The week in pictures

Rock star Jon Bon Jovi’s Diving into Hampton Water rosé, made in collaboration with Gerard Bertrand, has proved so popular that the entire 2017 vintage has been sold on allocation.

To help promote the brand, Bon Jovi is flying in a Diving into Hampton Water-branded private plane during his current US tour.

A blend of Grenache, Cinsault, Syrah and Mourvèdre, a quarter of the rosé is aged in new oak for six months and the bottom of the bottle is designed to look like coral.

At an event to celebrate its fifth anniversary last Friday, the City of London Distillery unveiled its redesigned labels and presented a bespoke gin made with cubeb, once sold as an aphrodisiac, to the Lord Mayor of London.

Speaking at the event, The Lord Mayor of London, Charles Bowman, gave a brief history of the brand and detailed why it held a special place in his heart.

“Given my busy schedule, I’m often forced to decline invitations, but I always find time for a visit to the City of London distillery! It was the first distillery in the City for around 200 years and it has since become a landmark.

“When I’m abroad, I find myself speaking with pride about our city of culture, its rule of law and of course, its award-winning gin!”

Bollinger launched its RD 2004 at Bonhams in London yesterday, which cellar master Gilles Descôtes urged people to drink within the same year it’s released – knowing of course the UK collector’s penchant for cellaring fine Champagne.

Along with art, the auction house is famous for the incredible cars that go under the hammer. The buyer of these would need their own track, or a massive private estate with plenty of smooth tarmac – these aren’t road legal.

Tim Warrillow (left) CEO of Fever-Tree, and Charles Rolls (right), co-founder and non-executive deputy chairman of Fever-Tree, celebrate the announcement of Fever-Tree’s new three-year partnership with the Lawn Tennis Association and sponsorship of the annual grass court tournament at The Queen’s Club.

This marks the first time that Fever-Tree has been a title-sponsor at a major sporting event.

It was announced this wee that American actress-turned-producer Amy Poehler is to step into the director’s seat with a new Netflix film called Wine Country set in California’s Napa Valley.

The film will feature a group of longtime friends who head to the Napa Valley for a weekend getaway to celebrate a 50th birthday.

Poehler has put together an all-star cast for the comedy, including Rachel Dratch, Ana Gasteyer, Paula Pell, Maya Rudolph, Emily Spivey and longtime collaborator Tina Fey.

This rather unusual delivery vehicle was spotted in the streets of London this week. Even without the name on the side, it doesn’t take Sherlock Holmes to figure out that this is the work of Mayfair’s unashamedly OTT bar and restaurant, Sexy Fish. Much as we’d like to see it, we’re not sure that BBC‘s Top Gear will be testing this one out any time soon.

Consorzio Vini di Romagna held an event on Friday last week at the Verbeke Foundation, one of Europe’s largest collections of modern art. One of the elements of the event was a wine walk where they presented a masterpiece of each participating wineries (there were 11) alongside a masterpiece in the collection’s picture gallery. Above is Kris Van de Sompel presenting the masterclass introduction and below is Enrico Drei Donà alongside a Karel Appel.

Wye Valley Brewery won Gold at the SIBA National Independent Beer Competition in the Cask Champion Standard Bitters & Pale Ales category for its red ale, The Hopfather.

Ben Glover and Rhyan Wardman

Two New Zealand winemakers have bought Seresin’s Marlborough winery, founded by cinematographer Michael Seresin, with plans to turn it into a collaborative winemaking facility called The Coterie.

Ben Glover, the founder of Glover Family Vineyards (GFV) – which includes the Zephyr brand – together with his business partner Rhyan Wardman – who began his winemaking career as the first assistant winemaker at Seresin Estate in the 90s – will take over the estate from 1 May.

Vagabond Wines has opened its winery, bar and shop at the Battersea Power Station Village and will be launching an English sparkling wine soon.

Scottish gin producer NB has announced its move into the US market following a listing at Total Wine & More, a deal which it predicts will generate in excess of £4 million in sales over the next five years.

You can now paint the town ‘English sparkling’ following the launch this week of a bespoke paint shade. UK wine merchant Laithwaite’s teamed up with colour institute Pantone to create a special shade called ‘English sparkling’ to mark the growing success of the English wine category.

The alcohol industry is set to get its own version of computerised ‘latte art’ with the launch of a programmable machine which prints images and text onto beer foam using an edible, malt-based ink.

Last week, Veuve Clicquot celebrated 200 years since Madame Clicquot created a pink Champagne by blending red and white wines.

The event as a whole highlighted an increasingly Burgundian approach at Clicquot, as the house puts more emphasis the best sites for red grapes in Champagne, managing around 30 hectares of its 350ha estate purely for the production of still red wines.

C. Mondavi & Family – the parent company for the Charles Krug, CK Mondavi & Family, Purple Heart and Fortissimo brands – has announced a changing of the guard in the Napa Valley family business by appointing six cousins, collectively known as “G4,” as company shareholders and brand ambassadors.

London Burgundy Week returned this week for five days of celebration and promotion of the Burgundy region and its wines. With three of its winemakers visiting, Burgundy specialist importer Flint Wines hosted trade and press tastings for each of them at the Burgundian-themed restaurant Cabotte : Cyprien Arlaud from Domaine Arlaud, Romain Taupenot from Domaine Taupenot-Merme and Antoine Gouges from Domaine Henri-Gouges.

The numbers recorded on the door at Inverarity Morton’s annual wine portfolio in Edinburgh last week once again affirmed the event as the largest trade wine tasting in Scotland. Over 500 customers poured into the Assembly Rooms in the city centre to sample the 600 wines on show from 60 producers; Champagne Charles Orban, Elysian Springs, Sacred Hill and Kopke Port were among the ten new wineries making their Scottish or UK debuts.

Norwood Football Club visited McLaren Vale’s d’Arenberg winery in line with its 140th anniversary celebrations last Saturday. They were put through their paces under the watchful eye of chief winemaker Chester Osborn, living up to their ‘redlegs’ nickname by helping with the foot treading.