News

The week in pictures

28 April 2023 By Louis Thomas

This week in the world of drinks, Daou Vineyards wines were served at a star-studded fashion awards ceremony in LA, Heidi Iren Hansen MW was presented with the Madame Bollinger medal, and Douglas Blyde attended a tasting of Oxfordshire wines.

The Beverly Hills Hotel was the site of Daily Front Row’s Seventh Annual Fashion Los Angeles Awards. This edition marked the first time that Daou Vineyards provided the official wine for the event. Among the attendees were the likes of Gwyneth Paltrow, Keanu Reeves, Kim Kardashian, and Brie Larson.

Keanu Reeves and Fashion Visionary Award winner Jeanne Yang.

(Photo by Michael Kovac/Getty Images for DAOU Family Estates)

Champagne Bollinger welcomed the 2022 Institute of Masters of Wine Madame Bollinger Medal winner, Heidi Iren Hansen MW, to the House in Aÿ in Champagne. The visit was hosted by Charles-Armand de Belenet, managing director of Champagne Bollinger, and Denis Bunner, chief winemaker. Hansen was presented the award by the 2015 medal winner, Rebecca Gibb MW. De Belenet commented on the ceremony: “I was incredibly delighted to welcome Heidi in Champagne, and it is always a great honour to meet the next generation of some of the most talented wine tasters in the world. The Madame Bollinger Medal remains a highly prized award and I am very happy that the memory of Madame Bollinger can live on in this way.”

Cong Cong Bo of Amphora, an award-winning hybrid wine shop and wine bar showed gumption and chutzpah when enacting a tasting of Oxfordshire wines in the heart of rival city, Cambridge. The sparkling wares of the deeply chalky terroir of Chilterns producer, Hundred Hills, including a comparison of the same cuvée shown with and without dosage, were exhibited in the glasses of Jancis Robinson and Richard Brendon – and Brendon himself was present to explain their winning aspects. Bo’s next event will see her interview Coravin founder, Greg Lambrecht on the eve of the Wine Fair.

To read Blyde’s review of Amphora, click here.

db met Ivan Massonnat of Anjou Noir’s Domaine Belargus to discuss how terroir can profoundly alter the flavour profile of Chenin Blanc, and whether the Loire Valley could become a feasible alternative to Burgundy for consumers in search of cooler climate, single varietal wines.