014