Bank Holiday wines

Continuing from the theme below, we tried some mid-price samples from Bordeaux yesterday - we are always looking for good clarets that we can sell in the €15-20 region, but the wines really need to over-perform for us to commit to buying a pallet of the stuff as it is a big commitment to buy the wine, pay duty and vat upfront and store the stuff at home. We really need to be happy with the wine and, as a result, we have to taste a lot of dross before we find the needle in the haystack. Unfortunately, yesterday's tasting was more of the usual stuff - 3 hard, tannic wines. 2 of the 3 were not bad - well made, reasonable wines, but hard enough to drink. The last one was rough out, nice presentation but it was like something you would get in the Superquinn French wine "sale" - it might be "was €24.99 now €14.99" - it has the name, nicely presented but the wine was poor.

We also had a bottle of Castello di Brolio 1997. At the time, this was as good as Chianti got and I decided to stash a bottle of the famous 97 vintage away and see what it was like. And so, on Sunday, we tried it. It still had plenty of life, nice secondary fruit but it was as austere as anything. Those tannins will never soften, I think. Fresh Chianti acidity and bitter cherry fruit made this a very typical Chianti. Did we enjoy it? Yes, but we didn't finish the bottle, as when the food was gone, we just couldn't drink it on its own.

Romantic Bordeaux

I'm a big fan on Bordeaux, I really think, when they get it right, they are possibly the best wines on the planet. When it comes to Bordeaux, the five First Growths - Lafite Rothschild, Mouton Rothschild, Latour, Margaux and Haut Brion - reign supreme. These are the best of the best and they aren't shy about it. Each year, they pretty much set the price levels for all the wines below them in the 1855 classification as they magically (I'm sure it is a coincidence) all release their en primeur prices around the same time and within a euro or so of each other. It really is a wonderful example of competition at work.

Anyone who can't detect the sarcasm may need to reboot their computer.

I have been disenchanted with en primeur for a while now, but on a recent trip to Bordeaux, I was told something interesting. Latour have just bought vineyards (within Pauillac, but not adjacent to their own vineyards) and the even bought some land with a newly built house on it, demolished the house and will presumably plant vines. The interesting about this is that it all falls within Chateau Latour and so the land automatically becomes First Growth. Now, it may be that they will use the vines for their second or third wines, but they don't have to. In fact, they could buy the land of a neighbouring second growth, for example, at a price of around €2M per hectare and "convert" it to first growth land, which is worth around €5M per hectare. Not bad.

Now, I can talk terroir as much as they next man, but what will the grapes from the demolished house site taste of? I can see the tasting notes now: cassis, cigar box, spice and a hint of breezeblock....

As I said, I am a huge fan of Bordeaux, but the truth is that very few can afford to drink the top wines and lower down the scale, quality can be mixed. Huge strides have been made to improve quality across the board, but they need to continue to work hard as good wine is being made all over the world these days and basking in the reflected glory of the first growths doesn't really cut it any more.

I am a taxman

I worked out the other week that, in an average year, our company would pay more than a quarter of a million euros to the government, when you include duty, VAT, PAYE etc. Duty makes up the bulk of it. Now, we are a tiny, insignificant speck on the Irish wine map, so imagine what the likes of Gilbeys, Irish Distillers or even O'Brien's must cough up. It doesn't bear thinking about.

I have no problems paying VAT or income tax, but duty just seems so archaic and out of touch with the reality of our EU membership, free movement of goods etc. Then, to increase it when it should be phased out, just goes to show what cultured and sophisticated leaders we have.

At least the money is put to good use with our world-leading health system and our well-equipped schools, not to mention our 21st century transport system....

I promise from now on, I will get back to waxing lyrical about the romance of the wine trade. I promise.

And as my 3 year old son says - "You can't break a promise".

Unless you are a politician.

Sorry, couldn't resist one last swipe. Romance tomorrow.

U-turn

The U turn on medical cards is almost complete; the only thing that makes me think that maybe the whole medical cards fiasco wasn't a deliberate red herring, designed to take the public's mind off all the other calumny contained in the budget is that I'm not sure they are as clever as that. It seems now that Brian Cowen is a bumbling incompetent, just like his predecessor(s).

Anyway, back to wine....we had Paleo Rosso 1999 on Friday night, a blend of 85% cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Cabernet Franc, made by Le Macchiole from Bolgheri in Tuscany. This had really nice Cabernet fruit, but with acidity and tannins that spoke of its Tuscan roots. Delicious wine that demands good food, this has real character and the bootle seemed to empty itself with startling speed.

On Saturday, we were at a friends house and I had spent the night on Chateau Noaillac 2004, a very decent, mid price claret, drinking perfectly now. Later the night degenerated into more dangerous territory with grappa, mini guinness (whatever that was) etc, but I tried to behave as best I could.

Off the booze now for a few days....

Wine Fair November 6th

Our Annual Wine Fair is on Thursday November 6th in Fitzpatricks Killiney Castle from 6pm to 9pm.

As usual, we will have lots of stuff going on:

- Over 100 great wines open for tasting,
- Sheridans Cheese will have a table
- Gift Ideas
- Discounts for orders on the night
- Raffle for a magnum of Louis Roederer champagne


This is our 10th Wine Fair and we would really like a big crowd this year to help us start our tenth birthday celebrations!

So, put it in the diary, bring all your friends and come and have a great night! (The government can go and jump!)


Tickets are €15, available now in the shop.

Bordeaux stuff

I was in Bordeaux this week and visited a few different properties over the space of a couple of days. Chateau de Pez was first on the itinerary and I think their wines are really excellent now after 10 years or so of ownership by posh champagne house, Louis Roederer. Their sister vineyard, Haut Beausejour, is also good, but lighter in style. Their 2004 is drinking very nicely at the moment.

We had lunch in Pichon Lalande (I know, I know), a second growth in Pauillac whose chateau is surrounded by the vines of Chateau Latour. We had a very nice lunch accompanied by their second wine - Reserve de la Comtesse - from 1990, and from magnum. This was drinking really well, elegance personified. The next wine matched it for elegance, but trumped it for concentration and power - it was the Pichon Lalande 1989, also from magnum. Delicious and it kept flowing! Our gruelling agenda didn't involve any further engagements for the rest of the day. It was really the only way to survive the budget.

The next day we visited the charming owners of Rauzan d'Espagne in Entre deux Mers. This was a chance to try wines of more humble origin, but in surroundings that were much more "sympa". We had a lovely lunch and the wines were also very good, they are really committed to quality and they are a very smart operation.

The life of Brian

50 cents inclusive of VAT and not a whisper. Do you think the medical card thing is the red herring? I reckon it will be voted down by the backbenchers and then forgotten about. Meanwhile they will sneak in loads of other stuff while we are on the phone to Joe Duffy....

Do you think Brian Cowen is much of a wine drinker? I don't want to judge a book by its cover here or anything, but I would be surprised if he was. To hit wine and not beer or spirits just sends out the wrong message, doesn't it? It's like saying to the binge drinkers to keep getting stuck in to the vodka and red bulls and starting fights and getting their stomachs pumped in A&E. Meanwhile, you and I sitting at home having a nice glass of our wine with dinner are being penalised. Why? Because there is no wine lobby and so no-one to complain about it. Touch beer and spirits and you will have the publicans on the phone. Hit wine and you just queue up for your free flu jab with no fear of interruption. Once again, the government do the easy thing and not the right thing. Why we keep voting for these morons is beyond me.....