The week in pictures

This week, La Maison Rémy Martin closed its doors for another year, following three weeks of cocktail events and live talks, held between 16 February and 4 March. The private members’ club hosted top London mixologists, award-winning designers and industry leaders in fashion and gastronomy.

A number of famous figures participated as a lifestyle partner this year, including Academy Award-nominated actress, Rosamund Pike, pictured below.

Award-winning cookery writer and one of ITV’s The Wine Show presenters, Gizzi Erskine, also participated as a lifestyle partner this year.

Michelin-starred chef Jun Tanaka also came along to La Maison Rémy Martin as one of its lifestyle partners.

To celebrate St Patrick’s Day next week, Pococello – a Limoncello made with Amalfi lemons – has launched their ‘Little Green Fella’ cocktail. Little Green Fella will be available throughout March for £10 in all London Cocktail Club branches.

Combining Pococello with the traditional Irish spirit Poitin, the cocktail is topped with cava and few dashes of absinthe for colour and a kick!

db’s Lucy Shaw headed to StreetXO this week – the long-awaited London venture of three Michelin star Spanish chef Davíd Muñoz, who breaks the Michelin mould with his mohawk haircut and madcap dishes. The cocktails are no less experimental – as modelled here by assistant head chef Jonathan Setjo and bar manager Nikolai Clerc.

A squid and papaya salad, titled ‘Enjoy a trip between the Andalusian and Bangkok beaches”, was served with a shot of Rebujito – a combination of fino Sherry and lemonade that keeps revellers going at the annual Feria de Jerez.

Some of the crazy cocktails we tried during our rollercoaster ride of a dinner at StreetXO, including the Yellow Curry, made with gin, saffron, ginger, mandarins, cumin, lemongrass and basil. The XO Blood meanwhile, blends watermelon, bitter almond and galangal and is served in a giant heart.

The most Instagram-friendly cocktail of the night was the giant, ultra violet Liquid Madrizzz, which featured gin, a violet shrub, lime, ginger and jasmine perfume.

Among the most daring and delicious sips was the Tokyo Jerez, that married palo cortado Sherry, soda, shiso, miso and yuzu, and came with a prawn head that you’re advised to suck out the innards of, and a tail you need to stir into the cocktail to bring out it’s flavour. It sounds bonkers but it really worked.

Spring has finally sprung in London and we were treated to sunny skies for the annual Wines From Spain tasting at Tobacco Dock, where Beltran Domecq, president of the DO Jerez Consejo Regulador, got up close and personal with his old friend Tio Pepe.

Also in attendance at the tasting was the ever smiley Anne Vallejo of Rioja bodega Marques de Caceres, who showed us her racy new flamenco label.

Miguel Torres was in London this week to tell the press about his latest attempts to reduce the carbon footprint of his winemaking operations, as well as show some of his newest products over a lunch at Avenue on St James’s.

In Keeping with the Spanish theme, Sarah Jane Evans MW hosted a tasting of wines made by estates within the Grandes Pagos de España – a group of 28 terroir driven wineries promoting single vineyard wines in Spain.

Co-hosted by wine writer turned winemaker Victor de la Serna (a member of the GPE with his Finca Sandoval estate from Manchuela) and Javier Zaccagnini of Aalto, one of the highlights of the tasting was a juicy Pinot Noir made in Malaga by winemaker to watch Bibi Garcia for Cortijo Los Aguilares.

And finally… María José Sevilla and Pedro Ballesteros MW were inducted into the Gran Orden de Caballeros del Vino in London this week for their outstanding contribution to the Spanish wine industry.

The pair were bequeathed with the honour at the Dorchester hotel in Park Lane by the Spanish ambassador Carlos Bastarreche and María Luisa Poncela, the Spanish secretary of state for trade.