Las Carlinas Old Vine Garnacha

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Brand owner Long Wines

RRP €9.99, £7.99, US$10

Markets Global

Contact info@longwines.com

Las Carlinas is made by Long Wines winemaker Fernando Mora from a small, specialist Garnacha winery in the DO Campo de Borja in Aragón, Spain, said to be one of the best areas in the world for sourcing low-yielding Garnacha at an affordable price.

The name for the range comes from the carlina, a star-shaped thistle pinned on doors to ward off evil spirits. It is a traditional symbol of protection and strength.

The grapes were sourced from low-yielding (maximum 4,400kg/ha) bush-trained vines of more than 25 years of age, grown on rusty-red ferrous and stony soil – typical of Aragón’s Campo de Borja region.

Produced from hand-harvested grapes, stored in concrete tanks with 20% aged in French oak barrels for added complexity, Las Carlinas Old Vine Garnacha is described as a “vibrantly aromatic wine with a particularly floral nose and lush fruit flavours, and elegant minerality on the palate”.

Taurasi Docg 2009

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Brand owner Azienda Vitivinicola Guerriero

RRP €24,00, CA$36

Markets Europe and launching in Canada

Contact Gaetano Adinolfi, gaetanoadinolfi@libero.it

This wine is said to be unique because it is produced only in Taurasi, a village in the Campania region of Italy.

The DOCG red wine is made with 100% Aglianico grapes. The soil is calcareous clay. The grapes are crushed and left to ferment for one month. It is aged in oak barrels for 30-36 months, then in bottle for at least 10-12 months. Tasting note: “Dry, full, harmonious, with a persistent after taste.”

Beluga Epicure by Lalique

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Brand owner Synergy Group

RRP approx. €6,000

Markets Global

Contact vodka-beluga.com

A limited-edition series of 1,000 decanters produced by Lalique, crystal maker for Beluga vodka, is the first global collaboration of Beluga vodka.

This is also the first time Lalique has worked with a vodka brand and the first project carried out by Lalique for a Russian brand. The handmade decanters are filled with Beluga vodka, created with what is said to be a unique recipe.

Beluga says it went into the distillery archives to create Epicure’s recipe. Beluga master distillers used a special malt spirit produced from a select wheat harvest.

Only a small portion of the final distillation was collected, ensuring only the finest quality spirit went into each bottle.

Copper & Kings Floodwall American Apple Brandy

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Brand owner Joe Heron

RRP US$40 (75cl)

Markets US (27 states)

Contact Rachel Goldenberg, rachel@estespr.com

Louisville-based Copper & Kings American Brandy Co is launching its second aged apple brandy expression, the Floodwall (50% abv).

Said to be a blend of superior, exclusively copper pot-distilled, apple brandy aged in bourbon barrels and 250-litre oloroso sherry casks sourced in Spain, Floodwall has a minimum age of four-year-old brandy and is a full-bodied 100-proof alcohol strength.

Floodwall is said to be non-chill filtered with no post-distillation addition of apple flavour or essences, no boisé (oak flavour or infusion), sugar or caramel colour for an authentic, uncorrupted natural flavour and natural colour.

The iconic Louisville Floodwall, finished in 1957, protects the city from the natural disaster of the flooding of the Ohio River. The Floodwall is Louisville’s “brutalist work of art”, according to brand owner Joe Heron.

Viña Ventisquero Root: 1 Sauvignon Blanc

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Brand owner Viña Ventisquero

RRP £8.00, $11.99, €8

Markets Chile, Brazil, US, Canada, Holland, UK, Germany, Estonia, China, Japan, Korea, HK, Thailand, Vietnam.

Contact Américo Hernández Peragallo, +56 22 5813834, +1 819 4310244

A concept designed for global retail to go back to the roots of Chile (Roots: 1). Grown on original ungrafted roots for purity of fruit character, from cool-climate Casablanca Valley.

Navy Island XO Reserve

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Brand Owner Navy Island Rum Company

RRP €40, £35

Markets Global

Contact Jacco Kroon: jkroon@navyislandrum.com

Navy Island is a small tropical island off the coast of Jamaica’s Port Antonio and XO Reserve is a blend of pot still rums aged in ex-bourbon oak casks.

In the 1940s Hollywood star Errol Flynn arrived in Port Antonio and – local legend has it – won Navy Island in a rum-fuelled poker game.

ANGOSTURA 1787 15 YEAR OLD

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Brand owner The House of Angostura

RRP £59.99 (70cl), €66 US$75

Markets Global

Contact angosturarum.com, sales@cellartrends.co.uk

Angostura 1787 (40% abv) is a sipping rum, created by master distiller John Georges to celebrate the establishment of the first sugar mill in Trinidad in 1787, at the famous Lapeyrouse sugar plantation.

It is made from reserve rums from Angostura’s ageing warehouses, each of which has been maturing for 15 years in charred oak barrels.

Angostura 1787 is described as medium bodied with a bouquet of banana, dried fruit and oak, with top notes of apple. It comes in a heavy, rounded bottle, emblazoned with the signature of Dr JGB Seigert, the founder of Angostura, and presented in a brown and orange gift box.

BUSHMILLS PORT CASK RESERVE

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Brand owner Jose Cuervo

RRP £99, €110, US$122

Markets Global travel retail exclusive

Contact kathy@bushmills.com

Bushmills Irish Whiskey has announced the launch of Port Cask Reserve– the second and latest edition in the Bushmills Steamship Collection – described as a “rare and unique range of cask-matured Bushmills Irish Whiskeys inspired by the extraordinary voyages of the SS Bushmills steamship”.

As a duty-free exclusive, this new variant follows last year’s successful launch of Bushmills Sherry Cask Reserve, marking the 125th anniversary of the maiden voyage of the SS Bushmills.

Port Cask Reserve has been matured in ruby port pipes, said to impart luscious and complex flavours of the port wine.

Helen Mulholland, master blender, said: “Up to 80% of the character of whiskey comes from the cask, so I make it my mission to travel to Portugal to meet with the craftsmen and estate owners from Douro Valley.

GRAPPA 15 UOMINI

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Brand owner Antica Distilleria Russo

RRP €21

Markets Europe, launching in US

Contact Napoleone Cioffi, +39 3358 338050, export@anticadistilleriarusso.com

Grappa 15 Uomini (40% abv) is made from Aglianico, Greco di Tufo and Piedirosso marcs distillate. It is aged for 18 months in Caribbean rum casks.

The distillery is located in Mercato San Severino Salerno, Campania.

The name is inspired by the famous Robert Louis Stevenson novel, Treasure Island.

Taste: Said to be an aromatic grappa, with notes of hazelnut, tobacco and fresh grass. Hints of cherry and blackcurrant.

LYME BAY CHARDONNAY

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Brand owner Lyme Bay Winery

RRP £16.39

Markets UK only

Contact Paul Williams: paul@lymebaywinery.co.uk, +44 (0) 7436 104127

Lyme Bay Winery’s Chardonnay is described as a well-rounded dry white wine, with subtle buttery flavours and aromas of peach turnover, honey and pineapple. There is also a small portion of Bacchus, which adds layers of flowers and pineapple.

Made in Devon in the south west of England, the Chardonnay grapes were whole-cluster pressed and settled naturally. Seventy per cent of the wine was transferred to barrel after being inoculated with a T. delbrueckii yeast strain.

After a significant part of fermentation was complete, the wine was co-inoculated with an S.cerevisiae yeast strain. Post-primary fermentation, the wine in barrel was blended with some Bacchus and stainless steel-fermented Chardonnay, before undergoing a sequential malolactic fermentation. Once complete, the wine was put back into oak for lees stirring and maturation.

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