Coated popping candy doesn’t absorb the moisture of the truffles, so the ‘POP’ stays until you bite into them. just roll them in good-quality cocoa powder and the edible gold dust. A group of wine producers and students gathered at the WSET’s London offices this month to learn from the team behind the successful I Heart brand. Then right at the end one of the people working for me [Rachel Archer] said, ‘this is terrible, you’re going to hate it, but it’s an idea I came up with’. I looked at it and I just thought, ‘that it what we are looking for’. I often say it’s the quiet people that have the best ideas.”

Make sure you have your glasses ready and within easy reach. Then, take your bottle and remove the foil; there should be a tag or perforation line to make this easy and neat. I said I really like it, but I need you to get to €1.50 a bottle, and Robin just said, yep, fine, done. So at that point I realised that the negotiation course hadn’t worked. I’m not actually a huge drinker and never really drink in the week, unless I am out or celebrating something. So when I do choose to drink I like to drink nice wine and have a tendency to be a little fussy! For example I never drink Chardonnay, but that is personal choice. Simple, stylish, and ready to carry on the party, our Prosecco Rosé is sure to be a hit. Get the Boomerang ready and sprinkle in some edible glitter for a ‘Gram worthy moment. The flexibility of the brand allows the team to maintain a continued pipeline of innovation and move in an agile fashion to respond to consumer demand. It can source Pinot Grigio from Romania or wherever offers the best price per quality ratio at the time, for example.

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Line a large baking tray with baking paper. Start by making the truffle ganache. Break the chocolate into squares and place in a large glass bowl. Heat the cream and butter in a saucepan over a low heat, and stir until the butter is melted. Let the cream reach a gentle simmer, then pour over the chocolate, whisking until it’s completely melted.

When opening a bottle of prosecco, remember it will behave far better and more predictably if it has been left to sit and chill for a few hours. Warmth and/or rough handling both make for an explosive cork situation, meaning more mess and waste. Fizz should go into glasses, not onto ceilings. To shape the truffles, dip a melon baller or teaspoon into a cup of boiling water. Scrape up balls of the ganache, reshaping them with your hands if necessary, then drop them on to the plate of freeze-dried strawberries and popping candy, rolling them around to get an even coverage. Repeat until you’ve used all the ganache. Place the truffles on a baking tray lined with baking paper and chill in the fridge for about 30 minutes before enjoying.

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When I was at Sainsbury’s and Robin came to me and put the I Heart brand to me in its initial concept, with a Pinot Grigio, a Merlot and a White Zinfandel from California, I knew nothing about wine, and that’s probably why I decided it was a good idea,” he said. “I had come straight from the Sainsbury’s graduate scheme and decided I wanted to be a buyer and the next available job in head office happened to be in wine. I replaced Julian Dyer, who went on to be the managing director of Australian Vintage, and I was probably the first junior buyer that was not a wine person. Robin showed me the brand and it made sense. I Heart has been designed for shoppers that do not know much about wine, but he insists that a thorough wine education is important for everyone in the trade. “I Heart is the start of somebody’s wine journey,” he said. “The consumer who wants to learn about wine has got to start somewhere and they’re not going to start with Mouton-Rothschild or Grand Cru. The firm had enjoyed a strong five years, creating many brands for other people, but it had nothing to call its own and it was suddenly plunged into a perilous situation where the management feared for its future. They called every member of staff in for a crisis meeting and asked everyone to come up with concepts for a new brand.

It’s coming at it from a different angle, approaching a consumer that didn’t have a voice in the world of wine. That still exists in 2018, although other brands are trying to do a similar job to I Heart.” If you can feel the cork pushing to leave the bottle already, get a glass ready. Otherwise, with the bottle gripped in one hand, slowly pull up the cork with the other. It may be quite stiff at first – if so, alternate pulling and twisting motions – but as you go you'll start to feel the pressure from within helping you out. The perfect little treat for popping in your mouth when you’re sitting on the sofa, after dinner, or if you are planning a decadent high tea. Everyone’s heard of champagne truffles, but these use our fave fizzy Italian tipple, i heart Prosecco. We keep asking, is there a problem to be solved?” said Green. “If there isn’t a problem, move on. But wine has a plethora of issues and there is lots of space to solve problems. The three biggest success stories in wine at the moment from a branded perspective are Yellow Tail, Barefoot and I Heart, talking to consumers in slightly different ways but doing a very similar thing: talking to the 95% of consumers that don’t know much about wine.”It continued to go great guns and it is now listed in all the big four UK retailers and many convenience chains. It has just become the UK’s third best-selling sparkling brand after Freixenet and Moët & Chandon and still wine sales are surging too, while it is getting into cans, bag in box and personalised bottles.