|
| |
|
Free
Run
- The not so secret
diary of a master of wine |
| People
often ask what's it like tasting wine for living. The short answer is that
often it's fun. There are plenty of fascinating places and people to visit
and of course fabulous and dreadful wines to try. This is an attempt to
bring some of it to life given the enormous amount of positive feedback
that I got from my diary of an Australian trip with a group of MWs that
was published in Food & Wine magazine. - a copy of which is in the
articles section of this web site. |
| |
| October
2003
- Missed Tastings |
30th
October 2003
5pm Out and about on the south side judging cheers shops for the
Cheers wine store of the year competition, But traffic and weather are appalling
so pull into the Radisson hotel where O'Briens hosting a tasting. There
are plenty of good things on show but as I've been inducted into the brett
police I spot a few howlers. Highlights include Bauchet 1er Cru 1996
Champagne at 29.95, Brocard Chablis LeBrun Pouilly Fume at €, Sierra
Cantabria Rioja Coleccion Privada 1999 at 29.99, all the Torbreck wines
and Underhill Ridge Sem/Chard at €5.99 or $10 for 2 which is a real
bargain. Saldy it'sred partner is not as good imho. |
14th
October 2003
4.30pm. Small Tesco tasting of a Christmas selection held in It's A bagel in Dun
Laoghaire. Sound bunch but nothing very exciting. |
9th October 2003
Another missed tasting. The Slovenian embassy is hosting a tasting and
then a dinner. Read the invite incorrectly and assumed it was all one
event in the evening, so missed the tasting. The evening event is a dinner at the Mansion House.
Find myself sitting at the top table with amongst others the Slovenian
ambassador, the Slovenian minister for agriculture, the deputy mayor of
Dublin, the Dublin city manager and Noel Treacy, minister for tourism, who
proves how small the world is by knowing my cousin Tommy in South Galway.
But what on earth am I doing on this table? They've obviously mistaken me
for Mary Dowey or maybe Oz Clarke. Dinner is traditional Slovenian and
very good but the wines are a mixed bunch. Some lovely some, well less
lovely shall we say. Most extraordinary thing is the obscene joke
involving bestiality told by the band's singer - yes there was a Slovenian
band - Zoran Predin & The Living Legends. Well there's big in the
Balkans or so I'm told
|
7th
October 2003
11.30am Take myself and cold to Mitchell's for their portfolio tasting in the
wonderful space that they have upstairs from the shop in Kildare St. A few
standout wines include the Sipp Mack Alsace range. The winemaker says that
his lean tight citrus riesling is "protestant wine", which is a
new tasting term to me! Also discover good value Portuguese (see wine
of week), but after exposure to so much Australian wine and the obsessive
fault finding of the judges some of the stuff on show tastes light and one
producer looked offended when I said one of his wines was reductive. I
expect it will take a couple of weeks to get back to normal! |
6th
October 2003
Missed Napa Valley vintners tasting as I'm lousy with a cold. Last year I
recall that at most stands it was a case of tasting wines and saying
something like: "That's nice how much does it sell for €15 - 20?,
"Er, no sir, that's about €110 dollars in the US so probably €150
here! Daft. Good wines but good luck to them if their domestic market is
crazy enough to pay that. I'm told that this year's event was similar. |
| |
| |
| |
| |
|
