Week in pictures

Scary costumes, swanky parties and the Terminator. What else could you possibly need from a week (okay, fortnight) in pictures?

 

 

 

 

 

Hasta la vista, Davey: UK Prime Minister David Cameron exchanges wine with California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger as the former Terminator star visited Downing Street.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cameron received a three litre bottle of 2006 E&J Gallo Estate Cabernet Sauvignon from Schwarzenegger. The bottle, etched with the Union Flag and personalised with the Prime Minister’s name, contains Cabernet Sauvignon from the Sonoma region in California. Governor Schwarzenegger was travelling to Europe and Asia in order to promote the state’s products and services.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Com-scare: Charles Metcalfe doubtless frightened a few kids as he made his way home from compering the 2010 Côtes du Rhône Hallowe’en quiz night.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

db‘s Alan Lodge (l) and David Hennelly (r) attracted a few puzzled (and not very scared) looks as they geared up for an epic night of quiz glory in the pub before the event.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Free of the confines of his prize-winning costume, db‘s David Hennelly discusses tactics with our senior staff writer Gabriel Savage, who by her own admission was "generally pathetic" in her costume efforts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Answer if you dare: Metcalfe stalks the stage as the quiz gets into full flow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Over in Hong Kong, db editor Patrick Schmitt eyes up the potential fare on offer at the catchily-named Java Road Cooked Food Centre in North Point.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Patrick was in Hong Kong for the Hong Kong International Wine and Spirit Fair where chief secretary Henry Tang Ying-Yen opened proceedings.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

db was amused to find the United Kingdom sharing exhibition space with world-renowned wine giants Moldova and Poland at the fair.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gerard Basset MS MW takes to the stage at the Hong Kong International Wine and Spirits Fair during the Asia Top Sommellier Summit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Out and about in Hong Kong, it’s impossible to escape the feeling that maybe you haven’t actually left London. Tube signs adorning the outside of bars add to the feeling that there is simply no escape. Sadly, the bar did not accept Oyster cards as payment.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is how they drink beer in Hong Kong. Seriously. And it was impossible to get any beer other than Heineken in this particular restaurant.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A rare organic wine from China at the Hong Kong wine fair provides brief respite from Bordeaux. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And back to Bordeaux, this St Emilion attracted particular attention from Chinese buyers at the fair for obvious reasons.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While Hong Kong airport’s duty free contained this particularly ‘special collection’. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back in London, db attended the Grey Goose Character and Cocktails after party in aid of the Elton John AIDS Foundation in Vauxhall, south London. The bars and decor were designed by legendary French designer Jean Paul Gaultier.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gaultier sprinkled his own brand of stardust over an already star-studded evening, with Elton and partner David Furnish playing host to the likes of Elizabeth Hurley, model Daisy Lowe, Doctor Who star Matt Smith and Bond girl Gemma Arterton. Not to mention the drinks business, of course.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Roisin Murphy, formerly of Moloko, spun the tracks as guests partied until the early hours at the Grey Goose-sponsored event.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Guests settle down for the first-ever event at the new Waitrose Cookery School in Finchley Road, north London. They were treated to an evening of beer and food matching led by John Keeling, head brewer at Fuller’s, and Tim O’Rourke, a consultant at The Beer Academy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The gleaming kitchens will provide a state-of-the-art training ground for both consumers and the trade who wish to buff-up on their gastronomic knowledge and expertise.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Peter Finlayson of Bouchard Finlayson asks what the future holds for South Africa’s wine industry at a seminar during the annual Wines of South Africa tasting at Vinopolis, London.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A promotional poster for Watson’s Wine Cellar in Hong Kong featuring, yes, that’s right, Bordeaux. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Natalie and Joe Assaad Touma present their wines from Clos St Thomas at the first UK Wines of Lebanon tasting at One Aldwych.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Captain Habib Karam shows off his appropriately-named Cloud Nine at the Wines of Lebanon tasting – available on all MEA flights.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alex Clark from 64th & Social in Clapham, south London, celebrates being crowned winner of the Jack Daniel’s Birthday Cocktail Competition in Tennessee, alongside Jack Daniel’s master taster Jeff Norman (l) and master distiller Jeff Arnett (r).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bartenders show off their skills at Patrôn’s first Tequila bar in Europe, which opened at the Cumberland Hotel in London.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

…and db did when it spotted this on a sofa in Hong Kong’s upmarket Renaissance hotel. 

db, 08.11.2010