The flavor of aniseed in wine

Part of the auction house’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations, the sale runs until next Tuesday, 14 June, and also includes one-off collaborations with artist Ini Archibong and photographer Trey Ratcliff. The two refill American oak hogshead casks, supplied from Diageo’s Casks of Distinction VIP private cask purchase programme, both have pre-sale estimates of £700,000-1.2m. The Port Ellen cask was filled on 15 February 1979, has a current strength of 52.9% abv and is estimated to hold 102 bottles. T ...

The fifth of Redbreast’s Dream Cask offerings, released to mark World Whisky Day tomorrow (Saturday 21st May), is a 30-year-old single pot still whiskey produced by Irish Distillers at its Midleton Distillery in Co Cork. Unlike previous single-cask releases, this year’s Dream Cask combines two casks chosen as their favourites from Midleton’s vast inventory by master blender Billy Leighton and blender Dave McCabe. Leighton’s cask is a first-fill Oloroso Sherry butt filled in May 1990, while McCab ...

Australian wine exports dropped by 19% to A$2.08bn in the year to 30 June, said trade body Wine Australia this week. While exports to some countries rose, notably the US, the group’s report for the 2021-22 financial year offered fresh insight into a slide in shipments to China. Mainland China imposed varying import tariffs ranging from 116% to more than 200% on Australian bottled wines from late 2020 onwards. Exports to China, including Hong Kong and Macau, dropped by 74% in the 12 months to 30 ...