The week in pictures

It’s been Way Too Hot since June, so let’s start with something to cool you down.

Is there anything more British than an army officer trekking the highest mountains in the Himalayas in sub-zero temperatures — Oakleys fogged, ginger beard frozen on one side by the icy winds — only to sit down and drink a gin and tonic when the whole business is done?

Well that’s exactly what reserve officer Jake Meyer did on Monday when he became only the tenth Briton in history to scale K2 – Mt Everest’s smaller sibling and the second tallest mountain in the world.

Jake’s Recipe for the K2 G&T: Climb to the summit, then combine one can of frozen Fever-Tree, one miniature bottle of near frozen gin, and a handful of snow. Stir with an icepick, using however many fingers you have left for leverage. See? This is fine. Everything is fine.

On the same continent but world’s apart, as Japan’s “unprecedented“ heat wave continues to blanket the country, sales of summer essentials such as beer, ice cream and air conditioning units have surged across the country this month.

Major brewer Kirin is already planning to ramp up its production at all of its factories across the country, and increase its low-malt output by about 20% over last year, while Suntory Spirits also plans to increase production of ‘chuhai’, a canned alcoholic drink, as well as its whisky and soda highballs by 15% in the two months of July and August.

(Photo: David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty Images for The House of Peroni)

Our spies in East London say the House of Peroni — the Italian beer brand’s annual pop-up — will take the form of a fashion studio this summer, empowering eight emerging designers from around the UK and Ireland to launch their own fashion label.

The designers have been hand selected by a Creative Council, made up of fashion maverick, Jonathan Saunders, Editor-in-Chief of Dazed & Confused, Isabella Burley, brand consultant and The Sunday Times‘ former Fashion Features Editor, Pandora Sykes, Editor of AnOther Magazine, Alexander Fury and co-curator at the British Fashion Council, Anna Orsini.

Nathan Outlaw and Robby Jenks square up before service (Photo: The Vineyard)

Over in the culinary world, Cornish seafood artist Nathan Outlaw was one of seven chefs and ex-charges of The Vineyard at Stockcross, get stuck into some friendly competition in the restaurant’s first “Back to the Vine” dinner series, headded up by executive chef Robby Jenks.

The week-long event, created to celebrate the wine-focused hotel’s 20th anniversary this year, saw seven chefs – all of whom at previously worked at the hotel – return to cook for one night only. Diners enjoyed a live stream direct from the kitchens and an interactive dining experience with seasonal produce and specially selected bottles from The Vineyard’s famously impressive cellars.

On Tuesday, Australian wine brand Jam Shed launched the inaugural summer Jam Shed Supper Club at London’s Southbank Centre. The supper club is a brand new dining experience which features MasterChef contestants creating a range of sharing dishes and small plates inspired by the booze.

This week we caught up with the ebullient and ever-entertaining Chester Osborn of McLaren Vale estate d’Arenberg, who was in town to present the latest vintages of some of the 72 different wines he makes. Over a bountiful lunch at Yauatcha in Soho, Osborn spoke about how dramatically global warming is affecting the wine world. So much so, he believes Burgundy won’t be suitable for Pinot Noir production in as soon as 20 years.

It wasn’t all doom and gloom through – Chester thoughtfully matched his shirt to his dim sum and presented us with the an amazing spinning cylindrical wine label for his Athazagoraphobic Cat Sagrantino/Cinsualt bend, which pays homage to early animation techniques. When turned, it looks like the cat, a homage to his beloved tabby Audrey, looks like she’s walking along beside him.

M&S winemaker Jeneve was in her native country New Zealand this week. During a typically crisp South Island winter’s day, Jeneve had a special wine tasting for the newly launched M&S 9.5% abv own label Sauvignon Blanc and Rosé wines, with their maker Dr John Forrest, who is part of the NZ Lighter Wines programme, and Dr David Jordan.

18 leading New Zealand premium wine companies are taking part in the £8.7m NZ Lighter Wines research and development initiative, led by New Zealand Winegrowers and co-funded by the New Zealand Ministry for Primary Industries’ Primary Growth Partnership (PGP).

db’s editor-in-chief, Patrick Schmitt, headed to Lord’s cricket ground in St. Johns Wood this morning to meet cricketing legend Sir Ian Botham at the UK launch of his eponymous wine range.

At the entry-level is the ‘All Rounder’, with a mid-tier range called ‘The Botham Series’, then, at the top, priced between £35 and £40, is the ‘Sir Ian Botham’ range, available exclusively through Berry Bros & Rudd.

The grapes for the wines come from Adelaide Hills and Margaret River for the Chardonnays, and Barossa and Coonawarra for the Shirazes and Cabernets respectively. The wines have been developed in partnership with Benchmark Drinks, founded earlier this year by former Accolade Wines CEO Paul Schaafsma.

Parisian shop Verny Paris held a tasting of Bollinger and Contador wines earlier this month, and gave guests a retro treat in the form of a Hispano Suiza, which was parked up for all to admire.

Guests had the opportunity to meet the representatives of the estates and enjoy food and wine pairings with down-to-earth, rustic produce, like caviar.

English sparkling wine production is set to double in just a decade, but are people really going to buy it? The key to the industry’s future, it seems, is brad identity.

Taking note, last weekend seven Hampshire vineyards collaborated to host the annual Vineyards of Hampshire Wine Festival at Raimes Vineyard near Alresford, to win the locals over.

Around 800 visitors flocked to the vineyard to sample local wine, walk the vines, take part in masterclasses and graze on local food. Let’s hope they did more than mooch the free samples, eh?

Meanwhile in Kent, Rochester Cathedral is set to host its first wine festival in 1,000 years, as Kentish producers say they’re banding together to host the “Wine Garden of England” this November.

The festival is the first event to be organised by the newly formed Wine Garden of England group, a partnership between seven Kentish producers: Biddenden, Chapel Down, Domaine Evremond, Gusbourne, Hush Heath Estate, Simpsons Wine Estate and Squerreys.

Described as a “friendly collective”, Wine Garden of England (a play on Kent’s title as the ‘Garden of England’) aims to promote the wines from the county top both the trade and public.

The UK’s fizz industry is starting to bubble, but things are getting contentious between the Old and New World again.

Remember the story about Italian ministers spending the past year trying to stop Australia’s winemakers from producing fizz under the name “Prosecco”? Well, apparently the Sicilian grape variety Nero d’Avola is the country’s new sore spot.

The government body, Ispettorato Centrale Qualità e Repressione Frodi dei Prodotti Agroalimentari (ICQRF), claims that based several UK merchants have promoted Australian Nero d’Avola on their sites in a way that could be misleading.

It alleges that by using words such as ‘Sicily’ and ‘Sicilian’ in the wines’ marketing, the Australian wineries and UK merchants are deliberately misleading consumers and the UK, as a member of the EU, should protect the PDO, especially when Sicilian wines are becoming increasingly popular.

And this weekend: trade shows in the alcohol industry can be tricky when you need to stay sober and network, but a festival coming to London will make drinking on the job a lot easier.

The Mindfulness Drinking festival, which is returning on 28 July after its launch last August, celebrates innovation in low and no-ABV drinks; a small but fast-growing niche in the market.

This year’s festival will showcase 10 alcohol-free distilled botanical spirits, many of which will launch in the UK market on the day. Exhibitors will include independent producers like Ceder’s — a distilled non-alcoholic alt-gin made with classic gin and exotic South African botanicals — as well as bigger brands such as Diageo-owned Gordon’s, which released its own “ultra-low” ready-to-drink products earlier this month.

Beer writer and sommelier Jane Peyton will also speak at this year’s event – giving people a personal tour of the ten alcohol-free beers featured at the event from breweries including Nirvana, FitBeer, Big Drop, and St Peter’s Brewery.

Bar group Be at One, which hospitality group Stonegate recently bought for a reported £50 million, will also make an appearance with bartenders offering non-alcoholic cocktail masterclasses.

The event will also feature a “Quit Lit Festival,” with talks and seminars from authors who have written about their journey to cut back on their drinking or have given up altogether.

We got to indulge our sweet tooth this week via a welcome donut delivery from Bread Ahead, which has hooked up with Bourbon brand Maker’s Mark on a pair of Bourbon-laced new flavours. The donuts themselves are made  using the same red winter wheat that gives Maker’s Mark its signature smoothness.

Maker’s Mark’s UK bartender engagement programme, ‘The Makers’, launches nationwide next month, which will explore the elements that go into the creation of the Bourbon by delving into experiences based around wheat, wax, paper and wood.

And finally… we were delighted to have been sent this gorgeous bouquet of flowers from South African wine estate Babylonstoren to celebrate the launch of its mourvèdere rosé in the UK, a “salmon pink” rosé with “hints of strawberries and rose petals” on the nose, so says the release. We’ve got a bottle chilling in the fridge and are looking forward to trying it out, while the flowers are brightening the office and keeping cool under the air con.