The week in pictures

Throughout August, Edinburgh Gin is celebrating the Scottish capital’s 70th Fringe Festival, with pop up bars at a variety of locations across the city and a brand-new show inspired by the spirit’s history, ‘The Art and Science of Gin’.

Utilising cutting edge projection mapping technology, visitors can learn about Edinburgh’s gin history, from its beginnings in the 18th century through to the global search for botanicals and modern-day distillation.

James Bay

On Tuesday, Topman hosted a party on the top floor of The Ace Hotel to celebrate the upcoming collaboration with James Bay which will launch in selected stores internationally on 17 August 2017. Guests sipped on Patrón Hacienda Punch on arrival served in 200ml Patrón bottles alongside Patrónics, Patrón Margaritas and custom-made, barrel-aged Patrón Boulevardier’s. Guests included James Bay, Ella Eyre, Sarah-Jane Crawford, Toby Huntingdon-Whitely, Inka Williams, Oliver Proudlock, Vanessa White and India Gants.

Ella Eyre (L) and James Bay

Chef Patron of Le Manoir Aux Quat’Saisons and TV star Raymond Blanc receives a wine-fuelled kiss from former Liverpool FC captain Graeme Souness. In a Twitter post, Blanc said: “OMG this Liverpool legend, is giving me a kiss of friendship. I, a Frenchman – and a die hard Arsenal fan”.

De Grendel Wines shared this beautiful snap on Twitter depicting the solar eclipse over its vines and surrounding Cape Town, South Africa.

db’s resident foodie, Lucy Shaw, headed to Mei Ume, the shiny new Chinese / Japanese restaurant at The Four Seasons hotel in Tower Hill, where she was treated to a saké tasting that included this quirky drop and a plum saké that tasted like the liquid version of a Bakewell tart.

Among the many culinary delights at Mei Ume was this quartet of dim sum that included a Champagne dumpling fastened with gold leaf.

A few days prior, Lucy was in sunny Santiago to meet with the leading movers and shakers in the Chilean wine industry.

Meanwhile, Anita Jackson, head of Wines of Chile UK, got up close and personal with the Moai statues on Easter Island, which are thought to have been carved between 1250 and 1500.

The Moai heads cast long shadows in the midday sun.

Back in Santiago, Lucy kicked off a busy week of meetings with a breakfast vertical tasting of Almaviva with its French chief winemaker, Michel Friou. All four of the wines impressed, but the 2001 was particularly delightful with autumnal and mushroom aromas, along with cedar wood and spice.

She also caught up with Aurelio Montes Jr and Maria Walker of Montes, who brought two vintages of the estate’s flagship Cab, Montes Alpha, to try.

Adolfo Hurtado and Noel Alonso were excited to show db Cono Sur’s new blanc de blancs traditional method sparkler called Sentinela, which showed impressive elegance, purity and freshness.

We were delighted that Simon Aravena of San Pedro rocked a pair of red trousers to our dinner with the team, which included a tasting of the 1994 vintage of top drop Cabo de Hornos.

The next day we headed to the coast to meet Viviana Navarrete, chief winemaker at Viña Leyda, who waxed lyrical about Sauvignon Blanc and revealed that the best Sauvignon she’s ever tasted outside of Chile is the late, great Didier Dagueneau’s Silex.

That night Lucy headed to Ambrosia, voted number 20 in this year’s Latin America’s 50 Best Restaurants Awards, where she had a delightful dinner with Eduardo Chadwick of Errazuriz, who treated her to a tasting of his top Chardonnay, Las Pizarras, from the Aconcagua Coast.

And the fine wines kept coming – among the other liquid treasured Chadwick poured the night were Viñedo Chadwick 2010, Seña 2015 and the first ever vintage of Don Maximiano – 1983 – which tasted so much younger than its years and made a heavenly pairing for buttery gnocchi blanketed in black truffle.

The blue skies continued the following morning, which saw Lucy head to Concha y Toro’s pretty headquarters in Maipo, where a shiny new cellar solely for icon wine Don Melchior has just been built.

During her visit Lucy was guided through a tasting of the company’s white expressions by chief winemaker Marcelo Papa, including Papa’s divine Quebrada Seca Chardonnay.

We then headed to Casablanca to taste with Ricardo Baettig of Morandé – one of the most daringly different wineries in Chile that champions food friendly boutique bottlings like old vine Cinsault and País from Itata.

One of the more arresting labels we snapped during the eye-opening and inspiring tasting at Morandé.

Keen to show her one of the best restaurants in town, Isabel Guilisasti of Concha y Toro and her son Alejandro Mitarakis, who works for Emiliana, kindly gave up their Saturday night to take Lucy to trendy Japanese restaurant Naoki.

Among the delicious treats we tried was a curious combination of salmon nigiri and a fried quail’s egg, a twist on a popular Chilean breakfast dish.

Over at steakhouse Carnal, we couldn’t help but admire this beautiful but slightly chilling design detail.

Torres’s new old vine Cinsault from new label La Causa paired perfectly with Lucy’s mammoth ribeye steak at Carnal.

Over at Emiliana in Casablanca, the winery’s commitment to sustainable viticulture was on full display as its army of chickens gobble up vine pests.

Lucy couldn’t resist the opportunity to feed one of Emiliano’s resident alpacas.

And finally… smile, the weekend is upon us!