Richmond, Surrey -- (SBWIRE) -- 12/23/2010 -- Michael Twelftree owner of the Two Hands winery, Barossa Valley, South Australia converted a new legion of followers with his Master Class at the Lanesborough Hotel, London on Monday 7th September. Wine lovers who may have formerly been loyal to French 1st growths experienced a new source of palate satisfying liquidity with an evening dedicated to the Two Hands winery's best produce. The evening along with Michael Twelftree's involvement had been arranged by Cult and Boutique Wines of Richmond upon Thames who have worked very closely with the Two Hands winery since its inception in 1999.

Somewhat bizarrely for a pacesetting member of the Australian fine wine community, Michael Twelftree hails from the construction industry but was invited along to a wine tasting by a friend and fell in love with the whole essence of wine instantly. His love affair with wine gained pace over the next few years along with his knowledge of the area and also his palate became fine tuned, he says, by drinking some vastly inferior wines.

Various people advised him that he should be working in the wine industry and he opened up a company exporting Australian fine wines to virtually anywhere in the world that wished to purchase them. Michael is your typical "hands-on" entrepreneur and would co-ordinate with merchants his products were popular with and organise wine tastings. During these tastings his range would be tried where its intricacies and subtleties would be explained to a more discerning palate.

Fine wine drinkers do tend to traverse the upper slopes of the financial range and his list of colleagues and contacts grew rapidly. More expensive tastes were met and catered for and his range of contacts and customers became more elite and more extensive. Accountant Richard Mintz was introduced to him and they became ever more embroiled in the idea of growing their own wines. Each borrowed $30,000 to crush fruit they had from land they had rented in the Barossa valley. The touch paper was well and truly lit and Two Hands winery started on their way.

The winery has grown organically through focusing on quality across its entire range, attention to detail and pricing points to suit its audience. The mission statement of Twelftree and Mintz was to produce top quality shiraz based wines from fruit sourced from the best shiraz producing regions of Australia. The aim is to make the highest quality products from each particular acreage and, more than anything, show Australian wines at their best whilst retaining an inherently Australian axis through taste and texture.

Twelftree's Single Estate series consisting of Zippy's Block, Barney's Block, Coach House Block and his one-off Zippy's Amarone was very warmly received by all with special mention to the last named. Each wine is defined by its terroir and this series holds the distinction of hailing from the Roenfeldtt Road region of the Barossa Valley which yields amazing wines year after year. The Amarone is a remarkable attempt to doff the Twelftree cap to the Italian varietal and he has produced a floral scented gem of a wine. The finish is sublime and seemed to last a good twenty to thirty seconds before leaving every attendee craving more. And they got it!

Michael then unveiled his Flagship wines with the Antares gaining universal praise before the Ares 2007 was followed by the 2008 for a "contrast and compare" exercise. The density of the 2007 was structured around a complex mellowness with a gorgeous finish which drifted around the mouth. The 2008 displayed all the same characteristics of its elder whilst having the obvious benefit of youth on its side and, like a teenager of above average intelligence, it strutted around in the knowledge that, given time, it's superiority over it's sibling will be proven in public.

The winemaker then followed his crowd pleasers with a rarely experienced opportunity to taste his 2009 barrel samplings, procured from source an hour before he left for Melbourne airport two days before. Although allowances obviously had to be made for youth the wines drank fantastically well and Michael was blatantly very proud of the Single Estate series 2009 samples which he deservedly believes to be his best vintage yet. There didn't seem to be anyone in attendance who would have disagreed with him on that point and this array of produce from the Barossa's most forward thinking and entrepreneurial winery owner proved to be a very fitting ending to the evening's alcoholic offerings.

Paul Evans, Head of Communications at Cult and Boutique Wines, ( http://www.cultandboutique.com ) was clearly impressed by the reception given to his guest of honour and the reaction of the small, but select, gathering of clients in attendance. "Everyone has made their appreciation of the evening known and also, just what a high regard they have for Michael and his whole demeanor. For a man who has achieved so much at such a level in his chosen profession he is remarkably modest and humble, something that definitely cannot be said about his wines."

The Lanesborough provided the perfect backdrop to wine of such quality, the star of the show meant the evening would have been wonderful even without the alcohol and the next visit to our shores by this man should not be missed if at all possible.

Press & Media Contact:
Paul Evans
Cult and Boutique Wines Ltd
Richmond, Surrey TW9 1HY UK
0208 948 9433
webmaster@cultandboutique.com
http://www.cultandboutique.com

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm

On the evening of Thursday 17th June an event took place at Maurice Sedwell Bespoke Tailors, 19 Saville Row which originally seemed no different to any other socially agreeable event.

Richmond, Surrey -- (SBWIRE) -- 12/17/2010 -- There are occasions when a perfect cohesion of two elements, or forces, seems to have been destined to come together. We have all witnessed these masterpieces of nature, technology, industry or architecture and hopefully appreciated the relationship that has existed between two normally individual components working perfectly together.

This writer sees the way Sydney opera house rises, seemingly from the ocean, at Bennelong Point as a beautiful blend of nature and the decidedly unnatural.

On the evening of Thursday 17th June an event took place at Maurice Sedwell Bespoke Tailors, 19 Saville Row which originally seemed no different to any other socially agreeable event. There would be introductions, interest, laughing, tutorials, food, wine and interaction. Some would be tentative of meeting new people in premises they hadn't visited before whereas others would relish the very same situation. Some would hesitantly become comfortable on the edge of a group discussion whilst others would, no doubt, enjoy being the centre of attention but would the evening gel and be memorable for the right reasons?

Thirty eminent city lawyers, three of the best tailors the world has to offer, including Christopher Childs and Andrew Ramroop, and two representatives from one of the leading wine merchants in Europe, Paul Evans and Ben Austin from Cult and Boutique Wines. Who would have thought this eclectic combination of professionals could create such a warm, interesting and informative Thursday night?

Well, obviously lawyers Michael Webster, Nick Willetts and Andrew Ramroop, director of Maurice Sedwell, ( http://www.cultandboutique.com ) knew exactly what they were doing when they arranged the event. Many would believe that the addition of alcohol to any social gathering will bring a certain ambience to proceedings but the genius of adding a fine wine tasting should be duly noted and duplicated.

A "Wine and Wear" evening, just take a moment and consider the implications of both areas of commerce and the pure synergy created by allying one niche to the other.

Beautiful, classically crafted garments fit to adorn the frames of the most discerning members of society merged with wines whose makers exhibit the same burning passion for their produce and have spent just as many years of their lives learning and perfecting their skills. What more fitting, forgive the pun, marriage between two disparate fields could there possibly be? What other drink could better be served while the customer is wearing the finest apparel he could ever consider purchasing? Answer, there is nothing finer to enjoy than a wine the most revered wine critic that ever lived, Robert Parker junior, has graded to be at least 99 points out of 100.

There was more than a murmur of approval from all attendees when the Zippys Block 2005 vintage first passed their lips, as there should have been when you consider the 99 point grading Parker junior bestowed upon the wine. Considering Zippys Block starts out in life at a relatively inexpensive £40 per bottle it exudes class and affluence in abundance. The other attribute to mention when considering this particular wine is that its value can rise steeply in a relatively short space of time because of the miniscule quantities that are produced (500 cases for the 2005) and its absence from the market place within a very short period.

Wines mixed with tailoring throughout the evening to provide an excellent platform for both to be enjoyed by all in attendance. The experts on made to measure and bespoke tailoring gave their informed analysis educationally and pleasantly allowing Andrew Ramroop to fill any gaps and allow the audience a sliver of an insight into the mind and daily life of a man at the top of his profession.

All of this was interspersed with the tasting of wines so elegantly juxtaposed against the evening's other topic of conversation it seemed only natural to sample Henschke's Mount Edelstone after learning of the intricacies of bespoke suit manufacturing. The fluidity of the lines and stitching merging with the aroma and palate teasing density of the Eden Valley shiraz made for a perfect end to the nights activities. The participants left the premises slowly with the topics of conversation split equally between the wine and the wear.

The next similarly themed sojourn is already being eagerly awaited.

Press & Media Contact:
Paul Evans
Cult and Boutique Wines Ltd
Richmond, Surrey TW9 1HY UK
0208 948 9433
webmaster@cultandboutique.com
http://www.cultandboutique.com

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm

Richmond, Surrey -- (SBWIRE) -- 06/24/2010 -- With the current Bordeaux release '2009' being talked up as possibly the best vintage of the past 60 years, it's hard to ignore the undoubted quality & ever growing demand for top Bordeaux wines.

The quality of products, along with the market progress that has allowed the development of a very healthy secondary market means that top fine wines have been able to offer some great returns, even when other markets seem to be hitting rock bottom. For those of you who have not been privy to the type of returns clients within this market have been seeing, here are a few figures taken from Liv-Ex (Index of the leading 100 wines). Growth of 4.4% in May 2010 with the index up 37.15% year on year and 23.8% in the past year to date. Now more than ever is a time for diversification!

The future of wine investment is very much in offering a diversified portfolio of products from all of the leading wine producing nations. Based on the following three key indicators, Cult and Boutique see that the future is very much in offering a diversified portfolio of products from all of the leading wine producing nations;

1. The market performance of the best boutique wines from the new world,
2. The undeniable strength of the global wine market lead by 1st Growth Bordeaux Wines.
3. The recent inclusion of Asia coming through as a major buying powerhouse.

With an ever growing number of people turning to more secure areas of growth partly due to the global uncertainty that is being felt, we have seen that wine has been one of the favoured areas for the shrewd investor with wines from Bordeaux and burgundy as well as selected wines from Italy, the USA & Australia being favoured. Cult and Boutique Wines ( http://www.cultandboutique.com ) are looking to the future and see that with the level of growth that the market has been seeing, it's not any one sector of the fine wine market that investors should be focusing on but looking at having a well diversified wine portfolio focusing not only on the obvious quality of the Bordeaux and burgundies that have already got a huge international following but also the best that some other wine producing nation have to offer. As we see more buyers and sellers in this market than we have at any other time we also see that there are more people drinking these wines too, this truly is an international product that can be traded at ease and to be able to take full advantage you need to be able to cater to all tastes.

Cult and Boutique Wines ( http://www.cultandboutique.com ) are well placed to project the direction in which peoples tastes and buying patterns are going as they currently specialise in wholesale as well as dealing direct to many high end establishments.

For more information visit Watchmad at http://www.cultandboutique.com or phone 0208 948 9433.

Press Contact:
Paul Evans
Cult and Boutique Wines Ltd
Richmond, Surrey TW9 1HY UK
0208 948 9433
webmaster@cultandboutique.com
http://www.cultandboutique.com

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm