The week in pictures

The Abruzzo Wine Showcase tasting marked the first time that the Consorzio Tutela Vini d’Abruzzo has brought its wines to the UK market. The Consorzio aims to protect the DOCs and DOCGs of the Abruzzo region in order to help improve their image and presence in international markets.

The UK final of the Ruinart Challenge blind tasting was held at Brown’s hotel with an in-depth rosé seminar hosted by Frédéric Panaïotis alongside fellow jury members Gerard Basset OBE MS MW and Ronan Sayburn MS.

Left to right: Gerard Basset, Ronan Sayburn, Frédéric Panaïotis.

Julia Sewell, junior assistant head sommelier at The Fat Duck, saw off competition from 19 other finalists to take top place in the blind tasting.

Dan Akyroyd’s signing of his vodka, Crystal Head at the Whisky Exchange
(Photo credit: Phil Lewis/WENN.com)

The Whisky Exchange, Covent Garden, played host to Dan Aykroyd and his Crystal Head Vodka on Monday afternoon as he pitched up in store to sign bottles for a legion of fans who had waited up to seven hours to meet him. One fan even brought his Blues Brothers car with him!

Caroline Brangé, Ellio Ottin and Gearoid Devaney.

The Flint Wines sales team and winemaker Elio Ottin are pictured enjoying the first edition of Il Collettivo tasting on Tuesday at Omega Place. Team db turned up as well towards the end of the day and there was still a good buzz at 5pm. The tasting drew together the Italian ranges from several importers including Flint Wines, Swig, FortyFive10 and Sommelier’s Choice and some of db‘s favourite wines can be seen below.

The competition at yacht-racing’s the America’s Cup in Bermuda intensified this week as the semi-final rounds got underway. At the centre of the action was the Mouton Cadet wine cellar on the quayside where Philippe Sereys de Rothschild, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the family company Baron Philippe de Rothschild, welcomed Sir Russell Coutts – CEO of the America’s Cup Event Authority. Mouton Cadet is the Official Wine of the 35th America’s Cup, yacht racing’s most exciting event.

Launceston Place’s head sommelier, Piotr Pietras, beat 35 competitors to the silver medal at the Best Sommelier of Europe & Africa contest in Vienna, held every three years by the A.S.I. (Association de la Sommellerie Internationale).

Flower power! Villa Maria’s Reserve Pinot Noir proved popular at the RHS Chatsworth Flower Show this week.

Patrón Perfectionists Cocktail Competition has announced that it has expanded to cover 18 countries this year. In the UK, five regional heats will take place beginning on 12 July until 8 August. To enter, please click here.

db’s Lucy Shaw was tickled pink to meet one of her favourite film directors, Sofia Coppola, at her father’s winery, Inglenook Estate, during Auction Napa Valley.

“Leave the gun, take the cannoli”. The inside of Inglenook includes a mini museum dedicated to the history of filmmaking and one of the vintage Cadillacs that appeared in Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather trilogy.

Outside the sun shone and the wine flowed. One of our favourite drops was an unctuous Duckhorn Chardonnay.

Shrinking violet Jean-Charles Boisset of Raymond Vineyards tried to entice bidders to go for his lot, which included a four-night stay on Marlon Brando’s private island near Tahiti where Barack Obama recently wrote his memories, by turning on the charm. We were particularly fond of his red lips brooch.

Oh Captain! My Captain! Keeping watch on the Inglenook stand…

db was delighted to meet up with Garen and Shari Staglin, who we had lunch with in London earlier this year, during the pre-auction reception. The pair raised $1.5 million from their lot, which offered three lucky winners the chance to go on an Italian adventure taking in tastings at Bondi-Santi and Tignanello.

Guests basked in the sunshine on the lawn before heading in to the auction tent.

The Darioush lot offered its winner a luxury trip to London that includes tickets to the men’s singles finals at Wimbledon.

At the barrel auction at Inglenook, we caught up with Bordeaux born Christophe Paubert of Stag’s Leap, who spoke of a desire to make wines that show off the fullness of the fruit that you get in the Napa Valley rather than trying to emulate Bordeaux in California.

Doug Shafer of Shafer Vineyards told db that he is seeking to make rich and concentrated Cabernets with luscious fruit.

Winemaker Joe Harden of Robert Mondavi Winery told us of the importance of staying true to founder Robert Mondavi’s vision of making balanced, food friendly wines.

We also caught up with Château Margaux’s new managing director, Philippe Bascaules, who is also general manager of Inglenook, and associate winemaker Chris Phelps, who spoke of a desire to innovate at Francis Ford Coppola’s estate, but also remain faithful to the past.

The indefatigable Boots Brounstein, owner of stunning estate Diamond Creek, poses for a photo with her trusty troop of chefs during a dinner at the estate held for a select few during Auction Napa Valley where we were treated to a heavenly sunset over the vineyards.

The dinner started on a high with a magnum of Cristal 1990.

The brothers Hidalgo: Juan, Antonio, Luis and Fermin Hidalgo were in London this week to promote their range of Hidalgo Sherries and debut a new expression – La Gitana Manzanilla Aniversario, made to celebrate the estate’s 225th anniversary. Just 1,792 bottles have been made to commemorate the date the bodega was founded – 1792.

Liquid alchemist Rich Woods, head of cocktail development for Duck & Waffle, showed db his basement lab at the shiny new Duck & Waffle local this week, where he is serving a selection of cocktails on tap including the Duck & Stormy and a Black Olive Negroni. The cocktails are made in batches and kept cool in canisters then piped up to the bar above.

The cocktail science continued at Scout, Matt Whiley’s new seasonally focused cocktail bar in Shoreditch, where bartender Charles Roche was proud to show off the bar’s centrifuge in their basement lab. Working a bit like a fairground ride, solids are separated from liquids by the force of gravity.

Charles also had fun playing with liquid nitrogen and using it to freeze strawberries – we don’t recommend trying this at home.

And finally… Christian Seely proudly points to a sign at Goodwood that directs visitors to the Coates & Seely bar – a new fixture at the race course featuring the award-winning English sparkling from Christian and his business partner, Nicholas Coates.