A new radio advertising campaign for Ctes du Rhne wines will break in October and run for two months. This campaign, in addition to the current six-month sponsorship deal with Smooth FM, will take the wine region's total radio investment to more than 320,000.
The radio spots will appear on Magic FM, Total LBC, Classic FM and Smooth FM, among others, and are expected to reach 4.5 million listeners.
Wine lists, like wines, can be balanced but bland, the smack of tokenism as stinging as the mark-up. Balanced the wine list at The Vintners Rooms is not (at least not in any superficial way). But nor is it bland. Better by far to have a distinct identity, personality and quality - and these attributes the list, the wines, the food, the people and the place have in profusion.
Read more...LONDON
CAPITAL GAINA
THE ART OF YOUTH
The Ledbury, 127 Ledbury Road, W11 2AQ
Make way for the gastronomic brat pack as 26-year-old Australian head chef Brett Graham helps to win The Restaurateur's Best New Restaurant of the Year 2005 for The Ledbury. Since opening earlier this year, Nigel Platts-Martin's latest venture (following success with The Square, Chez Bruce, The Glasshouse and La Trompette) appears to have gone from strength to strength. The menu is adventurous with real flashes of originality, such as a dessert of pineapple and passion fruit ravioli with lemongrass and lime. Sommelier Dawn Davis (featured in the Harpers interview, 16 September 2005) has also been receiving rave reviews from the vinous
point of view.
Brown-Forman will be showing a range of Durbanville Hills wines at the Wines of South Africa Mega Tasting next month, the first since it became UK (and US) agents for Cape producer Distell.
Read more...The wine collection of the late Alan Clark MP is to be sold at auction next month.
Read more...Revitalised seventies brand, Blue Nun, is marking the 10th anniversary of its takeover by German winery, Langguth, with a major bottle refit and an ad campaign for the iPod generation'.
Read more...The Sardinian sibling of Sassicaia has arrived. Called Barrua, it is made at the cellars of Agripunica, the new joint venture between Tenuta San Guido of Marchese Niccol Incisa, the maker of Sassicaia, and Cantina Sociale di Santadi, one of the island's most prestigious producers. The technical director is none other than the father of Sassicaia himself, Giacomo Tachis.
Read more...A privately owned country pub and a fish restaurant have beaten off some of the UK's finest dining establishments
to win the Trophe Gosset Celebris for the best Champagne lists in the UK.
After months of speculation, the Baron Philippe de Rothschild and Constellation brands have come to an agreement over the super-premium California winery Opus One, owned jointly by the two companies.
Read more...Upmarket multiple Waitrose has teamed up with Alcohol in Moderation to produce an eight-page guide called Alcohol and You, which answers the most frequently asked questions derived from a five-year survey of consumer queries.
Germany's Racke Group has taken over the distribution rights for Australia's [yellow tail] brand in Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic.
Andrew Dunne, James Hewitt and Thomas Sloan have been banned as directors for their part in a series of wine investment scams. In mid-July, London's High Court banned 46-year-old Dunne and 37-year-old Thomas Sloan for 10 years, while 26-year-old Hewitt was banned for until 2012.
The DTI said: Their companies, Liquid Acquisitions and James Hewitt Associates, were investment wine companies that promised clients a fantastic return on their investment. In reality, people ended up buying wine at up to three times its true value.'
Leading Rhne merchant and grower Paul Jaboulet An -
one of the major vineyard owners in AOC Hermitage -
is close to agreeing a deal to sell the company to Swiss financier Jean-Jacques Frey for an undisclosed sum.
Pernod Ricard has successfully negotiated with the SPI Group to gain the worldwide distribution rights for Stolichnaya vodka (previously held by merger partner Allied Domecq). It has also intimated that it may buy the brand in the future.
The new director of Wines of Argentina, former perfume marketer Fernando Farr, has said that the UK will probably get a dedicated Wines of Argentina office before 2007'.
Read more...Cognac Frapin and Maxxium UK's malt whisky brand Highland Park have both made additions to the very top ends of their portfolios.
Read more...Joanne Simon and Jo Burzynska are to rejoin Harpers as South Africa and New Zealand columnists respectively.
Joanne, who was born and raised in Johannesburg, joined Harpers in 2002 as a staff writer, after a stint in Cape Town as a political reporter.
Lindemans is continuing its partnership with ITV drama programmes with another year's sponsorship of prime-time shows.
Two Champagne producers have said that the 2005 vintage is shaping up to be one of the best in years.
Read more...London-based auction house Christie's is to take over the running of the Hospices de Beaune wine auction.
