| How to Read a Winelist |
| When the wine list appears many restaurant customers, me included, feel like hiding in the loo until the “Who chooses?” moment has passed. As a wine writer, I'm frequently handed the carte and asked to select appropriate partners for the food guests have chosen, which can run the whole gamut, from rare venison to tofu. As a moment to dread, choosing wine to accompany a meal is up there with buying a second-hand car or telling your rugger-bugger dad you want to be a ballet dancer. So the first t... |
| In The Shadow Of The Andes |
| “Welcome to Santiago” said Christian, the driver assigned to me by Wines of Chile. For the next six days he and I were to tour vineyards at the rate of three a day, clocking up a sniff/slurp/spit of nigh on 400 individual bottles in a mission to assess the progress made by the country's winemakers.
Chile, a slender stick of a country, is dominated by the Andes, the South American backbone that separates it from its neighbours. It reminded me a little of South Africa's Cape where from almost ... |
| O'Brien's Christmas Portfolio 2006 WHITES |
 O'Brien's Christmas Portfolio Tasting 2006
At the Four Seasons, O'Brien's had assembled a collection of what many of us will be drinking this festive season and invited the wine scribes to preview same.
Overall the quality was outstandingly high and the rise-and-rise of this progressive chain seems set to continue, thanks chiefly to the efforts of the buying team, skilfully led by David Whelehan ... |
| Gilbeys Portfolio Tasting - Oct 14 2006 - REDS, FIZZ and STICKIES |
| As tastings go this one was pretty good. Some decent whites, some nice surprises and even the big Burgundy houses didn't entirely disappoint though they face stiff competition these days.
So it was on to the reds and here, in amongst the average 'it'll do' wines and the occasional duffer I did find some really thought-provoking stuff...
*Santana Tempranillo, Vino de la Tierra, Bodegas Castillianas e7.99
A bit unrefined but definitely robust, cheerful and value for the money.
Wild Coast S... |
| Gilbeys Portfolio Tasting - Oct 14 2006 - WHITES and ROSE |
| The Gilbeys Portfolio press tasting was one of the best organised and most enjoyable tastings of recent memory - hats off to Julia Kennedy, Lynne Coyle and Mary Dowey - despite the worst efforts of the Guinness Storehouse staff who did their best to sabotage the event by mopping the floor of the adjacent restaurant with Jeyes' Fluid!
These boys are big - one in every seven bottles of wine retailing at over ten euro is a Gilbeys bottle. The portfolio contains many hallowed names - Trimbach, Dr... |
