The week in pictures

This week all eyes were on the greatest sporting event on earth – The Vineyard Olympics. The thrilling spectacle saw the seven vineyards of Hampshire – Cottonworth, Danebury, Exton Park, Jenkyn Place, Hattingley Valley, Hambledon and Meonhill – throw down the gauntlet to their counterparts in neighbouring Sussex to find the most talented winemaking teams as they competed in “light-hearted” (so they say, though we’re sure it was bitterly contested) track and field events created especially for this unprecedented meeting.

Here Champagne consultant Didier gets the competition under way with a spot of sabrage on a bottle of Nyetimber sparkling.

Taking up the challenge from Hampshire were four Sussex vineyards – Wiston, Bluebell, Nyetimber and Rathfinney – led by the intrepid winemaker Dermot Sugrue. Held at Jenkyn Place and hosted by Simon and Camilla Bladon, the Olympics included events like the barrel-rolling contest, which from the image above posed a pretty considerable threat to the vines…

The wine waiter competition was won by Gareth Maxwell, sales and export manager at Hattingley. A post-race doping test revealed high levels of blanc de blancs in the competitor’s bloodstream, which was charitably overlooked.

Irish tough guy – and Wiston winemaker – Dermot Sugrue excelled for Team Sussex in the tossing-the-end-post contest…

In the end, it was Hampshire (represented here by Simon Bladon, left) that took overall Gold, a feat acknowledged by Wiston’s Rick Goring (right). As well as spirits and blood pressure, the event raised more than £700 for the Benevolent Fund.

Sugrue (pictured centre) concluded: “After the usual pre-Games hysteria concerning missed drugs tests, state-sponsored doping programmes and the like, the participants in this year’s Vineyard Olympics are proud advocates of their home-produced PEWs (Performance Enhancing Wines). With Hampshire’s win today, perhaps we will see their wines on the International Olympic Committee’s next list of banned substances.”

New Zealand’s Villa Maria was a proud partner of the sixth Wilderness Festival in Oxfordshire last weekend. With 30,000 visitors attending the festival each day, festival-goers heard the likes of Robert Plant, Goldie and the Flaming Lips while enjoying the award-winning Villa Maria Private Bin Pinot Grigio, Rosé & Pinot Noir wines.

Guests at the festival, which took place within the glorious landscaped estate of Cornbury Park near Charlbury, were able to relax in the tranquil surroundings of the dedicated Villa Maria Wine Garden, including a ‘bach’, (a New Zealand-style holiday hut) and wine truck.

In other wine-related festival news, Latitude Festival returned to Henham Park, Suffolk, giving Spanish wine brand Torres the chance to get in to the spirit of summer with its Torres Wine Tour experience.

With four days of star-studded music, theatre, art and festivities, Torres welcomed thousands of people of all ages to enjoy drinking a selection of its wines.

Torres wines on pour at Latitude were Vina Sol, Vina Esmerelda, Vina Sol Rosé, Sangre de Toro and Altos Ibericos – some of which sold out before festival end. Torres told db they would definitely be returning to Suffolk for Latitude 2017 to continue the Torres Wine Tour.

Also occurring this week… Chris Hatcher, veteran winemaker at Australian icon Wolf Blass, was in town for a very special vertical. Held at 67 Pall Mall, the tasting presented two wines from each decade that the estate’s Black Label blend had been produced – including the ultra-rare 1974, of which the winery only owns just 11 bottles.

Explaining how the vertical had been arranged to coincide with the 40th anniversary of the Black Label (also the 50th anniversary of Wolf Blass itself), Hatcher explained how the style had changed over the years, with a gradual reduction in the amount of American oak and a greater focus on fruit expression in the wine, which was particularly evident from the 1998 vintage onwards.

But it wasn’t all about wine, when db tried out Innis & Gunn’s new virtual reality immersive beer experience on Wednesday. Yes, you look like a complete idiot twisting your head around to get the 360 degree view, and can’t help feeling self-conscious, but it was wonderful to escape the mean streets of Islington for a few minutes to be transported to the gorgeous Scottish landscape. And while we couldn’t be absolutely sure that the coastal cliffs and sandy shores had added a saline tang to the Lager (we could have imagined that) drinking the Original in a barley field and then watching a sunset over a still loch definitely heightened the sweet toffee flavours of the cask-aged brew. So while it’s not actually that easy to drink wearing the headset, we could have quite happily sat there for hours…

Oxford’s wine trade descended on the city’s Said Business School on Wednesday this week to attend a Chablis masterclass hosted by BIVB Chablis (the trade board for Chablis Wines), and ourselves.

Hosted by writer and wine educator Michelle Cherutti-Kowal MW, the class took attendees through the varied range of whites produced by this appellation, covering all quality levels, from Petit Chablis to Chablis Grand Cru, while highlighting the changes taking place in terms of winemaking and viticulture.

After the event was over, db’s skilled event organisers, Claire and Chloe, tested the food pairing possibilities of Chablis, pairing a Les Clos Grand Cru with the finest from Domino’s: a stuffed crust pepperoni pizza.