Mouton '85
01 June 2012
Great claret, indeed all great wine, is about balance – a point made oh-so-memorably by Château Mouton-Rothschild 1985 at a gala wine dinner in Dublin last night. The ‘building blocks’ – fruit, tannin, acid and alcohol – were all there in equal and harmonious measure, and as the wine approaches its 30th birthday they are seamlessly blending together into a whole that is far greater than the sum of its parts. Read More...
Comments
Super Semillon
31 May 2012
I had the great pleasure of leading an Australian Semillon masterclass at the recent Wine Australia tasting day in Dublin. It was no hardship, none at all. Ever since visiting the Hunter Valley in 1997 I have been an avid fan of the unique, chalky-dry-in-youth, toasty-in-age Semillons that are produced there. The net was thrown a little wider for this masterclass and, included in the half-dozen wines, were two from the Barossa, three from the Hunter and one sweet number from Riverina. Read More...
Graham's Port
15 November 2011
Cussed colonels fulminating from the safe depths of overstuffed leather armchairs may have given port a bad image, with the result that young wine drinkers probably regard a glass with as much suspicion as they would one of hemlock. If so, they are missing out on one of the most glorious transmutations ever achieved with the juice of the grape. A great glass possesses glowing depths of flavour allied to a satin texture and memorable length on the finish. A poor one, like poor wine anywhere, is thin and forgettable. Read More...
Best Bubbles
08 June 2011
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...
Pure Penfolds
13 May 2011
Tasting Penfolds wines in the company of chief winemaker Peter Gago is always a treat and I still have wonderful memories of a wine dinner he presented in Dublin at my invitation two years ago. On that occasion he arranged for a splendid quintet of reds to be shipped direct from the company’s cellars in Australia and the 100 or so wine lovers in attendance that night still talk fondly of the event. But we can’t always be so spoiled and yesterday morning, along with some colleagues, I had the enjoyable task of participating in a live webcast tasting, featuring Peter and colleagues in Adelaide, and beamed around the world to Ireland, the UK, Switzerland, Sweden, China, Thailand, Singapore… Read More...
Sherry Shopping in Spain
24 April 2011
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...
Pichon '29
27 March 2011
The Wall Street crash was just around the corner when the grapes for this wine were being harvested almost 82 years ago, so it seems fitting that it should be consumed with the world still staggering from the effects of the latest economic crisis. It was superb, so fine in fact, that it could have buoyed up the most troubled of spirits and banished, for a few moments at least, all fiscal woes. Read More...
Mount Pleasant Mystery Solved
23 March 2011
Thanks to a swift response from the winery in Australia, delivered through Tesco, so thanks to them also, I am now able to clear up the confusion surrounding the labelling of the Hunter Valley Semillon that remains one of my favourite Australian wines, no matter what they call it. For the record it is now labelled as: McWilliam’s Mount Pleasant Elizabeth Semillon 2005. The text of the message reads: Read More...
Double Identity?
21 March 2011
I had a great response to my recommendation of the Mount Pleasant Elizabeth Semillon 2005 last week, so much so that a number of people contacted me to say that their local Tesco store was sold out of the wine. All I could say by way of consolation was, “So was mine!” But that’s not all.
Read More...Margaux Quartet
21 March 2011
Thanks to the outstanding generosity of a friend myself and a small group of fellow wine nuts enjoyed a stunning quartet of vintages from Château Margaux last Saturday evening: 1990, ’89, ’86 & ’83. All four were in excellent condition and, while each taster had his or her own favourite, there was no question of trying to agree on a ‘winner’. That would be to miss the point altogether. Read More...
Allez Chambolle-Musigny
18 March 2011
Yesterday being the feast of Saint Patrick I dug deep into the cellar and came up with a gem that a friend had given me some five years ago. It was a Chambolle-Musigny, Les Cras 2002, Domaine Michèle & Patrice Rion (13%). Read More...
Best Value Ever
12 March 2011
Hurry! Hurry! Hurry! Very probably the best value wine offer I have ever come across lasts for only a few more days at Tesco. Read More...
A Rare Treat
20 February 2011
Thanks to the generosity of a friend I was delighted to taste two remarkable wines recently: Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, Richebourg 1969 and Château Margaux 1961, the former made in the year when Neil Armstrong stepped on the moon and the latter when John F Kennedy took office in the White House. Both were excellent. Read More...
