The Coronation Festival in the Gardens of Buckingham Palace

We are delighted to be playing a large role at the Coronation Festival, taking place over four days in the Gardens of Buckingham Palace this week. In celebration of the 60th anniversary of The Queen's Coronation, the festival, hosted by the Royal Warrant Holders Association is bringing together 200 plus Royal Warrant holding companies all of whom are exhibiting their products in her Majesty’s Garden.

First awarded the Royal Warrant of Appointment by King George III in 1760 after supplying the wines for his coronation celebrations, Justerinis is proud to have been granted this honour by every successive monarch since, including Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

For those fortunate enough to have tickets for the Coronation Festival , we would like to welcome you to the Justerini & Brooks stand in the food and drink marquee.

Not only will we be happy to discuss how we can open your eyes to wines of sublime quality at all price levels from our unrivalled portfolio of Domaine and Estate bottled wines but also enlighten you on the services and advise we have given freely to our customers for over 260 years and continue to do so today.

Justerinis will be exhibiting some fascinating historical items from its archive. Invoices and cheques from Charles Dickens circa 1859-1867, invoices to the Prince and Princess of Wales date 1799 & 1802. Antique wine bottles from many countries in Europe as well as memorabilia from the three offices we have occupied since 1749. On the whisky side we will be showing the evolution of the J&B Rare bottle and a photograph on the occasion of  Margaret Thatcher’s visit our distillery Knockando for the bottling of the Bill 1,000,000,000nth bottle of J&B Rare.


At the Justerini & Brooks bar situated in front of the food and drink marquee, we will be selling by the glass and bottle a selection of our top range Justerini labelled wines from Dry Riesling and Petit Chablis to Burgundy and Pomerol. Not to be overshadowed our whisky blenders have created a J&B Coronation Cocktail by putting a modern twist to an original recipe first featured in the book “The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks” published in the Coronation Year. Alternatively enjoy a new selection of French varietal wines specially bottled for the Coronation Festival that are available at the bars dotted around the Royal Gardens.

Vintage Overview: Spain En Primeur - The latest releases...

A buying trip to Spain can involve an enormous amount of driving. Covering off Rueda, Ribera del Duero and Rioja en route from Madrid to Bilbao you get a real sense of the vastness of the Spanish countryside. Huge sweeping vistas greet you as you crest a cleft in a hill, on almost empty roads with arid dry rocky outcrops and fields of yellow wheat gently swaying in the midday sun.

It is a big country and the third largest wine producing country in the world, which is a tough stat to swallow when on home soil wine consumption is at an all-time low. Anecdotally we were told that in fifteen years average per capita consumption has dropped from around 45 lt/annum to only 9 lt/annum, a fact many attribute to fashion amongst the younger generation, as much as the burgeoning current economic crisis.

Well more fool them. And more for us. It really is no surprise that Spanish wines find great favour abroad. They provide value sound options to consumers at just about every price point, from entry level everyday wines right up to the very upper echelons of worldwide production.

Owing to the diversity of wine Spain has to offer, our En Primeur release comprises a variety of vintages. From 2012 we have the extraordinary Ossian, a wine that marries minerality and richness to superb effect. Coming from vines ranging from 140 – 265 years old, surely some of the oldest wine producing vines on the planet, it’s a wine of nobility and intellect that transcends the appellation of Rueda.

In 2011, most notably we have the two new releases from Aalto, fast becoming one of Ribera del Duero’s and indeed Spain’s hottest properties. In Aalto and Aalto PS 2011 Mariano Garcia and Javier Zaccagnini have crafted two utterly seductive wines that combine richness and generosity with silk textured freshness.  It’s a highly compelling combination.

Further north in Senorio de San Vicente in Rioja the Eguren family poured a selection of wines for us which once again proved just what a class act this estate is across every level of production. Worth especially looking out for are the 2010 Riojas which will go down as classics. At lunch they kindly poured a 1994 San Vicente Rioja which was so gloriously youthful, sweet, precise and refined it stopped this buyer in his tracks and was an amazing argument for sticking these wines away, tempting as they are when young.

Also from 2010 we have the amazing wines of Mas Martinet – 2010 being a vintage every bit as serious in Priorat as it is in Rioja. As well as her best ever Martinet Bru, Sarah Perez’ three highly individual crus offer power combined with spellbinding delicacy and vibrancy. They are truly not to be missed.

All in all there is a lot to be excited by in this Spanish release. We very much look forward to seeing you at the tasting on the 2^nd September.

'Click here to view the 2013 En Primeur offer'