The week in pictures

This week, in global collaborations, urban winery London Cru has partnered with California winemakers Sashi Moorman of Domaine de la Cote and Graham Tatomer of Tatomer Wines, to give UK wine lovers their first ever opportunity to compare seemingly identical wines from two entirely distinct regions in California and England.

This forms part of a new ‘London Cru in California’ project, which will add a Californian Pinot Noir and Chardonnay to London Cru’s wine range.
London Cru’s managing director Talya Roberson said: “When we opened London Cru in 2013, it was the UK’s first urban winery, and we want to be the first to extend our brand into the US.

“We’re not interested in slapping our label on someone else’s wine; we’re building a true long-term partnership and aim to open a permanent base in California.”
For the first vintage, head winemaker Alex Hurley will work with Sashi and Graham to match their winemaking protocols with those followed by London Cru’s winery near Earls Court. Both London and California will produce Chardonnay and Pinot Noir from the 2020 vintage, using the same winemaking methods.

In spooky campaigns, Patrón Tequila is launching a series of trade activations that invite consumers to discover the essence of Día de Muertos from 1-2 November.

The Tequila label has collaborated with personalisation store INKD, has created a custom design limited edition for Día de Muertos featuring the iconic symbols of the festivity such as  monarch butterflies, colourful marigolds and the sugar skull.

The bottle is available from Harvey Nichols or online for a RRP of £59.

In Crap Crime Scenes, a man who broke into a restaurant and bar in Sunderland was caught red-handed after falling asleep on the floor next to a half-eaten cheesecake.

Mark Cooper, 41, was one of two individuals who broke into 808 Bar & Kitchen in Sunderland in the early hours of the morning on 24 October.

Wearing high-vis jackets – those famously highly visible items of clothing that would make anyone highly visible at night, particularly if they were doing a crime – the thieves broke into the till, which was empty, and also helped themselves to food and alcohol, CCTV footage showed. According to 808 they filled a cleaner’s mop bucket with bottles of beer, cider and soft drinks, slapping a half-eaten cheesecake straight on top.

In a social media post, the 808 Bar & Kitchen said: “As if a deep sleep mid burglary wasn’t enough, we found him spooning Henry the Hoover with the cheesecake by his side, four hours after he had originally entered the building.

“We realise the festive season is fast approaching but we certainly didn’t expect our very own ‘wet bandits’ to walk through the doors, not least for a cheesecake and a kip on the toilet floor.

“We must actually applaud the two of them for sticking to certain Covid measures during these strange times, managing to wear a face mask throughout the venue while not being seated at a table

“All jokes aside, in situations like these it’s frustrating to think that these scumbags are breaking into businesses when times are already hard enough in the current climate.”

In more comedy news, Australian wine label Tempus Two is sponsoring Canada-born Katherine Ryan’s podcast series Telling Everybody Everything.

The sponsorship deal will run for four weeks from 2 November, and will aim to increase awareness of the brand in the UK, predominately focusing on the recently launched Tempus Two Quartz and Copper series.

Italian liqueur brand Italicus has launched a new platform to support bartenders in what can only be described as a complete ****show of a year.

Called the Art of Italicus 2020, Aperitivo Challenge GLO-CAL EDITION (try saying that five times really fast after a few negronis), will run across 10 cities and up to 80 bars. The head bartender at each venue is tasked with creating a bespokeaperitivo cocktail inspired by their city or region. Italicus will work closely with each bartender to produce content for them to use and promote across their network.

The bartenders with the most creative and original idea, best aperitivo cocktail and overall activation will be selected as the Best Italicus Bar Artist 2020 and will be given the opportunity to showcase their art with a promotional video.

In sports partnerships, Diageo-owned beer brand Guinness was named the official beer of rugby team Notre Dame Fighting Irish Alumni, and also unveiled the iconic face bringing it all together: Joe Montana, who is featuring in a 60-second ad promoting the partnership.

“Good Things Come to Those Who Wait,” the debut ad, will air during the Notre Dame v. Clemson game on Saturday, 7 November.

In prizes, William Grant & Sons was recognised as Distiller of the Year for the fifth year in a row at this week’s International Spirits Competition (ISC) 2020 awards ceremony.

This run of success builds on previous years where William Grant & Sons was awarded Distiller of the Year (2016-2019) and Scotch Whisky Producer of the Year (2015-2019).

In more prizes, Amarone specialist Masi unveiled the winners of the 39th edition of the Masi Prize, which this year celebrated excellence in sustainability.

The event was livestreamed and moderated by Radio 24 journalist Alessandro Milan from the Masi cellars in Valpolicella, alongside Isabella Bossi Fedrigotti, Sandro Boscaini and Marco Vigevani – respectively the Chairman, Deputy Chair and Secretary of the Foundation, and was watched by thousands of users in Italy and abroad.

This year the recognition went to Ilaria Capua, Reinhold Messner and Andrea Rigoni of Civiltà Veneta, Riedel Glass, Civiltà del Vino, and Filippo Grandi, High Commissioner for Refugees, Grosso d’Oro Veneziano.