William Grant & Sons is synonymous with its pioneering Glenfiddich brand, but it is its smaller neighbour Balvenie that is set to hog the limelight at the TFWA World Exhibition with the launch of a new limited edition expression.

As its name suggests, The Balvenie SherryOak 17 Year Old has been matured solely in European oak butts previously used for oloroso sherries. Retailing for about £60 a bottle, only 500 cases have been allocated for the duty-free and travel-retail channel. Other target markets for the whisky include the US, the UK and France.

William Grant's has recently decided to increase its investment in Balvenie. The company believes its multi-award winning range and commitment to traditional production methods marks it out from other malts. New Balvenie merchandising units created earlier this year, featuring plasma TV screens and tastings, have been rolled out to key travel-retail locations.

Glenfiddich, duty-free's best-selling malt, has not been neglected either. A new gifting initiative commemorating the distillery's 120th anniversary sees a vintage bottle of Glenfiddich 40 Year Old twinned with a Baume & Mercier watch with 1887 engraved on the front.

UK operator World Duty Free and DFS Group, Asia/Pacific's largest duty-free chain, will be the exclusive stockists of this new super-premium offering from November. The Glenfiddich 120th Anniversary Offering is priced at US$5,000.== Profitable Cooley celebrates re-opening of Old Kilbeggan Distillery ==

Competing against the marketing might of the world's two largest spirits producers in Diageo (Bushmills) and Pernod Ricard (Jameson) can't be easy, but Cooley Distillery, Ireland's only independent whiskey distillery, is doing rather well. In 2006 the company saw profits rise by 26 per cent, while in March this year it re-opened Old Kilbeggan Distillery, claiming it to be the world's oldest licensed distillery, after 53 years of inactivity.

To celebrate the event and commemorate the 250th anniversary of the distillery's establishment in 1757, Cooley will present Kilbeggan 15 Year Old at this year's TFWA World Exhibition. Made from malt and grain whiskeys matured in the Old Kilbeggan warehouse, the new whiskey is presented in a 70cl carafe, and priced at e98, reflecting the limited production of only 3,000 bottles per year.

Other launches from Cooley at the show will include three 10-year-old wood finishes for the company's Tyrconnell single malt brand? Madeira, sherry and port. All three references are priced in duty-free at e80.

A e9.99 gift pack containing one 5cl bottle each of Tyrconnell single malt, Tyrconnell port and Tyrconnell sherry, plus a nosing glass and tasting notes, is also available for travel-retail.== Bottega unveils versatile liqueur ==

Italian spirits and wine company Distilleria Bottega is launching a new low-strength coconut-flavoured liqueur at Cannes this year called Coco Bottega. The family-owned firm claims the new 17 per cent abv product can be served in the traditional manner as an 

after-dinner drink, but can also be poured over desserts, and in a variety of cocktails and long drinks.

Coca Bottega is presented in an oval-shaped, 50cl bottle.== Zonin plays the romance card ==

The Italians are nothing if not a romantic bunch and the latest release for the duty-free market from Casa Vinicola Zonin, the country's largest privately held wine producer, shamelessly name-checks the most famous romantic play of them all, Romeo and Juliet.

The Primo Amore collection comprises four modestly priced wines aimed at drinkers new to the world of Italian wine. Featuring screw-caps and easy-to-read labelling, each bottle bears one of the most famous quotes from the Shakespeare play - "A rose by any other name".

Primo Amore Romeo and Juliet are red and white wines respectively, described as "light, lively and slightly sweet". In contrast, the Primo Amore Pinot Grigio and Primo Amore Sangiovese-Merlot wines are classified as drier, food-friendly wines.

"Primo Amore wines are an excellent introduction for anyone who wants excellent Italian wine, with true Italian character at an everyday price," said Zonin vice-president Francesco Zonin.

Veneto-based Zonin has produced display racks to support Primo Amore's launch into duty-free, which are decorated with the brand's rose motif. The wines will sell for between US$5.99 and US$7.99.== Bardinet unveils new flavoured rum ==

Rum brand Negrita will present its first flavoured line extension at this month's TFWA World Exhibition in Cannes.

Brand owner Bardinet hopes Negrita Lemon, a 32 per cent abv mix of white Negrita rum and natural lemon flavouring, will recruit younger consumers who may already be familiar with flavoured vodkas. The bottle design keeps the brand's famous image of a smiling, headscarf-wearing Caribbean woman, but features a modern mix of bright colours and a silver screw cap.

A range of POS support material has been developed for Negrita Lemon, and two further flavoured line extensions are in the pipeline.

Negrita rum is sold in 120 countries worldwide and its main markets are France, Finland, Belgium and Sweden.== Peller Estates toasts duty-free success with launch of sparkling Ice Cuvée ==

Peller Estates will be heading to this year's Cannes show in buoyant mood, the family-owned?company having seen international sales of its eponymous icewine brand double in the past four years.

The duty-free channel has been the key focus of this successful export drive. Recent high-profile listings for the brand have included World Duty Free at London Heathrow, and AK Duty Free at Seoul Incheon, a key airport for liquor sales in Asia.

"Peller Estates has quickly become a global brand in the duty-free sector," said global export director Bill Harvey. "We now have nine global distributors in place."

He added that Europe and the Middle East were now the company's target duty-free markets for the brand.

At Cannes the Ontario-based winery will be unveiling its Ice Cuvée, an 11.5 per cent abv sparkling wine blended with a dosage of icewine. A 75cl bottle will retail in duty-free for £18-19.== Kobrand family-estate US wine range makes the grade with DFS Group ==

Securing a listing with DFS Group, Asia/Pacific's largest duty-free chain, is proof positive for any liquor supplier that their products are making the grade.

Kobrand International, better known for its distribution of Alizé liqueurs, made this breakthrough this summer with its high-end range of family-estate Californian wines. Brands such as Cakebread Cellars, Sequoia Grove, Benziger and St Francis Vineyards were showcased at DFS' stores at San Francisco and Los Angeles airports.

These brands will also be on show at Cannes this year, where Kobrand will additionally be showing a new, slimmer look bottle for its Alizé liqueur range, and Café Bohême, a coffee and vodka liqueur.

"Kobrand Corporation boasts a very fine selection of extremely high quality wines which we have been offering to established duty-free accounts in Asia for a while," said Kobrand International director Lewis Johnstone. "Such has been their success that we have decided to launch the wine collection properly at this exhibition, where buyers from all over the world ... will be looking for wines with unique character and heritage."== New single cask selection showcases Scotland's whisky producing regions ==

This year's Cannes highlight from Scotch whisky independent Angus Dundee Distillers takes a whistle-stop tour of Scotland's main whisky producing areas.

The Montgomerie's Single Cask Selection comprises nine single-cask whiskies? three Speyside varieties, two whiskies from the Highlands, two from Islay, and one each from the Lowlands and the Islands.

Sold only in 70cl bottles, all the whiskies are non-chill filtered and 46 per cent abv in strength. Packaged in individual matt-black cartons, each of the regional whiskies is also colour coded for easy differentiation.

Angus Dundee, whose own malts, Tomintoul and Glencadam, hail from the Speyside region, believes the Montgomerie's Single Cask Selection will do well in several western European travel-retail markets, including the UK, France, Holland, Italy, Spain, Germany, Sweden and Belgium.

The price of the whiskies varies according on its age, distillery and cask, but in the UK domestic market, the range is priced between £45 and £90 per bottle.== Camus product launches will build on Elegance range success ==

Buoyed by the continuing success of its new core Elegance range, cognac house Camus returns to Cannes this year with two brand new product launches.

Rarissimes is a collection of seven vintage cognacs dating from 1962 to 1989, which is aimed squarely at the collectors and gifting markets. All the cognacs are bottled at 46 per cent abv, are not chill-filtered, and contain no additives.

The second launch is a range of Bordeaux wines collected under the Les Vinissimes brand label, created to make it easier for rushed travellers to make sense of the in-store French wine offer. The provenance of the wines includes regions such as the Medoc, Montagne St Emilion and Graves.

Camus has created dedicated in-store merchandising to support the launch.

Meanwhile the Elegance range is joined by the ultra-premium reference, Elegance Extra. Containing a blend of very old eaux-de-vie from the best grape-producing areas of Cognac, Extra Elegance is presented in a crystal and metal decanter, along with a gift box complete with its own pedestal for the bottle, and cloth to wipe off fingerprints.== Exclusives signal new duty-free focus for Ian Macleod Distillers ==

Ian Macleod Distillers is investing a six-figure sum in a new five-year travel-retail strategy, which sees the launch of two new channel-exclusive malt whiskies at Cannes this month.

Smokehead Extra Rare builds on the success of Smokehead, a contemporary-looking Islay malt whisky launched by the independent company last year . The new more premium reference contains whisky from a different, but unnamed Islay distillery, as well as featuring more luxurious packaging and a standard duty-free sized 1-litre bottle.

Quantities are limited and the whisky has a recommended travel-retail price of e40.

The second new launch is Burnfoot, a radically different looking addition to the company's Glengoyne range. The name refers to the original name of the distillery, while the modern packaging has some unusual features such as map contours of the area surrounding the production site and its GPS coordinates.

The whisky, which contains a high percentage of first-fill sherry casks, has no age statement, but is claimed to contain whiskies of up 34 years in age. Its recommended travel-retail price is e36, slightly more than the existing Glengoyne 10 Year Old reference.

"Burnfoot is very different from the rest of the Glengoyne range but we feel that it is important for travel-retail exclusives to offer a real point of difference from the domestic market," said marketing director Iain Weir. "We didn't want to make just a few tweaks to the label ? buyers aren't stupid."

Travel-retail currently accounts for 8 per cent of Ian Macleod's total sales, but the company hopes to boost that figure to 10 per cent within five years. As well as these and further travel-retail exclusive products, the company is also investing more in promotions, supporting POS material, and making its pricing policy more consistent from market to market.== Rémy Cointreau pursues its premium brand focus with aspirational products ==

Exhibiting in the suite of its exclusive travel retail distributor Maxxium, Rém y Cointreau will reveal the latest version of its Be Cointreauversial promotional campaign. The new Cointreauversial Lips campaign, to be rolled out initially in the top 15 sales outlets and then extended worldwide, focuses on its target consumer - "the sophisticated young women who likes to party and drink cocktails". A smart little cocktail shaker in luminous pink, marked with the measures for each of the ingredients in a new signature cocktail called Cointreaupolitan , will be offered in a special gift pack.

The latest products exclusively for duty-free will be on show including the new Rémy Martin V S O P Premier Cru, X O Premier Cru (with revamped packaging) and the recently released 1988 Vintage Premier Cru. Their launch, the company says, is intended to encourage consumers to trade up to a product which is both exceptional in quality and unavailable in his home market.

The roll out of Premier Cru range will be supported with premium merchandising and promotions such as bottle glorifiers, displays and tastings.

In addition, Champagne Piper-Heidsieck is preparing to unveil its promotional programme but the details are being kept under wraps until the opening day of the show.== Hot news from the Irish ==

Making a first appearance at TFWA World Exhibition this year is The Hot Irishman - a whiskey company formed by Bernard and Rosemary Walsh in 1999. It will be introducing three award winning products to the worldwide travel retail market: The Irishman 70 Superior Irish Whiskey; The Irishman Single Malt; and The Hot Irishman Superior Irish Coffee. All can be seen on the Bord Bia stand.

Gift boxes, open fronted to allow the bottle to be seen, are also available, plus a miniature gift pack containing one 50ml bottle of each whiskey and a crystal whiskey glass. Bernard Walsh said: "This is an excellent way for consumers to taste both these rare whiskies with minimum expense. Hopefully they will then come back and buy a full size bottle of one or both of them!"== Red and white twinpack designed specifically for duty-free ==

The House of Bouchard Père & Fils is presenting a new look for its Beaune du Château twinpack. The pack contains the red and the white Beaune du Château in 75cl bottles, placed horizontally for optimum storage while on display and for convenience when carried by the cotton handle.

The wine is a blend of several premier cru parcels vinified separately. Bouchard Père & Fils blends this premier cru every year as 100 per cent pinot noir or 100 per cent chardonnay from the Château de Beaune. A consistency in style and quality is guaranteed whatever the harvest, says the company.