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Slideshow
The week in pictures
In black tie dos, industry body UKHospitality and The Nth Degree Global joined together to host the third annual The Restaurant Association Gala Dinner at The Savoy Hotel in London on Monday (24 February).
The great and good of the foodie world put on their gladrags for the gala dinner, including James Martin, Tom Aikens, Brian Turner CBE, Antony Worrall Thompson, and Ainsley Harriott MBE (pictured)
The Restaurant Association Award for Services to Hospitality for 2020, designed and sponsored by Fabergé, was presented to Brian Turner CBE by James Martin
Congratulations this week goes to Paul Fauvel, head sommelier at The Lanesborough in London, who was crowned the winner of the UK leg of the Ruinart Sommelier Challenge 2020 at a heated final at Somerset House on Wednesday.
A panel of seasoned wine experts, including Ruinart’s chef de cave Frédéric Panaïotis, Ronan Sayburn MS, and last year’s winner Jitka Auermüllerová, whittled the 80 entries down to just 26 finalists.
As well as a blind tasting competition, Panaïotis gave an in-depth masterclass on ‘The Ripening of a Grape Berry’, illustrating how grape maturity is precisely assessed in Champagne in general, and at Ruinart in particular, in order to select the optimal harvest date.
Fauvel said of the day: “It was a good opportunity to challenge my tasting skills, learn more, and also to meet the other Sommelier finalists. The Masterclass was super interesting – I couldn’t believe how much goes into determining the right date to harvest! And I’m really looking forward to my trip to Champagne, as I’ve heard it’s an exceptional experience.”
Runners-up Dion Wai from Dinner at Heston Blumenthal and Dorianne Neimard from New Street Wine will each receive a Magnum of Ruinart Rosé NV, while Fauvel will join the winners of 20 editions being run across 13 countries worldwide (including Japan which joined the line-up this year) will participate in an all-expenses paid, four-day educational trip to Champagne in June, hosted by Panaïotis and his team of winemakers.
In more tasting news, 20 years after the inaugural fixture between the universities of Edinburgh and St Andrews, members of the wine trade and press gathered in the Scottish capital to celebrate the occasion.
Edinburgh’s New Club played host to the annual match between the rival Scottish institutions, but this year there was a difference: a writers vs wine merchants competition held on the previous day (20 February).
In sponsorships, Haig Club Clubman, the Scotch co-owned by David Beckham and Diageo, has been named as the official whisky of football club Inter Miami.
Major League Soccer’s newest club, Inter Miami is part-owned by Beckham. The team is due to play its first match against LAFC on Sunday.
In on-trade updates, City brasserie Bob Bob Cité is placing a maximum mark up of £75 a bottle (regardless of format size) on all its wines.
The 280 wines and 120 Champagnes on the list in all sizes from bottle to Methuselah (six litres) will be subject to the new mark-up which is to be a permanent feature and not a limited time offer.
In bright young things, Diageo-owned non-alcoholic ‘spirit’ Seedlip has launched The Beasley 24, a new bartender programme built around “the future leaders of the drinks industry.”
The advocacy programme will see Diageo collect a group of bartenders in London and beyond to become brand ambassadors for low ABV and booze-free cocktails made with Seedlip and its sister brand Æcorn, with a series of events that will culminate in a visit to Beasley, Seedlip’s new brand home in Lincolnshire.
On Thursday, London’s trendiest beer festival, BrewLDN, kicked off at the Old Truman Brewery. The first night saw a special performance from the Old Dirty Brasstards, which you can relive here.
In “denial”, rum brand Malibu is bringing summer to the least likely places this winter with a PR campaign called the Malibu’s Summer Feels Tour.
Glasgow was the first stop of the tour this year, where it rains an average of 170 days of the year.
The rum brand held an event at Glasgow’s Bananamoon on 21 February, featuring a set from the Weaver Brothers, who’ve played at Glastonbury and Secret Garden Party. Further stops on the Summer Feels Tour include Seyðisfjörður, Iceland whose residents are deprived of sunshine for four months of the year, and Winnipeg, Canada where temperatures can be as low as -47c during winter.
Following the party, Malibu has also launched a competition offering Glaswegians the chance to win a trip to the Caribbean to participate in the Malibu Games 2020.
Cartagena, Spain – May 17, 2017: New Lidl supermarket building illuminated at dusk. Lidl is german discount supermarkets chain based in Neckarsulm, Germany
In refunds, UK discounter Lidl has awarded Barnstaple resident Chris Burke £98.91 after a “faulty” cork caused red wine to splatter over his kitchen wall and blind.
Burke received compensation from the German retailer after apparently spending £123 on kitchen repairs.
“I placed a corkscrew on the top and the cork slipped straight into the bottle and red wine squirted, or ejaculated if you like, out the bottle all over my white walls,” Burke said.
“The three walls had to be repainted and the kitchen blind was covered in red wine so that will need to be replaced.”
In broadening portfolios, British baked goods behemoth Warburtons is brewing beer with stale crumpets in partnership with sustainable brand Toast Ale.
It is the first non-baked product in Warburtons’ over 140 year history.
The beer, described as a “light session IPA” with 4.2% ABV, is made by replacing the malted barley in the beer with crumpets leftover in Warburtons’ production, extracting starches and sugars and breaking them down into fermentable sugars.
UK-based drinks supplier Benchmark has which supplies the UK retail market, has appointed Sainsbury’s wine buyer Richard Dennis as its new marketing director.
Dennis managed a £380 million budget at the grocer, and implemented a major category range review consolidating the range by 18%, increasing average category profit by 2%.
He was also part of the team at Ehrmanns which launched wine label Beefsteak Club, which has grown to a value of £8 million in five years.
His new role will mean managing Benchmark’s brands including Graham Norton, Ian Botham, Sarah Jessica Parker, Burch Family Wines and the recent addition of the Fecovita portfolio.
I am still not sure whether Ainsley should be forgive for introducing the world to Sammy Salt and Percy Pepper.