The week in pictures: 3-9 June

This week in pictures features the opening of Gaucho Covent Garden, an Abruzzo wine masterclass, the launch of Yalumba’s The Caley 2018, the first brandy distilled in London for 200 years and the first vintages for English Wine Week.

Gaucho Covent Garden

Famous celebs including reality TV personalities and influencers Megan Barton-Hanson and Demi Sims, Big Has and Will Manning, along with a number of Strictly Coming Dancing stars such as Tyler West, Dr. Ranj Singh, Katya Jones, Nadiya Bychkova, James Jordan and Ola Jordan, attended the launch of Gaucho Covent Garden.

Guests enjoyed Pommery champagne, Whispering Angel rosé and signature cocktails such as the Highlander, a combination of Johnnie Walker Black Label whisky, Roots Diktamo, Tio Pepe Sherry, Peychaud’s, vanilla and cherry.

Abruzzo

This week, db staff writer Louis Thomas has been in Italy attending events and masterclasses in the Abruzzo regio on the country.

The wines chosen by db contributor Filippo Bartolotta for his masterclass on the lighter side of Montepulciano d’Abruzzo at this year’s Abruzzo Wine Experience in Città Sant’Angelo.

Cerasuolo d’Abruzzo: Abruzzo’s dark-hued take on rosato.

Cat in the winery at Tenuta i Fauri.

Chamlija

Mustafa Çamlica of Chamlija Wines, our Cabernet Sauvignon Master Winemaker of the Year in this year’s Master Winemaker 100, showed the drinks business‘ Andrew Oliver around his vineyards and plans for the company.

Andrew and Mustafa at one of his plots of Cabernet Sauvignon in Eastern Thrace in Turkey.

Mustafa showing a new site for Cabernet Sauvignon being planted. Note the altered red limestone soils and the old river bed running through it.

A View of a Chamlija Pinot Noir plot with a Riesling Plot in the distance. This is a relatively cool climate site at a higher elevation in the Strandja Mountains.

Yalumba 

The wine trade assembled at Spring restaurant in Somerset House, London, on Tuesday for a special vertical tasting of the latest vintage of Australian wine producer Yalumba’s The Caley 2018.

The 2018 vintage, the sixth iteration of the wine, is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz from the company’s South Australian estate.

The Caley 2018 is a blend of 80% Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon and 20% Barossa Shiraz, which is both made for cellaring but also drinkable upon release.

Talking at the vertical tasting of the six vintages, Yalumba winemaker Kevin Glastonbury described the various vintages of the wine to-date, as well as his plans for the future and beyond.

He described how the wine from the 2012 to the 2018 vintage had been ‘on a long journey’ and was arriving at 2018 with ‘more purity and approachability’.

London Brandy

Last night, the drinks trade gathered at Burnt Faith’s Brandy House in Walthamstow to witness a moment in drinks history as the first brandy was distilled in London in over 200 years, it claimed.

A small group of special guests watched as the first eau de vie came off the Charentais still at Burnt Faith’s Brandy House.

English Wine Week

The Langham Wine Estate in Dorset has released two very limited edition wines in magnum from their very first vintage in celebration of English Wine Week, which takes place from 17 to 25 June 2023.

The two magnums – Blanc de Blancs and Classic Cuvée – are from Langham’s first harvest in 2011.