The week in pictures

This week, the Bruichladdich Distillery on Islay announced plans to expand its facilities with the installation of its own multimillion-pound on-site malting operation.

The distiller is also keen to reduce its impact on the environment. It currently grows 42% of its barley locally, but is required to transport this Islay-grown raw material to Inverness for malting, incurring unwanted transportation costs.

Last year, it acquired 30 acres of land next to the distillery for the malting operation, where it hopes to develop its sustainable farming practices and conduct further barley experimentation.

While the on-site malting operation is subject to planning permission, the team hopes that the new facility will be operational by 2023 as part of a £20m investment.

This week also saw the drinks industry pull out all the pranks for April Fools Day. This year’s fake news included the launch of the a crocodile tears gin from Didsbury Gin (above) and a device for converting your excess gas into sparkling water from Soda Stream (below).

Hampshire’s Hattingley Valley also joked around with the fake launch of and English sparkling wine bottled under screw cap.

db‘s Phoebe French headed down to Plumpton College yesterday for a tour of the vineyards and talk on the institution’s latest projects. Below is the millionth vine in the UK, planted by HRH The Duchess of Cornwall in 2017.

The soon-to-be retired Chris Foss gave members of the press a presentation on Plumpton and its achievements since it was founded in 1926. We were then able to sit in on a number of classes – below the students get to grips with cold stabilisation.

db‘s Eleanor Field headed to the Franklin & Sons supper club this week hosted by bartender Rich Woods, and Great British Menu winner Pip Lacey. As the weather gets warmer, Woods says he’s looking forward to using ingredients including cherry blossom, almond blossom and apple blossom and exploring the technique of carbonation. Above is the jasmine and pink grapefruit elegante, a blend of saké, jasmine syrup, tarragon and grapefruit bitters, topped up with Franklin & Sons pink grapefruit tonic water and garnished with a tarragon ice sphere and trimmed grapefruit zest.

Inverarity Morton’s annual wine tasting recorded a record attendance with over 900 people at the event at the Assembly Rooms in Edinburgh. Braving the tail end of storm Gareth, customers poured into the grand city centre venue to sample from the 500+ wines on show from 60 suppliers. Making their debut in 2019 and new UK exclusives for the wine merchant were Vigna Dogarina (Italy) and Grande Provence (South Africa). New Scottish agencies in attendance included Domaine la Tasque (France), Bodegas Granbazán (Spain) and Union Wine Company (Oregon, USA). Union Wine Co founder Ryan Harms took to the stage to host one of the six programmed masterclasses.

One customer from Ayrshire was so determined to not to let train cancellations spoil their day that they made the 200-mile round trip in a taxi.

This week, Familia Torres further outlined its plans for its projects in Priorat including a new classification for ‘old vines’ and a new vineyard being planted at over 700 metres, having just released a new single vineyard wine from the region named ‘Mas de la Rosa’.

Torres unveiled its newest single site wine in the UK, the Mas de la Rosa 2016 (Celler Val Llach also produces a ‘Mas de la Rosa’ as well).

The 1.8 hectare plot is located at 500 metres above sea level near the town of Porrera, and is planted with Garnacha and Cariñena (Grenache and Carignan) dating to 1939-1940.

UK food and drink was celebrated a showcase event in Osaka, Japan, aimed at driving up British exports to the country. The evening, organised by the Food is GREAT campaign which showcases UK food and drink to the world, brought together much-loved British drinks brands including Johnnie Walker Whisky, Fever-tree tonic water and Surrey-based Silent pool gin, and paired them British beef, Welsh lamb and Scottish salmon for a true taste of the country.

The event was held in partnership with British Airways, which has just unveiled its inaugural flight between London and Osaka. The evening was also the first of several activities happening across Japan to celebrate the best of British food and drink ahead of the country hosting the Rugby World Cup and the Olympics and Paralympics.

Japan is the world’s third-largest importer of sparkling wine by value behind the USA and the UK in 2017 and 2018; and, the sixth largest importer for Scotch Whisky in 2018.

Esther Williams, First Secretary of Trade British Embassy Japan