For the week that’s in it, and even though we are a day after St. Patricks, I will talk about the Irish who have followed the dream and bought the vineyard in the sun. In fact, this topic is so close to my heart, I will even do a quick turn as an estate agent in the hope that Pat, John and the rest of the experts don’t decide to down tools in protest. Fear not estate agents of South Tipperary, as I will only discuss property in France, and in particular, vineyards in France. I can almost smell the lavender.

I mentioned the Irish owned Domaine des Anges in last weeks article and I won’t repeat myself as to the quality of these wines, but suffice to say that Tomás Clancy of the Sunday Business Post agrees and he has just raved about them in last Sunday’s paper. Did he gain inspiration from my article last week? The wines reviewed received huge ratings but unfortunately, he did not tell the Irish Business world that I stock them. If the world is listening, I do. I am also glad to say that they can also be found in one of the best restaurants in Tipperary. Befani’s on Sarsfield Street have the Red and White as part of their new organic section. Their imaginative menu will compliment these wines fantastically and I can’t wait for my next visit. But enough shameless publicity.

Other Irish people making a go of wine making in France include Sean and Caroline Feeley of Chateau Haut Garrigue in the Bergerac region. They are in the process of moving from organic to biodynamic winemaking and their quality rises year on year. You might have seen them on the cover of the Irish Times last year, at a Red Nose Wine Tasting or on the Nationwide TV program before Christmas. RTE sent out a crew to film the harvest and even though it is very hard work, they made it all sound and look very tempting. One of our own, David O Brien from Rosegreen brought the great Chateau Vignelaure back to life in the mid 90’s and it now sits alongside some of the icon wines of France. Their Rosé is also spectacular and if we manage to get a summer this year, this is one to savour. I hope you all called down to the Arches on St. Patricks Day to taste all of these Irish wines. Maybe it will give you a taste for the dream.

As I check my range of websites on current vineyards for sale, the first thing that strikes me is that there is a lot. It is a good time to be a buyer and in particular, a cash customer. There is a very nice Provence vineyard for sale with 100 acres and a large Mas ( farmhouse ) to restore for €1.2million. There is small Loire Valley house and vineyard for sale for €478,000. It also has an orchard, so you could give Bulmers a rattle on the side. However, if my ship came in, I think I would go for an 18th Century Maison de Mâitre with a vineyard and a pool. It has 11 bedrooms and lies near the coast between Cannes and St. Tropez. I think I would feel bad only paying the asking price of €2.6million. I’d offer them €3million just so I could sleep at night. To sleep, perchance to dream.

It is not all one way traffic – some winemakers actually move to Ireland. I have raved about Mas Daumas Gassac on many an occasion and the world famous wine was started by the equally famous Áime Guibert. He finds refuge from the heat of the Languedoc in Ireland, and in Cork to be exact. The family have a house near Bantry and he sails his boat in the summer. His son Roman spent part of his education in Rockwell College, and he tells me that he made regular trips to Clonmel to practice his English in Dannos. His older brother Samuel will be coming to Ireland on April 14th for a very special tasting. As well as the Grand Cru wines, we will taste their full range which starts from €9. I spoke to him this morning about the tasting and he was calling from Japan. I am very serious when I say that his schedule reads something like this: Tokyo – Buenos Aires – Paris – New York – San Francisco – Clonmel – London – Berlin – Madrid. This is a real rare chance to meet one of the very special families in wine and who are almost single-handily responsible for dragging the Languedoc out of the doldrums. It also helps that the wines are superb and really do have something for all budgets. Numbers will be limited so call in to reserve your seats.

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“Life is much too short to drink bad wine”