#WeekInPictures: Bond at Duke’s and Spanish wine takes the stage

This week’s pictures featured a major new whisky tourism opening on the banks of Loch Lomond, a suitably cinematic Macallan tasting at Duke’s, and a masterclass that reminded us that wine history is shaped by the rare bottles that genuinely change the conversation.

Scotland’s First Minister opens Luss Distillery on Loch Lomond

The Rt Hon John Swinney MSP, First Minister of Scotland, officially opened Luss Distillery, Loch Lomond Group’s new multi-million-pound distillery and visitor experience on the banks of Loch Lomond. Designed as a whisky and gin destination in the village of Luss, the site includes a working distillery, tasting spaces, retail and a café overlooking the loch. The group expects up to one million visitors in 2026, with the new opening positioned as one of Scotland’s most significant recent investments in whisky tourism.

Macallan marks Diamonds Are Forever at Duke’s

‘Diamonds Are Forever’ 55th Anniversary Release was tasted at the Delaney Drawing Room at Duke’s hotel, its bar long associated with Ian Fleming, on the invitation of George Michie, brand ambassador. Russell Greig, Speyside-born Whisky Maker with eight years at The Macallan, framed the release, where Sean Connery’s Bond exposes a spurious 1955 Mouton Rothschild. Distilled in 2007 – its ‘007’ charge intact – it is aged 18 years in sherry-seasoned European and American oak, including Rioja casks, the ‘Nevada Rock’ hue giving way to dried fruit and cocoa. 45.5%, one bottling, quantity undisclosed, £600 RRP, with presentation showing Bond production artwork.

Berkmann Wine Cellars explores eight wines that changed the world

Berkmann Wine Cellars’ masterclass, Eight Wines That Changed the World framed wine as a series of decisive leaps. Alex Hunt MW and Emma Dawson MW structured the tasting as chapters, beginning with Georgia and wine as a practice older than writing itself, moving through Roman Falernum as the first luxury brand, Burgundian monastic mapping as the birth of terroir, Bordeaux shaped by global trade, and the Super Tuscan revolt, driven by Tignanello. Australia’s Yarra Yering marked a turn from fortified dominance to site-led restraint in the New World, Stag’s Leap traced the aftershock of the Judgement of Paris, and Champagne Jacquesson closed by restoring seriousness to non-vintage Champagne through patience, precision and transparency. Together, the wines formed a roll-call of greatness and evidence of how certain bottles reset expectations and change what follows.

Hallgarten welcomes 1,600 guests to The Annual Tasting 2026

Hallgarten welcomed close to 1,600 guests across two days at The Annual Tasting 2026, pouring more than 900 wines and hosting over 200 supplier partners from 22 countries. The tasting underlined the scale of the portfolio and the continued appetite for face-to-face trade events, with Coterie Holdings’ CEO also sitting down with db for an interview during the show.

Barcelona Wine Week 2026

Barcelona Wine Week 2026 closed after three days of tastings, talks and packed halls, welcoming 26,000 attendees and 1,350 wineries from 90 Spanish regions and quality seals. Conversations leaned heavily towards export ambition, the fast-moving no and low category, a shift towards white wine, new thinking in Cava and the practical realities of climate adaptation. The fair continues to position itself as Spain’s sharpest international shop window, driven as much by image as by volume.

Laurent-Perrier at London’s Lanesborough

Champagne Laurent-Perrier cellar master Olivier Vigneron and assistant oenologist Constance Delaire came to London this week to present the maison’s latest release of its prestige cuvée – Grand Siècle Iteration No.27. First poured to UK press over lunch at The Lanesborough Hotel, the numbered multi-vintage expression unites Champagnes from the harvests 2015, ’13 and ’12, before ageing the blend for 10 years in the producer’s cellars. The result is a delicious fizz rich in flavours of fresh and dried fruit, mixed with notes of roasted nuts and coffee beans.

Brother’s Bond Bourbon makes its UK debut at 1 Hotel Mayfair

Brother’s Bond Bourbon marked its UK debut at Dover Yard, 1 Hotel Mayfair, imported by Maverick Brands. Founded by Ian Somerhalder with Paul Wesley, Somerhalder tied the brand directly to the brotherhood at the heart of The Vampire Diaries – the on-screen relationship between two vampire brothers, which carried the series across eight seasons and into the upper tier of global streaming. That idea of bond, complex rather than sentimental, became the name and the brief. In the glass, the Straight Bourbon opened on banana bread spread with lard, lifted straight from memories of a poor Louisiana childhood. The Rye, blended and reworked over a year, came across tender, with a rose-stem note traced to a single cooperage. Bottled in Bond, aged seven years, nodded to the 1897 Act, malted rye as the ‘special sauce’. The Regenerative Blend widened the frame again, foregrounding grain farmers and importing wine’s language of terroir and season, with cereals grown minutes from the distillery and a proprietary toast driving early wood exchange. A Brother’s Bond London taxi waited outside.

Yealands launches Babydoll Sauvignon Blanc at Swingers Crazy Golf

On Monday, Yealands Estate Wines staged a refreshingly un-serious UK launch for Babydoll Sauvignon Blanc, now available exclusively to the on-trade via Matthew Clark. Held at Swingers Crazy Golf Club in London, the event paired the wine with signature Babydoll cocktails, street food and a mini-golf competition, with team “Woolly Wanderers” taking the prize and winning vouchers to dine out with Babydoll.

Named after the miniature Babydoll sheep which graze in Yealands’ vineyards to keep grass growth in check and reduce tractor mowing, the Sauvignon Blanc was poured by chief winemaker Natalie Christensen, who described it as bright and fresh with citrus drive and layers of tropical fruit and flowering herbs.

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