Top new products: December

Tovaritch! Vodka 1.75l format

Tovaritch! Vodka has released a supersized 1.75l format, featuring a newly revamped design with a fine neck, cork cap covered with transparent foil and improved lithography printing. The bigger size is intended to enhance visibility, while the extra weight will help underline the brand’s premium status. Eugenio Litta Modignani, CEO of Tovaritch! Spirits International, said: “I trust it will allow us to reach out to clubs and the duty-free segment around the world, help us to win new customers and expand across geographies.” Tovaritch! is a grain vodka produced and bottled in Russia by Geneva-based Tovaritch Spirits International.

RRP: 70cl, £20, 1.7L, £50.

Contact: Amathus Drinks, simon@amathusdrinks.com

Pol Roger Brut reserve gift box

American artist Sara Griffin, has created an illustrated label for Pol Roger Champagne’s new Brut Réserve gift box, highlighting the history of the Maison. A graduate of the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, this is Griffin’s second label design for the house. Her latest work features an illustration of founder Pol Roger, who at 17 started out as a Champagne merchant, as well as the iconic Maison Pol Roger. The friendship of Odette Pol-Roger and Sir Winston Churchill is also depicted, with the links between both families still strong. The Brut Reserve is made from 30 still base wines drawn from at least three vintages.

RRP: £45.

Contact: Pol Roger Ltd, +44 (0)1432 262 800

Barbadillo Ataman Vermouth

Spain’s Barbadillo has relaunched its Ataman Vermouth, which was created in the 1940’s, based on the tonic wines it previously sold. The bodega stopped selling vermouth in the 1960s, leaving significant stocks to age in its cellars in old oak casks. By analysing the original vermouth, Barbadillo formulated a new version, based on the principal ingredients of absinthe, quassia tree bark, rosemary, Seville orange and elderberry. Its base is a manzanilla Sherry, blended with a small amount of the original
50-year-old stocks, resulting in a vermouth with “a distinct herbal aroma, one that is rich, has a bitter flavour and great depth”.

RRP: £19.99.

Contact: Michael Oppenheim, mo@fells.co.uk

Domaine Bousquet Gran Cabernet

Argentina’s Domaine Bousquet is adding a 100% organic Cabernet Sauvignon to its top-tier line, which has been renamed. Bousquet’s former Grande Reserve label will now be known by the “easy to remember” Gran moniker. “Adding Cabernet Sauvignon to the line is a natural extension, especially considering our French-Argentine heritage and winemaking sensibility,” said owner Anne Bousquet. “The cool, dry 2017 vintage is one of the best in the past 20 years, yielding a small harvest of concentrated but fresh fruit.”

RRP: £15.99.

Contact: Ignacio Martinez Landa, marketing1@domainebousquet.com

Thiénot by Speedy Graphito

Champagne Thiénot has released a second limited-edition magnum adorned with the artwork of street artist Speedy Graphito. A tribute to the city of Reims, the label features the colours of its cathedral’s stained-glass windows “in a joyful game of forms and symmetries”, with symbols from nature presented via vine leaves and branches. Explaining his connection to Thiénot, the house noted that Speedy’s career mirrors its own, with France’s urban street art movement taking root in the 1980s, just as it was beginning its expansion. Just 3,000 magnums have been produced.

RRP: £75.99.

Contact: info@champagnesandchateaux.co.uk

Moët Grand Vintage 2012

Champagne Moët & Chandon has released its 2012 Grand Vintage, the 74th vintage release from the house, and one that triumphed despite the problems presented by an “unprecedented” growing season. Talking about the 2012 vintage, Benoît Gouez, Moët’s cellar master, said: “Nature treated the vineyards to almost every form of meteorological disaster. Frost in winter, frost in early spring, frost in late spring, torrential rain, hailstorms, a cold spell during flowering and, finally, scalding heat and water shortages in late summer.” The final blend was 41% Chardonnay, 26% Meunier and 33% Pinot Noir, with a dosage of 5g/l.

RRP: £45.

Contact: Moët Hennessy UK, +44 (0)20 7808 4400

Anna Rocks Codorniu lollies

Chef Jordi Roca, of the acclaimed El Celler de Can Roca in Spain, has collaborated with Cava producer Codorníu on a pair of ice lollies made with the producer’s new Anna Ice Edition Rosé and Anna Ice Edition, both designed to be drunk over ice. “The refreshing character of Anna Ice Edition and its distinct identity make these Cavas, the perfect ingredients for creating the Anna Rocks ice lollies,” said Roca. To maintain the character of the Cava, Roca adds: “The key step is the immediate freezing at -40ºC to structure the smallest ice crystals.” The partnership is part of Codorníu’s efforts to diversify moments of Cava consumption.

RRP: €3.50 per lolly.

Contact: rocambolesc.com

Lowlander Winter IPA

Made with spruce needles and juniper berries, Dutch brewer Lowlander’s Winter IPA is a 5% white Indian Pale Ale with “hoppy notes and a resinous citrus kick”. Inspiration for the beer came during the height of the so-called “Dutch Little Ice Age” – when bitterly harsh winters caused rivers and canals in Amsterdam to freeze over. During this time, people tended to turn from wine to beer because grains were greater survivors of the cold than grapes. In tribute to “going against the grape”, Lowlander has released this beer to “go against the grain”, by crafting a white IPA rather than the typical dark beers common in the winter months.

RRP: €2.70.

Contact: Jasper Foppele, jasper@lowlander-beer.com

Christmas pudding gin liqueur

A Manchester distillery has released a Christmas pudding gin liqueur in time for the festive season. Didsbury Gin has infused its original Didsbury Gin with a heady combination of cinnamon, nutmeg, mixed spice, plus a couple of seasonal secrets, to create a warming wintery drink described
as “total festive indulgence”. Created by two Manchester gin enthusiasts Mark Smallwood and Liam Manton, Didsbury was launched in 2017,
and is already stocked in Selfridges and Harvey Nichols.

RRP: £17.50 20cl, £28.50 50cl.

Contact: Didsbury Gin, mark@didsburygin.com

Wine cask-aged English whisky

The English Whisky Co. has released a single malt English whisky aged in an ex-Cabernet Sauvignon cask as part of its Small Batch release series. The unpeated whisky is the oldest released by the Norfolk-based independent distillery so far, distilled in June 2007 and matured for a full
11 years in ex-Portuguese Cabernet Sauvignon casks before being hand bottled in August 2018. The resulting whisky boasts “rich dark-fruit flavours and notes of raisins and apricots, with a long dry finish”. Only 885 bottles will be available.

RRP: £56.00.

Contact: sales@englishwhisky.co.uk

Jake’s Saffron beer

Jake Balfour-Lynn, co-founder of Saff Tali, is following in his father’s footsteps by creating the first commercialised saffron beer in the UK, and the newest addition to the Hush Heath Estate family of drinks. While directing films around the world, Jake’s love of food and culture led him to Morocco, where he and his business partner, chef Sébastien Fiducia, trekked across mountains to the edge of the Sahara Desert, in search of organically-grown crocus flowers, offering the highest quality saffron. Blonde in style, but golden in colour, the 4.8% saffron lager has notes of honey and tangerine.

RRP: £24.00 for a case, £85 for a keg.

Contact: Adam Williams, adam@hushheath.com

Henkell Cuvée Unique

Germany’s Henkell has launched a new sparkling wine for the travel retail sector – a traditional bottle-fermented German blanc de blancs made from Kerner, Pinot Gris and Pinot Blanc, aged on its lees for 12 months. “Duty-free and travel retail are both channels that require special attention and products, which offer outstanding quality and design,” said Vanessa Lehmann, Henkell & Co’s global marketing manager. “With the creation of the Heinemann Duty-Free exclusive product “Henkell Cuvée Unique we can further inspire new customers.” Cuvée Unique will be available exclusively in Gebrüder Heinemann duty-free and travel-retail outlets.

RRP: €13.90.

Contact: Vanessa Lehmann, lehmann@henkell-global.com

Hiver Honey Blonde and Honey IPA

Honey beer specialists Hiver have released two news brews; the 4.5% abv Honey Blonde beer and the 4.9% abv Honey IPA, both in 330ml cans. Hiver uses honey as an ingredient, rather than as an additive, which means that much of the sugar is fermented out so only the aroma and flavour remain.
The blonde beer is described as “dry, crisp and refreshing”, opening with aromas of honey and biscuit. A “sparing” use of Challenger and Cascade hops brings “hint of citrus”. The Honey IPA boasts a “woody and earth nose with honey and bramble top notes”, and a biscuit malt character on the palate and a delicate honey aftertaste with a peppery finish.

RRP: £2.80.

Contact: info@hiverbeers.com

Tío Pepe 2018 Fino Las Palmas

Tío Pepe has released this year’s Las Palmas Fino Sherries, selected by González Byass master blender Antonio Flores, with the help of Natasha Hughes MW. The pair tasted over 100 wines to find the best casks to make up the 2018 Tío Pepe Las Palmas Collection, formed of Uno, Dos, Tres and Cuatro Palmas expressions, which includes an amontillado (pictured). “Sherry is thought of as being a wine of consistency, but by tasting through the barrels during the course of the selection process it was apparent that each barrel creates a micro-terroir,” said Hughes.

RRP: various.

Contact: González Byass UK, +44 (0)1707 274 790

Kamiki blended malt whisky

Kamiki is a blended malt whisky made using Japanese malts, combined with specially selected expressions from around the world. After blending, the whisky is finished in casks made from yoshino-sugi (Japanese cedar), which has been used for centuries to build temples (Kami means ‘God’ and Iki means ‘breath’). It is a particularly aromatic wood, imparting aromas of sandalwood and green tea on the palate. Kamiki is the first whisky in the world finished in a yoshino sugi casks.

RRP: £65.

Contact: info@kamikiwhisky.com