Gastronomy and Wine Portal

The country’s government has banned restaurants and the sale of alcoholic beverages as part of the restrictions associated with the third wave of Covid-19.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the introduction of new measures aimed at protecting the country’s citizens in conditions of the growing third wave of the coronavirus pandemic. Thus, mass gatherings of people both indoors and outdoors, including visiting restaurants, are prohibited. The restaurants sector will be able to work only for take-away or delivery. In addition, a complete ban on the sale of alcohol is being introduced. The restrictive measures will last for two weeks, after which the possibility of lifting them will be considered by the government.

The South African Liquor Brand owners Association has already stated that they strongly disagreed with the decision of the authorities because they believe that “alcohol consumption is unlikely to be the driving force behind the current rise in infection rates.” In addition, such measures, according to the members of the association, can harm not only the alcohol sector, but also the country’s economy as a whole.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, the ban on alcohol in South Africa was introduced three times, and the government did not support the industry in any way and did not compensate workers for the loss of jobs because of the bans. The sector’s losses as a result of restrictive measures amounted to about 36.3 billion rand (2.5 billion USD).

The country’s government has banned restaurants and the sale of alcoholic beverages as part of the restrictions associated with the third wave of Covid-19.

Ukrvinprom Corporation and the Embassy of the Argentine Republic in Ukraine symbolically celebrated the historic victory of the Ukrainian national football team at the Euro 2020 championship. On the territory of the Official Residence of the Ambassador of the Argentine Republic to Ukraine, a vine was planted. It belongs to the variety with the symbolic name – “Glory to Ukraine”. The event took place on the World Environment Day.

“The victory of our national team in a difficult struggle showed the character, strength of spirit and indomitability of Ukrainians. So, we, together with our Argentine friends, decided to symbolically celebrate this historic victory, which marked the Glory of Ukraine to all of Europe, the whole world. I am sincerely grateful to Ambassador Elena Leticia Mikusinski for actively promoting friendly and business relations between the two countries, in particular, Ukrainian and Argentine winemakers,” said Volodymyr Kucherenko, CEO of Ukrvinprom.

“This event, as a continuation of the consistent cooperation of Argentines with Ukrainian winemakers, is of great importance to us. Argentina will always show its institutional support to Ukrainians, Ukrainian football, Ukrainian winemaking. We wish the national football team of Ukraine new victories!” – stated the Ambassador of the Argentine Republic to Ukraine Ms. Elena Leticia Mikusinski.

The event was also attended by Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Cuba to Ukraine Ms. Natacha Díaz Aguilera, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Montenegro to Ukraine Ms. Dragica Panorac, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Croatia to Ukraine Ms. Anica Djamić and founder and president of the Business Woman Club Hanna Krysiuk.

Ukrvinprom Corporation and the Embassy of the Argentine Republic in Ukraine symbolically celebrated the historic victory of the Ukrainian national football team at the Euro 2020 championship. On the territory of the Official Residence of the Ambassador of the Argentine Republic to Ukraine, a vine was planted. It belongs to the variety with the symbolic name – “Glory to Ukraine”. The event took place on the World Environment Day.

Chateau du Clos de Vougeot celebrates the restrictions lift with the gastronomic dinner and night movies projected on the XII century wall in the wine cellar.

Innovation is what many businesses and facilities seek as the result of the pandemic impact. Developing new ideas and creating new meanings aim to reflect the current consumer needs and attract new audience to products and services one offers.

On June 30, Chateau du Clos de Vougeot held a gastronomic dinner prepared by its own chef and a cinema evening with the presence of film director Christian Vincent and winegrower-actor Jean-Marc Roulot. This was absolutely a new event format for the castle combining wine, gastronomy, and cinema art.

For an aperitif, Crémant de Bourgogne brut blanc tasteviné with traditional gougères (a baked savory choux pastry with cheese) were served at the inner yard of the Chateau. It was accompanied by a small historic narrative.

During the dinner, an exceptional meal and wine pairing was proposed. Half-moons of red mullet with crayfish and summer vegetables were served with Saint Aubin blanc premier cru 2015 tasteviné. Roasted aveyron veal tenderloin with oyster mushrooms was paired with Mercurey rouge premier cru 2015 tasteviné and selection of fresh and refined Côte d´Or cheeses – with Nuits Saint Georges 1^er cru «les Chaboeufs» 2015 tasteviné.

Chateau du Clos de Vougeot no longer produces wine and do not promote specific wine producers of the region. That is why you can come across the variety of Burgundy wines on the table there.

Finally, as the icing on the cake, two quality movies about French gastronomy and wine were selected to be projected on the XII century wall in the wine cellar – “Les Saveurs du Palais” by Christian Vincent (The Flavors of the Palace) and “Ce qui nous lie” by Cédric Klapisch (“Back to Burgundy”).

The atmosphere of the transatlantic boat with chaise lounge reigned at night. Besides, the projection directly on the stones gave a special dimension to the films.

“During the Covid period, we had to think about new possibilities for the Chateau du Clos de Vougeot. At that time, we all felt lack of culture – all the theatres and restaurants were closed,” shares Arnaud Orsel, General Intendant of the Confrérie des Chevaliers du Tastevin.

“Initially the idea of drive-vigne involved the projection of the movies on the facade of the castle in the middle of the vineyards. However, the weather conditions transported it to the XII century wine cellar. That is how we came up with the gastronomic and enological festival of films. This is an appetizer to a potential annual festival at one of the temples of Burgundy gastronomy”, he concludes.

Chateau du Clos de Vougeot celebrates the restrictions lift with the gastronomic dinner and night movies projected on the XII century wall in the wine cellar.

After a very difficult year for hotels, on June 19, 2021, the X International Hospitality Awards, organized by Hoteliero, the headliner of the brightest events in the hospitality industry, took place at the Parkovy Exhibition and Convention Center in Kiev.

The award ceremony was attended by over 250 guests, including representatives of the hotel industry in Greece, Czech Republic, Italy, Romania, Hungary, Turkey, Bulgaria, Lithuania.

The International Hospitality Awards has identified the best hotels in 2020 in 25 nominations covering almost all areas of the modern hospitality market.

This year, hotels from 35 European countries took part in the competition. A total of 432 hotels were nominated, of which 143 made it to the finals, and 25 hotels became winners.

Winners of the International Hospitality Awards 2020:

• BEST WELLNESS HOTEL – Anax Resort Mykonos, Greece
• BEST APART HOTEL – Apartments Just Lviv, Ukraine
• BEST BAR IN A HOTEL – Hotel River Side Tbilisi, Georgia
• BEST BOUTIQUE HOTEL – Citadell Inn Hotel & Resort, Ukraine
• BEST BUSINESS HOTEL *** – Nadiya Hotel, Ukraine
• BEST BUSINESS HOTEL **** – OVIS Hotel, Ukraine
• BEST BUSINESS HOTEL ***** – Hyatt Regency Kyiv, Ukraine
• BEST COUNTRY HOTEL – PALOS Resort, Hungary
• BEST DESIGN HOTEL – Hotel Pacai, Lithuania
• BEST ECO HOTEL – Charlton Estate, Ukraine
• BEST FAMILY HOTEL – Forte Village, Italy
• BEST GOLF HOTEL – Theodora Golf Club, Romania
• BEST HISTORICAL HOTEL – BANKHOTEL, Ukraine
• BEST HOSTEL – Globe Runner Hotel and Hostel, Ukraine
• BEST INNOVATIVE HOTEL – Ibis Styles Lviv Center, Ukraine
• BEST LUXURY HOTEL – InterContinental Kyiv, Ukraine
• BEST MEDICAL HOTEL – Savoy Westend Hotel, Czech Republic
• BEST MICE HOTEL – Premier Palace Hotel Kyiv, Ukraine
• BEST RESORT HOTEL – Kempinski Hotel Grand Area Bansko, Bulgaria
• BEST RESTAURANT IN A HOTEL – Riverside Hotel, Ukraine
• BEST SKI HOTEL – AmstelSki, Ukraine
• BEST SMALL CITY HOTEL – Palace Art Hotel Pezinok, Slovakia
• BEST SPORT HOTEL – FAVOR PARK Hotel, Ukraine
• BEST WEDDING & HONEYMOON VENUE – SunRay Hotel & Restaurant, Ukraine
• OPENING OF THE YEAR – Brik Hotel, Ukraine

Secrets of Behind the Scenes

We wondered how difficult it was to choose the best out of so many nominees and how objectively it could be done? The head of this ambitious project Yulia Kotenko told D+ about how the best was chosen.

Hospitality Awards is an award in the hospitality industry that was established by Hoteliero in 2011 and was initially awarded only to Ukrainian hotels. However, after the 5th Awards Edition, its borders were expanded, and the project entered the international level – almost all European countries were involved. And this year, participants from other continents even asked for a possibility to participate!

To be nominated for the award, any hotel can apply absolutely free of charge by filling out the appropriate form on the website. The number of nominees is not limited. If the hotel meets the criteria for the nomination, the participant opens an account where he places documents, photos, videos based on the draft presentation provided. After that, the room for applicants is closed, and the jury begins to work with the information.

The jury consists of 19 members, including recognized international experts in the field of hospitality. This year, only two members of the expert council were from Ukraine. Hotels are evenly distributed among the experts by nominations, and for two months they study hotels according to the data posted in the accounts of nominees, can contact them to clarify information, and then give ratings. After that, the account is closed, and nothing can be changed!

Then they add ratings from Booking.com and TrustYou. The result, which the hotel received, consists of three ratings: 25% by Booking.com, 25% by TrustYou, 50% by the expert jury. The international auditing company Grand Thornton Ukraine is responsible for the transparency of the assessment and calculation of results. Thus, the organizers guarantee an honest and objective result.

Hotels that have scored more than 10 points reach the final – they all come to the awards ceremony, and only here they will find out who will receive the awards!

Congratulations to the winners of the International Hospitality Awards 2020!

And Hoteliero is already accepting applications from new nominees!

After a very difficult year for hotels, on June 19, 2021, the X International Hospitality Awards, organized by Hoteliero, the headliner of the brightest events in the hospitality industry, took place at the Parkovy Exhibition and Convention Center in Kiev.

Specialized online store The English Vine has released the first paper bottle for English wine, which will sell its own range of wines produced in Essex.

The Frugal Bottle is made in the UK by sustainable packaging company Frugalpac and is five times lighter than a glass bottle.

Inside the paper packaging, there is a recyclable food bag that keeps the wine securely and sealed. The release of paper bottles is one step for the Essex-based retailer and manufacturer to sell all their wines in non-glass bottles by 2026.

According to the seller, a recent survey of 1,700 wine drinkers in the UK found that 63% of the respondents would buy wine in a paper bottle.

“As winemakers, I believe we have a responsibility to make positive steps towards more environmentally methods in winemaking. I think packaging is definitely a good place to start,” said Neil Walker, founder of The English Vine.

“I think consumers often view the non-glass packaged options of wine as lower quality, perhaps because in the past it’s fair to say there were some more mass-produced or perhaps lower quality wines which have used this form of packaging. However, we want to lead the way to show that your wine will be just as enjoyable and high quality in a more environmentally friendly packaging such as our new paper bottles,” he added.

Essex will also offer a reusable wine delivery service this summer to The English Vine using an electric wine van.

Company founder Neil Walker explains: “Think milk float, but with wine. We’ve created a service which we’ll be offering to local Essex customers. Customers can use our Vine refillable bottles, or just any bottle they have around the house, and we’ll refill them direct from kegs in the van as requested. We will deliver these to the customer’s door and collect their empties on a weekly basis or whenever it suits them.” 

Specialized online store The English Vine has released the first paper bottle for English wine, which will sell its own range of wines produced in Essex.

Having developed an unprecedented process for heating its barrels, the Larsen house is launching a very original wine brandy, and already finding commercial relays.

This is called steaming the sails of a longship. Called Aqua Ignis, the new label for Larsen cognacs is the “first spirit in the world aged in steam toasted barrels”, summarizes Jérôme Durand, the chief executive of the company (a subsidiary of the Finnish distributor Altia).

Having developed its own toasting of the wood (“bousinage” in French) technique after four years of research, the Charentaise house has patented it and deploys it exclusively in its AOC Cognac range.

“The initial idea is to create a very obvious and gourmand cognac. Both in the expression of fruit (which characterizes the Larsen house) and wood (with aromas of vanilla),” says David Croizet, the master blender of Larsen Cognac.

To optimize the extraction of vanillin during the aging of its eau de vie, the cooper specialist has developed a tender and long toast from 250-liter fine-grained barrels that come from the Allier forests. To prevent the wood from catching fire, the 225-liter barrels were immersed for ten minutes in hot water before being placed for forty minutes on a brazier. Repeated three times, the operation calls a “low temperature cooking”, sums up David Croizet. He is fully satisfied with the result: the extraction of a maximum of fruit and a minimum of tannin (the long heating degrades the tannin and transforms them into sugars).

Not constituting a finish but an aging as it is, the aging in this steam toasted barrel is placed in the second phase of aging, on already assembled eau de vie. The aim is to amplify the fruity aspect of its eau de vie, which is exacerbated by a final alcoholic strength of 42.3. “We reveal what is present in Cognac,” specifies David Croizet who wants “something obvious compared to a finish that can be subtle.”

“This product is intelligible to the consumer. It is not so subtle that only connoisseurs can grasp it,” adds Jérôme Durand, for whom Aqua Ignis “is our current champion”. With a selling price to consumers of € 45 to € 48, the new label contributes to the dynamic distribution of the Larsen house, creating new markets in France (notably Nicolas wine merchants), in Germany (with an opening by July) and in Russia (where the brand is relaunching).

“We have an innovative role, that’s our raison d’être,” estimates Jérôme Durand, seeing in the condition of an intermediate-sized cognac house the opportunity to animate the category and “to address itself to lovers of rums and malt drink. We broaden the scope of consumers by providing them with experience. We are taking a step aside in binding constrains.”

Embracing the innovative leeway existing in AOC Cognac, the Larsen house claims a form of “Artisanal Intelligence”, concludes Jérôme Durand.

Based on the materials of vitisphere.com

Having developed an unprecedented process for heating its barrels, the Larsen house is launching a very original wine brandy, and already finding commercial relays.

Following three years of groundwork, the Austrian Wine Marketing Board has introduced a unique online service.

Where does the Austrian wine you pour into your glass come from? This question can now be answered at austrianvineyards.com. This site brings together all of Austria’s legally defined wine origins on a single interactive map – from the bottom level, where a wine’s origin is simply defined as being Austrian, through to the next levels of the country’s 27 winegrowing regions and 458 winegrowing municipalities, to the top level of origin, where wines originate from one of the highly revered single vineyards (Rieden), of which there are more than 4,300 in Austria.

Interestingly, even for small vineyards, you will find the most detailed information. Every single vineyard (Ried) description contains information about the area under vine, elevation, incline, orientation, average temperature, precipitation and sunshine hours, for example, which are key parameters for determining the quality and characteristic flavour of a wine. The Steiermark (Styria) single vineyards are still in the process of being officially defined, but they should be ready to be added to the platform by the end of the year.

Alongside the digital version, new single vineyard maps of all winegrowing regions are now available in printed form, showing all single vineyards that have been legally defined as such.

Commenting on the release of the Austrian wine atlas, Chris Yorke, head of the Austrian Wine Marketing Board, said: “Right from the outset, our goal was to provide our winegrowers with the best tool to drive their marketing forwards, whether this be to promote ex-cellar sales, wine tastings or exports. However, wine merchants, sommeliers and journalists from all corners of the world can now gain unprecedented insights into the wine-producing country of Austria, too. The project makes us international pioneers!”

After three years of operation, the Austrian Wine Marketing Board has introduced a unique online service.

A brand-new label will dress up the bottles of the exceptional vintage for Smith Haut Lafitte.

This vintage marks the history of Château Smith Haut Lafitte estate along with the best taskings scores ever received so far. Chateau suits up with a brand-new label. This seems symbolic as celebrates Florence & Daniel Cathiard 30^th harvest, 655 years of property and a homothetic.

The vineyard, located south of the city of Bordeaux, in the commune of Martillac, is certified in Organic Agriculture and conducted in biodynamics, particularly with the use of phytotherapy from the own plan garden.

Chateau Smith Haut Lafitte Grand Cru Classe 2020: 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc, 1% Petit Verdot.

Chateau Smith Haut Lafitte Blanc 2020: 90% Sauvignon Blanc, 5% Sémillon, 5% Sauvignon Gris.

A brand-new label will dress up the bottles of the exceptional vintage for Smith Haut Lafitte.

The editor-in-chief of Drinks+ magazine is a member of the jury of one of the most prestigious international competitions which started today in Luxembourg.

On June 18, the tasting sessions of the 28th international competition Concours Mondial de Bruxelles began. The organizers also invited the editor-in-chief of Drinks+ Olga Pinevich-Todoryuk to evaluate the wines presented for the competition this year. In total, the judging team consists of more than 300 reputable experts who will rotate to taste more than 10,000 samples over the course of 9 days.

A good one thousand rosés have already been judged at the competition’s early tasting session at the start of spring, in response to market needs and to increased consumer interest for rosé wines. Award-winning producers now have the requisite promotional and marketing tools as soon as the wines reach the market. A further 9,000 wines are ready to be judged during the 9-day competition. This year, the Concours Mondial de Bruxelles tasting sessions will be held in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.

The Concours Mondial de Bruxelles is an international competition where over 10,000 wines are entered by producers to be tasted and judged by a panel of experts. The experienced wine tasters judge the competing wines with a single-minded purpose, and that is to select wines of irreproachable quality with no biases stemming from the label or an appellation’s prestige. The competition is one of the leading events of its kind in the world.

The editor-in-chief of Drinks+ magazine is a member of the jury of one of the most prestigious international competitions which started today in Luxembourg.

According to the experts, New Zealand’s 2021 grape harvest shows a smaller volume than last year.

New Zealand winegrowers harvested 19% fewer grapes than last year. And although the harvest in 2021 is smaller than expected, its quality is described as “exceptional” in all wine regions of the country.

Regions in the central part of the country were hit hardest – in Wairarapa, Marlborough, Nelson and North Canterbury, the volume of harvested grapes decreased by more than 20% compared to 2020. For example, Marlborough growers have already stated that this year they will not be able to meet the global demand for Sauvignon Blanc, because 2021 recorded one of the lowest harvests in the last 10 years.

The situation is quite different in Central Otago where Pinot Noir is mainly grown. This region was the only one in New Zealand to increase the harvest by 21% compared to last year.

The crop decline in 2021 is due to cooler spring weather and late frosts in some regions. In addition, New Zealand wine industry is currently facing a persistent labor shortage and the need to increase production costs.

Given the challenges posed by Covid-19, New Zealand’s wine industry is opposed to a planned increase in excise taxes on wine, which will lead to tax increases from July 1. Philip Gregan, CEO of New Zealand Winegrowers, is confident that this innovation will have a negative impact on many small wineries that operate only on the domestic market. “They have already been hit hard by the lack of foreign tourists during the pandemic and the difficulties caused by the lockdown in the hospitality sector. It would be wrong to add another tax increase to these problems,” says Gregan.

Photo: facebook.com/NZWineDirectory

According to experts, New Zealand’s 2021 grape harvest shows a smaller volume than last year.