The week in pictures: 23-29 September

This week in pictures features a harvest cycling tour, a tasting of the finest wines from Italy, a trip to Bushmills, a celebration of the hop harvest, and cider on James Martin’s Saturday Morning show.

The Drinks Trust

Riders including db‘s Patrick Schmitt MW have started a 350km weekend charity cycle ride through rolling English wine country – and the participants are looking for your support.

With the aim to raise £20,000 for The Drinks Trust, cyclists are in a fundraising push now as they seek to hit their target, while also preparing for the ordeal, which runs from Friday 29 to Sunday 1 October.

You can read the full story of the ride here.

After commencing the ride at Plumpton College, the first stop was at Ridgeview, where cyclings were greeted by the team today as they journey through the English vineyards and countryside.

Simply Italian

This year’s trade tasting of Simply Italian Great Wines in London offered attendees an insight into Italian producers and regions that are off the beaten track.

The event saw producers from across Italy gather in the grand surroundings of One Great George Street on Monday to showcase the diversity, quality and surprises of Italian wine.

The day was also marked by two masterclasses: one in the morning on Discovering Umbria, by Italian wine expert Walter Speller, and the other, in the afternoon, looked at Vino Nobile di Montepulciano: The History Teller, and was presented by Peter McCombie MW and chaired by the drinks business‘ Patrick Schmitt MW.

Read Louis Thomas‘ report here.

Bushmills

In the company of Colin Hampden-White of The Three Drinkers TV series, Bacchanalia’s Andre Neto, and Valentinas Cap of Annabel’s Club, Douglas Blyde headed to Country Antrim to discover the new Causeway Distillery at Bushmills – the world’s oldest licensed distillery (1608). Bringing an additional six million litres of capacity, though designed to enable further expansion, the £60m, 32,000 square feet facility, faced in hand-hewn local basalt and picked out in atmospheric lighting, runs alongside the existing operation.

Built over the pandemic in just 18 months, the Causeway Distillery opened in April this year on the 450th anniversary of Bushmills. Coinciding with the cutting of the cord by owner, Juan Domingo Beckmann Legorreta, two new permanent editions were launched, being Bushmills 25 Year Old (RRP £400) and 30 Year Old (RRP £2k). And on our visit, innovative Master Distiller, Alex Thomas, showed a trio of personal projects, including a savoury Barolo cask finish, a basalt toasted cask evocative of cherry cake, and a Brazilian wood “corrected” expression.

Hogs Back Brewery

Guests at the Hogs Back Brewery Hop Harvest celebrations enjoyed beer, food, live music and family entertainment in the late summer sunshine. More than 3,500 people joined the fun at the brewery in Tongham, Surrey, over the weekend of 15-17 September, making it Hogs Back’s biggest hop harvest party ever.

Rupert Thompson, Hogs Back managing director, said: “Every year, we say we’ve just had our best Hop Harvest Party ever – and it’s always true! This year we had more guests than ever before, more bands on the Festival stage, fabulous entertainment for families – and we enjoyed nearly all of it in glorious sunshine.”

Bristol Cider Co.

Bristol Cider Co will be featuring on ITV’s James Martin’s Saturday Morning show this coming weekend.

Not only will James be cooking with our award-winning Steam 4.5% sparkling cloudy cider but also chatting with Jonathan Kemp, one of the co-owners.

Bristol Cider Co, started in 2017 by Marcus Chappell and Jonathan Kemp, now supplies over a hundred pubs, bars, restaurants, music venues and festivals in Bristol, Bath, Cardiff and the surrounding areas.

Lea & Sandeman

This Wednesday, London wine merchants Lea & Sandeman celebrated their 35th year in the business with a tasting at the Royal Society of Chemistry, joined by 16 producers from their portfolio, some of whom were present on Lea & Sandeman’s very first wine list in 1988.