News Briefs for May 25, 2011
May 25, 2011• Christie’s has broken the record for the highest price ever paid for a 750ml bottle of Burgundy at auction with the $123,899 sale of a 1945 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti. Purchased by a private U.S. collector on May 17, during Christie’s fine wine auction in Geneva, Switzerland, the wine surpassed its high estimate by 50%. According to Wine Spectator, only 600 bottles of the 1945 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti were ever made.
• Drambuie has appointed Michael Kennedy—the company’s former regional director for Southern Europe, global travel retail and Latin America—to the role of ceo, replacing Phil Parnell. After serving as ceo for five years and becoming an executive chairman in January, Parnell—the first non-family chief executive of Drambuie—will serve as non-executive chairman starting in January 2012, replacing the recently retired Richard Stone. Additionally, Brendan O’Neill—who most recently served as chief executive of the London-based chemicals firm ICI—has been tapped as a non-executive director, while former Drambuie regional sales director for Northern and Eastern Europe Jonathan Brown has also joined the company’s board of directors.
• Anheuser-Busch InBev’s U.S. division is reformulating the 24-ounce version of its Tilt malt beverage brand, bringing the 12%-abv drink down to 8%-abv. The reduced-alcohol formula is expected to roll out this summer. The brewer guaranteed that any future alcoholic beverages over 16 ounces would be similarly capped at 8%, and called for other beverage companies to follow suit. A-B InBev had received widespread criticism from a group of U.S. attorneys general, who called Tilt a “binge-in-a-can” product that appealed to underage drinkers.
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