The week in pictures

The annual Australia Day Tasting was buzzing on Tuesday as the UK trade descended on Lindley Hall in London to sample some 1,000 Aussie wines from 213 wineries and 53 exhibitors. This year the tasting included a special focus on food building on the “Restaurant Australia” campaign run by Tourism Australia earlier this year. The tasting featured four pop-up food and wine matching stalls, each offering two dishes specially created by Michelin-starred chef Roger Jones from The Harrow at Little Bedwyn and paired to a selection of wines.

Speaking to the drinks business at the tasting Brian Walsh, chairman of the Australian Grape and Wine Authority, set out his vision for the future of Australian wine confirming plans to push the country’s fine wine offerings.  “Our focus for the next five years, of 30, is to focus on the fine wine part of our offering and try to articulate the message that with our terroirs and climates we are in a position to be one of the great wine producing regions in the world,” Walsh said.

Brancott Estate’s Triplebank Vineyard in Marlborough got a helping hand from some wooly workers this week. A herd of Romney/Corriedale cross ewes are used by the winery to chew away the leaves from its Pinot Noir vines, exposing ripening bunches of grapes in preparation for the 2015 harvest. “You’d be forgiven for thinking we’re pulling the wool over your eyes”, said Patrick Materman, chief winemaker at Brancott Estate, “but sheep play a vital role in preparing the vineyards for harvest. Not only are they quicker than human or mechanical leaf pluckers, they are just the right height to pluck all the leaves around the bunches, without damaging the canopy above.”

db scaled the Gherkin in London on Friday for a very special wine matching dinner hosted by UK-based merchant Milton Sandford Wines and private members club Searcy’s. Featuring wines from South Africa’s Eagles’ Nest winery in Constantia, guests were treated to wild mushroom arancini with lemon oil canapés and a glass of Eagles’ Nest Viognier 2013, while taking in the stunning London skyline, 39 floors up. Milton Sandford have been supplying the UK’s on-trade for the past 25 years from their underground chalk cellar near Bray in Berkshire – which is strikingly similar to those of Champagne.

This beautifully presented plate of roast duck breast and potato croquette with sloe gin foam and a blackberry jus was paired perfectly with a glass of Eagles’ Nest Merlot 2009.

It was clearly a busy week for Milton Sandford, who also welcomed Princess Natalia Strozzi from Tuscany last week who was in London to showcase her range of Guicciardini Strozzi wines. Princess Natalia visited a number of suppliers who list her wines, including Searcy’s at Blenheim Palace, where she explored a recently discovered family link between her family and Winston Churchill’s going back to the 18th Century.

db made a quick trip to Paris this week for the unveiling of actress and model Laetitia Casta as creative director for Cointreau. Before the main event started there was a chance to pop into the recently revamped wine and spirits section at Galleries Lafayette, which features this kaleidoscopic Yquem display.

Then it was on to the impressive surroundings of the Paris Opera, a regular haunt of Louisa Cointreau during the 19th century and which maintains a close association with the brand today.

Cointreau guests were treated to a behind the scenes tour of the Opera, including the costume area where these tutus were being made ready for a production of Swan Lake.

A highlight of the tour was this panoramic view of Paris from the roof of the Opera.

Then it was on to the main party at the Musée d L’Orangerie, where Casta had brought together a collection of artists, including UK singer Anna Calvi, to show off the creative spirit she aims to foster in her new role at Cointreau.

There was also a chance to explore the individual components that go into Cointreau with the house’s long-serving master distiller Bernadette Langlois, pictured here with db’s Gabby Stone and Clemence de Crecy of Clementine Communications.

In honour of Seña’s recent 98-point score from James Suckling, the highest ever achieved by a Chilean wine, its president and co-founder Eduardo Chadwick took a bottle of 2012 to the top of Ojos del Salado, Chile’s highest peak, to celebrate the record number of points for this vintage. The team comprised of Chadwick, Jean Michel Valette MW, Patrick McGrath MW, managing director of Hatch Mansfield, Adrian Bridge, the director of Taylor Fladgate and Andrés Izquierdo, the general manager of Viña Errázuriz.

A Burn’s Supper hosted by Glasgow’s Lord Provost Sadie Docherty has entered the Guinness book of World Records for the biggest ever hosted, with 645 guests in attendance. The event was sponsored by Berry Bros. & Rudd Spirits and was used to launch The Glenrothes’ single malt Scotch whisky, Vintage Reserve. Held at Glasgow’s Thistle Hotel on 23 Friday, the event raised more than £102,000 for charity. All money raised will go to the Lord Provost’s Malawi Fund, the Lord Provost’s Charity Funds and Bobath Scotland – a Scottish charity devoted to improving the quality of life for children and adults with cerebral palsy.

A group of winemakers’ gathered at The Westbury Hotel in London to mark the official launch of the Cellar of Knowledge in the UK – a wine import company specialising in labels produced by top French winemaking academies. The company, founded by former students from Avize Viti Campus, encompasses academy labels from Champagne, Bordeaux, Beaujolais, Mâconnais, Côte du Rhône and Sauternes. Wine expert Jérôme Poussin will be the ambassador for the company in the UK.

(L-R) Jonathan Adams, of S J Adams & Son, receives his award from James Arkell, Master of the Worshipful Company of Brewers.

Worcestershire based hop grower S J Adams & Son was named the overall winner of the British Hop Awards for 2014 at the 71st Institute of Brewing & Distilling’s (IBD) annual competition. Taking the title ahead of 123 entries, the champion hop is a sample of Goldings which was chosen for its “rounded complexity encompassing delicate floral and citrus overtones with slightly spicy and earthy notes in the background”.

To celebrate International Pisco Sour day on 7 February, Sushisamba’s head bartender, Rich Woods, has created three twists on the Pisco Sour, with executive chef Claudio Cordoso devising a trio of dishes to pair with them. The pictured cocktail, Matcha Pisco, blends matcha tea infused Pisco with orange liqueur, lemon, sugar and egg white designed to be paired with scallop ceviche with apple, passion fruit, maize morada and Pisco sour tiger’s milk.

During a whirlwind tour of Chile’s wine lands with Concha y Toro with drinks writer Olly Wehring and Armit wine buyer Edwina Watson, db dined at the swanky basement bistro in the W hotel, which boasted a giant wine wall.

Continuing our culinary tour of Chile, the next night we headed to seafood specialist Aqui Esta Coco for ceviche and king crab claws with the three amigos (l-r): Loic Prado, Sebastian Aguirre and Ben Smith of Concha y Toro.

Then it was on to a night out in Santiago, where we stumbled across this Pisco disco

And finally… we’re not sure who is behind this quirky sunshine-yellow sculpture in Santiago, but we love it.