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It’s the eve of Paddy’s day (16/3/07) (or is that week these days?) and so we’ll be discussing appropriate wines to have on the big day and since most of the government are in America we’ll reciprocate by tasting Californian wines with tenuous Irish links on Newstalk 106’s Moncreiff show at about 3.15pm today.
While Guinness may be the national drink, sales have declined in recent years and many of us will be sipping wine at get togethers with friends. You could do worse than drink American as they seem to have invented the St Patrick’s day parade (New York 1766) and most of our politicians are over there promoting ‘the auld sod’. It seems only fair to reciprocate.
I don’t know if it was coincidence but wines of California hosted a tasting in
Dublin this week. Quality was good, prices seemed less insane than usual and thankfully the lower priced wines were less sweet than usual.
First wine we’ll taste is Bonterra Chardonnay 2004 by
Fetzer.(€16.99 from McHughs, Sweeneys, McCabes, Uncorked, The Vintry, selected O’Briens, selected Molloys, Jus de Vine and Lynch’s of Glanmire) I’ve chosen this wine, but the entire Fetzer range was very impressive. This has absolutely no Irish connection, as far as I can tell, except that it’s the greenest wine I know. Fetzer are evangelical about saving the planet and encouraging all other wine producers too to become sustainable by setting an example and still making money. I’m currently reading ‘True to our Roots’ by Paul Dolan (surely some Irish family there somewhere?), former President and chief winemaker who made the company what it is before leaving to do his own thing. It’s greener than a leprechaun’s hat or the Chicago River on Paddy’s day. You imagine that all the employees sprinkle dirt on their cornflakes before hugging a tree and driving to work in a bio-fuel car and making organic wine. Paul has his own winery these days and Febvre imports that. His Paul Dolan Cabernet tasted this week was excellent, but not cheap.
The next wine we’ll taste is Turning Leaf Cabernet
Sauvignon 2005 from Gallo Family Vineyards,(€10.94 in Tesco and
most other supermarkets) as they like to call themselves these days. Irish? Don’t you mean Italian you are no doubt thinking as lot’s of coverage this week of 97 year old Ernest Gallo’s death has talked of their Italian background. Maybe so, but at a dinner with his grand daughter (and company winemaker) Gina Gallo at last year’s London Wine Fair she told me that her granny (name of Ryan) was from Dingle and she had visited there too, so technically she could play for Ireland (at wine tasting if not soccer)! Ryan’s Granddaughter you might say.
Last wine is Ravenswood Lodi Zinfandel 2003, (€13-14.99 from
Kelly's in Phibsborough, McCabes, Next Door, O'Briens, Uncorked in Rathfarnham and
McHughes). The connection here is that the a house, winery and distillery were built
at ravenswood in the Livermore Valley by son of Irish immigrants, Richard Augustine Buckley,
who ran the democratic party in San Francisco for twenty years despite going blind. The wine is a classic Zin – big brambly and a little spicy.
Finally
a little news from California: merlot sales are down in the USA following the film Sideways slagging of the
grape and Fetzer are grafting over to other varieties they claim, including of course, pinot noir!
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