It is the throwaway remarks rather than the masterclass itself that makes an hour or two spent in Anthony Worrall Thompson’s company memorable, and the audience earlier today, here at the World Gourmet Summit in Singapore, weren’t complaining. Time and again the cookery demonstration took a back seat as he gave his opinion on all matters culinary, by way of anecdote, tale and joke. Somehow at the end of it all he managed to produce cauliflower and courgette fritters, fish fingers, stuffed aubergine and, quirky to the end, ‘prawn lollipops’. Read More...

Tags: Anthony Worrall Thompson, Masterclass

As expected, Olivier Bernard gave rare value for money at yesterday’s tutored tasting here at the World Gourmet Summit in Singapore. Not for him the safe haven of techno-babble, with reams of tinder dry facts, figures and statistics. That sort of winemaking by numbers is for less spirited individuals. His style of presentation relies on pithy comments and memorable anecdotes, but nobody should be fooled: great passion, commitment and expertise lurk just below the surface. Read More...

Tags: Domaine de Chevalier, Graves, World Gourmet Summit

I have just landed in Singapore where I will be spending five days, most of it reporting on the World Gourmet Summit, which is now in its 15th year. The summit is an ambitious, two-week-long, event that brings together a legion of celebrated chefs and winemakers from across the globe. It is the brainchild of Peter Knipp who hails originally from Germany. Read More...

Tags: Domaine de Chevalier, WGS

The Riesling grape reaches its apogee in Germany’s Mosel Valley where, when handled skilfully, it produces wines of unparalleled excellence. Their signature is a thrilling electric charge of acidity that keeps even the sweetest nectars free of saccharine cloy, and bestows on all styles the ability to age and develop for decades. A noted master of the Mosel is Dirk Richter of Weingut Max Ferd Richter and he will be presenting a selection of his wines, matched to appropriate dishes from the able hand of Derry Clarke, at l’Ecrivain Restaurant, Dublin on Tuesday, 10th May. Read More...

Tags: Riesling, Mosel

The weather in southern Spain last week was appalling, resulting in the swimming togs and shorts remaining in the suitcase while the books and DVDs were pressed into service to pass the time. In addition, more time was spent shopping than would otherwise have been the case – sherry for me, clothes for my wife. We both came across some remarkable value. Read More...

Tags: Sherry

What is the most overlooked red wine from Burgundy’s Côte d’Or? That’s a no-brainer in my book; it simply has to be red Chassagne-Montrachet. Mention the name to almost anybody outside the immediate region and they will start licking their chops in anticipation of glorious white wines, with nary a thought of reds. It is the ‘Montrachet’ in the name that does it. Read More...

Tags: Burgundy, Chassagne, Ramonet

Up until Wednesday of last week I had never taken Crémant d’Alsace very seriously and if I was going to drink a non-champagne French sparkler it would nearly always be a Crémant de Bourgogne. That was to reckon without the delicious crémant produced by Félix Meyer, of Domaine Meyer-Fonné, who was in Dublin last week to conduct a tasting of his wines. Amongst a baker’s dozen of well-crafted wines it was the star. Read More...

Tags: Alsace, Meyer-Fonné, Crémant

When a family has been in the wine business for 26 generations, spanning over 600 years, it is safe to say that they have wine in their veins. Such is the case with the Antinori family of Florence who have even lived in the same house for the last 500 years. Allegra Antinori, daughter of Marchese Piero, together with her sisters Albiera and Alessia, is now running the business with her father and if she feels the weight of this heavy inheritance she certainly wasn’t showing it in Dublin last week when she presented a range of wines for tasting. Read More...

Tags: Antinori, Chianti, Tignanello

Mid-morning cognac tasting is not something I do every day but when Maurice-Richard Hennessy is in town to present a selection of Hennessy cognacs I am prepared to abandon my ‘elevenses’ for a drop of eau de vie. He is a direct descendant of Richard Hennessy who departed these shores for France in the 18th century and there must still be a trickle of Irish blood in his veins, for he can talk at impressive length on the subject of cognac, only pausing for the odd sip. Read More...

Tags: Hennessy, Cognac

At the risk of being branded an ‘Elizabeth-phile’ I am going to write about this wine once more. This was my last bottle from a case bought about a decade ago and was opened over the weekend in anticipation of a forthcoming visit to Dublin by the Mount Pleasant winemaker, Phil Ryan. It is fair to say that it was on its last legs but it was a fascinating drink all the same. Read More...

Tags: Hunter Valley, Semillon, Mount Pleasant

I had a minor hissy fit while watching the Channel 4 news last Friday night. Apparently researchers have discovered a link between the consumption of alcohol and certain cancers. Once this news was announced various worthies were wheeled in to give us the benefit of their wisdom. More than once the term ‘a glass of wine’ was used, which was the red rag to this bull. Read More...

Tags: Alcohol, Wine

M&S showcased a half-century of wines earlier today in what might have been ideal conditions except for the muggy heat in the tasting room. All the other pieces of the ideal tasting jigsaw were in place: silence, good light, good tasting notes and wines clearly marked (except for one or two!). More’s the pity then that some of the reds tasted soupy and indistinct, where they might have been fresh and juicy. Read More...

Tags: English Sparkling, Marks & Spencer

For many people Kelly’s Hotel in Rosslare is Ireland’s premier resort hotel offering, as it does, a huge range of activities for every member of the family. I take a narrower view and return year after year with just one purpose in mind – to meet the roster of top-notch winemakers that proprietor Bill Kelly (above) brings over from France in the spring and autumn to present a week’s worth of wine tastings. Read More...

Tags: Burgundy, Kelly's

No, they are not the Curly, Larry & Moe of the Irish wine trade but a trio of Ireland’s small, independent wine merchants who, between them, import a wonderfully diverse range of wines from France, Spain and Italy. Container loads of anonymous plonk are not for them; rather they seek out dedicated, quality conscious producers whose wines fairly hum with character. Read More...

Tags: Nomad, Tyrrell, Grapecircus, Syrah

You can tell by the colour. Honey-gold when it should be no deeper than full yellow. And the smell. Caramel, marzipan and nuts. In other words heavy, sweet and full, like a cheap perfume, with no ‘brightness’, no fruity tingle. The taste follows on dismally from this sad litany: lacking in life and ‘bounce’, usually low in acidity, plodding rather than fresh, fit only for flinging down the sink, certainly not to be sipped and savoured. I speak of prematurely oxidised white Burgundy. Read More...

Tags: Burgundy, Montrachet, Premox