Scary Moments

The scariest thing last Saturday night wasn't all the Halloween costumes being touted around Dublin for the various parties celebrating the annual ghoulfest but instead the fact that Burgundy got a good spanking from Bordeaux. We started off the evening with a nice taxi ride across the city weaving all over the road in the hopes of avoiding any fireworks flying in through the window but we made it on time and our precious cargo of fine wines arrived intact. I was amazed by our hosts fine collection of 2005 Bordeaux, which had been freshly delivered a few days previously along with a surprise bottle to be shared later in the evening.

We kicked off proceedings with a 2006 Herve Azo Chablis Grand Cru Bougros, which was a pretty decent start. Initially on opening it was quite rich and tropical but not very Chablis, with more air the typical saltiness came more to the fore. After a glass and a chat we sat down for some treats from the sea for our first course. The Salt and pepper squid, Scallops and rocket salad were delicious. They got even better with a glass of 2005 Philippe Chavy Meursault Blagny 1er 'Sous Le D'os Ane', which was in a funny place. On opening this was quite oaky and even a little sweet but it calmed significantly and became classier with time in the glass. I think I prefer Philippes Pulignys to his Meursaults though. Next on the food menu was a delightful pea and mint soup, which was one of the best soups I have ever tasted. This transitioned us nicely from starter to main course and white wine to red.

As this stage the mystery red wine was revealed, 1998 Chateau Quinault l'Enclos, a St Emilion Grand Cru from a very good year. This wine just sang from the beginning, although it wasn't showing any significant signs of age. It was powerful yet elegant and had wonderful mouthfeel and balance. There was fruit, chocolate, oak, tannin and acid all in perfect balance and lingering on the palate with nice length. This was served alongside a fine roast duck with a side helping of quail and red cabbage, roast fennel & carrots. The duck was juicy and the quail added an extra dimension in the protein stakes and the rest of the accompaniments were delicious. After a bit of a break in order to let digestion to kick in a fine selection of ripe cheeses appeared on the table. At this stage I reckoned it was time to let burgundy shine, so I popped a bottle of 2006 Mischief & Mayhem Vosne Romanee 1er Petit Monts. This little beauty was rocking but as good as it was it didn't have a chance after the fine bordeaux. It is still a little too young (the last glass hinted at greatness) but is still an incredibly complex and delicious red burgundy.

We had a brief scary moment on opening a bottle of wine to go with dessert as the cork broke in half (bloody crappy corkscrews should be banned!). As a result I had to push the remainder of the cork into the bottle and quickly decant into the only available vessel, a large glass. Fortunately the wine, 2003 Bassermann Jordan Deidesheimer Hohenmorgen Riesling Auslese, wasn't harmed by its mistreatment. It was a nice drop but not the best sweet wine that I have had in the past few months, as it was lacking a bit of minerality that was required to balance the wine. Chocolate Orange souffles and vanilla cream was served alongside the wine but to be honest the pairing wasn't great. Both things were nice in their own right but together they didn't really work. After that we got comfortable and enjoyed a few nice whiskeys. The Ardbeg 10YO was a revelation, incredibly complex with a peaty, smokey finish that went on for minutes. The Old Pulteney 17YO on the other hand was the epitome of smooth and delicious. Both great whiskeys in their own right and a fine way to end a fine meal!

A question of age

Age is a constant challenge for wine lovers. When is the best time to open a wine? When is a wine too young, too old or at it's best? How do I know if what I am tasting is representative of all this wine has to offer?

Bank holiday weekends rock, as there are a couple of extra days at the weekend to enjoy fine food & wine. I kicked off my weekly wine exploration in Dublin on Friday evening with a bottle of 2003 Sylvain Cathaird Nuits St George. This wine is just about transitioning from youth into some semblance of young adolescence. It still had lots of fruit but it's oak (of which it has lots) was integrating nicely, this was an awkward phase (the mid palate was still shrouded in a Vail of oak) for this wine but it still delivered great pleasure. I think this wine is in a nice phase a present but will probably be vastly better in another 5 years. Saturday evening in Cork we continued on in celebratory fashion over a fine fore rib of beef. To kick off the evening I popped a 2002 Vilmart Grand Cellier D'or. This champagne was painfully young and frankly not very enjoyable as the flavours were hidden behind vast quantities of acid and fruit. The wine was impressive due to it's abundance of fruit and structure but not enjoyable, so much so we left a half bottle for the following evening. We tried to tame the champagne with some food (Marinated Quail Salad) and whilst that did help it wasn't quite enough (although the food was lovely). The Vilmart is a wine that needs at least a couple of more years to settle down (I have taken a note not to open another of these for at least a year).

Since we were facing up to a big slab of beef, we decided to open a big red wine. The 2003 Bernard Faurie Hermitage was brutish on opening, big flavours and even bigger tannins. Fortunately we had the sense to open this bottle a couple of hours in advance so it went straight into the decanter. 3 hours later once the beef was cooked to perfection (assuming you enjoy your beef rare), the wine had been tamed. The structure/tannin was much softer, leaving behind a lovely wine. Sill big and fruity with a mix of raspberries, black olives and buckets of black pepper. At times this almost could have been a very fine new world Shiraz except that it was in some way finer, managing it's fruit, earth and structure admirably. There was no sense of 2003 heat from this wine, which has to be a good thing, and the wine worked very well with the food (Roast beef, roast carrots, truffle mash & stuffed mushrooms). This can certainly be enjoyed now with a long decant but it also has the structure and fruit to last for a very long time. I'm glad I got to taste it at this stage but wish I had another couple of bottles stashed away for future enjoyment.

For dessert (orange jelly, raspberries, custard and mango in lime syrup) I opened another young wine, 2005 Zind Humbrecht Clos Windsbuhl Vendage Tardive, that was absolutely lovely. It was revelling in it's youth, showing a huge array of extravagant flavours (pineapple, melon, peach, lime) all wrapped in honey and dusted with chalk. This wine walked the tightrope of sweetness and freshness effortlessly and was a joy to behold. This was obviously youthful but I would have no hesitation in drinking more now as it was so enjoyable at the moment. I've read a few pieces recently about this wine recently not ageing very well, just losing its freshness without picking up complexity but I have never tasted a mature example so can only guess.

On Sunday after a lovely drive through West Cork in a Porsche Convoy (A nice mix of vintage & new Porsches of many different models) we settled into one final evening of wine exploration. We started off with the leftover Vilmart 2002, which was infinitely better this time than the night before. You could actually make out the flavour of the wine (which was like a fine burgundy) and there was still plenty of freshness. We moved onto a 2006 Sauzet Puligny village after this to enjoy with some duck spring rolls. This wine again was painfully young, the acidity and fruit just too powerful at present. It delivered very little pleasure in this state and only hinted at it's pedigree. Next up was a 2002 A.F Gros Vosne Romanee Clos De La Fontaine (Monopole), which was in it's worst possible state. This wine was completely shut down, offering no flavour, aroma or pleasure. A huge disappointment for what should have been a lovely wine. I have little doubt that this wine would have been lovely 3 years ago or will be in another 5. Fortunately, being relatively new to the world of wine, I rarely come across wines that are too old.

There are few lessons to be learned from all of this. Sometimes wines are young but very enjoyable, sometimes they are awkward but still enjoyable, sometimes they are just too young , sometimes they are shutdown and sometimes they are just too bloody old. It's all part of the process of enjoying wine though. The difficulty with being too judgemental though is writing off a wine from one sitting. The key really is buying a few bottles of wines that you like and ensuring some level of decent storage. Luckily I have more wines of most of the above and will be able to follow their progression over time.

White wine night

Despite my never ending hunger for all things meaty and steaky, sometimes I turn the tables on myself and have meals without red meat. Last Saturday evening turned out to be one of those evenings as a few friends came over to my house for dinner. A quiet Saturday afternoon meant that a trip to Howth was on the cards in order to procure some tasty seafood for our little feast. This was followed by a frantic rambling around Dublin in search of all of the other ingredients before heading home to prep the meal and keep up to date with all of the goings on in the Heineken cup. Come 6pm, when hungry bodies started appearing, everything was set for a fine meal.

We started off with a bottle of NV Raymond Boulard Brut Rose De Saignee. We were expecting a refreshing, light, Summery champagne but this turned out to be an intensely mineral experience. It was quite delicious and refreshing but not quite as fun as it might have been. After a glass of this, I set about pulling together our starter for the evening, Pan seared scallops on a trio of veg puree (Parsnip & Garlic, Cauliflower & Cumin, Carrot & Coriander) topped with apple matchsticks (soaked in lime and rolled in black seseme seeds) and sunflower shoots. This was a cracking dish (if I do say so myself) with lovely balance between the fresh, sweet scallops, smooth rich purees and sharp, crisp apple. This dish was paired with a 2006 Mischief & Mayhem Chassange Montrachet 1er ‘La Maltroiye’. There was a difference of opinion regarding this wine around the table, some thinking it almost Meursault (rich, buttery) in character whereas others thought it quite Chassange (mineral, nervous), either way everybody though it delicious and it worked very well with the food.

We shifted into a Thai mode with the main course; Halibut cooked in banana leaf with a coconut sauce, jasmine rice, thai salad & soy/honey broccoli/asparagus/beans. This was another lovely dish, mainly due to the beautiful fresh fish picked up in Howth that afternoon. In order to balance the heat in the sauce I served a 1999 Domaine De La Bongran Macon Clesse ‘Cuvee Levroutee’ along with the dish. This is an incredibly complex with honey, nuts, lemon, grilled oats, minerals, acid wrapped in a beautifully smooth texture and length. This is a demanding off-dry wine, and it needs some serious food to keep up with it. Still lots of life left in it so no rush if you are lucky to have a few bottles.

Dessert was a homemade lemongrass trifle, which was delicious. Funnily enough 3 out of the 4 diners don’t enjoy trifle yet somehow everybody really liked this one. We paired this up with a 1995 Josmeyer Pinot Gris SGN (picked up in a bin end sale a few weeks ago for a very agreeable price). This was a lovely sweet wine, showing no hints of its age. It was very sweet yet quite fresh and balanced and I felt it worked very well with the dessert. Needless to say, after dinner we ended up having a few cocktails and finished off the evening with some of the most ridiculous dance moves I have seen in a long time. All in all good fun, even though there was neither red meat nor red wine involved.

Laziness has taken hold in the last number of weeks, which has resulted in a lack of blogging. There have been some huge steaks and a few wines consumed over the period all the same. The red highlights were a pair of 2006 pretty low level Burgundies (Denis Mortet Marsannay & Anne Gros Bourgogne Rouge), which were very fresh, perfumed and drinking so well at the moment. The white highlight was a 2007 Philippe Chavy Puligny ‘Pucelles’, which seems like it will have an extremely long life as it stayed delicious despite being enjoyed over a 4 night period, and was as good on the 4th day as the 1st. The disappointment over the period was a 2006 Domaine Leflaive Puligny Village that was a little dilute and simple to my tastes, I had expected a lot more from this wine.

WIMPS lunch in the Ledbury.

WIMPS outings are organised via the wine-pages.com forum and are a monthly gathering of wine lovers, friends and even family members. Each month a different theme is announced, so how about my luck that for my first WIMPS lunch the theme would be Bordeaux.

WIMPS enjoy a residency at the exceptional Ledbury restaurant in Notting Hill, London. With numerous accolades already notched up, this is truly an eatery worthy of among others, its michelin star.

As a complete newbie to WIMPS, I was unsure of what to expect but it was, as many had said, a fantastic experience, one that is recommended to all who have never considered it previously. Once signed up to the event via the website, each attendee states what wine they will bring and what vintage. The wines are then designated into flights, tables are drawn up and the Ledbury provides the menu to accompany.

Our first flight contained a 2007 L'Abiele Fieuzel Blanc (zingy, topical, clean), a 2005 Chateau Lynch Moussas (young, tannic, tight) and a '97 Chateau Lynch Bages (tobacco, fruits, open). These were accompanied by roasted beetroot that was baked in clay, with a topping of smoked lardo and decorated with elderberries. (I can say it tasted better then it looks) The top layer of smoked lardo was genius as the earthy beetroot become a wonderful pairing with the clarets. It was as one of our of table pointed out quite the different shape that most beetroot are. True.


The next flight of wines contained a '96 Ducru Beaucaillou (black fruits, cigar, immensely drinkable), a '90 Haut-Batailley (mature, velvety, earthy) and a '85 Cos D'Estournal (initially tight but opened well, toffee, structured). This was partnered with a raviolo of grouse and partridge with a veloute of green peppercorns. This was delicious in all respects. It's proportion, flavours and texture all balancing in sync (so good it isn't justified by my critique) By this stage, space becomes a premium when you have a table of 6, each with 6 wines as you can see to the right!


For the third flight and the main course, we had an '87 La Gaffeliere (brilliant perfume of fruit, sweat and berries), a '89 Haut-Bailly (tight, but fruity on the palette, with good length) and finally a '75 Gruand Larose (initially tight but opened up to an immense wine, with big fruits, structure and length). Alongside these fabulous wines, the masters in the kitchen served up a loin of hare with a cepe tart and a compote of the shoulder "a la royale". Shaved onto this was one of the largest truffles found on this land and presented to us as such.

Again the cuisine was awe inspiring. Perfectly cooked and presented, it left room for more (seconds were offered to all to which most of our table accepted). The scene at this stage was mirroring a gastromic earthquake with half empty glasses aplenty and only scraps left on plates. You will get a glimpse of the vegetarian option in the picture below, which I would have eaten any other day of the week. Very creative, thought out and executed with perfection.

For desert was a plate of sweetness containing figs, olive oil ice cream and warm cinnamon doughnuts, not to forget of course an '89 Climens which only went to cement the standing of a sweet wine at any dining experience.


WIMPS is a must for any wine lover/ enthusiast. Its' monthly status growing, its' residency in the Ledbury grounded and most importantly its' openness to all. Log onto wine-pages and see for yourself. At the end of the four hour lunch, new friends had been made, fine wines had been imbibed (oh I forgot to mention the '59 Chevel Blanc, well, I'm sure you can guess) and we departed with a high anticipation for the next one. Bring it on (thanks Don - a real pleasure).

A Corking Restaurant

Buoyed by Nigel Donnans recent blog (http://www.dublinwineschool.ie/blog/) about taking advantage of restaurants ever increasing tolerance of corkage, I started a recent restaurant booking with the question: ‘Do you offer corkage?’. I had made up a list of restaurants that I wanted to visit and had a look through all of their wine lists (that were available online). Pretty much all of the mark-ups on the wine lists were a little excessive, so I swallowed some of my pride and decided that I would ask the restaurants 1 by 1 if they allowed BYO wine, if they did I would book dinner and if not I would ring the next. To my surprise the first restaurant I rang said yes straight away so my search wasn’t as tough as I thought it would be. That’s how we ended up in Pearl Brasserie on Saturday evening.

Once Saturday evening rolled around and we’d put on our finest livery, we began our stroll into the City with a bottle of 2000 Meo Camuzet Nuits St George 1er Cru ‘Aux Murgers’ in a bag. Once we hit the Grand Canal we hopped aboard our DublinBikes and rode off in search of Pearl. There’s something about these bikes that introduces an extra sense of fun into Dublin, people seem to smile at you more and chances are you’ll get chatting to random strangers when stopped at traffic lights. After a quick cycle we arrived at Pearl Brasserie and strolled down into the basement restaurant. Immediately we were greeted by a friendly chap who brought us through an impressive warren of a restaurant to a cracking table, secluded in its own little intimate alcove.

There was no awkwardness about the corkage, the Maitre’D took the bottle right away and asked if we would like to have the bottle opened right away in order to let it breath a little. He also asked if we would like to drink this through the meal or if we’d like an aperitif or bottle of white wine to begin. We started with a ginger mojito (very tasty I was told) and a glass of Pierre Moncuit Blanc De Blancs (very clean and refreshing). The menu on offer was right up my street and I could have ordered at least 4/5 different options for starter/main, including braised pigs cheeks with black pudding that was on special. In the end I went for Slow Roasted Quail on savoy cabbage for starters and my dining companion chose Roquefort ravioli. For mains I chose the signature dish, Squab Pidgeon Rossini and my dining companion chose Halibut and Pata Negra Ham. As we enjoyed our aperitifs we admired the impeccably designed restaurant which was luxurious without being intimidating. The bread was fresh and tasty but nothing to write home about but our amuse bouche of smoked salmon boullion with spicey foam was a revelation. The incredible depth and warmth of flavour had us wishing for a winter’s morning in order to make this even more comforting.

The sommelier treated us as well as if we had ordered the red burgundy directly from his list, making sure our glasses were topped up and that we were enjoying our wine (which we undoubtedly were). Our glasses had just been filled and we were filling our noses with fine scents of fruits and earth when out came our starters. My quail was a, relatively, huge bird which had been deboned, rolled and slow roasted. The result was a delicious meaty treat sitting on a bed of creamy savoy cabbage, dotted with lardons, which again had a great depth of flavour. My only criticism would be that the skin wasn’t crispy enough. The Roquefort Ravioli was 5 delicious pieces of pasta dotted with candied walnuts and was a success. Next up came our mains which were simply incredible. My pigeon was tender and every so delicious. One breast came sliced in half with a large slice of sautéed foie gras in the middle, which transformed this dish from excellent to decadent. As if the chef hadn’t done enough he also included some rich creamy spinach and the final touch of a bowl of truffle mash. This dish worked so well with the wine it was probably my favourite paring of the year. The Halibut was also a cracking dish; the sweet flesh of the fish balanced by sautéed girolles and roasted Jerusalem artichoke. The food was simply divine, possibly too generous for a Michelin star and all the better for it in my book.

At this stage we were getting excited, so decided to see what the pastry chef was like at his job. My dessert of a pistachio macroon with raspberry mousse and fresh raspberries was very refreshing after the heavy dishes that had gone before and was full of nice clean flavours. The selection of sorbets didn’t really test the kitchen that much and was pretty good. I also had a glass of Muscat Beaumes De Venise, which despite excessive alcohol was quite round and finished off the meal nicely. All in all this was an excellent meal with lovely wine, all kept to a decent price as a result of being able to take advantage of corkage (€15/bottle). I’d highly recommend checking out this restaurant both for couples or for larger groups, just make sure to ask for a private alcove!

*apologies about the crap photos, got a new camera and haven't figured it out yet*

Celebrating Ireland Without Arthur

Pubs around the world weren’t the only people celebrating Irish alcoholic production today, Thursday 24th September at 17.59 (Guinness had a large Arthur’s Day promotion on). Enowine held the latest of their Icon wine tastings, this time the theme was ‘Irish Wine Geese’. For the pleasure of their customers Enowine put on a selection of wines (mainly Bordeaux) with Irish connections. They also have an excellent sale on at the moment of 2004 & 2005 Bordeaux wines, at prices that have to be seen to be believed (Some 2005s are cheaper than they were en primeur and cheaper than I bought the 2000s for 5 years ago).

I started off my tasting by pouring all of the red wines that I wanted to try into glasses and setting them to one side. I find that with sample this young, they benefit with a little bit of time in the glass to breath. I feel these wines would be much better decanted and enjoyed over a long dinner but it was great to get a chance to taste them all the same. I then poured a sample of the 2005 Chateau De Fieuzal to taste. I’ve tried this wine in the past, when I found it too young but pleasant, this time I didn’t particularly enjoy it at all. It’s far too young at the moment still and has its fruit/acid/oak all sticking out in the wrong directions and isn’t very harmonious. After this I began trying to differentiate the red wines. I started with a 2004 Chateau Du Tertre, which turned out to be the most accessible of the wines. Lovely velvety mouthfeel with round fruit and quite savoury, this was delicious without being overly complex. I’d have no problem drinking these over the next few years. Next up I tried the 2004 Chateau Lascombes, which I found very awkward with dark fruit, liquorice and bitter tannins. This was a little over extracted in my mind and didn’t speak of Margaux to me. The next wine certainly spoke Margaux, the 2004 Pavillion Rouge De Margaux (the 2nd wine of Chateau Margaux). This wine was incredibly young, I wouldn’t recommend trying for at least 5 years, but was the picture of balance. It had lovely red fruits, earth, minerals, tannin, acid all in abundance but with lovely balance. It’s an expensive 2nd wine and I’m not sure if I’d pay the tariff but it was great to try it.

After these 3 wines I moved on to the big boys, first up was another Margaux wine; 2004 Chateau Palmer. This was a monster of a wine, a big brooding, steely monster of a sleeping Bordeaux. I could sense an exquisite, classy wine in there somewhere but at the moment it’s almost impenetrable. I imagine this will be great but at the moment stay well away. My next taste was a stereotypical blast of St Julian, 2004 Chateau Leoville Barton. St Julian is the typical flavour of Bordeaux for my, Powerful round cassis with leather and a herby/tobaccoy edge. Again this wine was too young but ever so tasty all the same. Finally (although there were more wines that I didn’t taste, like Lynch Bages/Phelan Segur etc) I tasted the standout wine of the tasting; 2004 Pichon Longueville Comtesse De Lalande. The nose on this wine was intoxicating, pure cassis, black fruits & minerals on the nose with little hints of flowers and a delightful palate, mouthfeel and finish. There was an exquisite perfume to this wine in the mouth that was exhilarating.

All in all this was another cracking Icon tasting from Enowine and a great celebration of the Irish Wine Geese. Enowines website is pants at the moment so you’ll have to either 1. give them a call or even better 2. call into the shop to find out what's available in the sale. This is probably the best wine sale that I have ever seen in Ireland, make sure to check it out!

Wedding Celebrations

I’m finally coming back to my senses after a week of fun and frolics all in the name of celebration. My brother got married at the weekend in the Ritz Carlton Powerscourt, and I took a few days off in advance to prepare for the festivities. It just so happened that my good friend Fionn arrived over just in time to help me. We kicked off on Wednesday evening with some nice food and a few good bottles. We started with some Jamon Iberico and a half bottle of Raymond Boulard Cuvee Reserve, which was one of the best bottles I’ve had of this yet. The transformation of this wine as it breaths and warms is amazing. It starts off quite sharp if too cold but once at the right temperature it’s round, creamy and delicious. After this I cracked a bottle of 1994 Robert Ampeau Meursault Perrieres, which was also the best bottle of this that I have had yet. Very rich, lemony, nutty, buttery and long with good minerality it was a tour de force. After this we drank a 2000 Nicholas Potel Nuits St George Boudots with a fillet steak. This was another cracker of a bottle, the stars had obviously aligned on this evening, so much so that we were tempted into one final half bottle; a 1999 Clos De Lambrays Grand Cru. This was the wine of the evening, showing off sweet spices, fruits and some serious minerality.

The next day we pottered around Dublin in order to prepare a few things for the wedding and ended up in Howth in search of dinner. We were tempted by sea-food tapas for lunch but Octopussy was a bit busy so we came back into town and went to Juniors (Bath Avenue) for lunch. Here we had probably the best sandwiches in Dublin for lunch. Before long the evening was upon us and we were into another bottle of champagne, this time a 2000 Coutier Henri 3, a grower Blanc De Noir that Fionn brought over from London. This was a lovely wine but probably a bit rich as an aperitif, not that this stopped us from drinking a few glasses. Our first white wine was superb, 2005 Corton Charlemagne Domaine De Croix. This was a seriously delicious and complex drop, showing off a kaleidoscopic range of flavours and aromas in a bold yet lithe package. We ate a simple mackerel salad with this wine and this worked quite well. All the time a lovely guinea fowl was roasting in the oven. We opened a brace of older reds to accompany the fowl, a 1992 Grivot Vosne Romanee 1re Brulees and a 1995 Armand Rousseau Gevrey Chambertain. The Grivot was probably the better wine but both were delightful and it was a pleasure to get the chance to enjoy them.

With the preparations out of the way, we head off in search of a wedding on Friday afternoon. After much meeting and greeting we head off to the Gordon Ramsey restaurant for a pre-wedding dinner the night before the wedding. Here we encountered 25 fellow revellers and had a lovely evening. Due to the numbers the wine was quite basic but the food was superb. We enjoyed a 3 course dinner with a couple of Amuse/Palate cleansers. The starter was a lovely roast quail on a bed of celeriac remoulade. For mains I had a simple roast chicken that was as delicious and juicy a chicken as I’ve had in a while. Finally we were treated to a remarkable dessert plate that consisted of a chocolate tart, crystalised berries, a rich chocolate ice-cream and hibiscus foam. This dessert was even better than it looked and there were many oohs and aahs around the table as people discovered each of the components.

The day of the wedding just seemed to fly. Luckily it all went off without a hitch and all of the formalities were completed. After the service we (200 of us) went back to the hotel for a champagne reception featuring Raymond Boulard Mailly Grand Cru. Unfortunately this champagne was served too cold and not opened long enough in advance so I don’t feel it showed as well as it might have done. Regardless of the fact most people enjoyed it, and the canapés were lovely (Foie Gras on Parsnip wafers, Hoi Sin Duck Balls, Cherry Tomatoes stuffed with goats cheese etc.) The meal was remarkable considering the size of the party; prawn ravioli with a lobster sauce served with 2007 Jacquesson Rully 1er Pucelle, followed up with a Pea soup with Pea and mint Ragout. As a palate cleanser we got a shot of lemon sorbet in grey goose vodka. Mains were a tender rack of lamb with asparagus in filo and deconstructed ratatouille, served with 2006 Domaine Pavelot Beaune 1er ‘Bressandes’. For dessert we had a fruit crumble with a crème fraiche sorbet. This wasn’t an occasion for taking photos of food, but you can see the dishes in my brother’s previous post. The wines showed very well I thought and as far as I’m aware they went down well with everyone. After dinner saw some of the craziest dancing to see these shores for a long time and thankfully I don’t have any photos of this either.

All in all it was a very long weekend of celebration and excess and was great fun to boot

Visiting Enowine & La Cuvee Restaurant

I got an interesting e-mail a few weeks back inviting me along to an introduction to Enowine wine tasting centre in the IFSC and a re-launch/rebranding of their restaurant upstairs (La Cuvee). I was all over this offer as the timing suited me and who am I to turn down the offer of free food. Yesterday evening I pottered through town on my free DublinBike, a scheme which I am incredibly excited about, in record time and arrived in Enowine at 6.30. We started off with an introduction/wine tasting with Rob (the new manager), who seemed a very nice chap with plenty of experience in the wine trade.

There was a wide range available for tasting although nothing to rival their 6-weekly ICON tastings. I tried a NZ Pinot Gris, a Sancerre and a Touraine Chenin all of which were good examples of their type and offered an excellent opportunity to taste through a good range of different wines. I then moved on to a couple of red Australian blends, which again were quite tasty. The only thing that I would say about sampling wine in this fashion is that I think it’s quite important to let the wine sit in the glass for a few minutes to let it breathe. This can make a big difference in the bouquet and flavour in the wine as oppose to just pouring and drinking.

Location is a big issue for Enowine on Mayor Square but hopefully the Luas line opening up in the next few months will aid the accessibility of the tasting centre. This is a fabulous resource, as when the machines are full there are over 50 wines available for tasting. They have a great selection of wines right through the spectrum of price and location too. I was happy to hear that they are going to continue the ICON series of wine tastings, the next one will happen on Thursday 24th September and is titled the ‘Irish Wine Geese’, so I assume that is wines with an Irish connection. They are also hosting an excellent fine wine sale over the next few weeks. This focuses on Bordeaux (04/05) and the prices really look excellent, with savings of up to 40%. Some of the wines on the list look to be just over the release price of the wines 3/4 years ago, with the obvious benefit being that one can buy by the bottle as oppose to by the case, these wines are now cheaper than I bought my 2000s for in 2003. If you’re into Bordeaux and missed out on the 05 en primeur campaign I highly advise calling into Enowine next week and enquiring about the sale!

After our wine tasting we went upstairs to the ‘New’ La Cuvee restaurant. It’s quite a nice looking restaurant with lots of little alcoves, suitable for both groups and couples. Personally, I think one of the main benefits of the restaurant is the policy that you can bring any wine from the shop downstairs up to the restaurant with €10 corkage. This enables some seriously high quality wine with your dinner for a reasonable charge. For example you could drink a 2005 Chasse Spleen / Ormes De Pez /Fieuzal /Coutet(in the sale) in the restaurant for under €50! These wines would easily be over €100 in other restaurants in town… The menu put on for us looked tasty, and very wine friendly.

I started with Foie Gras sausage with baked brioche and apple chutney. This was a lovely dish, rich Foie nicely balanced by the chutney and tasty brioche; I just wish I had popped down to the shop for some sweet wine to go with it. The other options of French onion soup/Goats Cheese Salad/Fish Cake & Saffron Aioli were all well received too. For mains I had a cracking rare rump of lamb with minted cabbage and sweet potato mash. This dish showed that the chef really knows his meat as my lamb was superb, beautifully tender and delicious. I also tried some duck off another plate and was blown away by the texture, which blew a challans duck breast I had in chapter one a few weeks ago out of the water. Dessert was a full on chocolate feast, which was a bit much for me but I’m sure others wouldn’t complain. All in all I thought the food was of high quality, especially the mains, and the atmosphere and service was nice. The food is easily as good as the new brasseries in town (Maison/Coppinger Row/Pichet). One worry I would have is that if we (12 of us) hadn’t been there the restaurant would have been quite empty and devoid of any atmosphere.

I’m a big fan of enowine in general, as I have really enjoyed their tastings in the past, but the restaurant really impressed me on the evening, especially considering the corkage deal. The main problem with this in convincing non-winecentric folk to head into the IFSC for a meal, this shouldn’t be such an issue when the Luas gets up and running though. If you're worried about getting down there at the moment, you could do alot worse than to hop on a DublinBike, as much fun as it was cycling down there, it was even more cycling back through town. Thanks SimplyZesty and Enowine/La Cuvee for a fun evening!

Bdx 2008 With BBR

My weekend kicked off early last weekend with a 2008 En Primeur tasting with BBR in The Stephens Green Hibernian Club on Thursday evening. These tastings are generally some of the finest of the year, as BBR fly over about 40 producers and their latest En Primeur releases along with some older bottled wine. This year was a scaled back version of the whole affair with no producers and only 14 wines available for tasting. Initial disappointment, at the small scale of the event, was quickly replaced with great enjoyment as due to the small number of wines available meant that we would spend a good amount of time and effort with each individual wine. Most Communes were represented too which gave us the ability to get a sense of the vintage right across the region. Tasting wines at this stage in their lives is often a fruitless exercise as the wines still have a few months of barrel ageing to complete and even final blends haven’t been made, one other important thing to note is that some of these wines we taken from cask 3 weeks earlier and have been flying around Europe since, not the best way to preserve a wines quality. Regardless of these facts, it was a pleasure to get to taste the wines. 2008 is an interesting vintage for a few reasons, 1. As a result of the economic climate prices have been slashed, 2. After initial worries the quality is reputed to be of a very high standard (even higher in certain domains than 2005 if some reports are to be believed).

After a glass of NV BBR Mailly Grand Cru Brut (From Magnum), which was a tasty number, we started off the tasting proper with Domaine De Chevalier Blanc, which was packed full of peaches and minerals (a slightly different flavour profile than previous vintages). It already had a lovely mouth feel and length and was an impressive wine although I think I rather prefer white burgundy. After this we moved through Chasse Spleen, Poujeaux, Ducru Beaucalliou & Lagrange before getting to the first star wine of the evening Chateau Beychevelle. Some of these wines were a little bit lacking in perfume although most hinted at decent structure and flavour but Beychevelle was the first wine to really some out with a decent nose. It also had a nice mix of oak and fruit with good weight and structure in the mouth, the finish was also very good. After this we moved through Du Tertre and Giscours before finding perhaps the star of the show Domaine De Chevalier Rouge. This wine seemed so much more complete than the previous wines, lovely perfume of smoke, cassis, minerals and cedar and this followed through on a full balanced mouth of fruit and minerals with a smooth finish. At €315, this wine seemed a remarkable bargain (regardless of the prices for previous vintages). Next up was the Pauillac pair of D’Armailhac and Clerc Milon, both dark, powerful, fresh fruit hinting at some complexity as red fruits came in secondary waves. I preferred the D’Armailhac of this pair, which is good as it is the cheaper wine. The only right bank wine available was Clos Fourtet, which was so much more appealing and flattering than the entire bunch of left bank wines but not necessarily better. It was very rich and full with tons of extraction, alcohol and tannin, overall a very impressive wine. There was one 2007 on show (Carmes Haut Brion), which was surprisingly approachable and not as bad as I had thought it might be. We finished up with a Barsac, Chateau Coutet, which showed that perhaps 2008 is not a great Sweet wine vintage. It was good but not great.

After the tasting we head off in search of dinner. Our first stop was Saba where we had a reservation. After a cocktail at the bar and a half hour wait (past our reservation time) we decided that we had waited long enough and walked out of the restaurant in search of fodder elsewhere. We found ourselves seated in Coppinger Row (the latest of Dublin’s new casual brassieres) around the corner. Here we sat at the bar and overlooked the kitchen, in a highly entertaining seat. Our food was OK, my Toulouse Sausage was very good but my dining companions’ steak was overcooked and undersized, the wine list was downright poor I thought. After dinner we pottered off to the Fitzwilliam for some end of evening cocktails and to solve the problems of the world.

Naturally Friday was a bit of a struggle, due to the previous nights excess, but I managed to pull together the motivation to pop open a bottle of 1999 Serafin Gevrey Chambertin, which was unfortunately faulty. I’m not sure what exactly the fault was; the wine was a little fizzy and completely unbalanced and unpleasant on the palate. Needless to say this went down the sink and I didn’t bother opening another bottle. On Saturday we enjoyed a bottle of 2006 Jean Marc Millot Cotes De Nuit Village, which was an enjoyable bottle, fresh and fruity with a pleasant perfume but nothing particularly special in my mind.

Vinous Update

I spent the weekend down in Cork in order to pick up a few bits and bobs and catch up with my folks, as tends to happen we got our teeth into a few nice wines. Firstly on Wednesday evening I cracked a bottle of 2000 Meo Camuzet Nuits St George 1er ‘Aux Murgers’ that was surprisingly a superb bottle. Drinking in a really nice phase at the moment giving a wonderful perfume of fruit, chocolate, coffee and earth and following through with a cracking palate displaying similar flavours with a wonderful texture and length. I wish all midweek wines drank this good. The following evening I finished the bottle and it was just as good as the night before, suggesting at a long life for this wine.

Saturday evening we kicked off proceedings with a half bottle of Boulard brut reserve, which wasn’t the best showing of this wine that I have drunk on numerous occasions over the past few months. It was a nice way to start the evening after an afternoon of harvesting supplies for the evening’s dinner. I opened up a couple of bottles earlier in the afternoon and decanted them, the first being a 2005 Philippe Chavy Puligny 1er Folatieres. I’ve had a few different experiences with this wine over the past few years but this was the best bottle yet by far. I got excited as soon as I pulled the cork and a lovely floral, tropical, minerally waft hit my nose and when I tasted a little sip I was in heaven. I put the bottle back in the fridge for a few hours and when I tasted later (too cold) the wine had closed up a little so I decanted the bottle and left it in the cellar to warm for dinner. On pouring a glass to have with our starter (marinated quail breasts with salad of home grown rocket, carrot & beetroot) I was blown away again. Amazing Puligny nose and a wonderful palate full of nervosity and verve. It had wonderful texture, length and a great breath of flavours centring on lemon custard with a seam of acidity and minerality.

For our main course we had a lovely leg of Spring Kerry lamb that was simply roasted with garlic and rosemary, served with roast potatoes, roast stuffed peppers and pan fried chanterelle mushrooms. I served a bottle of 2003 Domaine De La Janesse ChateauneufDePape alongside this, which had been decanted for 9 hours (on opening it was raw and tannic, 9 hours later it was more manageable). I picked up this bottle from the domaine in 2006 and have waited patiently to try it. It had a lovely colour in the glass, quite pale and young looking but was packing scents on the nose and flavours on the palate. Olives, black pepper, blackberries and herbs this was a lovely wine although still very young and not particularly complex. It was also a little ‘upfront’, when compared to the burgundies that I am more used to.

We followed up with a half bottle of Dr Loosen Urziger Wurzgarten 2007 Goldkapsel, which was salty yet sweet and beautifully light at the same time. I’m sure this will become a cracking wine after a few more years, I hope I can keep my hands off it. After dinner we popped into a bottle of 1999 Leroy Bourgogne Rouge (Negociant not Domaine wine). This smelt superb with hints of maturity but was still quite closed on the palate. I would leave this wine for another couple of years if I had another bottle, although it did have some wonderful aromas.

A number of Phoenix are rising out from the former Irish Wine Board setting up educational resources for wine trade and enthusiasts. The most exciting looks to be the Irish Wine Institute (headed by Jaqueline Steadman), which still doesn’t have

it’s website online but is hosting Intermediate/Advanced WSET courses in Dublin/Cork/Naas (and perhaps other places) throughout the Autumn along with other wine tastings. I’m looking forward to seeing their website but you can follow updates via Facebook or Twitter. The Dublin Wine School (www.dublinwineschool.ie) has some intriguing tastings set up right through the Autumn too, this venture is led by the excellent palate of Nigel Donnan, which should ensure fun and educational tastings for all involved. There are also a number of independent courses being run by the various shops around Ireland so contact your local wineshop for more info.