The week in pictures

Photo: Sam Moore

Hampshire based Jenkyn Place invited a photographer to capture its vineyards from the air last Friday. The pictures show the Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier vines almost ready for harvest.

Photo: Sam Moore

Trevor Clough, co-founder and CEO and Jason Humphries, co-founder and COO.

English winery Digby has secured £400,000 from a peer-to-business funding solution provided by F&P Sponsors to build up stock.

Trevor Clough, commented: “Many of the more ‘traditional’ forms of lending were not open to us, as it appeared that we did not have the levels of security they were looking for. F&P, however, was a little more imaginative.”

“It recognised a value in the maturing wine and viewed it as an appreciating asset. In short F&P supported our loan application by preparing the loan documentation in the form of an information pack, listed the loan on an appropriate platform which successfully raised the funds we were seeking to expand our business”.

On Monday, 9 October, Prince Luitpold of Bavaria (pictured below), Proprietor and CEO of Kaltenberg, hosted a press and trade three course-lunch at the Royal Windsor Racecourse, in which every course was paired with a Kaltenberg/Konig Ludwig beer style.

Kaltenberg Lager was paired with the starter salmon en croute (using Kaltenberg Pils beer pastry). Kaltenberg was the official beer sponsor of the Oktoberfest race day at the Royal Windsor Racecourse.

The Professional Cricket Association (PCA) has teamed up with the Wine & Spirit Education Trust and Accolade Wines to run the courses at the Kia Oval and Edgbaston which, if they pass successfully, will lead to the players gaining the WSET Level One Award in Wine.

(Photo by Christopher Lee/Getty Images)

Head Distiller Abhi Banik holding a bottle of Son of a Gun.

This week Copper Rivet Distillery hosted a ‘whisky to be’ tasting, whereby the team showcased their Son of a Gun, an eight-week-old spirit, the ‘first’ English grain spirit, cask finished, made from local Kentish rye, barley and wheat, and also samples of their ‘whiskies to be’.

db‘s Phoebe French attended a talk on hops, hosted by Surrey’s Hogs Back Brewery. The speakers included Dr Peter Darby from Wye Hops, the research centre for the British hop industry, Ali Capper, hop farmer and spokesperson for the British Hop Association and Paul Corbett, MD of Charles Faram.

Erwan Faiveley, the seventh generation of his family to run Domaine Faiveley in Burgundy, takes aim. On Monday the drinks business was invited to take part in Maisons Marques et Domaines’ autumn shoot in honour of the Burgundian estate, resulting in a morning of clay-pigeon shooting at the the West London Shooting School.

The immense mountain of multi-coloured plastic cartridges discarded and collected by the shooting school.

After a morning or target practice, it was back to the lodge to enjoy a feast laid on by Soho restaurant and kebab specialist Le Bab, alongside Domaine Faiveley wines. Highlights included the wild boar adana kebab with roasted hazelnut emulsion and crispy cabbage, which paired beautifully with a glass of Domaine Faiveley Puligny Montrachet Premier Cru Les Champgains 2015.

Situated in Nuits-Saint-Georges, the estate was founded as a négociant in 1825. Today Domaine Faiveley owns over 10 hectares of grand cru vineyards and nearly 25 hectares of premier cru land in Burgundy, including Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Clos des Issarts; Beaune 1er Cru Clos de l’Ecu; and the Corton Clos des Cortons Faiveley Grand Cru.

Team db decamped to 67 Pall Mall for a rare night out this week to celebrate the launch of Wine List Confidential – a new platform that rates London restaurants on the strength of its wine list alone. In our inaugural guide, 67 Pall Mall came out on top, rated most highly for the value, originality, size and range of its wine list.

Head sommelier Terry Kandylis (Moët UK Sommelier of the Year 2016, formerly Best Sommelier in Greece) also proved why the private members’ club also scored highly on service, treating the team to a glass of 2008 Pol Roger in magnum.

db caught up with the lovely Cono Sur crew (l-r) export manager Ricardo Orchard, marketing manager Noel Alonso, winemaker Adolfo Hurtado, and brand manager James Hick at SushiSamba up in the clouds of the Heron Tower this week where we enjoyed a delicious nashi pear Martini beneath the bar’s giant fiery tree.

Cons Sur’s senior brand manager, James Hick, gets to grips with the DIY kobe beef dish at SushiSamba.

Among the wines we enjoyed over an abundant Asian fusion feast were Adolfo’s top Pinot Noir, Ocio.

Across town at madcap new Mexican restaurant Ella Canta, run by celebrated Mexican chef Martha Ortiz, mezcal was the order of the day. We were treated to a tasting of four expressions, including one infused with pata negra jamón.

Among the quirkiest of the dishes we enjoyed at Ella Canta was ‘nationalistic’ guacamole, which is served with an edible golden grasshopper.

Having voiced his doubts about the true extent of the significance of terroir during the inaugural Pinot Alliance tasting held at the Andaz hotel in London, Aussie winemaker Dave Bicknell let off steam by wowing his audience with a more fun way of drinking wine at Hawksmoor Guildhall.

…which caught the attention of Master of Wine Richard Bampfield and wine writer Guy Woodward.

db had to slum it this week at Hotel Crillon-le-Brave in Provence, perched on a hilltop village close to Mont Ventoux with breathtaking vineyard views.

We made the most of the sunshine by cycling to a quarry where the raw materials to make Perrier’s glass bottles come from for an abundant picnic that included rustic paté, gooey goat’s cheese and lashings of Provence rosé.

After lunch we indulged in a spot of boules in between sips of pastis.

We couldn’t resist sneaking a peak in Hotel Crillon-le-Brave’s cellar, which is stocked up with old vintages of Château Rayas and a (sadly empty) mammoth bottle of Pol Roger.

Havana Club celebrated the Dia del Cantinero (day of the bartender) last Saturday with a Global Cocktail Boomerang to raise money for people affected by the natural disasters in Mexico, the Caribbean, Central and North America and Asia. The campaign hopes to raise £100,000 for GlobalGiving.com by the end of the month.