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The week in pictures

Awards season is well and truly under way, and what better time is there to get a celebrity to pose with your drinks brand?

Campari-owned gin Bulldog helped Lewis Capaldi celebrate his win at the Brit Awards with a VIP after-party this week.

Capaldi had a huge night at the awards on Tuesday, scooping the Song of the Year with Someone You Loved as well as New Artist.

It wasn’t the only thing the Scottish singer enjoyed on the night. Our spies at the Brits told db they spotted him necking Buckfast from the bottle. Mind you, that wasn’t hard to miss, given he did it while accepting his award.The tonic wine brand have also promised to send him a bottle as a thank you.

We all have that one friend whose superpower is getting photos with extremely famous people. Matteo Lunelli, the founder of premium Italian sparkling wine brand, Ferrari, is one of them.

This week, Lunelli was hustling at the Laureus World Sports Awards. The ceremony, that celebrates sporting excellence, took place in Berlin on Monday 17 February at the Verti Music Hall. Naturally, Ferrari was the official fizz partner.

Here he is with Spanish actor Álvaro Morte, who plays Sergio “El Profesor” Marquina in the heist series Money Heist on Netflix.

 

Here he is with retired footballer and Barcelona, Real Madrid and Inter Milan veteran Luis Figo.

 

 

And here he is with Hugh Grant, who was also apparently attending the awards.

 

And in yet more celebrity encounters, World Super Middle Champion Louis “Kaway” Toutin paid a surprise visit to Wine Paris last week, and dropped in to say hello to the team at Champagne Charles Collin

In whisky tourism, historical artefacts from the origins of Diageo-owned Scotch, Johnnie Walker, are to go on public display for the first time in Kilmarnock, Scotland.

 

Sir Alexander Walker II, the grandson of John Walker, who was involved in running the Johnnie Walker business in the early 20th Century, gifted a significant collection of art work to the Dick Institute, with these works remaining on display to this day.

The John Walker exhibition is a partnership between the Dick Institute (stop laughing) in Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, and the Johnnie Walker Archive.

Johnnie Walker opened his grocery shop in Kilmarnock aged 15 in 1820, but the whiskies came later. Artefacts set to go on display include:

  • A hand-written inventory from the sale of Todriggs Farm near Kilmarnock dating to 1819. It records the sale of the farm after the death of John Walker’s father, which funded the establishment of his grocery store.
  • An 1825 inventory from John Walker’s grocery store. It’s also the oldest existing record from John Walker’s shop, detailing its stock of exotic teas from China, spices from Jamaica and, of course, Scotch whisky.
  • A John Walker stock book dating from 1857, recording the growth of the business and its increasing focus on whisky in the year of Walker’s death, when the business passed to his son Alexander. He produced the brand’s first whisky blend, Walker’s Old Highland, the same year, which eventually evolved into Red and Black Label in 1909.

The exhibition will sit alongside the Dick Institute’s Robert Burns display, home to the first book of Burns poetry published in 1786.

Christine McCafferty, Chief Archivist at the Johnnie Walker Archive, said the artefacts are “the crown jewels of our collection”.

“They are remarkable historical documents that give us a fascinating insight into the roots of Johnnie Walker.”

Congratulations this week goes to Nicole Sykes, who was crowned the UK champion of the annual Bacardi Legacy Cocktail Competition.

Sykes, who slings Slings at London cocktail bar Satan’s Whiskers, won with her serve made with Made from Bacarí Carta Blanca rum, crème de pêche, honey water, grapefruit juice, orange blossom water and soda water,

The bartender, who has previously done stints at London’s Lyaness and Voodoo Rooms in Edinburgh, will go on to compete in the global finals in Miami on 6 May.

On Tuesday, Swedish vodka brand Absolut launched Love Letters, a marketing campaign that celebrates “the power and stories of the LGBTIQ+ community, their allies and friends and highlights the importance of being a vocal supporter in 2020.”

The campaign ties in with Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras 2020, which kicked off on 14 February and will finish on 1 March. Absolut is the official spirits partner for the annual event.

Drinks companies have been criticised in recent years for “pinkwashing”  – where brands use LGBTIQ+ causes as a chance to advertise their products rather than doing more meaningful work for the communities they claim to support.

And so to counter this, Absolut has launched a report called Make Love Louder, led by researcher, author and advocate, Dr Shirleene Robinson, to highlight some of the issues people people who lie outside of binary, heteronormative culture face day-to-day.

In a study of 1000+ LGBTIQ+ people, one in four said they saw or heard negativity about the community on a daily basis. Three in five said this happened at least once a week, and almost all (95%) have seen or heard it in their lifetime.

The research also showed three in four allies and friends say they are silent supporters (73%), highlighting the importance of more vocal and outright support for the community.

Australia legalised homosexual marriage in December 2017, but the survey showed the lack of inclusion of LGBT people in Australia’s societal structure has had lasting affects. Exposure to negative messages about same-sex marriage was found to be associated with higher levels of depression, anxiety and stress for LGBTIQ+ Australians during the postal survey period.

Today, the public debate is about the right to discriminate, and over 80% of LGBTIQ+ people report feeling worse during the current debate than when marriage equality was won. Absolut’s Make Love Louder report confirmed 88% of LGBTIQ+ Australians said it was important to see the broader public showing support, to help combat negativity and discrimination.

The report also found that just one in four LGBTIQ+ Australians have been asked how they want to be supported. The most popular ways were:

1. Standing up against anti-LGBIQ+ speech (84%)

2. Using respectful language about the LGBTIQ+ community (81%)

3. Being accepting and considering your own prejudices (78%)

4. Helping LGBTIQ+ people and perspectives to be seen and heard (74%)

5. Listening to LGBTIQ+ people (73%)

6. Expressing support for LGBTIQ+ people on social media (73%)

In big wins, former Made in Chelsea star Spencer Matthews, the founder of low ABV spirit brand The Clean Liquor Co, has raised US$2 million from Lightspeed Venture Partners.

Nicole Quinn, partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners, which has stakes in social network Snapchat and Goop, said the firm seeks out businesses that are “not just disruptive but rather represent a generational behavioural shift.”

In ecologin, Arbikie Distillery has produced what it claims is the world’s first “climate positive” gin from the humble garden pea with the help of researchers at Abertay University.

Five years in the making, Nàdar gin was created by Arbikie’s master distiller, Kirsty Black, with help from Abertay University and the James Hutton Institute in Scotland. The “fresh and fruity” gin is flavoured using natural botanicals, lemongrass and citrus leaf.

Photo c/o Ahna Hubnik and Brad Holt

British wine writer Francis Percival was on fighting form this week as he chaired the Texas wine line up at the TexSom International Wine Awards at The Four Seasons hotel in Dallas. Over 70 Masters of Wine and Master Sommeliers descended on Dallas to judge the awards, which included an impressive selection of wines from Texas, taking in everything from Sangiovese to Blanc du Bois, a white hybrid grown in the High Plains.

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And in renovations, the former Brussels stock exchange building is to undergo renovation work this summer, with the upper two floors converted into a beer museum due to open in 2023.

Called ‘Belgian Beer World’, the new museum, announced yesterday on 19 February) will be devoted to the celebration of the country’s brewing culture.

Little and large: Graham’s extreme formats were on show at this week’s Fells tasting in London where Anthony Symington gave db a tiny taste of a single harvest tawny from 1940 – a fantastic vintage in the Douro, but left in cask as the war got in the way of bottling the wine…

The selection of Humbrecht wines on show in London at the Gonzalez Byass London tasting this week, where Olivier Humbrecht MW revealed the biggest change in Alsace over the past 50 years.

After the rain fell, the sun shone on Thursday afternoon, mirroring the Argentine flag, as db headed to the plush surroundings of the Argentine Ambassador’s Residence in Belgrave Square.

The ambassador opened the doors to his home to celebrate the launch of a three-tier range of wines from Argentine producer Estancia Mendoza. Jetting in from the launch were a quartet from brand owner Fecovita – Argentina’s largest wine company and the 10th biggest wine producer in the world. From left to right are: winemaker Marcelo Parolaro, head of export, Juan Pablo Grillo, Gustavo López Viñals, strategic business manager, and CEO Juan Angel Rodriguez.

Fecovita’s CEO, Juan Angel Rodriguez, welcomed the audience to the ambassador’s residence before we were treated to a mesmerising tango routine.

The three-tier Estancia Mendoza  range comprises an entry level Malbec and Chardonnay; an Uco Valley Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon and Malbec/Cab Franc blend; and a single vineyard Malbec from the Uco Valley. The range has been developed in collaboration with Paul Schaafsma of Benchmark Drinks, who will be distributing the wines, which are already on sale at Morrisons, in the UK and Ireland.

Stealing the show at the event was Mylene, an adorable 12-year-old pug owned by Linette de Jager, the Argentine ambassador’s wife, who introduced her to the guests. Fond of tango and empanadas, Mylene has her own Instagram page – you can follow her adventures through the @diplopug handle.

db’s editor, Lucy Shaw, couldn’t resist a cuddle, and was delighted to discover that she and Mylene were wearing matching pale blue and white outfits in a hat tip to the Argentine flag.

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