The week in pictures

All aboard! Neil Beckett from World of Fine Wine and wine writer Adam Lechmere tuck into some welcome liquid refreshment during the train ride from Porto up to the Douro in order to inspect work being done by Symington Family Estates to reinvigorate the historic Cockburn’s brand.

As temperatures in the valley hit 36°C, we headed out for a tour of the Quinta dos Canais vineyards, including this plot that is due to be planted with Sousão and Alicante Bouschet: just one element of several steps being taken by Symington Family Estates to restore the reputation of Cockburn’s.

Port lovers will be intrigued to learn of the belated release of Cockburn’s 1977 this autumn. Not declared at the time by a company that wanted to focus on its Special Reserve line, the vintage was nevertheless quietly bottled and registered by Cockburn’s staff, before being discovered in the cellars by the Symington team when they bought the brand in 2010.

A bottle shortage during the 1960s explains the rather unorthodox shape used to house this relic from Cockburn’s glory days.

(L-R) Pierre Pringuet, vice-chairman of the board of directors at Pernod Ricard, and Chairman of The Scotch Whisky Association, Alexandre Ricard, chairman and CEO of Pernod Ricard, Nicola Sturgeon, first minister of Scotland, and Laurent Lacassagne, chairman and CEO of Chivas Brothers

Pierre Pringuet, Alexandre Ricard, Nicola Sturgeon and Laurent Lacassagne proved that they aren’t above taking a selfie to celebrate the launch of the Dalmunach Distillery in Speyside on Monday. During a visit to the new £25million distillery this week, Lacassagne told the drinks business that whisky had “regained its attractiveness”, following a challenging year.

Photo: Bundespresseamt/Steffen Kugler

As part of her official visit to Germany, the Queen attended a dinner in Berlin paired with a number of German wines. Included in the lineup was a 2012 Rummel Spätburgunder from the Rummel Winery in Landau-Nussdorf, Pfalz, and a 2013 Freiburg Schlossberg Spätburgunder Weißherbst Beerenauslese from the Stigler Winery in Ihringen, Baden.

Journalist and Master of Wine Tim Atkin was welcomed into the Cofrade de Merito de Vino del Rioja by the President of the Consejo Regulador, Luis Alberto Lecea, in recognition of his contribution to the region. A recognised authority on Rioja, Tim’s work as a journalist has made an important contribution to the popularity of Rioja wine on the UK market, as noted by the President of the Consejo Regulador. In 2014, exports of Rioja to the UK reached 36 million litres, a 10% increase on the previous year.

This puzzling picture was sent in by the ever-creative Rupert and Eman from R&R PR, following the launch of Brewhouse & Kitchen in Highbury, London, on Monday. So keen to return to sample its menu, they told us this snap was taken as part of a “selfie” competition to win a dinner for two at the new pub.

Hine Cognac’s brand ambassador and sales manager, Per Even Allaire, presents Ragna Bley with the Hine Painting Prize at this year’s Royal College of Art Masters Exhibition. Ragna’s winning work, “The numbers in turn lead back to us”, is executed in acrylic on canvas.  She is the fifth recipient of this annual award. Her winning work will be shipped to France after the exhibition closes and hung on the walls of Hine’s Jarnac offices.

A 22,500m² sand SOS has appeared on Morecambe Bay Beach to encourage the nation to keep Britain’s beaches clean ahead of the eighth annual Barefoot Wine Beach Rescue Project.

California’s Barefoot Wine made a strong statement about keeping Britain’s beaches tidy by constructing this giant footprint on Morecambe Bay in Lancashire as part of its 8th annual Barefoot Wine Beach Rescue Project. The 150m x 150m sand art represents 1,625g of litter for each square metre – totalling the 13,000 kilograms that has been collected over the past seven years from more than 50 of the UK’s most popular beaches.

Nick Picone (recently appointed Chief Winemaker of the Villa Maria Group) during the harvest.

Villa Maria in New Zealand has completed its 2015 harvest describing it as “very memorable, with fruit quality across all regions exceptional”. The cool spring in the North Island resulted in a delayed harvest, however the Marlborough harvest which got underway on 9 March was the earliest on record.

UK boy band “The Carnabys” took a break from their performing duties at Taste of London in Regent’s Park to visit the Les Dauphins stand, where they sampled its range of Côtes du Rhône wines.

Jacob’s Creek winemaker and brand ambassador Rebekah Richardson made a guest appearance at Gatwick Airport to celebrate the Aussie wine brand’s sponsorship of this year’s Wimbledon tournament. Guests were invited to taste a range of its wines and guess how many balls were in a giant bottle of Jacob’s Creek for the chance to win Centre Court tickets.

With the first game of Wimbledon just days away, restaurants and bars across the capital are getting into the spirit of things. The Truscott Arms, Maida Vale will host Truscott Turf, a one day Wimbledon Men’s Final pop up in its Denbury Room on 12 July where the room will be transformed into centre court via AstroTurf, deck chairs, strawberries and cream and lashings of Lanson Champagne.

Bruno Loubet’s Grain Store restaurant in King’s Cross will be serving a Strawberry and Green Grass Bellini throughout the championships. Made by cocktail maestro Tony Conigliaro, the drink twists on the Bellini with pureed strawberries and green grass essence topped up with Prosecco.

db headed to the recently refurbished Les Deux Salons in Covent Garden this week, which is now owned by Sir Terence Conran and has been given a shiny new makeover. Among the welcome new features is a stellar bartender, who mixed us a LDS Margarita among other treats. Twisting on the classic, the LDS’ secret ingredient is passionfruit.

We were also delighted to be invited to a lunch at Pizarro on Bermondsey Street hosted by Spanish wine pioneer Telmo Rodriguez, who, for the last few years, has been making wine back his family estate Remelluri in Rioja Alavesa. During the lunch Telmo spoke passionately about the state of play in the region, mourning the fact that Rioja has become a victim of its own success, focusing on low prices and high volumes rather than putting quality first.

Among the gems we got to try during the lunch was the 1982 vintage of Remelluri, made predominantly with Garnacha, a grape Rodriguez is keen to revive in Rioja.

Among the enthusiastic guests at the lunch was wine writer Steven Spurrier, a clean shaven Michael Sager-Wilde of Mission and Dawn Mannis from The Sampler.

We also found the time to check out Jason Atherton’s latest venture, Social Wine and Tapas on James Street just behind Oxford Street. Inspired by his success in Hong Kong with Ham & Sherry and 22 Ships, this is Atherton’s first tapas bar in London, which also features an expansive wine shop where all of the bottles on the wine list are on sale.

The evening was kicked off in Spanish style with a Social Sangria cocktail that infused fino Sherry with lemon juice, white Armagnac and soda.

First out of the kitchen were these ham croquettes with Panko breadcrumbs, that bore the nostalgic flavour of Findus Crispy Pancakes (in a good way!)

Then came an utterly divine dish marrying sweet heirloom tomatoes with creamy, truffle-laced burrata and crunchy croutons proving simple is often best.

To pair with it, Loire-born Laure Patry, who is running the show at the restaurant, served us this deliciously nutty Catarratto from Sicily.

One of the dishes causing the most food envy on social media is this simple plate of carrots. But looks can be deceiving – they were easily the best carrots I’ve ever eaten and would send Benjamin Bunny to heaven, having been jazzed up with burnt aubergine, miso and walnut pesto, proving that dishes don’t need meat to shine.

With the Szechuan fried chipirones having all been snuffled, we opted instead for the raw Orkney scallop with yuzu, radish and cucumber, which tastes as fresh and clean as a gulp of sea air.

On the wine front came this quirky Malvasia from Croatia, which had an attractive savoury character and mineral core

One of the most playful dishes was the jamon Ibérico and manchegho cheese toastie served with mini quail fried eggs, which reminded me of the “bikini” toastie at Tapas 24 in Barcelona and a posh version of the classic British dish.

Stealing the show were these bad boys: rose veal and foie gras sliders served with pulled pork, avocado and pickled cucumber. Soft, tender, juicy and rich, they were a thing of beauty – we could have easily eaten five each.

To glug with it, Laure served us a Rhône red made especially for the restaurant by Domaine Stephan that had the distinct aroma of black olives.

The night ended on a sweet note with this tribute to British summertime: creamy mascarpone ice cream with sweet wild strawberries in one of the loveliest takes on strawberries and cream we’ve ever had.

To pair we enjoyed this unctuous sweet wine form the Loire which sang with notes of nectarine, apricot and honey.