The week in pictures

Our judges hard at work on Wednesday at the Drapers Arms in Islington, judging wines for the drinks business Global Pinot Noir Masters.

Our team of judges, made up of MWs and one Master Sommelier, tasted their way through more than 200 wines entered into the drinks business Pinot Noir Global Masters. Results will be published in an upcoming issue of the drinks business.

This was the stunning view of London from the Saint-Emilion Grand Cru Classés tasting at Altitude in London on Tuesday, which saw wines on show from ’11 ’12 vintage. During the tasting the vice-president of the region’s Grand Cru Classés Association, Laurence Brun, said that continued silence over legal challenges brought about by châteaux demoted in the region’s 2012 classification was very “disturbing”. 

db couldn’t resist a Pisco party at Marylebone’s underground Peruvian restaurant Pachamama on Wednesday. Held in support of London’s first Pisco Week, a Peruvian spirit made from distilled grapes, guests were treated to a selection of Pisco-based cocktails including this Rosa Del Inca with pink peppercorns, coffee and bitters.

We were then invited to make our own Pisco infusion with flavoured teabags which included pink peppercorns, coffee, ginger, rose petals and orange. Tomorrow is National Pisco Sour Day. Click here to find out what’s going on in London and how you can discover Pisco.

Bill Hardy and Grant Burge toast the acquisition.

Accolade Wines toasted the successful completion of its purchase of Barossa’s Grant Burge Wines, including the iconic Grant Burge brand, Burge and Rathbone Fine Wine Merchants business and the historic Krondorf Winery. The companies announced in December that they had reached a conditional agreement to complete in January. Grant and Helen Burge founded Grant Burge Wines in 1988.

Philippe Dhalluin, right, with Richard Harvey MW of Bonhams

Bonhams hosted a vertical tasting of Mouton Rothschild led by Philippe Dhalluin, managing director of Châteaux Wines at Baron Philippe de Rothschild. Showing wines from the decade since he joined the Bordeaux first growth, Dhalluin told how a negative critical response to his first vintage in 2004 led to a dramatic reassessment of how much Cabernet Franc to include in the blend.

What better start to the day than a breakfast tasting of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti? The Burgundian superstar was on show at the offices of UK agent Corney & Barrow, offering a first glimpse of its 2012 vintage, which saw a sequence of challenging weather take a heavy toll on yields.

The equestrian world enjoyed a Champagne tea at the appropriately named Running Horse pub in London as Pol Roger announced its sponsorship of September’s FEI Eventing European Championships 2015 at Blair Castle. The house’s associate director Paul Graham introduced British eventing stars Laura Collett and Harry Meade as Pol Roger’s ambassadors, or “fizzy rascals”.

Berkmann Wine Cellars’ annual trade tasting saw purchasing director Alex Hunt MW and Châteauneuf du Pape producer Rotem Saouma make a passionate case for the world to embrace the delights offered by Grenache. Although the variety that has been losing ground to other grapes in recent decades, Hunt insisted: “The future needn’t be bright quantity-wise for it to be very bright quality-wise.”

Wines of Germany announced the appointment of three new ‘Riesling Fellows’ on Thursday at a gala dinner at Vintners’ Hall in London. Three new members, Hew Blair, Sebastian Thomas and Stuart Pigott, were welcomed into the Riesling Fellowship in recognition of their dedication and passion for German Riesling.

Hendrick’s gin unveiled what it described as the “sensorial spectacle of the year”, its M.I.N.D Blower, at Singapore Changi Airport this week. The M.I.N.D Blower is designed to “recalibrate the human body” allowing visitors to achieve the “optimal state of sensory equilibrium” to best appreciate a Hendrick’s Gin & Tonic.

It involves sitting in a chair, blindfolded, and listening to music with participants sense of sight, sound, taste and smell first “distorted and stretched before being harmonised and finally recalibrated” – before being served a Hendrick’s Gin & Tonic…

Winemaker Paola Rinaldini shows off her range of Lambrusco and other wines at the “South Europe / Mediterranean Wines” tasting at the IOD on Tuesday.

db met the founders of new wine venture The Wine Butler this week: political campaigner Henry Sands (left) and former cricketer Kevin Latouf, who runs a wine bar in Winchester with England rugby captain Chris Robshaw. The pair work with small organic, biodynamic and natural wine producers that take a less is more approach to winemaking, offering customers six bottles of cherry picked wines a month for a fixed cost.

Keen to work with young producers with a story to tell, among the quirky wines within The Wine Butler portfolio are El Marciano – an old vine Garnacha from Castilla y Leon, and Thirst, an 11.5% Gamay from Radford Dale in South Africa.

db was lucky enough to be invited to dine at new high-end Chinese restaurant Chai Wu on the fifth floor of Harrods this week. Steered by executive chef Ian Pengelley, interiors are inspired by the five elements in Chinese philosophy: wood, fire, earth, metal and water.

The meal kicked off with a dangerously drinkable Caribbean Kiss cocktail that blended Pampero Blanco, Chambord, raspberry purée, lime juice, sugar syrup and fresh raspberries, which whetted the appetite for the feast that followed.

First up were fluffy Wagyu puffs topped with edible gold leaf in the poshest version of a pasty we’ve ever encountered.

Then came a colourful army of “scorpion” rolls stuffed with avocado and soft shell crab

… and finally, an exploding chocolate bomb