Flash Sale - Saturday 29th Sept - 20% off Everything

We have a bee in our collective bonnet about bogus wine sales - where wines are marked up only to be marked back down in a supposed "sale". If someone is offering you 50% discount on a bottle of wine, there is something wrong because we just don't make those kind of margins here in the wine world.

We tend to avoid that sort of thing, we prefer to offer real wine at honest prices.

Nonetheless, I got a notion this morning and we are going to do one of our

ONE DAY FLASH SALE

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 29TH

20% OFF EVERYTHING IN THE SHOP

This is a great opportunity to get REAL WINE at a REAL DISCOUNT, so come in and stock up.

Open at 11, lots of bottles open...

September News

September News

Skillogalee Winemakers Dinner – Last Call!!

Dave Palmer from Skillogalee joins us on Monday, September 10th to host a Winemakers Dinner which takes place in Ouzo's Restaurant Dalkey at 7,30pm. We will taste a range of these world class wines with a 3 course dinner, €45 per person will cover everything for the night. Still some places available, it will be a great night, call the shop on 01 2353054 to book a place!

September Offers

2 for €20 Mix n Match

Beso de Vino - a great range of new Spanish wines - a red, white and Rose - cracking value, easy drinking, well made wines.

Cordo de Regua - a smooth and complex wine from the Douro valley - if you are picking this wine up for a tenner, you are doing very well indeed.

Catena Offer

Catena have been at the forefront of quality Argentinian winemaking for many years now and they manage to turn out amazing value at all levels. Their best value range are the Catena range, normally selling at about €18 - for this month we will offer these wines at €13.99 per ottle, so if it is powerful Malbec, complex Cabernet or elegant Chardonnay, this is great wine at the price. Snap it up.

Clos Bellane Cotes du Rhone

This has just arrived in - the  new vintage of Clos Bellane Cotes du Rhone 2010. Clos Bellane is situated on a plateau 400m above sea level in the northern part of the Southern Rhone about an hour north of Avignon. The altitude and the fact that the vineyards are north and east facing give their wines a freshness and an elegance that appealed to us immediately. Their white wines are really well regarded for this very reason - in fact, when we were in Slovenia recently, Liam gave us a glass of white, blind, and asked us what we thought. Everyone around the table thought it was a really good Burgundy, maybe Meursault or Chassagne, but it turned out to be a white wine from this estate "Les Echalas" - a 100% Roussane, late harvested and aged in oak - it was fresh, balanced, complex and delicious.

We also really like the red...

The Cotes du Rhone typically has a decent dollop of Syrah in it which gives their entry level wine a distinct Northern Rhone feel to it and makes it stand out from the crowd. We tasted this in the Spring with Stephane Vedeau and, apart from noting another simplification of the label and the dropping of the "Petite" from the name, we were slightly worried that the trademark elegance had been compromised for power.

However, tasting it now, 6 months later and it has really settled down. Yes, there is power, yes there is concentration, but there is a harmony and elegance there that makes this wine utterly gorgeous to drink. The mineral finish reflects the chalky soils from the mature vineyards.

Bravo, Stephane, we shouldn't have worried...

Shameless Bandwagon Jumping

As you know by now we have absolutely no shame when it comes to jumping on bandwagons and I am therefore happy to announce details of our much-awaited Euro 2012 Promotion:

So far, we have 3 matches, we might have more, you never know (a meeting with England in the quarter-final??), so we will line up as follows:

Ireland v Croatia, Sunday June 10^th

Obviously, we don’t have any Croatian wines, but we will improvise with Slovenian and Austrian wines for this one (at the risk of upsetting someone). So:

Sunday 10^th – 10% off all Slovenian and Austrian wines

Monday 11^th – 20% off all Slovenian and Austrian wines – IF WE WIN

Ireland v Spain, Thursday, June 14^th

Thursday, June 14^th – 10% off all Spanish Wine

Friday, June 15^th – 20% off all Spanish Wine – IF WE WIN

Ireland v Italy, Monday, June 18^th

Monday June 18^th – 10% off all Italian Wine

Tuesday, June 19^th – 20% off all Italian Wine – IF WE WIN

So, basically, if you are a pessimist and think we haven’t a hope of winning against these teams, come in and get your 10% discount the day of the match. If, however, you are more optimistic/well-informed/mad and think we can win, you can avail of a 20% discount the day AFTER the match. If you are thirsty or indecisive, you can of course avail of the discounts on both days!

Ballymaloe Riesling Revolution Tasting

My father was always happy to go to hurling matches - whether it was an All-Ireland final or a Junior B League relegation decider, he would be there chewing the fat with his mates, one of whom summed up the action of every single match as "the worst I think I ever seen".

I am rarely seen at hurling matches these days, but I am happy to turn up at any wine tasting, if I can. The Riesling tasting held in Ballymaloe last Thursday night was very much at the All-Ireland end of the spectrum of wine tastings and was a successful meeting of minds between Colm, the sommelier in Ballymaloe and John McDonnell, the bundle of energy that runs Wine Australia in Ireland. That they got 130 people to turn up at a tasting of one grape variety was amazing. That this grape variety was Riesling made the night even more amazing.

We had three winemakers, all successful exponents of this noble variety - Tim Adams from Clare Vally, Australia, Severine Schlumberger from Alsace and Carl Ehrhard from the Rheingau. In the spirit of the evening, the winemakers showed some of their own wines , but also some wines from other producers. The evening was moderated by John Wilson from the Irish Times.

There were 4 flights of 3 wines each designed to show the different expressions of Riesling. The flights were as follows (* marks my favourite from each flight)

Young Riesling
Tim Adams Riesling 2011
Kunstler Stielweg 2010*
Trimbach Riesling 2009

Aged Riesling
Tim Adams Riesling 2007
Kunstler Kirchenstuck 2007 *
Schlumberger Kitterle Grand Cru 2005

Off-dry Riesling
Peter Lehmann Riesling 2011
Carl Ehrhard Rudesheimer Berg Rosneck 2010
Weinbach Schlossberg Grand Cru Cuvee St Catherine 2004 *

Sweet Riesling
Mount Horrocks Cordon Cut 2010 *
Carl Ehrhard Berg Rottland Beerenauslese 2007
Schlumberger Vendange Tardive 2009

It was a fantastic range of wines of different styles, price points and producers - something for everyone....well done to the organisers!

Afterwards, Ballymaloe got together some local food producers and set up a mini farmers market so there was some amazing food on offer as well, with the proceeds going to the East Cork Slow Food movement. It was high quality food with a very easy-going atmosphere.

The best I think I ever seen.

The Stability Wine Tasting

I heard someone on the radio the other day talking about some vote or other on May 31st. I didn't get the details because I was busy putting together the plans for our SUMMER WINE FAIR, taking place on the same date. It fits in really well because you might well need a stiff drink by the time you have finished voting, so how better to celebrate than with a Wine Tasting?

The details are :

• Summer Wine Fair, Thursday May 31st 6PM to 8.30PM
• Location : The Magpie Inn (upstairs)
• We will be showcasing a lot of new wines, including some great options for "summer"
• Great discounts for orders on the night
• It's only €10 to get in to taste over 50 wines - and you get your tenner back if you put in an order!

So, this is a really important decision and you should really educate yourself about the details, weigh up the options and then decide to come to our Wine Fair. 

We will have lots of wines from France, which have just got a lot more interesting (and less annoying). Italy will be well represented by plenty of nicely presented wines trying not to look like they are enjoying themselves too much. The Spanish wines are as good as ever, despite the slightly worried look on their faces. Wines from Germany and Austria will, of course, be central to the proceedings. The UK and Sweden have decided not to take part in the tasting this time. 

There won't be any Greek wine, unfortunately.

Some people have said we should defer the tasting till after the summer, but we are determined to go ahead with it, so should you come along for a great night out? YES!

Vina Aliaga Tempranillo 2010

The above wine was one we used to bring in a number of years ago but kinda fell off the list along the way. We bumped into Carlos Aliaga at Prowein earlier this year and retasted his now extensive range of 14 wines, along with some delicious jamon, and were reminded just how good this Tempranillo is - pure Tempranillo, no oak from one of Navarra's most exciting producers.

This is juicy, fruity Spanish wine at its best - smooth with dark berry fruit and a smooth finish. A brilliant wine on its own or with food - a great all-rounder.

On tasting this weekend - €11.99 or 2 for €20. Well worth a try.