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News
The week in pictures
The team at Louis Roederer kicked off this year’s harvest in Champagne, with cellar master Jean–Baptiste Lecaillon tweeting this picture of its vineyards this morning. “Here we are! Our 600 pickers have started #harvest17 in Ay, Verzenay & Avize! Cool temperature + sun = perfect timing! -JBL”
Photo credit: La Légion Etrangère
Also out harvesting are serving soldiers of the French Foreign Legion. Every year a company of legionnaires goes to the unit’s wine estate, Domaine du Capitaine Danjou, in Provence, near the retirement home for its veterans, to help with picking the grapes. The wine produced from the estate is sold to help support the running of the home.
Followers of actor and winemaker Sam Neill on Twitter were on tenterhooks as they waited for his pig, Imogen Poots [named after the actress], to give birth. “Despite being 10 days overdue, Imogen Poots just won’t give birth. She’s got a will of her own that one.”, Neill Tweeted.
This morning Neill gave his expectant followers an update, confirming that Poots was the proud mother of nine piglets.
Prosecco madness took hold at Lidl, as shoppers rushed to get their hands on six bottles of the Italian sparkler for £20. Having got wind of the offer, fizz fans began to form orderly queues outside Lidl stores across the UK at sunrise in the hope of loading their trolleys with wine. Just five minutes after stores opened at 8am shoppers were aghast to discover a ‘sold out’ sign stuck over the promotion, which saw bottles of own-brand Allini Prosecco sold for just £3.33 compared to its normal retail price of £5.79.
Roger Jones, chef at the Michelin-starred Little Bedwyn restaurant in Harrow, tweeted this intriguing picture from a winery in Napa. “Wine trips can be boring – will let you decide,” he tweeted.
Neil Phillips, The Wine Tipster, was joined on stage at Foodies Festival Alexandra Palace on the bank holiday weekend by these Les Dauphins wine fans during his masterclass on the Rhône Valley wine brand.
Meanwhile, there was more “joie de vivre” to be had on the Les Dauphins stand at the Foodies Festival which welcomed almost 30,000 food and wine lovers during three days of sunshine, with temperatures hitting 26 degrees.
Seasoned auctioneer, Henré Hablutzel of Hofmeyr Mills Auctioneers, holds court at the Nedbank Cape Winemakers Guild Auction. The next edition of the auction will take place in Stellenbosch on Saturday, 30 September 2017, which will be Hablutzel 20th run in the seat.
This annual South African wine industry showcase, now in its 33rd year, presents a treasure trove of rare, individually crafted wines of great diversity made exclusively for the auction by members of the Cape Winemakers Guild, which enjoys a loyal following of wine buyers and private collectors.
Hablutzel, who became the Guild’s auctioneer in 1998, has seen its membership grow from 21 to 49 since, with the auction line-up has increased from just 28 wines with a total turnover of R1,17 million, to last year’s 52 wines and record sales exceeding R13,8 million.
Bar Swift in Soho played host to this week’s semi-final of the inaugural ‘The Next Whisky Cocktail Classic’ competition, created bySpeciality Drinks, spirits wholesaler to the on-trade.
Bartenders from across the country were invited to get creative with the malt spirit, with 10 semi-finalists presenting their creations to the panel of judges, which included Sukhinder Singh, co-founder of Speciality Drinks, drinks journalist Laura Foster, Chris Moore of Coupette and Alex Lawrence of Dandelyan.
The finalists were named as Sam Ameye of Bar Swift, London with ‘Sand Shandy’; Alex Williams of Black Rock, London with ‘Running Through the Brambles’; Miran Chauhan of Bon Vivant, Edinburgh with ‘Wester Road’; and Rhys Wilson of Happiness Forgets, London with ‘Claymore’.
The finalists chosen to go forward to the Grand Final – Monday 2nd October at 3pm at The Whisky Show trade day in London for the chance to win a case of 12 whiskies specially chosen by the Speciality Drinks team.
Alex Williams of Black Rock, London with ‘Running Through the Brambles’.
Members of UK fine wine merchant Berry Bros & Rudd are getting on their bikes today (1 September) for a charity ride down to the company’s site in Basingstoke. The merchant has run the Hampshire-based site where it has its warehouse and bottling line for 50 years now.