The week in pictures

Hendrick’s unveiled its “sensory emporium” at the Edinburgh Fringe festival this week, a concept described as an “unprecedented panoply of sensory enlightenment” that will offer “audible, palatable and tangible stimulation to all curiously minded individuals”.

Among its sensory experiments was the “quietest bar on earth”, where visiting patrons are asked to cleanse their palate from “sensory overload” and enjoy a “state of stillness as you marvel at the art of the wondrous Martini”, while wearing noise-cancelling headphones.

Credit: Phil Wilkinson

Not one for convention, the Hendrick’s team arrived to the festival on penny farthings ahead of the launch of its sensory emporium. The Edinburgh Festival Fringe runs from 7 to 30 August.

db jetted off to Greece this week to explore its wine regions, among them the mountainous Peloponnese. Arriving at Domaine Skouras, its founder George Skouras was on hand to take us on a tour of its winery and vineyard, showing off bunches of Agiorgitiko just weeks before the harvest.

Capable of producing light rosé to full-bodied reds, Agiorgitiko is one of the region’s most most prominent exports and is often blended with international varieties.  

A fine looking bunch of Agiorgitiko at Domaine Skouras.

Rounding off a three day trip which took us from the northern Greek region of Macedonia, to the Peloponnese, we moved further south to the isle of Crete, where we visited the Alexakis Winery – one of the country’s biggest producers.

Its winemaker Demetri Tsoupeis works with 1,000 winemakers to source its grapes, with the winery itself owning 100 hectares of vines. This vineyard located at its winery, just outside of Heraklion, growing varieties including Vilan, Vidiano and Malandaria.

Keen to show off how Cretan cuisine can compliment its wines, we were whisked off to nearby Agia Pelagia where we feasted on monstrous-sized prawns, white grouper and a quinoa salad. A full picture round up on the trip will be posted next week.

Chafor Wine Estate in Buckinghamshire opened its doors to a fleet of sports cars this week, welcoming members of the Aston Martin Owners Club. Despite a forecast of “occasional light showers”, dozens of vintage car enthusiasts lined up their motors at the family-run vineyard for the club’s summer meet.

Tim and Stephanie Chafor

Set in the heart of the Buckinghamshire countryside, Chafor planted its first vines on its 23 acre estate in 2003. The winemaking is overseen by Tim and Stephanie Chafor, who are successfully cultivating Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier, alongside more Madeleine Angevine and Bacchus.

Sophie McLean of Bancroft Wines (far left) joined the Hawksmoor crew on a trip to Bodegas Remirez de Ganuza in Rioja Alavesa this week, which involved a cycling tour of the vineyard, a tasting of its new white, and, with the mercury rising to 40 degrees, a much-needed dip.

Pork crackling brand Mr Trotters has hooked up with South-West London’s Touch Rugby Club, the Trotters TRFC, as a sponsor. As part of the collaboration, the boys will wear Mr Trotter branded t-shirts on the pitch. 

“It is wonderful to be associated with such a great team of men and we trust that our triple-cooked porky delicacies will give them the same impetus as they gave explorer David Hempleman-Adams in his successful race alongside four wounded soldiers from the Royal Dragoon Guards to the North Pole,” said Mr Trotter’s co-founder, Matthew Fort. 

Who says men can’t multi-task? db headed to The Lockhart in Marylebone this week for the opening of its new downstairs bar, Showdown, manned by cocktail whiz Matt Whiley.

The American theme stretches to the cocktails, which include an iced tea on tap made with milk-washed moonshine and maple; and the Smoking Bandito, featuring Patron Tequila, corn, smoked chicory butter and lime.

We also moseyed on down to the recently revamped Fire Station in Waterloo, which has made the most of its past life, turning old fire hoses into fetching light fixtures.

In keeping with the fire station theme, cocktails come with our smokey twist. Our favourites were the Smoked Cherry Manhattan, made with Bulleit Bourbon, Cherry Herring, Little Rouge and oaked-smoked cherry syrup; and the Honey & Basil Smoked Daiquiri featuring applewood smoked Havana 3YO rum.

db’s deputy editor, Lucy Shaw, was lucky enough to be invited to a day at the races with English sparkling wine brand Nyetimber, which set up a bespoke bar at Glorious Goodwood selling the 2006 and 2010 vintages of Classic Cuvée (as poured here by Luke Smith) alongside its rosé.

Also invited to enjoy the fun were James Chase (far right) of Chase Distillery and his business partner Dominic Jacobs (far left) owner of The Running Horse Pub in Mayfair, which boats a horse riding-themed Julep bar, The Whip, upstairs. The pair struck it lucky on their first race, winning with a horse named after Dominic’s favourite curry.

And they’re off…

Nyetimber’s senior brand manager, Alastair Keeble, kindly made sure that Lucy’s glass was topped up at all times.

Fellow senior brand manager Charity Finnigan was charitable enough to go on an ice cream run during the races, to cool us down.

We rounded off the week with a trip to the shiny new Camino Bankside, a tortilla’s toss from our office, run by affable Hispanophile Richard Bigg. His latest Spanish site allows all diners the high table experience, with the majority of seating centred around a long bar spanning the length of the restaurant.

We kicked off our feast with gooey Serrano ham croquetas and a bowl of pimientos de padrón enjoyed with a refreshing glass of Lustau Fino.

Things stepped up a gear with the arrival of succulent chipirones with aioli, which disappeared devastatingly quickly from the bowl and paired delightfully with a carafe of Rafael Palacios’ Godello Bolo.

Then came a must try dish inspired by the burger at Opera Tavern: a juicy mini Ibérico pork burger served with a side of patatas bravas.

The “arroz negro”, black rice with cuttlefish, squid ink and aioli looked like an oil slick but tasted heavenly.

… and finally, no trip to Camino would be complete without the garlic prawns, which arrived swimming in a sea of salty garlic oil that we mopped up with hunks of bread and washed down with a juicy glass of Viña Zorzal Garnacha 2013, sending us off into the night as happy as a pair of suckling pigs in a field of acorns.