The week in pictures

During the Pernod Ricard summer party in Hyde Park, Jameson cranked up the atmosphere with this band, who played a series of hits from cult films – a key focus for the Irish whiskey brand’s current marketing activity.

Harvey Nichols’ wine & spirit buyer Ivan Dixon plays it cool with the Jameson band’s frontman, trading eyewear and sharing some hairstyle tips.

Image credit: Colin Hampden-White

The launch of Champagne Bruno Paillard 2002 Blanc de Blancs at Sketch in London. Developed from first pressings of two Côte des Blanc Grand Crus from Oger and Le Mesnil, and having spent ten years maturing on lees, the wine has now fulfilled its potential and having been disgorged in late 2012 has finally been released.

Image credit: Colin Hampden-White

Bruno Paillard’s daughter Alice launches the Champagne house’s Blanc de Blanc 2002. It is an intense wine, but in no way austere. Predominant flavours of citrus commensurate with its youthful position, it still has hints of honey and biscuit, and the floral notes on the nose are a delightful mix of meadow flowers, blossom and honeysuckle. The wine is complex, but at this stage not overly rich. That will come with age. The balance is delicate, and the acidity is certainly powerful enough for long ageing, but not so overpowering that the wine makes uncomfortable drinking now. Far from it. It is a finessed, balanced and very easy to drink wine.

db was one of the first to taste the Nyetimber Rosé 2009, launched this week, which was on show as part of the Goedhuis Summer Rosé tasting to raise money for the Starlight Children’s Foundation.

Chancellor George Osborne; SIBA chairman Keith Bott; Tatton Brewery founder Gregg Sawyer and Andrew Griffiths, chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Beer Group, enjoy “Pennies from 11” in the Strangers’ Bar in the House of Commons.

Alexander Armstrong and Ben Miller in the guise of their RAF pilot characters during the filming of the latest Spitfire beer commercial.

The Vintners’ Company March for Mobility, a 20km charity walk through the vineyards of Burgundy, raised an impressive £46,000 in aid of The Benevolent. The funds raised will be invested in mobility aids that will greatly improve quality of life for members of the trade who would not otherwise be able to afford them.

Over the course of the day walkers headed north from Chassagne-Montrachet, taking in such famous names as Meursault, Volnay and Pommard on the way to Beaune with a variety of “pit-stops” provided by some of the leading wine producers of the region.

MP Keith Smith with Graham Taylor and Euan Macpherson of the Crisp Malting Group during a visit to the company’s main site in Norfolk, where he learned about the links between the UK malting industry and agriculture, brewing and distilling.

Getting stuck into 31 wines at Napa Valley Vintners’ biannual tasting at the Palm restaurant in Knightsbridge, London. The tasting focused on the 2002, 2005 and 2008 vintages.

Moët & Chandon’s rosé family, part of a tasting of base wines hosted by chef de cave Benoît Gouez at Chandos House in London on Thursday.

Hector Torres, director of luxury wines for Santa Rita Estate, holds court during a tasting of the brand’s icon wines at the New Street Wine Shop in London.

Bordeaux consultant Michel Rolland and Spanish wine entrepreneur Javier Galarreta pose with the fruits of their new Spanish wine collaboration, R&G, made up of three wines from Rioja, Ribera del Duero and Rueda respectively, at new Spanish restaurant Hispania in London.

Chef Bruno Loubet (centre) feels the love from mixologist Tony Conigliaro (left) and French chef Raymond Blanc at the launch of Loubet’s latest venture, The Grain Store in London’s King’s Cross.

Team db was treated to a special delivery from Berry Bros & Rudd this week – a bottle of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s inaugural Provençal rosé, Miraval 2012, made in collaboration with Marc Perrin of Château Beaucastel. BBR’s first shipment of the wine sold out in two days.

O Captain! My Captain! db’s Lucy Shaw buckles up and gets ready for take off during a “Mile High” pop-up restaurant launch in Piccadilly – destination, Sicily.