Jun 2011
Grüner Veltliner
27 June 2011 Filed in: Tastings Cellar Notes
After a troubled childhood and adolescence, marked by temper tantrums and some impressively deep sulks, it can be reliably reported that Grüner Veltliner has now come of age. Only a fading echo remains of the querulous individual upon whom graciousness had to be forced and now we can rejoice in a well-rounded personality, which includes a welcome ‘edge’ where once it was completely dominated by it. A host of winemakers can take credit for the transformation but none more so than Laurenz Maria Moser, on whose shoulders the title ‘Grüner King’ would sit easily. Read More...
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Value Bordeaux
22 June 2011 Filed in: Tastings Cellar Notes
If the term ‘Value Bordeaux’ does not sound like an oxymoron in the current climate then I don’t know what does. The usual mad whirlwind of the en primeur campaign is in full, if slightly faltering, swing and, as ever, the prices set (demanded?) for the top wines are causing outrage and angst amongst the commentators. But it is easy to be dazzled by the fireworks and to lose sight of the big picture. Bordeaux is a vast wine-producing region and the châteaux that garner all the attention account for a minuscule percentage of the total output. There is still plenty of value to be had from Bordeaux, as I discovered at a recent tasting in Dublin. Read More...
Vintage of the Century
17 June 2011 Filed in: Miscellaneous
Nobody is quite certain how long the comic farce Vintage of the Century has been running and the bad news received today is that the Guinness Book of World Records will not consider it for inclusion due to the multiplicity of its authorship. It would be difficult to enumerate all the hands that have had a part in Vintage’s success but the list certainly includes: wine writers, Bordeaux negociants, châteaux owners, wine merchants, sundry smoke and mirror practitioners, PR spinners and the man in the street, including the social media tweeters and their ilk, commissioned just a few years ago to “freshen up the script.” Read More...
Torres in Chile
16 June 2011 Filed in: Cellar Notes Tastings
To Dunne & Crescenzi in Sandymount last Monday to meet Fernando Olmeda Ollé, Technical Director of the Torres winery in Chile. Founded in 1979, which is prehistoric in terms of the modern Chilean wine industry, Torres is of course linked to the ‘mother ship’ in Spain and their other outpost in California. I think it was 1998 when I first visited the Chilean operation and I was back again about 10 years later. This time around the mountain came to Mohamed (ahem) and, as ever, I found the Cordillera to be head and shoulders above the other wines. Read More...
M is for Malbec
13 June 2011 Filed in: Cellar Notes Tastings
Malbec has had an unfair, or at least a one-dimensional, press in recent years and I have been as much to blame for that as any other wine scribe. The common, and understandable, perception is that in its adopted home of Argentina it makes rugged wines that rely on strength and structure to make an impression, hewn as it were from the same block as some of her more robust rugby forwards. That is the stereotype and like all stereotypes it has only a passing acquaintance with the truth. Read More...
Taste of Dublin
10 June 2011 Filed in: Miscellaneous
I spent a fair portion of the late afternoon yesterday dodging the rain at Taste of Dublin in the Iveagh Gardens behind St Stephen’s Green. The ultimate, must-have, accessory was a see-through plastic rain poncho and thankfully there were 20,000 of them on hand to keep everyone looking their best. It was chilly too, so some heart-warming food was called for and I made my way straight to Jaipur where the endlessly talented Sunil Ghai was in charge, with some Bombay Railway Lamb Curry ready to hand. Read More...
Best Bubbles
Confusing ‘good value’ with ‘cheap’ is a common error that we all fall prey to, with wines as much as any other consumer good. A bottle of wine at €27.99, even if it is sparkling wine, could certainly not be classed as cheap, but in the case of the Ridgeview Cavendish 2008 from England, now stocked by O’Briens, it represents superbly good value. What makes it so is the cast iron quality, the gorgeous rush of citrus flavours and the absence of any acidic harshness on the finish. Made from the classic champagne trio of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier this sparkler is a stable mate of the sparkling rosé served recently at Buckingham Place when the queen was entertaining Barack Obama. Read More...
Recession Busting Wines
07 June 2011 Filed in: Cellar Notes Tastings
The frantic rush of trade wine tastings, many of them ‘satellite’ events held to coincide with the London Wine Trade Fair, continued right to the end of last month with Dunnes Stores holding a slickly organised affair on Tuesday 31st. The theme was Mediterranean and featured wines from the ‘big three’ of the wine world: France, Italy and Spain. There was some stunning value to be had – indeed the paradox was that as the prices increased the ‘better’ wines struggled to justify their (relatively) heftier price tags. Read More...
