A couple of new wines in last week, from a producer we first me last year, but visited again earlier in 2009. Rully (pronounced as it is spelt) is an appellation on the southern side of Burgundy, near Mercurey and between the Cote d'Or and the Maconnais. It is an area that offers good value, something we have been sniffing out even more than usual the last couple of years.
The Rully Blanc " Les Maizieres" is a single vineyard 100% Chardonnay, part of which gets a little time in old oak, just to round it out, not to impart oak flavour. Medium bodied, very nice concentration of appley fruit with a citrus streak, think Chablis, but with a bit of meat on its bones.
The Rully Rouge "Brange", again single-vineyard 100% Pinot Noir. Ripe and juicy, light in body but with very nice concentration of strawberry and raspberry fruit. Very quaffable, think of Fleurie, but with proper fruit flavours instead of bubblegum.
Both are €20.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Dastardly French
Bit of grumbling going on about France this morning following Henry's blatant handball last night turfing us out of the World Cup.
That's why I will wait until tomorrow to tell you about our new Burgundies just arrived.
That's why I will wait until tomorrow to tell you about our new Burgundies just arrived.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Interview with Giusto from COS
For an interview with the charming Giusto from COS winery, explaining the magic behind Cerasuolo di Vittoria, click www.rte.ie/player/#v=1060215. Fast forward to 17.30 into the programme to see the COS bit.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Locks finally closed
Another restaurant has gone into liquidation, this time Locks Restaurant in Portobello. Locks was an istitution back in the days when you could go on a long boozy lunch, ring the secretary that you were out for the afternoon and then drive home, half drunk. Similar behaviour nowadays and you would find yourself arrested for drunk driving and then fired the next day.
Kelvin Rynhardt and his wife Teresa took it a little over two years ago, spent way too much doing the place up and then tried to sell over-priced food to a non-existent market, just as the economy ent into meltdown. Two years on and we went to a creditors meeting yesterday, to be told by the examiner taht the company has gone into liquidation.
There is the usual, predictable, sad trail of destruction in its wake. Revenue, suppliers, the landlord, even the staff are owed large amounts of money. Kelvin and Teresa have lost a lot of money as well, but there are a lot of questions that will remain unanswered - the main one being: where did all the money go? There was a lot of wine sold, presumably food to go with it, but nobody was getting paid...strange?
For our own part, our bad debt represented about two months sales. If you stop supplying completely, you will never get paid, so we went on COD and tried to get the old debt down, but didn't get it down quickly enough. Lesson learned.
In the end, it is better to close it down as it was a business going nowhere.
Move on.
Kelvin Rynhardt and his wife Teresa took it a little over two years ago, spent way too much doing the place up and then tried to sell over-priced food to a non-existent market, just as the economy ent into meltdown. Two years on and we went to a creditors meeting yesterday, to be told by the examiner taht the company has gone into liquidation.
There is the usual, predictable, sad trail of destruction in its wake. Revenue, suppliers, the landlord, even the staff are owed large amounts of money. Kelvin and Teresa have lost a lot of money as well, but there are a lot of questions that will remain unanswered - the main one being: where did all the money go? There was a lot of wine sold, presumably food to go with it, but nobody was getting paid...strange?
For our own part, our bad debt represented about two months sales. If you stop supplying completely, you will never get paid, so we went on COD and tried to get the old debt down, but didn't get it down quickly enough. Lesson learned.
In the end, it is better to close it down as it was a business going nowhere.
Move on.
Friday, November 6, 2009
Shopping in the North
A business owner I know needs to buy spirits. Not for himself, for his business. He tells me he is thinking of getting them in the North to save money. It's technically illegal, but who is going to know? I try to persuade him to keep his business this side of the border.
Hang on a second, I said, you can get bottles of vodka on promotion now for €18.99 - somebody somewhere always has them on sale at or below cost to try and keep people shopping in the Republic. Surely the savings can't be that much?
So we looked at it, a bottle of Smirnoff in Sainsbury's for £12.50 stg. Today's exchange rate is about 90p which makes it €13.89, call it €14.50 to allow for being ripped off by the bank on the exchange rate. Take the VAT off the €19 and the cost comes down to €15.64. Cost in the travel, food etc and you can add €50 to the trip. That's not costing in the waste of time - is time still money? Not sure any more. Anyway, it suddenly means you have to buy a lot of spirits to make it worth your while. Will they have all you need for a business in Sainsbury's or will you have to drive and queue up to get into a different supermarket?
Is it worth the hassle? Probably not in this instance because he can claim back the VAT on his purchases in the Republic.
However, for a punter who can't claim back the VAT, the price differences are compelling, particularly on booze, including wine. The fact that the wine selection available in the North's supermarkets is poor has little relevance, given that the majority of people don't really care as long as it is alcoholic and cheap.
Without some action on duty and VAT, or without a massive weakening of the euro, I'm afraid the exodus North will continue for some time to come.
Hang on a second, I said, you can get bottles of vodka on promotion now for €18.99 - somebody somewhere always has them on sale at or below cost to try and keep people shopping in the Republic. Surely the savings can't be that much?
So we looked at it, a bottle of Smirnoff in Sainsbury's for £12.50 stg. Today's exchange rate is about 90p which makes it €13.89, call it €14.50 to allow for being ripped off by the bank on the exchange rate. Take the VAT off the €19 and the cost comes down to €15.64. Cost in the travel, food etc and you can add €50 to the trip. That's not costing in the waste of time - is time still money? Not sure any more. Anyway, it suddenly means you have to buy a lot of spirits to make it worth your while. Will they have all you need for a business in Sainsbury's or will you have to drive and queue up to get into a different supermarket?
Is it worth the hassle? Probably not in this instance because he can claim back the VAT on his purchases in the Republic.
However, for a punter who can't claim back the VAT, the price differences are compelling, particularly on booze, including wine. The fact that the wine selection available in the North's supermarkets is poor has little relevance, given that the majority of people don't really care as long as it is alcoholic and cheap.
Without some action on duty and VAT, or without a massive weakening of the euro, I'm afraid the exodus North will continue for some time to come.
Monday, November 2, 2009
Wine Fair
Getting ready for our wine fair next Thursday, 12th, in Fitzpatricks Killiney Castle Hotel. WE will have over 100 wines open for tasting; we are offering 20% discount for orders taken on the night, so it's a great opportunity to try and then buy your wine for Christmas at a great price.
Sheridan's cheese will have a stand at the fair as well and we will have great ideas for wine and food gift ideas.
What's in it for us? Weel, it means that we can get a chunk of good customers sorted early and helps our planning for the busy Christmas period. It's also a chance to try all the wines ourselves and it's usually good craic!
Sheridan's cheese will have a stand at the fair as well and we will have great ideas for wine and food gift ideas.
What's in it for us? Weel, it means that we can get a chunk of good customers sorted early and helps our planning for the busy Christmas period. It's also a chance to try all the wines ourselves and it's usually good craic!
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Bank Holiday wines
We had a very mellow weekend, some friends up from Clare and a total of 10 people in the house, 6 of them little ones. Children, I mean. I was working till 8 on Saturday, and it was relatively quiet (normal for us on a bank holiday, but still annoying) so I was bursting for a drink when I got home. Luckily, I had the foresight to put a bottle of Bollinger in the fridge before I had left that morning. It was as good as ever, still one of my favourite champagne grand marques. The bottle of St. Michael Eppan Riesling Montiggl 2008 that I had also put in the fridge was then opened to go with Pam's Thai Curry. Both, were excellent, the Riesling was crisp, fresh, bone dry and deliciously pure. I had the Degani Valpolicella 2008 on tasting in the shop on Saturday and fancied a glass, so that was next. Typical fresh cherry fruit from Aldo in this vintage, but a lovely smokiness in the background that adds depth and complexity. Very nice wine. We then moved up a few gears and opened a bottle of Zenato Amarone Riserva 1995 that I had for a long time and was slightly worried about as I don't think Amarone ages that well. The nose on this wine was gorgeous, black and deep and intense. The palate was nice, but didn't live up to the promise of the nose. Glad we drank it, it's on the wane...
Slightly tired the next day, we needed something peppy to get us started which we did in the shape of St. Michael Eppan Pinot Grigio 2008. This is proper wine, unlike many which share its grape variety, intense fruit concentration with proper acidty and nice texture and length. With dinner, a massive slab of roast beef, we had a bottle of Condado da Haza 2006, a little grippy on opening so I decanted it and it was glorious with the beef. I felt like trying something a little older so we had a bottle of John's Blend Shiraz 1999. I didn't particularly like this wine, although I have enjoyed it previously. Maybe too old, the fruit was falling apart and it just felt a bit disjointed. To finish us off, we had a glass of Niepoort Colheita 1998, which was very pleasant, as you might imagine.
Then yesterday was the Dublin City Marathon which was completely ignored by all of us.
Body needs a break now for a couple of days, bit of exercise maybe.
Slightly tired the next day, we needed something peppy to get us started which we did in the shape of St. Michael Eppan Pinot Grigio 2008. This is proper wine, unlike many which share its grape variety, intense fruit concentration with proper acidty and nice texture and length. With dinner, a massive slab of roast beef, we had a bottle of Condado da Haza 2006, a little grippy on opening so I decanted it and it was glorious with the beef. I felt like trying something a little older so we had a bottle of John's Blend Shiraz 1999. I didn't particularly like this wine, although I have enjoyed it previously. Maybe too old, the fruit was falling apart and it just felt a bit disjointed. To finish us off, we had a glass of Niepoort Colheita 1998, which was very pleasant, as you might imagine.
Then yesterday was the Dublin City Marathon which was completely ignored by all of us.
Body needs a break now for a couple of days, bit of exercise maybe.
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