The week in pictures

John Longden, Chief Executive of Pub is The Hub,  Pubs Minister, Andrew Percy MP and David Paterson, Corporate Affairs Director, HEINEKEN. Pictures: Sarah Washbourn – www.yellowbellyphotos.com

Heineken has announced that it will invest £50,000 in Pub is the Hub, a not-for-profit organisation that supports community pubs, helping them to diversify and provide a range of local services. The contribution will match the £50,000 put forward by the Government and will be directed towards Pub is The Hub’s Community Services Fund and Regional Hub of Advisors.

Annie Lindo of Camel Valley Vineyard prunes her 140,000th vine.

Annie Lindo, joint-founder of Camel Valley vineyards, has just finished Winter pruning her own ‘Annie’s vineyard’ of 5000 vines for the 28th consecutive year. “An amazing achievement – the 140,000th vine!” said Bob Lindo. Annie’s Anniversary Brut is made exclusively from grapes grown in Annie’s vineyard: the 2013 won double Gold and the newly released 2014 won an International Wine Challenge Silver.

“I have always enjoyed being hands-on in the vineyard and in touch with nature,” said Annie. Her companion, however, doesn’t seem to share her enthusiasm, at least in this picture!

Ehrmanns Wines hosted their annual portfolio tasting on Tuesday at The Royal Society of Chemistry, Piccadilly, London. Showcasing a number of new additions to their portfolio, producers such as Rodrigo Dias and Jose Salmon from Santa Carolina attended the event.

Rodrigo Dias and Jose Salmon

They were joined by representatives from Juve y Camps Cava; Fantinel, Friuli; Granbazan, Galicia; Valdesil, Valdeorras; Williams & Humbert, Sherry; Ponte de Lima Vinho Verde, Portugal; Bacalhoa, Portugal; Domaine Boyar, Bulgaria; Maison Ventenac, Pays d’Oc and Altamana, Chile.

Above and below, technical director at Valdesil, Borja Prada Luengo, presents his range, including the first ever UK showing of the winery’s varietal Mariá Ardoña – a red grape native to Spain’s Valdeorras wine region that was planted at Valdesil in 1985.

Nicolo Luxardo, Matteo Luxardo, Giuseppe Gallo, renowned cocktail expert and ‘G’ Franklin, Luxardo global brand ambassador.

The sixth and seventh generation of the Luxardo liqueurs family came to London this week to launch their new Bitter Bianco aperitivo liqueur for a week of events. Giuseppe Gallo brought his own Italicus bergamot liqueur to mix with the Luxardo Bitter Bianco. Luxardo Bitter Bianco is an infusion of bitter herbs, aromatic plants and citrus fruits. The liqueur is unusually produced by distillation – and similar to the creation of Luxardo Maraschino.

db headed down to the II Bar at the Bulgari Hotel in London to test drive its new Negroni Tray concept, whereby a bartender will mix up two bespoke Negroni cocktails at their table side made using homemade Bulgari Vermouths – one light and one more heavily spiced – and Plymouth gin, served with blood orange peels.

The Negroni Tray serves

The Bulgari Negroni Tray is available alongside Il Bar’s lineup of Negroni-based cocktails, including the French Negroni (Hennessy fine, Chartreuse VEP, Byrh, Dolin, anise bitter), and the Negroni in Gold (Plymouth, Kamm and Sons, Cocchi Vermouth di Torino, served with an ice cube coated in 24ct gold).

Negronis aside, one of our favourite cocktails of the night was the San Remo – a blend of Hepple gin, bergamot, Fino Sherry, basil and rosemary syrup.

Bertrand-Gabriel Vigouroux (pictured above) flew in to London on Monday this week from Cahors to present his range of wines at The Stafford, where the hotel’s Master Sommelier Gino Nardella opened up the historic underground cellars, which were used by American troops for shelter during the Second World War.

Sunny skies were the order of the day at the inaugural Pink Rosé Festival at the Palais des Festivals in Cannes, which took place between 15-17 Feb. Attendees got to walk the pink carpet into the show, where 62 producers from around the wine world were pouring their pinks.

The show attracted producers from France, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Argentina, Bulgaria, Romania and Greece, and featured tutored masterclasses and a free pour tasting. Getting into the spirit of the occasion, db’s managing editor, Lucy Shaw, felt it was only right to don her brightest pink togs.

We had to be dragged back onto the plane home from Cannes’ bright blue skies and palm-fringed promenades.

The Pink Festival culminated in the Pink Awards, where individual producers were honoured for their food matching capabilities. As part of the completion, chefs from five top restaurants in Cannes devised a dish specifically to pair with rosé. A tasting panel then picked a winner from the wines on pour at they show, which they deemed to best pair with the dish.

Among the restaurants taking part in the Pink Awards was the Michelin-starred Le Park 45 at Le Grand Hotel in Cannes, where head chef Sebastian Broda created an ambitious dish of monkfish with artichokes, capers and squid ink potatoes for the competition (bottom left).

Picking up the gold medal for the wine pairing was La Fontesole Prieuré St Hippolyte Rosé 2016 from the Languedoc.