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May 19 12

Savennieres,Clos de St Yves, Baumard 2008

by WoW Girls



 Too often when we think Chenin Blanc nowadays we think of South Africa and its variable quality ranging from excellent to mediocre.Even I, a huge Loire Chenin fan, sometimes let it fall off my radar and literally forget to drink it, even though I have just to reach for the shelf and a choice of about six different examples.Savennieres is particularly neglected because you have to be so patient with (Read more...)
May 19 12

Enjoy a drink in relaxing surroundings

by Blake Creedon

The challenge set for this week’s episode of The Apprentice UK (Season 8 Episode 9, broadcast on Wednesday May 16 and available to watch again on YouTube by clicking here) was to devise an online marketing campaign for English sparkling wine.

So is about business? Or wine? Not quite. More akin to The Office staffed by volunteers, the series is a fish-out-of-water sitcom with a cast of amateur method (Read more...)

May 19 12

Three New Classy Craft Beers

by Billy Lyons
High Class Beer Hat-trick Put June 5th in your beer diary. On that Tuesday, new Cork craft brewery Elbow Lane will launch its Angel Stout. On the 20th, it is the turn of Elbow Lager and later in the month you’ll see Wisdom Ale make its debut. Elbow, Angel and Wisdom, are the names of three Cork lanes and now the names of a classy hat trick of beers. Elbow (Read more...)
May 19 12

My friend, the lamb burger

by Matt Kane

Ah, the glorious burger. What’s not to like? Do it on the barbecue if summer ever decides to show her face. Otherwise, this is an all year round, heart warming hunk of meat between two lumps of bread to be enjoyed with a rich red, or even a good ale.

Lamb burgers (serves 4)

Ingredients
450g minced lamb
15g butter
1 onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 tbsp chopped (Read more...)

May 19 12

Argentina Part II

by info@blakeonwine.com
Bodega Colomé was founded in 1831 but its current incarnation dates from 2001 when it was bought by Donald Hess who owns a string of wineries around the world, including Peter Lehmann in Australia and Glen Carlou in South Africa. ...No matter, a one-evening gallop around the wine regions of Argentina is easily arranged at the excellent Aldo’s Vinoteca (www.aldosvinoteca.com), an establishment that defies strict categorisation, as it is part-restaurant, (Read more...)
May 18 12

Is en primeur the equivalent of an IPO?

by Lar

With the Facebooks IPOing today, I spotted a great quote that reminded me of en primeur.

“It’s almost a mathematical impossibility to imagine that, out of the thousands of things for sale on a given day, the most attractively priced is the one being sold by a knowledgeable seller (company insiders) to a less-knowledgeable buyer (investors).”

WARREN BUFFETT

Now, isn’t that something to sip on?

May 18 12

Amuse Bouche: …don’t f*@k with their puddings

by Billy Lyons
It is a funny thing about English diners. They’ll let you dazzle them with piddly duxelles of this and fussy little noisettes of that, but don’t fuck with their puddings....All the desserts were for gooey dishes with good English names. I had sticky toffee pudding and it was splendid.  From Notes from a Small Island by Bill Bryson


May 18 12

Handsome new loyalty card at Bubble Brothers

by bubblepaul

Our loyalty card situation has changed from this week. I won’t muddy the waters by talking about the slightly-different older system, but the latest one is that you get a stamp for each €20 you spend and when you accumulate 6 stamps your card magically turns into a credit for €10 that you can offset against purchases in either of our shops (though not on the website).

The new (Read more...)

May 18 12

Handsome new loyalty card at Bubble Brothers

by bubblepaul

Our loyalty card situation has changed from this week. I won’t muddy the waters by talking about the slightly-different older system, but the latest one is that you get a stamp for each €20 you spend and when you accumulate 6 stamps your card magically turns into a credit for €10 that you can offset against purchases in either of our shops (though not on the website).

The new (Read more...)

May 18 12

Riesling Revolution at Ballymaloe

by Billy Lyons
The Riesling Revolution at Ballymaloe Top left: Carl Ehrhard, Emily Moore (Karwig), Maurice O'Mahony (Wine Alliance) Bottom left: John McDonnell, Wine Australia Ireland Ballymaloe: The Riesling Revolution With three of the wine world’s top Riesling producers onstage at the Ballymaloe Grain Store  last night, some came expecting fireworks. But a much more civilised tone prevailed,


May 18 12

!! FREE BUBBLY !!

by Simply Wines
Born and reared to Stand Up For The Ulster Men, but now a naturalised Leinster Man (and a Leinster Rugby season ticket holder to boot), I'm a conflicted man!  But regardless of whoever wins Saturday's Heineken Cup Final, people will be looking to celebrate or drown their sorrows so we've decided to offer a FREE BOTTLE OF BUBBLY with every 12-bottle straight or mixed case of wine purchased in the Simply Wines (Read more...)
May 18 12

Argentina Part I

by info@blakeonwine.com
Well, it still rules in Argentina, specifically the city of Mendoza, capital of that vast country’s eponymous principal wine region – as I had plenty of time to observe when stuck in early morning traffic on my way to the Luigi Bosca winery recently. ...Yes, they do, but it is lighter on its feet than many others and, right out at the other end of the style spectrum, there’s also (Read more...)
May 17 12

GoS – for all your cork-doll needs

by Paul J. Kiernan

I posted these photos on Instagram / Twitter last week but then I thought I may as well put them up here too, seeing as that ‘cork-man’ is the first thing I’ve made since primary school. To be honest, I don’t even know if I made anything there either, I’m just assuming.

I’d been dumping corks on top of a kitchen cupboard for the past while, not really knowing what (Read more...)

May 17 12

Sami at Star Anise

by Billy Lyons
Sami at Star Anise Sami Ghosn wasn't taking much credit for the splendid set of wines he shared with a packed Star Anise at last night’s Wine Dinner, part of the 10th anniversary celebrations of the excellent Bridge Street restaurant. Sami, Chairman and General Manager of the Massaya Company, based in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley, said it was easy to make wine there. The local conditions, no


May 17 12

Is it worth storing wine? For €38300 it is or is it?

by The Wine Buff

Is it worth storing your wines, well seems so if it’s the right wine and right vintage! A rare vintage 1774, yes that’s right “the United States was still an English colony, Bonaparte was a kid, the French Revolution was just about to kick off and William Pitt the younger was prescribed a bottle of Port a day as a cure for his gout, he was 15 at the time!” (Read more...)

May 17 12

Quinta Do Judeu Red 2008 Portugal

by Maurice Wine Alliance

Country / Region : Douro Valley, Portugal

Year : 2008

Grape Variety : 15 Varieties including Touriga Nacional / Touriga Franca / Tinta Roriz / Tinta Barroca / Tinto Cão / Tinta Amarela / Tinta Francisca / Sousão

Style : Full, Complex Red

ABV : 14.5%

Drink By : 2021

Price : €21 to €23 RRP

The Winemakers

From 1932 Quinta do Judeu has belonged to Alves de Carvalho family and its name is due to the (Read more...)

May 16 12

Championing greatness in the Languedoc

by Matt Kane

It didn’t really come as a surprise to us when we saw the wine scores for La Pèira in the The Rhône Report back in March. It epitomises the greatness coming from this top terroir, and from a region that is still (thankfully) being overlooked by the masses. I can still hear Aimé Guibert of Mas de Daumas Gassac:

“When I made my first bottles the retailers and buyers came (Read more...)

May 16 12

The use of ‘dry ice’ in winemaking

by bubblepaul

While reading the technical sheet, earlier, for a new Tuscan sauvignon blanc we just listed, I was intrigued to discover that the winery, Avignonesi, uses dry ice in the wine’s production.

Dry ice, you probably know, is the stuff that used to make the ‘smoke’ on Top of the Pops. It is solid carbon dioxide that ‘sublimates’ (turns directly from solid to gas) at a soul-numbing -78 degrees (Read more...)

May 16 12

Funny what people read…

by DermotMW
Blogger has some very handy features, one of which is a note on my dashboard telling me how many page views there have been for my posts. I'm not sure that this translates into actual readings of the posts, but it's the only statistic there is. Funnily enough, where Blogger falls down is by not letting me view my posts ordered by views! So, I flicked through and discovered some (Read more...)
May 16 12

Munster Foodie Tweet-up June 24th

by Billy Lyons
Hot off the press. Cronin's Bar invite you to the next Munster Food Tweet-up! Come and join us for the fourth gathering of Munster's food lovin' peeps who like to tweet 'n to eat! This event is open to all food lovers, restauranteurs, chefs, producers, bloggers or anyone who is interested in great food, conversation and of course who tweet and are based in the Munster area. The agenda


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