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Top 100 IGP appoints Relish PR Relish PR is delighted to be appointed by Top 100 IGP France to run its annual wine competition. The wines will be selected at a blind tasting in March, by a team of top wine industry professionals, including retail and on-trade buyers and journalists, chaired by Tim Atkin MW. The final selection will be shown on the Fast Track to France stand at the London International Wine Fair in May, where the trophy winners will also be announced.
7th February 2011 Latest newsRelish had the right latitude this Christmas
After seeing all the buzz on Twitter about 28-50 over the past few months, Relish decided to find out what all the fuss was about. We were very grateful to Xavier for the welcoming and warming glass of Champagne, after skidding and skating our way along Fleet Street. Highlights of the menu were the pig cheeks and belly, washed down with the Torbreck Juvenile (GSM).
21st December 2010
A Relish Christmas
And finally... A very happy Christmas from all of us at Relish. It's been another busy and exciting year for us - watch this space for our review of the year, coming soon. In the meantime, you may remember our 2008 Christmas card, made with the help of a splash of red wine and a couple of Riedels. This year, due to snow, a very busy December, and a shortage of sticky-back plastic, we sadly had to cancel Relish arts and crafts hour, but with the help of a few elves, we would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas...
14th December 2010
Dreaming of Belvedere We have been working with Belvedere Vodka on an exciting new initiative to find a new Global Ambassador to be the face of the brand. The campaign ran on Facebook, and candidates were invited to submit videos demonstrating their affinity with the brand. From a weird and wonderful array of applications, seven top bartenders from the UK, Europe, and Asia Pacific were invited to an exciting finale at The Cuckoo Club in London. The finalists were put through their paces to create ten key cocktails in ten minutes, as well as a signature Belvedere cocktail, before having an opportunity to show off their personality with a Love/Hate round, which featured everything from a table-tennis match, to lessons in Spanish and bow ties! The three finalists, including UK hopeful Stuart McClusky from Edinburgh’s Bon Vivant will compete with US finalists at a star-studded event in NYC on 14th December.
19th November 2010
First taste of Follador Last Wednesday, we celebrated the launch of our new Prosecco client Follador, with a party which brought together key names from the worlds of wine, art, fashion, and finance to taste the range of premium Proseccos for the first time in the UK. It was interesting to see such a diverse range of Prosecco styles, with frizzantes, Treviso sparklers, and prestige cuvées from Valdobbiadene. The surprise hit of the evening, however, was the red Ca dei Noni – a complex Cabernet blend, which combined upfront New World style fruit and vanilla notes with unmistakeably Italian balsamic acidity, and savoury herbal notes. 
16th November 2010
Cloudy Bay winemaker in town Tim Heath, winemaker at Cloudy Bay was in London last week to launch the 2010 vintage of the iconic Marlborough winery’s Sauvignon Blanc. Over a delicious lunch at the recently launched Cloudy Bay Chef’s Table at the Hyatt Montagu, we were also treated to a very special new launch. The Cloudy Bay Late Harvest Riesling has been made in very limited quantities for several years, but until EU legislation on sweet wine imports from New Zealand changed earlier this year, the wine has not been available over here. We got a chance to taste a bottle from the very limited UK allocation – absolutely delicious – with zesty acidity balancing beautifully sweet rich apricot, honey, and orange blossom flavours – a real treat. 8th November 2010 Relish takes on new Prosecco We're very excited to announce the UK launch of Prosecco Follador. Premium brand Follador is a long-established name in Italy, with a history dating back for generations, but this is the first time the wines have been available in the UK, and we're looking forward to working with them to establish the brand on the UK market.
7th October
2010
Last Saturday, Lottie joined a team of
intrepid wine-trade explorers, climbing Mt Snowdon to raise money
for official drinks industry charity The Benevolent. It was a
somewhat challenging climb, not helped by our guide (Sherpa?) informing
us that Snowdon had been the pre-Everest training ground for
Mallory and Irvine - not quite the gentle stroll we had been hoping for...
We finally made it up the mountain in around three hours, and in
true wine trade style, toasted our summit-reaching with a glass
(well, paper cup) of Louis Roederer. The climb raised a total of £5000 for The Benevolent.
28th September
2010
Septima raises the steaks
Here at Relish Towers, we have certainly had our fair share of meat and Malbec recently... The day after the polo, it was time for another Argentinean evening, this time with Bodega Septima, who have teamed up with A La Cruz, an authentic asador in Farringdon from the people behind Hackney restaurant Buen Ayre, to create a Steak & Septima menu.
Marcelo Marasco of Bodega Septima joined John Rattagan, head chef at A La Cruz, to present seven cuts of steak, each paired to a different wine from the Septima portfolio. Ranging from the delicate beef carpaccio, matched to the fresh appley Septima Chardonnay, through fillet, rump, rib-eye, and more, ending up with a flank steak, slow-cooked on a traditional Argentinean asador barbecue, and paired with the Septimo Dia Cabernet, there were delicious matches to be found throughout, and it proved an interesting new take on Argentinean meat and wine pairings.
Suffice to say, team Relish had a vegetarian weekend after all this steak!
16th September
2010
Anyone for polo?
On a sunny September afternoon, Relish and a number of
top wine journalists descended on Ham Polo Club to see
multi-talented Terrazas de los Andes winemaker Nicolas Audebert take
to the polo field in a thrilling match against Gaucho Restaurant.
Polo is big news in Argentina, and nowhere more than at Lujan de
Cuyo based estate Terrazas, where an entire polo field has been
built amongst the vines. Nicolas treated us to a tasting of wines from across the Terrazas de los Andes portfolio, including three back vintages of icon blend Cheval des Andes, before picking up his mallet for the first chukka against Gaucho. It was a closely fought match, but in the end, Gaucho claimed an impressive victory. Gaucho laid on a fantastic barbecue after the match - the Argentinean steaks proved a perfect match for the full-flavoured and complex Cheval des Andes wines.
15th September
2010
Now Hat's what I call a good Mexican
At Relish Towers, we're all partial to a good burrito, so we were very excited to work with Benito's Hat Mexican Kitchen with the opening of their new restaurant in Covent Garden, joining the Goodge Street branch which has been open since 2008. Relish joined a group of journalists and bloggers at a cocktail evening hosted by Benito's Hat owner Ben Fordham, and Alex from Tequileno - the restaurant's house-pour tequila, who gave a masterclass on this diverse spirits category. Once we had tasted a number of different cocktails, including the signature Paloma - a refreshing Margarita-style long-serve cocktail, featuring tequila, salt, lime, and grapefruit soda, it was time to get creative, as attendees set about creating their own cocktails. The winning cocktail -Jules's Marvellous Margarita, was created by a team from ITN and @booinlondon . If you want to create it for yourself, here's what you'll need:
A good slug of Tequila Juice from a quarter of a fresh
grapefruit Juice from half a fresh
lime 5 mint leaves 1 tbsp ginger liqueur 1 tsp grenadine Half tsp campari A drop of passion fruit liqueur
Shake over ice, strain, and
enjoy!
16th July 2010
Elements 8 spices it up
We were at Hush last night for the launch of a brand new addition to the Elements 8 range. Elements 8 Barrel Infused Spiced Rum has been 18 months in the planning, as the blenders perfected the recipe of ten spices, all 100% natural and indigenous to St Lucia. We sampled a range of delicious cocktails including the Dark & Spicy (a twist on the Dark & Stormy), and an Old Fashioned, substituting the traditional Bourbon with the new spiced rum. Served on its own, Elements 8 Spiced was like Christmas in a glass - very smooth, and packed with orange, ginger, cinnamon, and clove flavours - just add a fireplace, and Bing Crosby crooning in the background, and it could be December!
1st July 2010
Gin in the Park Last week Relish descended en masse to the
sun-soaked Regent's Park to see our client Gin Mare who had taken a stand
at Taste of London. We had worked with Gin Mare on their UK debut
at Distil in May, so it was great to see their Ibiza-inspired bar
at Taste. We enjoyed their trademark Molecular Martini cocktail -
delicious, and really brought out the flavour key botanical the
Arbequina olive.
22nd June 2010
Croatia comes to London 25th May saw Croatia's first generic tasting in
the UK. Producers from around thirty different wineries from Istria,
Dalmatia, and Continental Croatia attended the Fine Wine from
Croatia tasting at the Hotel Intercontinental on Park Lane, bringing
with them an array of wines from grape varieties rarely seen in the
UK. Highlights included diverse styles of Malvazija Istriana with
excellent minerality, as well as some luscious stickies, and some
really interesting natural wines. Turn-out was great, with plenty of
positive feedback, so hopefully we'll be seeing more of these wines
on UK shelves and wine lists very
soon...
28th May 2010
All the fun of the
Fair... The first half of the year is traditionally a busy one for
Relish, as we look after the PR for LIWF and Distil. 2010 was no
exception, but it was great to see the trade out in force at ExCeL
for the 30th London International Wine Fair and Distil.
After a difficult year, it seems that the trade is really getting
back on its feet, with all the exhibitors we spoke to reporting a
really successful show.
21st May 2010
From Russia with.... wine Relish was appointed to handle the PR for Russian sparkling
wine producer Abrau-Durso in the lead-up to its debut at the London
International Wine Fair. 2010 marked the first year that a Russian
winery had exhibited at the LIWF, and Abrau-Durso, which produces
traditional method sparkling wiens from Pinot Blanc, Pinot Noir,
Chardonnay and Riesling, under the guidance of renowned Champagne
oenologist Herve Gestin, attracted an unprecedented amount of
interest over the three days of the LIWF, so watch this space for
more Russian wine in the UK.
30th April 2010
Putting Croatia on the map
We are very excited to have a new client on board at Relish. We will be working with the generic body Fine Wine from Croatia to run their first ever UK trade tasting. The tasting will feature an impressive array of native and international varieties, and is due to take place on 25th May at The Intercontinental at Hyde Park Corner. In the meantime, we'll be working on our pronunciation of Malvazija Istarska!
5th March 2010
It is that easy being green... Lottie and Naomi were in Belgrave Square last night at the drinks business' inaugural Green Awards, where we were thrilled to see our client Wakefield walk away with the award for Best Green Wine Launch. Congrats to the team at Taylor's (Wakefield) in Australia and Stratford's in the UK. 12th February 2010 
The Wine Gang on board for LIWF 2010 It's February, and that can only mean one thing at Relish Towers; the countdown to the LIWF is well underway. The event takes place from 18th - 20th May, and we have once again linked up with The Wine Gang, who will be selecting wines for the ever popular Top 100 feature. To celebrate the Fair's thirtieth anniversary, the tasting will incorporate thirty sparkling wines, as well as seventy "regional ambassadors", highlighting the best regional specialities from around the world. We'll be finalising the list with The Wine Gang in March, so watch this space, and be sure to stop by the tasting in May... 5th February 2010 
Going the extra (green) mile: Relish client Wakefield Wines has upped the green credentials on its Eighty Acres brand, which has just become the world's first winery to become 100% carbon neutral throughout the production, consumption, and disposal process. Relish has been working with Stratford's Wine Agencies to highlight this story to press, trade, and consumers. We've had a great response, including a mention in the Observer, and a nomination for one of the drinks business Green Awards. 1st February 2010 
Lottie wins WSET scholarship We were at the Guildhall last night so see Lottie pick up a scholarship for her WSET Advanced certificate. Lottie won the Porter & Laker prize; an ?850 scholarship towards the WSET Diploma, which she is due to finish in June. 19th January 2010 
Make mine a glass of Clos d?Ambonnay On Wednesday, Naomi attended lunch hosted by Olivier Krug to present the 1996 Krug Clos d'Ambonnay to journalists. The lunch took place in the Krug Room at The Dorchester, and was prepared by executive chef Henry Brosi. Dishes included roast calves sweetbread with risotto of white Alba truffle, served with 1996 Krug Clos d'Ambonnay. 15th January 2010 
And then there were three... The Relish team gained its third member when Lottie West joined us as a full-time account manager at the beginning of January. Lottie had been freelancing with us since March 2009, as well as doing projects for Cube Communications and the IWC. Previous to that she spent two years working at Westbury Communications, and is currently studying for her WSET Diploma. 4th January 2010 
Do you want some Relish with that tapas? The Relish team celebrated our Christmas party last Friday by eating our way through a delicious array of tapas at Salt Yard, washed down with plenty of Manzanilla. 15th December 2009 
First taste of Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc 2009 Winemaker Tim Heath brought over the new vintage of the Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc on Tuesday. Relish invited journalists to lunch at The Boisdale to meet Tim, and taste the wines. We're hoping Tim brings us some beer from his home micro-brewery next time he's in the UK! 20th November 2009 
New-manthia Manuel Louzada has been over this week to present new vintages of Toro icons Numanthia and Termanthia. We've worked with Manuel Louzada in his previous role at Terrazas de los Andes, so it was great to see him in his new role. The wines were as big and bold as you would expect from this region, and with definite ageing potential. 11th November 2009 
Remember, remember Clos d'Ambonnay Guy Fawkes Day provided the perfect backdrop to an unveiling of the 1996 Krug Clos d'Ambonnay to a select group of Champagne writers, hosted by Olivier Krug. This is only the second ever vintage of Krug's iconic Blanc de Noirs blend, and from an excellent year; we expected fireworks, and we weren't disappointed! 5th November 2009 
Making room for Krug The Krug Room at The Dorchester reopened after an extensive refurb earlier this month, and to celebrate, we worked with Moet Hennessy to invite journalists to sample a tasting menu, prepared by chefs from the two other Krug Rooms, located in Berlin and Hong Kong. Dishes such as Sashimi of Dublin Bay prawns with Granny Smith apple jelly and Beluga caviar, and Cod, Manuka Beurre Blanc and Anise, were paired with various vintage Krug Champagnes. 30th October 2009 
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