Top 10 db magazine covers

The drinks business is not known for colouring within the lines when it comes to its cover art, preferring instead to strike out of the box with images that we hope will invite intrigue and interest.

November 2009

Throughout the past decade, we have explored all manner of cover art with the aim of bringing to life the fast-paced and dynamic drinks industry and complementing our writers’ in-depth analysis of the global drinks market.

From bespectacled bulldogs to bull fighters and lollipops, the drinks business has shown itself to be anything but constrained when it comes to selecting its front cover – a defining feature of any publication.

Proud to stand out from the crowd, here we roundup a selection of our most memorable covers, as selected by team db…

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July 2002 – our debut

We have come a long way since launching our first issue 13 years ago in July 2002. Before taking a look at our favourite covers, here is a look at our very first – the one that started it all.

March 2015 – South Africa earns its stripes

A recent favourite, this beautifully purple-hued cover obscuring a somewhat shy zebra certainly “earned its stripes” as a memorable front cover, and a place in the top 10, if only because our deputy editor is obsessed with the colour pink. Recently the drinks business reported one of the country’s top Pinot producer’s belief that South Africa had become the “go to” country for affordable fine wine. 

December 2007 – wrapped up luxury

db went off-piste for its winter 2007 edition with an in vogue cover that certainly struck a pose for the luxury drinks market.

July 2009 – a sweet treat

Our attention-grabbing July 2009 cover made playful reference to the world of Tequila and Mezcal depicting a larvae, or “worm”, encased in a sweet lollipop.

The insect’s association with Tequila actually originated from Mezcal – an agave-based spirit produced outside of Jalisco in Mexico – rather than Tequila. Only certain bottles of Mezcal, usually from the state of Oaxaca, are actually sold with a worm, which are the larvae from the Hypopta agavis moth which lives of the agave plant and occasionally got cooked up in the distillation process. The concept of dropping a worm into a bottle of Tequila was dreamt up in the 1940s by Jacobo Lozano Paez as a marketing gimmick. It has since become tradition, outside of Mexico, to eat the worm when partaking in a Tequila.

September 2009 – reach for the stars

This image of the Mano de Desierto, (hand of the desert), in Chile rising up from the ground provided the perfect metaphor for the Chilean wine industry in September 2009, as its winemakers made further inroads into the global market. Built in the early 1980s, the sculpture is located in the Atacama Desert in Chile and is the handiwork of Chilean artist Mario Irarrázabal. It sits at an altitude of 1,100 meters above sea level and rises 11 metres (36 ft) into the air.

January 2015 – green gaggle

Cono Sur’s gaggle of geese played a starring role in our January 2015 edition, highlighting just one of the green initiatives currently being undertaken by eco-conscious winemakers. The geese play an integral role in vineyard pest control at the producer’s Santa Elisa estate in Chimbarongo. More than 1,000 of the waddling water birds work at the Chilean estate, where they eat insects and bugs during the growing season that would otherwise damage the vines.

December 2014 – sitting pretty

This bejewelled pampered feline added a touch of class to our December 2014 issue, which contained analysis of the luxury wines and spirits that were then ruling the global market. Check out the top 10 most powerful fine wines, as decided by the most recent Liv-ex power 100 list, here.

June 2014 – flying high

Strong, bold and powerful, this image of a Chilean huaso summed up our assessment of the Chilean wine industry perfectly back in September 2008. In 2015, the country is still forging ahead, exploring new plantings and embracing cooler vintages.

California dreaming – 2015

Stirring the hippy spirit in us all, this sun-soaked image that adorned our 2015 California Report made db want to pack up and hit the beach. Not only a mecca for sun, surf and sand, California is of course home to a plethora of world class wines, with more people in the UK than ever becoming seduced by their charms. As our annual report into the Californian wine market states, “except for self-flagellating traditionalists with a deep-seated feat of sensuality, there’s every reason to dive into the delights of California.” Indeed, the Californian wine offering in the UK has come a long way in the last decade thanks to these trailblazers championing top drops from the Golden State.

November 2009 – ice, ice baby

This striking image provided a bold and dynamic cover for db’s November 2009 issue, which carried a focus on the equally dynamic white spirits market. Fast-forward to 2015, and the world’s biggest vodka producers have had to up their game in recent years to keep ahead of the pack in an ever-crowded and competitive market. Check out the world’s biggest vodka brands here.

October 2013 – pretty in pink

And finally we come to this beauty of a cover from October 2013. Widely touted as one of the most memorable in db history, this pretty in pink French bulldog provided a playful supporting role to an analysis of rising sales of Champagne rosé, while proving that no-one resist a dog in cats eye glasses. In terms of rosé Champagne, the best, according to one MW, is still yet to come.