The weather remains, and the poor old barbecue is wrecked. It never knew work like this before.

SALE SALE SALE

The sale has been very popular and the 20% and 15% wine have really been well taken up. If I am to pick my own stars among that batch, I would say

The Pont de Brion Graves - down from €15 to €12 and from the mythical 2005 Bordeaux vintage.

The Chateau Margui Blanc – down from €18.50 to €14.80 and in many a Michelin Star restaurant the world over.

The Michel Bailley Pouilly Fume – down from €19 to €15.30 – we had this last weekend and it drinking perfectly. High end Sauvignon from the Loire.

In Red, the some of the standouts include :

Twiggy - the famous Montepuliciano d’Abruzzo wine withe a piece of vine on the bottle – down from €17 to €14.45

The Cantina di Montalcino Sangiovese – Chianti without the price – down from €14.50 to €12.33

The famous New Zealand Muddy Water Pinot Noir- down from €28 to €23.80

This is all about while stocks last, so now is as good a time as any to stock up. Beat the recession pricing.

Have a great weekend and don’t forget Twitter Blind Tasting ( #twebt) on Sunday night at 9.
You can still buy your mystery bottle for €14.

Gary

Now and again the wine world and the political world collide, and politics being politics and collisions inevitable, this can mean one can find oneself treated to a wonderful all expenses paid event. One such collision took place in Cork last week, at the very comfortable Clarion Hotel. The Italian Trade Commission are trying to increase awareness of Italian Wine in Ireland, and with the help of Jean Smullen, a well known organiser of marquee wine trade events, they organised a tutored tasting. What is a tutored tasting as opposed to a regular tasting I hear you ask? A fine question, that someone somewhere surely has asked.

A Tasting vs A Tutored Tasting

A regular tasting involves tables full of wine, where everyone supposedly follows a very regimental anticlockwise routine, where we walk around a large hall talking to the importer or the winemakers, while supping and spitting. The true professionals make two trips, the first taking in the whites and the second the reds. I have not always been the true professional in this regard, and I would not suggest tasting a delicate Soave after a big Brunello di Montalcino. Anyway, this tasting was not of that type, for we sat at tables and had a neat array of tasting glasses in front of us. It was like being back at school. The glasses sat upon a mat and were numbered 1 to 6. There was a swarm of bottles to be seen but alas, our glasses were empty. Before the tasting, came the tutoring.

Let The Powerpoint Begin

There was a big screen set up and Helen Coburn, a well know authority on Italian wine, set about a very in-depth and fast as lightening PowerPoint assessment of the white wines of Italy. The range of grapes and regions and rules that are obeyed and rules that are ignored put instant validity to the need for a regional expert such as Helen. When many people think of Italian wines, they think Tuscany or Sicily or maybe the ever popular Pinot Grigio. That’s a fair enough assessment of what is popular in Italian wine, but like many things in life, there is always so much more. We flew through grapes such as Pinot Bianco, Cortese, Garganega, Trebbiano, Verdicchio, Vernaccia di San Gimignano, Greco di Tufo, Vermentino, Inzolia and Prosecco with speed and precision. For those planning a wine holiday, the regions included Trentino / Alto Adige, Piedmonte, Veneto, Lombardy, Marche, Umbria, Lazio, Tuscany, Campania, Sardinia and Sicily. So who thought there was only Pinot Grigio in Italy?

Italian Wine Map

There are many other white wine varieties grown in Italy that were mentioned but the varieties above are what we eventually tasted. I have a mass of notes on each wine, and I was happy to see a number of Red Nose Wine selections amongst the mix. We have been working very hard this last year to improve our Italian selection. Our €8.50 Pinot Grigio’s big sales are testament to the fact that the public like what we are doing. Rather than bore you with individual tasting notes on all wines tasted (there are many others who specialise in this), I will list of some of the words scribbled down in the frenzied tasteathon. Creamy, High alcohol, medium acidity, nervy, grassy, yeasty, fresh, good price point, lemon tones, crisp, dry, not enough fruit to the fore, fills the mouth. These of course were for the whites. All wines were spat out.

The Matching of the Food & Wine

After the whites were tasted and rated, we were then invited to partake in a matching of food to wines with Lorenzo Loda, the Italian sommelier from Thorntons Restaurant in Dublin. Little tasting plates were given out, consisting of olive oil, basil, authentic Parmesan cheese, salami and some almond cake. We then were given some Moscato, Gewurztraminer, Brunello de Montalcino and Barbera d’Asti wine. The aromatic Gewurztraminer swamped the olive oil, but was delicious with the basil. The Salami could not stand up to the rich Brunello, but was divine with the Barbera, as was the Cheese. The expensive rich Brunello really needs something like meat to counterbalance it. The Moscato and the cake were a match made in Italian heaven. Some classic Italian Wine – Food pairings include Soave & Risotto; Amarone & Rabbit ; Chianti and Wild Boar ; Verdicchio and Sea Bass to name a few.

Lunch & Parisian Tiramsu

Italian Food

At this point, the little touches of food only made me realise that I was starving, and there was a very Italian lunch laid on, with some classic dishes. I went for two helpings of Lasagne and some Tiramisu. When I lived in Paris, there was a local Italian restaurant that had homemade Tiramisu ( in rue Claude Bernard ) and a guarantee that if it was not the best you ever tasted, you didn’t pay for it. All I can say is that I always paid for it, and will on my next visit. The Cork version was nice, but I can still taste that Paris one. Mind you, in Clonmel we are spoiled for Tiramisu. Both Catalapa and Befanis have delicious versions.

The famous @Grapes_of_Sloth aka Paul Kiernan

The Mighty Reds of Italy ( as opposed to Manchester )

Anyway, full up and weary, I still had to face the biggest challenge of the day. The rich reds which made Italy famous. It was obvious that the Italian Trade Commission were footing the bill because they really opened up some special bottles. Pinot Nero, Lagrein, Teroldego, Nebbiolo, Corvina, Rondinella, Molinara, Sangiovese, Brunello di Montalcino ( Sangiovese clone), Montepulciano, Montepulciano d’Abruzzo, Allianico, Negroamaro, Primitive Salento, Nero d’Avola and even that old favourite Cabernet Sauvignon were all on show. The superstar regions like Barolo, Barberesco, Chianti Classico and Brunello stood side by side with the Lagrein and Lunelli wines of Trentino / Alto Aldige. The feast finally came to an end and I came out of the tasting a lot more knowledgeable than when I went in. I think that is one of the things that I really like about wine. While you might hold some assumption of knowledge on a particular area or variety, but there is still so much more to learn. Humility and the lack of assumption are two traits that I have found invaluable as I search for new wines. For anyone who wants to try these different Italian varieties ( or the traditional classics ), we have a very good range in stock, at all price points. You are more than welcome to visit and taste. The Italians have a wonderful saying, and Fellini made a film based on the saying, “La Dolce Vita”. In these trying times, we all need a little of the sweet life.

Don’t forget to log onto the blog at www.rednosewine.com/blog or follow the ranting on Twitter – www.twitter.com/rednosewine

For anyone who would like more information and can’t make it into the shop, please feel free to contact me at info@rednosewine.com

“Life is much too short to drink bad wine”

Red Nose Wine Article - Nationalist May 27 2010

I am trapped in a concrete wall with a tiny window, as I stare out into the sunshine. It is not a cell per say, but the office in the warehouse. I am focused on writing an article, but I can hear the swish of a golf club or the clink of a glass at a barbeque somewhere in the back of my mind. I am tired after a very busy week, yet cannot wait for the weekend to start. Oh tortured soul, give me peace from this magnetic sun. I signed up for Saturdays when I left the bright lights of Engineering for the dark shade of the vines. Summer is coming though, and I will look forward to my next trip to visit my winemakers in their little piece of paradise, while Tipperary embraces the summer downpour. One of the things that made this week so busy was the visit to Clonmel of one of my best winemakers. Samuel Guibert, of Mas de Daumas Gassac enthralled over 40 people in Nuala Hickey’s packed Cafe in the Westgate last Wednesday night. I may have mentioned he was coming a few times over the last few weeks. For those of you who missed it, it was a very special evening and Samuel charmed all concerned, especially the ladies. The night was a great success and photos and videos from the night can be seen on the blog – www.rednosewine.com/blog

There is a distinct difference between a tasting with a winemaker and someone who sells wine. The passion and the commitment to quality wine shines through, and as an added bonus, you might get answers to the questions that you have wanted to ask for a long time. The Clonmel audience definitely took advantage of their opportunity. Samuel answered questions on all manner of subjects from the truth behind sulphites, to the reason why sometimes, a white wine can be a little fizzy. All of these questions were asked by a very attentive audience in a very interactive tasting. The wines weren’t half bad either, in fact they are among the best reviewed wines in the world. For this week’s article, I will share some of the questions asked and Samuel’s very precise answers.

One of the topics that I get asked about a lot concerns sulphites. Every wine has to display on the bottle that they contain sulphites, even if it is minuscule amounts or buckets of the stuff. Mr. Guibert told us that there are recommended doses for sulphur dioxide, which acts as an anti oxidant and a preservative. You can’t taste it in the wine, which is why it works better than other anti-oxidants. Samuel told us about the ancient technique of using honey, which worked, but changed the taste of the wine dramatically. The next time you are down at your local farmer’s market, buy some honey and mix it with wine. However, don’t expect to like it. Another advantage of sulphur dioxide is that for every year the wine ages, the traces disappear two fold. However, the biggest insight we received was the scope with which the winemaker has to limit his sulphur usage. If you have limited production, you can constantly monitor and check your wine vats. A factory or supermarket wine is like a brewery and they are often forced to err on the side of caution, i.e. pour in the maximum Sulphur dioxide, just in case. The artisan winemaker can check his wine, as Samuel and his brothers do, many time each day, therefore controlling the usage. Samuel claimed that Gassac use very little ( as up to 10 -20 times less ) when compared to large scale producers, but then good wines don’t have to use it as much – the natural preservatives in the fruit shine through. The many people from the tasting who called in the next day to collect their wine without any trace of a hangover were testament to the negligible amount that Gassac use. One of the members of the group cheekily suggested that Samuel tasted his wine 20 times a day ( he checks it that often ), and was seldom sober. However, he confirmed something I have long been preaching – it is all in the nose. No need to taste every hour. He told us that 80% of tasting is in the nose, and the palate just confirms. When I am picking new wines, I nearly always know if I will reject a wine by smelling it. I don’t know if I will accept it as a buy, as you don’t get the length of the wine from the nose.

A very good question was asked by a certain teacher ( not Mrs. Red Nose ). It came on the back of Samuel’s description of the Viognier grape holding more than average residual sugar, and by that I mean more than Sauvignon Blanc. This means it is not dry, but off dry, and has wonderful honey undertones. Their Faune white wine for 12 Euros was possibly the star of the night, outside the Grand Cru wines. The simple description of fermentation is yeasts eating the natural sugar in the grapes and converting them to alcohol, thus converting grapes to wine. With bone dry wines, there is no more ( or negligible amounts ) of sugar to convert, but with sweeter wines, the chances are that it might start fermenting again – for example, if it is exposed to natural yeasts, such as exist in the atmosphere. What happens in effect is the wines become slightly fizzy as the fermentation happens in the bottle. Have you ever opened a white wine and had a light fizz from it. Now you know the reason why, and for the most part, is not supposed to happen. The most obvious wine where it is supposed to happen is Champagne. They have very special bottles and corks to control the power and the process takes much longer. If you ask for a still white wine in a restaurant and find it fizzes a little, send it back. The better winemakers, like Samuel, control the sweeter wines and the conditions they are stored, aged and bottled in.

There were many other questions asked and answered, and I am sure Samuel could have spoken all night. If there are specific questions you have, please send them in to me and I will answer them, or if you prefer, put the question to some of my winemakers. The truth is always easier to swallow coming from the people on the front line. There is a distinct air of summer barbeque about, so until our next wine makers visit, I bid you adieu.

Don’t forget to log onto the blog at www.rednosewine.com/blog or follow the ranting on Twitter – www.twitter.com/rednosewine

For anyone who would like more information and can’t make it into the shop, please feel free to contact me at info@rednosewine.com

“Life is much too short to drink bad wine”

Slideshow of images

A Really great night was had in Clonmel with Samuel Guibert of Mas de Daumas Gassac. Samuel arrived on Tuesday and planned to leave on Thursday. The volcano in Iceland had something to say about that. In between all of this, we really had a special night’s tasting on Wednesday April 14th in the wonderful venue that is Nuala’s Cafe. Between the old style European venue, the sunshine, Samuel’s accent and the aperitif on arrival, we could really have been in a cafe in France.

Before the night’s tasting, I brought Samuel to see the Rock of Cashel. His brother Roman and I both were sentenced to a spell in nearby Rockwell College, and that is how we got talking when I met him in Paris originally.

Samuel at the Rock of Cashel

Samuel spent some time in the warehouse – he was able to see for himself the growing selection at Red Nose Wine. I tried to get him to lift a few cases, but his phone got busy.

Samuel at Red Nose Wine

Gary Gubbins and Samuel Guibert

We started the tasting off with the Moulin de Gassac range which offers huge value starting from €9. The new Red Le Classic du Gassac also offered the Irish market a new red wine that will really offer huge value for money. Samuel did not get too technical with his presentation and spoke more about the history of Gassac and how his parents, Áime and Veronique started the vineyard after discovering Burgundy like soil in the middle of the Languedoc. Their drive and vision created a truly iconic wine. It has been hailed by many different commentators :

• The French magazine Gault-Milau called Daumas Gassac “Lafite Rothchild of the Languedoc-Roussillon”
• The London Times argued that it tasted like a “Latour”;
• Hugh Johnson called it “the only Grand Cru of the Midi”,
• Michael Broadbent wrote “One of the ten best wines in the world”
• Robert Parker claimed it to be “Exceptional” and “One of the most remarkable non-appellation wines of France.”
• The Wine Spectator’s 1994 article on this region concluded, “Only four wines rated outstanding, and they are all
from the same producer – Mas de Daumas Gassac, the undisputed star of the Languedoc-Roussillon.”

Samuel explaining about where the wines come from

Samuel obviously has his father’s famous charisma as he wowed the crowed and explained everything from the possibility of secondary fermentation in a sweeter white wine ( the fizzy white syndrome ) to the varying experiments with different grape varieties over the years. He tackled questions on sulphites and even got into Hungarian Oak at one stage. Through it all, the crowd sat mesmerized, and I think his invite to everyone to visit him at the Domaine might be taken up. The female side of the room in particular were checking their diaries. I have had 3 calls to date asking when he is coming back, and a number of people who did not attend and were complaining that i did not tell them about Samuel. My pride was hurt, as they knew I would be there, but the wines were the real stars of the night.

Samuel talks about the great Mas de Daumas Gassac

The wines tasted on the night were :

Rose Frizant – served as an aperitif

Guilhem White

Faune ( Viognier based wine )

Classic Red – the new wine that was launched on the night. Great wine for the price.

Albaran

Mas de Daumas Gassac White 08

Mas de Daumas Gassac White 09

Mas de Daumas Gassac Red 07

Mas de Daumas Gassac Red 08

The stars i think were the Viognier dominated Faune and the 2007 Mas de Daumas Gassaec Rouge. The Albaran stood up as it always does, but can’t be compared to the Grand Cru.

The creamy undertones in the Mas de Daumas Gassac White 2008 contrasted with the sparkling freshness of the 2009. The Sauvignon lovers preferred 09 and the Riesling/Viognier lovers, 08.
All in all, it was a great night and I can’t wait for my trip in July to visit Samuel and his family in the wonderful Gassac Valley. I had a great time their last year.

A big thank you to Samuel for coming over to Clonmel. Also, a huge thank you to Nuala and Helen for all their work. Lastly, I would like to thank all the people who made the effort to come out. It was a great night.

Gary Gubbins of Red Nose Wine visiting Mas de Daumas Gassac

Video clips on the night

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.

Don’t forget to log onto the blog at www.rednosewine.com/blog or follow the ranting on Twitter – www.twitter.com/rednosewine

For anyone who would like more information and can’t make it into the shop, please feel free to contact me at info@rednosewine.com

“Life is much too short to drink bad wine”

I am back behind the desk after a very tiring jaunt to Dublin. I decided to kill two birds with one stone and stay overnight. Tuesday night saw a bit of smoozing among my MBA fraternity colleagues as we listened to Robbie Kelliher of Davys Stockbrokers wax lyrical about all things equity. Fascinating stuff, lots of value out there with anyone who has a few pounds – although fine wine is a far better investment. Little too many ‘what ifs’ for my liking in his speech. God help us all if interest rates rise before we are ready, and some economists argue that they have to. Robbie didn’t think so. I hope he is right. Before and after that, I did a tour of wine bars and restaurants to see how the big smoke enjoys a wonderful array of choice when it comes to their wine night out. Ely was great and so was Olesya’s Wine Bar on Exchequer Street. I was with my brother and the night wore on a bit, so after all the wine and the prospect of more the next day, I decided i needed to detox. So I had a lovely pint of Guinness.

On to the reason for the post – The Liberty Wines Portfolio Tasting. While i import a lot of my wines myself, and have to say much prefer this route, the reality is that you can’t be all things to all people, and I rely on other experts to prop up the list. Liberty are definelty one of the better ones out there, and they have a huge selection, and I think that we benefit greatly from the fact that they are UK based, as it offers us a choice we might not see otherwise. We had an Italian Tasting with them in December and it was a huge success.

It was great to meet Lar Veale of Sourgrapes.ie and The Sunday Tribune and Kevin Crowley of Fenns Quay Restaurant in Cork city. We have been tweeting for a while now. Lar kindly asked me for an interview and i made it onto his blog post. Kevin was also interviewed, but there were creative differences about the script, judging on the photo.

I also got to meet some of the people behind some of our most popular wines.
The utterly charming Victoria Curatolo of Villa Tonino in Sicily.

I only started stocking Allegrini before Christmas but even at the higher price point, they are very popular. The La Grola and the Palazzo della Torre are great wines, but I finally got to taste the Amarone yesterday and it was really special. They also had the Corte Giara range which were really interesting as well, and at a better price point.

Silvia Allegrini shows off her Amarone

We sell a lot of Chianti and Sangiovese in general. It was great to chat to Giacomo Alari who is behind wines such as the great value Cantina De Montalcino Sangiovese di Toscana, Da Vinci Chianti,Chianti Classico and both the Rosso and Brunello di Montalcino.

The other stand out wines for me were Domaine Nicolas Girard Sancerre – very different with all of the grassy notes you would expect from a Sancerre, but still a little bit of a change from the norm. Domaine Pfister’s Riesling was long, dry and delicious. There was a Cotes du Rhone called Domaine Richaud that was mind blowing, but at an RRP of €21.99, too expensive to sell. There was a Primitivo di Puglia that was really interesting at the price. The Costa della Sesia and Lessona from Sperino were great examples of both blended and pure Nebbiolo. The Innocent Bystander Pinot Noir really surprised me and offers good value. The Capezzana Olive Oil really finished off a wonderful days tasting.

A little video tour of proceedings …

As well as Lar, I also managed to bump into some other members of the Irish Wine press and it was great to talk with the men behind the words. Tomás Clancy of the Sunday Business Post told me a great story about his meeting with Robert Parker, whom I studied inside and out for my thesis. Unlike Tomás, I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting the man. It was also great to meet Kevin Ecock of the Free Running blog who gave me some good advice about the workings of the Irish Wine World.

Huge thanks to Gerry, Ben, David and the rest of the Liberty team who put on a great show. The lunch was delicious and the red wine Capezzana Barco Real, was one i stock as well, so great to see.

On Thursday February 18th 2010, Ely CHQ in Dublin hosted the French Embassy wine tasting where a number of French winemakers presented their wares to the trade, in the hope of securing a little business. The very atmospheric caverns in the basement of Ely CHQ held court and the confiscated pirate loot of years gone by was nowhere to be seen. I was delighted to see a number of the wines that I sell on the shelves of the very wine orientated restaurant on show. But I was here to look for wines that were not yet on show in the Emerald Isle.

The place was not as crowded as one might expect but that made for a very comfortable tasting environment. You could have a good conversation with the winemakers. Some vineyards sent reps but the most interesting tables had as you would imagine, the people who get their hands dirty in among the vines.
There was one particualr table where I had the most wonderful conversation with a winemaker who’s family have had the estate for centuries. As is the traditional custom, the winemaker tastes everything with you, but I got to this man a little late in the day, and he had been tasting all day. We had a great conversation in French ( he has no English ), about all manner of things French. Some of his wine were probably the star of the show for me as well. Passion and wine are great bedfellows.

There were some fantastic old Burgundies on show from Chateau de Villars Fontaine, with 1993, 1996 and 2001 Pinot Noir and some very fresh 1997 and 2003 Chardonnay. There was some cracking Rhone Valley wines including a wonderful ( but expensive ) Condrieu. The VDP Viognier from the same estate offered better value and a really interesting nose.

Beaujolais was on show and in great order as were the sparklers from the Loire Valley – elegance at a great price. A couple of photos and a shaky video from the day.

It is positively balmy out today as I write this article, at least when compared to the trauma of last week’s cold weather. Will the improved weather inspire an article about wines born of the heat – I don’t think so – we are not quite there yet. On the radio today, they spoke of Blue Monday and the despair that is out in the country. I turned it off and threw the negativity in the bin. It is true that this is the slowest part of the year, and retailers struggle as people hide away. However, poor sales aside, I would suggest that it is a great time to plan out the new year, and in the wine world that means trade shows. My calendar for this month and next is filling up with trips to Dublin to slurp, smell, swish and spit out the wines of the world. There are portfolio tastings from bigger suppliers, trade shows put on by different embassies, and many other connotations and excuses for me to taste my way to some interesting new wines. The reality is that I might find one wine in every hundred tasted. Ideally, though, these Irish shows don’t offer me too much, unless they have wineries that are looking for Irish representation. It is always good to keep tasting new wines, and get used to the nuances of changing vintages, so that is one the main reasons to go to these shows. While I hold wines from some of the best importers in the country, my core offering will always be made up of the wineries that I import directly from.

With this in mind, I am delighted to say I will be attending one of the best shows in the world at the end of January. It is in based in Montpellier in the south of France, and hosts the very best in small, family estates from France, Spain, Italy, South Africa, Argentina and many other countries. What they all have in common is they are part of the organic and/or biodynamic wine movement. I have written about this type of wine recently, but suffice to say more and more of the world’s top vineyards have converted or are in the process of converting. I will talk more about the show in an article I will write while at the show, as well as numerous blog pieces I will post to www.rednosewine.com/blog including video footage direct from the fair, so be sure to log on from next Tuesday (January 26th). With this in mind, I really need to get my hair cut before I go. There is nothing worse than a scruffy video blog. It is easy to get carried away at these shows but I never buy or even promise to buy at them. I find it a great way to meet existing suppliers, get introduced and recommended to new contacts by them, and find interesting wines that you can then arrange to follow up with. I always try to physically visit the vineyards I import from. It builds up trust, and I can personally see how they make the wine and if they do as they promise. There are too many stories of wines tasting very different at the show when compared to when it arrives. They also really appreciate it as well, as it offers them a chance to “sell” their dream to the customer. Everyone I buy from believes in their product and their way of life. “You may say that I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one”. I like to think that passion is evident in the wine you take home from Red Nose Wine, and especially when compared to the commodity wines on the market. There is one vineyard I met last year and his wines were sublime and very well priced. I arranged to meet him at his vineyard last summer, which I did. I travelled three hours out of my way and we agreed a deal, but he has yet to export his wines. It is a very small allocation but I think he had been badly stung from an importer, i.e. he was not paid, so is very hesitant to go down that road again. I will give him one last chance when we meet for a 3rd time.

And now for something completely different as the Pythons would say. There was some celebration over the last week in Liam Dalys pub in O Connell Street, Clonmel as Sean Daly’s horse won at 14-1 in Thurles. I had given them some champagne glasses for New Year’s as well as selling them some bubbly, so I was also delighted for the win. He will have to carry lots of bubbly from now on, just in case. Unfortunately I did not have any money on the horse, but I am not bitter about the times I did back the horse in the past, and it lost. I can rejoice in Sean and his fellow syndicate member’s happiness. I was once in a greyhound syndicate with Sean and let’s just say it did not go so well, so Sean knows the highs and lows. I would love to tell you about the greyhound but I am not ready to talk about it yet. As well as missing the race last Sunday, I also missed the celebration in the pub last Sunday night. On a slightly more relevant note, Hickey’s Bakery, The Cookie Jar and Red Nose Wine all won Bridgestone awards in the new guide. We are all part of the Tipperary Food Producers Network and are proud to join the other members in the guide. We must have been doing something right this last year and a bit. Until the next article from France, I will ignore the January blues and look forward and plan for the spring.

Don’t forget to log onto the blog at www.rednosewine.com/blog or follow the ranting on Twitter – www.twitter.com/rednosewine

For anyone who would like more information and can’t make it into the shop, please feel free to contact me at info@rednosewine.com

“Life is much too short to drink bad wine”

Hello Wine Lovers

“Oh the weather outside is frightful
But the fire inside’s delightful
I’ve got my Red Nose Wine
Let it snow, Let it snow, Let it snow”

Have you got yours?

Happy New Year to you all.

In the words of the baby Polar bear in Fota Island,

“I’m ******* freezing”

First of all, a huge thank you to all of you who came in over Christmas
We were very busy and had a great run in… In this difficult economic climate, it was important.
Thanks again !

Also, Red Nose Wine are in the new Bridgestone Guide. Hurrah for us !!!

To celebrate and thank you for the support, we are going to put the prices down on some very nice winter warmer reds.

Australian Superb Shiraz Voignier – Willunga 100
Normally €15.50, was down to €14.50 –> now down to €12.00

from the village of Brunello di Montalcino, a superb Sangiovese
Normally €14.50 –> now down to €11.00

John Wilson’s previous Wine of the week in the Times, a superb Chianti from a superb vintage
Normally €17.50 –> now down to €15.00

These are only while stocks last, so get set up for the weekend. It looks like we could be snowed in.
Stay safe on the roads

Gary

The winner of the draw for a half case of Italian wine from the recent Italian tasting is Alan Aherne

Congratulations to Alan. You can collect your prize at Red Nose Wine.