The week in pictures

Wine distributor Matthew Clark celebrated its largest, most well attended tasting ever at its Discover Love Inspire event at London Tobacco’s Dock on Tuesday – with a 40% uplift in visitors from last year’s attendance.

The drinks supplier took the opportunity to showcase its brand new 190 premium lines as well as providing visitors with the UK’s first tasting of the Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blancs Futurtech.

Drinks merchant Inverarity Morton’s annual wine portfolio tasting was held at the Assembly Rooms in Edinburgh this week.

The Inverarity Morton’s tasting is the largest wine event in Scotland and this year over 500 customers attended to meet the 60+ suppliers who were showcasing over 500 wines.

Six masterclasses were held over the day, from Magnificent Malbec and the changing face of New Zealand, to wine and cheese with IJ Mellis, wine and food with Tom Lewis from Monachyle Mhor and finishing off in style with Krug.

The Cape Winemakers Guild Protégé Programme, a mentorship scheme for aspiring young winemakers and viticulturists in South Africa, has received a generous donation from Amorim Cork to fund business management courses this year.

Amorim Cork, which donates 0.5% of all purchases made by Cape Winemakers Guild members back to the Guild, raised R81,000 towards the Protégé Programme last year.

This ongoing initiative by Amorim Cork funds the enrolment of CWG Protégés in the Management Development Programme of the Stellenbosch University Business School, some of whom are pictured above.

Credit: Rob McDougall

As Scotland sends its support and best wishes to its rugby team for Sunday’s Six Nations game against France, Scotland’s oldest whisky distillery is sending something else: a homegrown dance that may help the team on its way to victory.

Straight from the heart of Glenturret Distillery in Crieff, Perthshire comes The Glenturret Haka, a dance to challenge the famous haka war dance of the New Zealand All Blacks. The Glenturret Haka, shared extensively via Facebook and YouTube, celebrates the hand mashing that sets the distillery apart from others.

(L/R) Glasgow Warriors’ Sean Lamont joins Matt Scott and Edinburgh’s Ross Ford

Sticking with the Scottish rugby theme, Crabbie’s Alcoholic Ginger Beer has signed a deal which will see the UK’s number one Alcoholic Ginger Beer partner with Scottish Rugby from the national side through to club level.

Charlotte Leslie, MP for Bristol North West, Collin Valentine, CAMRA National Director and Greg Mulholland, MP for Leeds North West

Two MPs who champion Britain’s pub industry were honoured this week with Parliamentary Achievement Awards at CAMRA’s annual parliamentary reception at Westminster.

These annual awards recognise the role of MPs in supporting Britain’s beer and pub industries through their hard work in parliament and in their constituencies.

This year, the awards go to both Charlotte Leslie, MP for Bristol North West, and Greg Mulholland, MP for Leeds North West.

Le Clos’ sixth outlet at Dubai International airport’s new Concourse D at Terminal 1 opened this week. The new store is offering exclusive wines to taste, including iconic First Growths, as well as carefully selected merchandising shelves and temperature controlled display units.

Wine brand Cordoníu hosted a masterclass on Monday at The Westbury Hotel in London, which sought to explore Spain’s native grapes and their preferred terroirs.

Arthur O’Connor (chief winemaker, Codorníu Raventos) and four of his winemakers presented the masterclass to the dozens of attendees.

The group’s winemakers are now making a concerted effort to produce wines in the style of the 70’s, pledging to take their wines “back to the future”.

db had a stand focusing on California Cabernet Sauvignon at this week’s Go West tasting of California, Oregon and Washington State wines. We presented 41 Cab Savs that were selected by our editor-in-chief Patrick Schmitt MW, Sarah Jane Evans MW and Keith Isaac MW.

In the above picture you can see Oz Clark and Gerard Basset MS MW OBE tucking into the selection.

On Tuesday db paid a visit to clandestine drinking den Mr Foggs in Mayfair. Set behind an unassuming door, we were greeted by a warmly lit, wood-paneled bar stuffed to the rafters with curious trinkets from around the world. The bar is inspired by the fictional travels of Phileas Fogg, who famously went “Around the World in 80 Days” in Jules Verne’s novel. Continuing this theme, each of the bar’s 80 cocktails are inspired by his adventures, each telling the story of the country on which it is based.

One of our favourites was New York’s Finest – a decadent cocktail comprising Amaretto-infused vodka, dark chocolate liqueur, espresso liqueur and orgeat syrup – served in a teacup.

New Zealand producer Mud House confirmed a partnership with the British and Irish Lions rugby tour on Wednesday. The sponsorship deal was announced at a press conference at New Zealand House in London, attended by Paul Schaafsma, CEO of Accolade Wines, which acquired Mud House in 2013.

(L-R) Former All Blacks skipper Sean Fitzpatrick, British & Irish Lions COO Charlie McEwen, Paul Schaafsma, CEO of Accolade Wines, former England winger Jason Robinson

Also in attendance were former All Blacks skipper Sean Fitzpatrick and England’s former winger Jason Robinson, who have come on board to support the sponsorship as Mud House brand ambassadors, appearing in a series of adverts set to appear throughout the tournament on Sky Sports UK.

Fentimans, the botanical drinks producers, has partnered with Zeus events to create a VIP pop-up bar for The Six Nations rugby championship.

This comes after the successful bar hosted by Fentimans and Zeus for the 2015 Rugby World Cup in the same location in Twickenham, London.

db headed to Dirty Bones in London’s Soho to mark the launch of the bar’s ‘Late Nights’ promotion, which sees a new cocktail menu and DJ sets run from 9pm ever Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

The new cocktails include the Djinn Djinn (Bombay Sapphire, Martini Rosso, fresh grapefruit, raspberries, cucumber, Ting) the Mutt’s Nuts (Woodford Reserve, cinnamon and vanilla-infused maple syrup, Angostura bitters, lemon and apple juice) and Top Dog (Finlandia Vodka, fresh strawberry, Chambord, lemon and Jeio Prosecco).

The bar also specialises in the dirtiest of comfort foods, as you can see below…