The week in pictures

Chef and owner of Café Spice Namasté, Cyrus Todiwala OBE DL, talks to db’s Andy Young and Marie-Annick Consola of Les Vignobles Foncalieu during the wine co-operative’s press dinner at the restaurant on Thursday night. Foncalieu, which incorporates 1,200 winemakers and 5,100 hectares, was showing its Le Versant range of wines, which Todiwala had matched with certain foods.

One of the courses on Tuesday night’s Foncalieu press dinner was this plate with sausage of Goosnargh duck tandoori and chargrilled cutlet of black face lamb in ginger and toasted coriander, which was paired with the 2012 Le Versant Pinot Noir. Chef Todiwala explained that when he tastes the wine he makes notes on the label as to which foods he thinks would work well with the drink.

Television chef Simon Rimmer (far right) with former footballers Robbie Fowler, Kenny Dalglish and Peter Reid at a charity night at his Earle restaurant in Hale. The night saw 70 guests attend the restaurant for the launch of Rimmer’s range of beers brewed to go with certain foods, raising £115,000 for the Marina Dalglish Cancer Appeal.

db’s Rupert Millar with the president of the Sherry Consejo Regulador, Beltran Domecq, at a tasting of en ramas hosted by the Sherry Institute. The Institute posted this photograph on Twitter saying: “Delighted to welcome @teamdb to the tasting table this afternoon”.

db’s Marinel FitzSimons ahead of the Cool Climate Californian Pinot Noir conference conducted by db at the Wine Institute of California tasting on Monday. Among the speakers at the oversubscribed event were Gerard Basset OBE, MS, MW and Claudia Schug-Schütz from Schug Carneros Estate.

@Lucybelle posted this photograph on Twitter of Vanessa Cinti at Monday’s Wines of California Seminar. She wrote: “She’s got style, grace and an excellent choice in wines. Brava Vanessa Cinti! Brilliant seminar guys @teamdb thanks”.

Bringing a bit of rock ‘n’ roll spirit to the annual Wine Institute of California trade tasting in London were these wines from the Mendocino Wine Co. From the same stable as Parducci and Paul Dolan Vineyards, they arrived in the UK last year and are available from Greatwineonline.co.uk.

Fino sommelier Rafa Martin (left) discusses the restaurant’s new bespoke Sherry to mark its 10th anniversary with Javier Hidalgo, director of Bodegas Hidalgo (right). Around 1,250 bottles of this manzanilla pasada en rama style have been produced, which will be available from the end of March in Fino, as well as sister restaurants Barrafina and Quo Vadis.

Green Mark sponsored the annual Russian Festival Maslenitsa in London’s Trafalgar Square at the weekend. The largest Russian celebration of culture, art, music, food and drink outside of Russia was attended by more than 120,000 people, including a number of Russian celebrities.

The Salon des Champagnes at The Benevolent Ball, which took place at the Dorchester Hotel this month. The salon featured Champagnes from sponsors Louis Roederer, Moët & Chandon and Pommery.

The party is in full swing after the Benevolent ball dinner at the Dorchester Hotel.

(l-r) Russ Jones of Condiment Junkie, Professor Charles Spence and Scott King (also Condiment Junkie) sit in the “Green (or grass) Room” of the The Singleton Sensorium they created for The Singleton of Dufftown. Members of the trade and press were invited to explore the three rooms earlier this week, each designed to enhance different flavours in the whisky. The Sensorium was part of a nine-month experiment into new bar concepts, the results of which are expected towards the end of the year.

Alain Reynaud of Château du Parc in St-Emilion shows off the 2012 vintage of his wine at the Circle Rive Droite Right Bank tasting in Piccadilly. He seemed cautiously optimistic about the 2012 vintage in Bordeaux, praising the wines’ approachable, open nature, despite their youth.

The charming Lorenzo Zonin of Verona-based Casa Vinicola Zonin, held a lunch for the trade at Nobu Berkeley this week exploring the theme of how aromatic varieties pair with Asian food, where guests were treated to a vertical tasting of Tenuta Ca’ Bolani Sauvignon Blanc from Zonin’s Friuli estate going back to 1997. The 2001 vintage was the outright favourite and proof that Sauvignon Blanc can age gracefully for over a decade.

One of the dishes we were treated to at the Zonin lunch at Nobu was this pretty plate of yellowtail sashimi, paired with Tenuta Ca’ Bolani Traminer 2011.

The Hart Brothers and Antonio Sanz were bestowed the honour of becoming Caballeros on Tuesday night at the Gran Orden de Caballeros’ 29th investiture, which took place at The Dorchester Hotel in London.

Guigal’s La las from the 2009 vintage lined up at a tasting on Thursday in London this week. The three single vineyard Côte-Rôtie wines racked up 300 points from Parker – each one receiving a perfect score.

Thomas Aske, co-founder of Fluid Movement impressed at The Snow Queen Martini Masters, held in association with The Spirits Business. While most contestants dabbled with fruity, chocolate and chilli flavours, Aske’s confidence in his traditional Martini recipe, and astounding background knowledge of the brand’s Kazakhstan heritage, secured him first place and the grand prize of US$5,000.

And finally…

The Twitterati had some fun at George Osborne’s expense after the chancellor cut beer duty in his Budget on Wednesday, but left the duty escalator in place on wine, spirits and cider.