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Posts Tagged Viré-Clessé

Two for the weekend

This week, two wines I enjoyed during a three day visit to East Cork. Along with Colm McCan of Le Caveau, I gave a talk on religion and wine (a fascinating subject) in Cloyne Cathedral. If you ever visit East Cork, take a few minutes to visit this hidden gem, a lovely church with a fascinating history. We tasted the Viré-Clessé below, as many vineyards in the region were first planted by the monks in Cluny.

The following morning, I gave a talk and tasting on Spanish wine to the students at Ballymaloe Cookery School. I thought the Camino Real stood out against some pretty serious competition.

 

Viré-Clessé 2016, Les Pierres Blanches, Domaine André Bonhomme

Gorgeous generous textured apple and pear fruits with a lovely crisp mineral streak, finishing dry. Lovely pure unoaked Chardonnay.

This would go nicely with chicken dishes – either roast or in a creamy tarragon sauce.

I have been a fan of the Bonhomme wines for many years; they drink well young and age very well too. In the sea of indifferent wines found in the Mâconnais, they stand out as special – and very well priced too.

€22.95 from Le Caveau, Kilkenny, lecaveau.ie; Listons, Dublin 2, listonsfoodstore.ie; Ely 64, Glasthule, Ely64.com; Blackrock Cellar, Blackrock, blackrockcellar.com; MacGuinness Wines, Dundalk, dundalkwines.com.

 

 

 

Camino Real 2017 Ribera Sacra, Guímaro

Lightly aromatic with seductive perfectly ripe dark cherry fruits, a spicy savoury edge and a freshness, an elegance that draws you back for another sip. Delicious wine.

A seared breast of duck, or maybe belly of pork.

Pedro Rodríguez is one of the rising stars of Ribera Sacra, a region that has been receiving huge interest in recent years, for the amazing scenery as well as the unique wines. Made primarily from ancient Mencía vines clinging to the slate soils on vertiginous slopes sweeping down to the river, the wines can be spectacularly good.

 

€26 from Green Man Wines, Dublin 6, greenmanwines.ie; Ely 64, Glasthule, Ely64.com; Redmonds, Dublin 6; Redmonds.ie.

 

Posted in: Top Drop

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Breaking Booze – its wine o’clock but there is a shortage!

Dire predictions of future wine shortages make for good copy. The media needs a constant stream of stories and tales of hailstorms, late frosts, flooding and other random acts of nature help fill pages, online and off. A year or so ago, it was northeast Italy. I certainly haven’t noticed a great Prosecco shortage in our wine bars, or any massive price increases. If anything the opposite seems the case. As well as providing news, such scaremongering may help producers push their prices up a little. Generally I ignore these tales of alarm. If there is a genuine shortage of one wine, we are lucky to have plenty of alternatives from other regions, although when the stories are genuine, naturally I do feel sorry for the unfortunate producers who may have lost an entire year’s income in a few short hours.

 However, it does now seem possible that we are facing into a worldwide shortage of wine. World consumption has been increasing steadily over the past decade or more, particularly in the US and China, two of the largest markets. At the same time, production has declined, mainly in Europe, where growers have been paid to grub up vines. To make matters worse, France and Italy, the two largest producers, have suffered a series of small harvests. Further afield, Argentina, Chile and South Africa are all looking at a reduced harvest in 2016. Australia and New Zealand both saw increases, and are reporting high quality too, but this is unlikely to make up for the shortfall elsewhere. As it takes several years for a vine to become productive, and a decade or more to yield high quality grapes, it could take time to address the shortage.

In 2016, well-known names such as Sancerre and Chablis suffered from late frosts in April and early May, and parts of Beaujolais from hail. We will probably see shortages of these over next year. The harvest in Burgundy overall is 20 per cent down on 2015 with some areas suffering far more. The finest region of Burgundy, the Côte d’Or, has experienced a series of smaller and smaller vintages, affected by frost, hailstorms and floods. Prices for the top wines have rocketed as demand has increased dramatically in the same period.

More worrying in the long-term is the increased demand worldwide for the finest wines. Consumers in China, Hong Kong and elsewhere are happy to pay large sums for the very best labels. In the most sought-after areas, the scope for increased production is very limited. It is likely that the great wines of the world will continue to increase in price, and we will have to look elsewhere for our wine.  I will return to this subject again in the near future.

ImageViré-Clessé Vieilles Vignes 2014, Florent Rouve

13%

€20

Sophisticated textured green fruits, underpinned by subtle hazelnuts, with real depth.

Stockists: Marks & Spencer

 

 

 

DSCF7121Johann Geil Pinot Noir 2015, Rheinhessen

13%

€17.95

Charming free-flowing light supple cherry fruits. By itself, with salmon, tuna or pork.

Stockists: Mortons, Sweeneys, Redmonds, Wicklow Wine: Mitchells, Listons, Jus de Vine, Drinkstore, Corkscrew, Blackrock Cellar, 64Wine; Grapevine.

 

 

 

 

Image 2Langhe Nebbiolo 2014 G.D. Vajra

13%

€27.99

The friendly face of Nebbiolo? Floral and elegant with very approachable red fruits.

Stockists: Baggot St. Wines; Clontarf Wines; Fallon & Byrne; Green Man; Jus de Vine; Searsons; The Corkscrew; World Wide Wines.

Posted in: Irish Times

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