Simon Piers Dominic Loftus, OBE , is a British wine trader, restaurateur and writer on wine and travel. Following in his parents' footsteps, he joined the Adnams brewery in Southwold in 1969 and rose to become chairman in 1995. He retired in 2006, the same year that he received an OBE. [1]
Loftus is the author of several books including Anatomy of the Wine Trade, Puligny-Montrachet: Journal of a Village in Burgundy, and A Pike in the Basement. Puligny-Montrachet won the Glenfiddich Award, while Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall said of Pike: "a heartfelt, witty prescription for a life worth aspiring to."[ citation needed ]
His latest book, out in April 2013, is The Invention of Memory: An Irish Family Scrapbook [2]
He is a descendant of the Irish-British businessman and politician Pierse Loftus. [3] He lives in Suffolk. [1]
Adnams is a regional brewery founded in 1872 in Southwold, Suffolk, England, by George and Ernest Adnams. It produces cask ale and bottled beers. Annual production is around 85,000 barrels.
Sir William Blackledge Beaumont is a former rugby union player, and was captain of the England rugby union team, earning 34 caps. His greatest moment as captain was the unexpected 1980 Grand Slam win. He played as a lock.
The Côte de Beaune area is the southern part of the Côte d'Or, the limestone ridge that is home to the great names of Burgundy wine. The Côte de Beaune starts between Nuits-Saint-Georges and Beaune, and extends southwards for about 25 km to the river Dheune. The trend of producing red wines continues from the Côte de Nuits to the north, down through Beaune, although the wines become lighter and more perfumed. Farther south lies the great names of white Burgundy such as Meursault and Chassagne-Montrachet. The far south of the district sees a return to red wines in Santenay that continues across the Dheune into the Côte Chalonnaise. This mix of Pinot noir and Chardonnay grapes reflects geology in the southern Côte d'Or that is more variable than in the north.
Meursault is a commune in the Côte-d'Or department and region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in eastern France.
The Paris Wine Tasting of 1976, also known as the Judgment of Paris, was a wine competition organized in Paris on 24 May 1976 by Steven Spurrier, a British wine merchant and his colleague, Patricia Gallagher, in which French oenophiles participated in two blind tasting comparisons: one of top-quality Chardonnays and another of red wines. A Napa County wine rated best in each category, which caused surprise as France was generally regarded as being the foremost producer of the world's best wines. By the early 1970s, the quality of some California wines was outstanding but few took notice as the market favored French brands. Spurrier sold predominately French wine and believed the California wines would not win.
Domaine Leflaive is a winery in Puligny-Montrachet, Côte de Beaune, Burgundy. The domaine is very highly regarded for its white wines, and its vineyard holdings include 5.1 hectares of Grand Cru vineyards.
In the Grand European Jury Wine Tasting of 1997, the Grand Jury Européen, consisting entirely of European judges, conducted a blind tasting of 27 Chardonnay wines from seven countries. Held in Bordeaux, 70 percent of the entries in the wine competition were from France (Burgundy). All other countries were represented with one entry each, except for Australia, which had two.
Paul Stephen Wallace is a former Irish rugby union player who played tight head prop for Ireland and the British & Irish Lions. Wallace was once regarded as the world's best tight-head prop, and was known as a very effective scrummager, and a player with good ball skills.
Puligny-Montrachet is a commune in the Côte-d'Or department in eastern France.
Bâtard-Montrachet is an Appellation d'origine contrôlée (AOC) and Grand Cru vineyard for white wine from Chardonnay in the Côte de Beaune subregion of Burgundy. It is located within the communes of Puligny-Montrachet and Chassagne-Montrachet. Bâtard-Montrachet borders on the Grand Cru vineyard Montrachet in the west, on Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet in the east/northeast and on Criots-Bâtard-Montrachet in the south. In terms of the Côte d'Or hillside, Bâtard-Montrachet is located below Montrachet, with the Route des Grands Crus running between the two vineyards. The AOC was created in 1937.
Chevalier-Montrachet is an Appellation d'origine contrôlée (AOC) and Grand Cru vineyard for white wine from Chardonnay in the Côte de Beaune subregion of Burgundy. It is located within the commune of Puligny-Montrachet. Bâtard-Montrachet borders on the Grand Cru vineyard Montrachet and on the Puligny-Montrachet Premier Cru vineyard Le Cailleret in the east. In terms of the Côte d'Or hillside, Chevalier-Montrachet is located above Montrachet, and is located highest of the five "Montrachet" vineyards. The AOC was created in 1937.
Victor Joseph Pike, CB, CBE was the Anglican Bishop of Sherborne in the third quarter of the 20th century. Pike was also an international rugby union player and represented Ireland in thirteen matches.
Pierse Creagh Loftus was an Irish-born British businessman and Conservative Party politician. A notable figure in the public life of Lowestoft and East Suffolk for several decades, he sat in the House of Commons from 1934 to 1945 as the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Lowestoft division of Suffolk.
Domaine Coche-Dury is a French wine grower and producer. It is based in Meursault, in the Côte de Beaune wine region of Burgundy, France.
Domaine Dujac is a Burgundy wine producer run by the Seysses family. Jacques Seysses, founded the domaine in 1967, and the first release was in 1969. He remains a part of the domaine's operation. Today, the domaine is largely run by Jacques' sons Jeremy and Alec, as well as Jeremy's wife Diana. Jeremy joined his parents in the winery from 1998. He was then followed by his wife Diana in 2001 and his brother Alec in 2003.
Norman Loftus Bor CIE OBE FRSE FLS FNI was an Irish botanist. He was awarded the Linnean Medal of the Linnean Society in 1962.
Groupe Artémis S.A. is a holding company with a portfolio of investments in fashion, wine, luxury, art, tourism, publishing, sports, food, and technology. Headquartered in Paris, France, Groupe Artémis was founded by François Pinault in 1992 as a family investment vehicle.
Bernard Peter Atha was an English politician and actor. He served as Lord Mayor of Leeds and was a major figure in the arts and sport in West Yorkshire and elsewhere; he also appeared in a number of films.
The Battle of Deputy's Pass was fought in County Wicklow on 29 May 1599, during the Nine Years' War in Ireland. A Gaelic Irish force under Felim McFiach O'Byrne ambushed an English army of about 500, under Sir Henry Harrington, which was marching from Rathdrum to Wicklow. The English army was routed and lost about 250 men.