Taste of the Week. Oriel Sea Salt

Taste of the Week

Oriel Sea Salt

Taste of the Week comes from County Louth and is the Oriel Kiln Dried Sea Salt. It’s Irish, it’s natural, nothing has been added. And it is top class.

 I’ve had the chance to sample the Oriel salts over the past six weeks or so and this particular one, free flowing and fine grained, has appeared on the table non-stop. This mineral rich sea salt has a powerfully smooth taste and allows you to use up to 25% less with no compromise on flavour. It has been endorsed by some of Ireland's top chefs, Ross Lewis of Chapter One among them.

This totally Irish salt has a deeper richer flavour yet is doesn't overpower your dish. Even if you add a little too much, it means more flavour, not saltier. Ed O’Donnell of O’Donnell Crisps: “..the taste profile of Oriel Sea Salt was supreme..”. 

It dissolves and disperses rapidly in recipes. No wonder the country’s chefs are praising it. The chefs will be also be happy with Oriel’s Whiskey Smoked Sea Salt. This has been smoked over Teeling Irish Whiskey freshly emptied 90 year old Nicaraguan Oak barrels to produce a “smokiness that is simply spectacular”. Read Joe McNamee’s hymn to it here.

The third product, all three are available in 250 gram tubs, is their Mineral Sea Salt Natural. This is slightly moist with a powder like grain. “For those who like to pinch.”

Whether you use the Oriel as a finishing or as an ingredient, you’ll be moving on up the flavour scale. It’s a little like changing from mainstream beer to craft - you’ll never go back!

Oriel Sea Salt

Port Oriel, Clogherhead,
Drogheda, County Louth,
A92 V97C, Ireland.

Email: info@orielmarineextracts.com
Web: www.orielmarineextracts.com

Three Excellent Wines. From Beaujolais to Italy to Austria.

Three of the Best. From Beaujolais to Italy to Austria.

Dominique Morel Fleurie (AP) Vieilles Vignes 2015, 12.5%, €23.99 JJ O’Driscoll’s Cork, Manning’s Emporium Ballylickey, Wine Online, World Wide Wines

Fleurie, like all ten crus, is in the east of the Beaujolais region. Here Gamay, always refreshing and never short of acidity, thrives on the granite soil. Fleurie is an excellent partner for a wide variety of lighter dishes.

Here the colour is mid ruby. Very aromatic with delicate cherry scents, floral notes too, an inviting melange.The silky palate is bursting with fruit flavours and tannins close to velvety, very elegant indeed with no shortage of the concentration expected here, more heft indeed than you'd expect, and with a long and satisfying finish.

This is an excellent example of the expressive Gamay, no doubt helped by the fact that the fruit was well ripened in the good 2015 vintage. Serve at 15 degrees to get the best from this Fleurie. I found it easy to make my mind up here. No need to wait for the second glass - though that did come - Very Highly Recommended.

Loimer Langenlois Loiserberg Grüner Veltliner Kamptal (DAC) 2015, 13%, RRP € 23.99 JJ O’Driscoll, Cork; Wine Online

The first thing I really noticed* about this bottle was its glass closure; plastic is also used in the seal. It is marked trocken (dry) and made by Fred Loimer in the Kamptal area of Austria. Kamp is a river, a left bank tributary of the Danube which it joins near Krems, about 45 minutes north-east of the famous monastery of Melk.

They have been organic since 2006 and admit to having been inspired by the natural scientist Rudolph Steiner. “this has brought us, we admit, criticism from some quarters”. Their wines though have not, on the contrary. You’ll find the typical Gruner characteristics of herb, spice and apple here in this refreshing example.

There is a good yellow colour and a mixed nose of fruity and herbal notes. There is a peppery touch on the lively palate, along with mellow fruit flavours (2015 was a warm vintage), nice acidity too and excellent balance. A mineral character is prominent in a good long finish. Highly Recommended.

* One of the last things I noticed was the cheeky little fellow embedded in the glass closure!

Alpha Zeta Valpolicella Ripasso (DOC) Superiore 2015, 13.5%, €19.99 Bradley’s, Cork; JJ O’Driscoll, Cork; McKeoghs, Killaloe; Wine Online; World Wide Wines.

I know quite a few of you are Ripasso fans and this is another fine mouth-watering example of the technique and indeed has been described as a “mini-Amarone”. Grapes used are Corvina/Corvinone (70%) and Rondinella (30).

Ruby is the colour. Aromas speak of cherry and you may note the slightly raisin-ed notes familiar from Amarone. It has a rich concentrated palate, the cherry staying prominent, spice too, well balanced though with a fresh and dry finish, long too. Highly Recommended.

West Cork Burger Company A Bit of a Mouthful

West Cork Burger Company

A Bit of a Mouthful

Burger of the Day (pic: WCBC)

The West Cork Burger Company is a bit of a mouthful. A really tasty mouthful, whether you go the Angus or Wagyu route!

That is the first serious choice to be made when visiting the new burger outlet on Washington Street. Well, not quite new; the Henry Hegarty led company has been operating here since October. 

Bantry-based Henry will probably be familiar to you from his Wokabout stall, a very popular stop for quality Thai style street food at Irish markets and festivals. Also in the West Cork team is Macroom Butcher Michael Twomey, a supplier to many local chefs, Bryan McCarthy and Martina Cronin for example.

You may pick your burger direct from the menu or, flip the card over, and you may go the DIY route. Choose your bun (four options), your meat and weight, your cheese (again four options).

Toppings is next. You could get confused here as there are no less than eight options including mushrooms, onions, even pineapple! Step Five is the sauce, no less than nine choices here. 

If all this decision making is proving too much for you, then have a look at the regular offerings: The Japanese, Classic Bacon Cheese, Chilli Burger, Chicken Burger, and Portobello (no meat). And there’s also a Kids Menu.

We just come in as Storm Eleanor hit, so were looking for something fast. I choose the six or eight ounce Japanese. So, six ounces of Angus (could have had Wagyu), with Miso Slaw, Shiitake Mushrooms, smoked chilli jam, crispy lettuce, gherkin, and Irish Cheddar cheese.

Angus

CL spotted the Offer of the Day and that meant she got the Chicken Burger (with cucumber pickle, grilled pineapple, lettuce and garlic mayo, along with a portion of fries for just ten euro). My beef, with fries as a side, came to fifteen.

The fries are top class, no excess oil, and again you have a choice of sauces specifically for them. And there are a few other sides as well, including Kimchi. That Thai and general Asian influence from Henry’s wok is at work here in Washington Street too, deliciously so.

Fancy a drink? There is a short wine list and also some very local beers (from the Rising Son Brewery in nearby Cornmarket Street) while the cider is by Stonewell from Nohoval.

The furniture is a bit on the rustic side, with raw timber used on the walls and in the booths for both seats and tables. The burgers are as good as you’ll get and service is friendly, helpful and efficient.

West Cork Burger Company

6 Washington Street Cork

Phone number (021) 241 0300

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/westcorkburgercompany 

Amuse Bouche

All in all, football is a perishable product, its use-by date is immediate. It must be consumed straight away, like oysters, whelks, langoustines, prawns (I will spare you the exhaustive composition of the plateau). It must be enjoyed fresh, in the intensity of the moment, in the heat of immediacy. Football does not age well, it is a diamond that only shines brightly today… Even legendary finals are faded. Their perfume has vanished into the dust of time..

from Football by Jean-Philippe Toussaint (2015). Recommended.

Excellent Spanish Organic Wine at SuperValu.

Flor de Anon Garnacha Campo de Borja (DO) 2015, 14.5%, €11.99 SuperValu

Red cherry is the attractive colour; quite light and could be mistaken in appearance for a Pinot Noir or Gamay. Nothing shy about the intense and complex mix of red and dark berries in the aromas (floral notes too). On the rounded palate it is engaging, the lingering concentrated fruit is well balanced by the acidity and the flavours fade hardly at all in the long soft finish. Easy drinking and Very Highly Recommended. Good value too, by the way.

So a quality organic from a  supermarket! Whatever next? It is not the first organic from Kevin O’Callaghan and his team at SuperValu but is one that has been highly anticipated. It is produced from the fruit of 20 year old vines and you are recommended to serve it between 14 and 16 degrees.

Campo de Borja doesn’t exact spring to mind if you are asked to name a Spanish wine region. I looked it up for you! It is an inland area in the north east, some 45 minutes north-west of Zaragoza, 75 minutes south-east of Logrono (Rioja). Your Supervalu though will be easier to find!

*Just noticed, on a leaflet via our post box, that SuperValu have an interesting organic wine from the Languedoc as Wine of the Month. You can get the Grain De Bio Des Terres De Gaujac for ten euro, marked down from €12.99. Great colour, great nose, full and smooth, according to the blurb. Sounds good. Must get my hands on one.

SeaFest Rotation Gone by the Bord? Millions Slip Through Cork Nets as Galway Gains

SeaFest Rotation Gone by the Bord?

Millions Slip Through Cork Nets as Galway Gains

Rory O'Connell, a regular at SeaFest

Ireland’s national maritime festival SeaFest attracted 101,113 visitors to Galway Harbour during the three day event in 2017, generating €6.3 million for the city.

The figures, details here, showed a phenomenal 68% growth in attendance in just one year. The 2016 SeaFest saw 60,000 visitors attend the festival in Galway, and in 2015, its inaugural year, it netted 10,000 visitors.

It has been confirmed that SeaFest 2018 will take place in Galway from 29th June to 1st July.  It incorporates a series of marine-related business and research events, the annual Our Ocean Wealth Summit, as well as a maritime festival.

Run by the Marine Institute, with major partners BIM (Bord Iascaigh Mara) and Bord Bia, the initial Seafest was held in Ringaksiddy, County Cork, in 2015 when The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, was Simon Coveney TD. Report on the Cork event here.

There was much more than fish demos in Ringaskiddy with linked events around the harbour including Captain Your Own Ship in the Simulator of the National Maritime College, the base for the event. There were SeaFest Science Talks, the BIM Beaufort Scale Hurricane Experience, Marine Recreation and Tourism and much more. 

It was a two day event and the impression given then was that this festival would “tour” Ireland annually and “plans are in hand to bring it to Galway in 2016”. So Cork is not the only loser as the Festival now seems set for a permanent stay in Galway. Fishing places such as Killybegs (Ireland’s largest fishing port), Dingle, Kilmore Quay, Howth, Greenore, Castletownbere, Burtonport, Dunmore East and Greencastle, and Cork of course, will be wondering and, one suspects, waiting.

Read all about SeaFest and its success in Galway here. 

Two French Reds. An Old One. And A Wild One.

Two French Reds. An Old One. And A Wild One.

Domaine Aonghusa The Wild Bunch (Vin de France) 2014, 14.5%, €20.50 Karwig Wine

From Wexford, Pat Neville has proved to be something of a rebel at Domaine Aonghusa (where his partner is his wife Catherine McGuinness) in the Languedoc. Some of his wines are somewhat off piste as is this one, outside the Corbieres appellation rules so a Vin de France  (as are many good wines in this region). But he also, for instance, produces Cuvée Laval which is AOC.

While he does buck the appellation, he is not into biodynamique either. “Our approach is based on common sense, not cosmological tomfoolery. …. This sometimes results in untidy looking but living vineyards.” 

So where does he fit in in the scheme of things. Quotes from an old independent.ie article may help. "I want to make a wine where the third glass is more interesting than the first, not one where everything you want to know is in the first mouthful." "I know the kind of wine I like; good wine to be taken with food, not wines for sitting on a terrace with and sipping.” 

Okay, we can live with that! And this Wild Bunch too, a blend of the vineyard reds which include Grenache, Carignan, Syrah, Cinsault and Lledonner Pelut. There may be wild, scrubby notes in the mainly savoury aromas, a little bit maybe, but this mid-purple wine seems to have settled nicely since 2014.

As you might expect, there is a pretty good concentration of fruit on the palate. It is a really well balanced blend at this stage with a long dry finish. A very interesting wine indeed. Nothing to be apprehensive about and might even improve over the next year or so. “The most fantastic blend,” according to Karwig’s. Highly Recommended.

Chateau Peybonhomme Les Tours Premières Côtes De Blaye (AOC) 2001, 12.5%, €15.20 Mary Pawle Wines

This charming elegant red is organic and is predominantly Merlot with a small percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon. The Chateau overlooks the Gironde estuary and they suggest matching it with Ossobuco or a Risotto with porcini mushrooms.

It is quite a lovely mid ruby colour (considering its age); there is a bit of fade towards the edge and the legs are slow enough to clear even though the abv is not that high. There is red fruit on the nose, a bit of spice too, nothing extreme in either case. Well rounded fruit and tannins on the smooth palate, an excellent balance and a pretty good finish as well. Not bad at all for an old-stager. Highly Recommended. Well priced too by the way.

Best Steak. Best Game. 2017

Best Steak 2018

Sligo steak

Cork butcher, Tom Durcan, turned up more than once in the the steak stakes in 2017, benefitting from the decision of the Globe to go local (after the takeover by Clayton) and by the return of the Oyster Tavern (a few yards from Tom's stall in the English Market). Best sauce was the Jameson at the Embassy in Sligo. The list is in no particular order.

Darwin's, Dublin. ..with an excellent Barolo jus

Embassy, Sligo... with Jameson Whiskey sauce

The Globe, at the Cork City Clayton Hotel... with a trio of sauces

The Cornstore, Cork... always good for steak!

The Oyster Tavern, Cork..outstanding flavour from the Durcan steak

The Ivory Tower, Cork, with a Peruvian touch

The Commons Inn, Cork ... Irish Hereford beef steaks are aged 35 days

Sage, Midleton, County Cork. Superb beef from Charlie Terry.

The Maestro at Radisson Blu, Little Island, Co. Cork. Outstanding fries & Portobello mushroom

Murrisk Pie

Best Game Dishes

The Tavern at Murrisk, Westport

Blairs Inn, Cloghroe, Co. Cork

Barnabrow, East Cork

Crawford Gallery Café. Christmas Cheer and Happy New Year

Crawford Gallery Café 

Christmas Cheer and Happy New Year.

Cork, December 28th. The month and the year 2017 is running out. Fast. It is cold in the city. Not even a smoker to brave the cold in the outdoors section of the Crawford Gallery Café where the seats provide some colour in the grey day. Veering towards zero degrees, veering towards a white day as snow appears and threatens to stay.

So I hurry past the outer railings, through the gallery doors, past the nude Greek and Roman sculpture casts (brrrr). Then I go deeper into the building (once the city’s Custom House) where there is a hot spot, the Gallery Café. 

It is warm for sure and close to full, a lovely rounded buzz of conversation, no sharp tones here, must be the acoustics, more likely a soft chorus of Christmassy contentment! It was the first time that the café has opened in the period between Christmas and the New Year - don't think it will be the last time. 

A smile and a nod and I'm directed to a table. Another smile as head chef Sinead Doran waves from the counter. Warming up already.

The menu, it changes daily (Sinead has, as usual, been out to the nearby English Market), arrives just as my raincoat comes off. The glasses go on and I see it is full of choice, full of good things. Still chasing warmth, I  immediately decide on the Thai Spiced Tomato Soup. It is comfortingly warm and the heat of the spice is not in any way extreme, no shock but rather an pleasant aid to the recovering system.

Lots of warm stuff throughout the seasonal menu. Breslin’s Beef and Red Wine Stew tempts as does the tart of Warm Sweet Onion and Crozier Blue (my favourite cheese ever!). 

The Devilled Kidneys tempted me sorely and would have been CL’s choice but I had given her the day off to bond with (mind!) our latest grandchild. The Roast Marrow Bone made a recent visiting critic drool. And the same Marrow Bone makes an appearance in the Steak and Chips.

I will have chips but with the hake, green mayonnaise lemon and organic leaves too. Presentation is neat and tidy but there is quite a pyramid of food on the plate as Sinead arrives. A gasp of surprise from me. Think she's heard a few like that before; she is confident of a clean plate finish. This particular deep-water fish can grow to a max of 140cm; don't think that record-breaker was on the plate though, packed and all as it was.

So, ignoring the two guys (a pair of sculptured heads) peering through the Christmas greenery on the window sill alongside, I concentrate, mainly on the gorgeous fish, its pearl white flesh easily found once the veneer of batter is disturbed. And then it is easily pleasurably eaten, especially with a dab of the mayo. And on I went, bite by bite, superb sweet fish and superb potato, all the way to an empty plate!

"Nice bit of hake he has there."

The main event may have passed but there were still some Christmas items on the dessert section of the menu.  I gave the sweet bits a skip this time; I had eaten well of the sustaining and sustainable hake and said goodbye to Sinead and her crew and made my way through the packed restaurant out to the cold, no snow though (the earlier threat to stay was not maintained), to resume spending the vouchers. 

Happy New Year!

The Crawford Gallery Café

Emmet Place

Cork

021 4274415

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CrawfordGalleryCafe/ 

Open: Mon to Sat 8.30am to 4.00pm 

Amuse Bouche

Chaplin (right!)

Raymond Griffith can’t get a job in talking pictures because Raymond Griffith has no voice. Raymond Griffith is incapable of speaking above a whisper, and is therefore the perfect silent comedian. Eventually, Raymond Griffith chokes to death over dinner at the Masquers Club because he fails to chew his food properly.

But these ones do not concern him, or not as much as Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd.

Not as much as Chaplin.

from he by John Connolly (2017). Very Highly Recommended.

Amuse Bouche extra. Recommended Reading!

Recommended Reading!
An Amuse Bouche Extra.

Regulars know that I serve up an Amuse Bouche every Saturday, a paragraph or two (with a mention of food or drink) from a book that I've been reading. Some of the books are very good and I've compiled a shortlist of the best of those that I've read in 2017. It doesn't mean they've all been published in 2017! It is quite a mix of fiction and non-fiction. Hope you enjoy one or two. Happy Reading.

By the way, I get most of my books from the local library, many of them now ordered online via the fantastic Encore system. If the book is not available locally, I can still order it and soon it will be on its way to Cork from Dublin or Donegal or from wherever it is in the stock.

The list below is compiled from the books that were Very Highly Recommended on Amuse Bouche and is not in any particular order.


he by John Connolly

Days Without End by Sebastian Barry

The Trout by Peter Cunningham

Signatories by Emma Donoghue and others

And The Sun Shines Now by Adrian Tempany

Grandpa The Sniper by Frank Shouldice

A Doctor's Sword by Bob Jackson

Soul Serenade by Rashal Ollison

Cloudstreet by Tim Winton

The Shadow Land by Elizabeth Kostova

Smile by Roddy Doyle

If I Die Tonight by A.L. Gaylin

Walking Tall by Rob Heffernan

Game On at Blairs Inn

Game On at Blairs Inn

Venison casserole

The crew in Blairs Inn in Cloghroe are always game for a laugh, summer or winter. But this time of year, four-legged and feathered game is in season and is served up in many delicious ways by the kitchen of this renowned country pub, a few miles from Cork City and Blarney.

A laugh and a smile are guaranteed here, directions too if you’re a tourist seeking the next beauty spot or watering hole; they’ve even been known to change a wheel for a customer. 

Pheasant

Not that you’ll ever be in a hurry to leave the pub. In winter, the fires are burning and the company's good. You’ll get the same company in the summer in the garden by the little Sheep River. And it’s also a terrific place for craft beer, one of the first places in Ireland where I was given a multi-page craft beer menu to choose from.

The craft beer is still going strong here and, indeed, the beer I had for lunch was something special. It is a Gluten Free stout, Stag Saor*, and is on draught, Ireland's first. 

GF and on draught

Richard Blair, one of two brothers now running the pub, told me of a satisfied customer of a few days earlier. A coeliac, the man hadn’t drunk stout, his favourite tipple, for twenty years but, having sampled the Star Saor, left Blair's Inn with tears of gratitude.

I had noticed they were using the Ballyvourney stout in my Venison Casserole so, of course, I ordered a pint. And it proved a great match for the rich casserole of Wicklow venison (16.95) which was served with a side dish of root vegetables, some broccoli too and a big baked potato! Great stuff.

CL was eagerly tucking into her Wild Irish Pheasant (half!), with aromatic gin and juniper stuffing, mushrooms and a red wine sauce (16.50). Another superb dish. Thought she might have had a G & T with this but no she settled, quite happily as it turned out, for the Scarlet Pimpernel by Killarney Brewing.

Lots of choice here, including the corned beef dish for which the Blairs are well known. Meat features strongly but, in fairness, they have no less then three fish dishes in the mains as well. Beside, they have one-plates meals (including a massive Wagyu beef burger), and there are salads, baps and open sandwiches.

Bluebell goats

Good choice of starters too though both of us went for cheese based dishes. Having tried, unsuccessfully, to milk one of their goats earlier in 2017, CL has a soft spot for Bluebell Falls so no surprise that she picked a warm tartlet of the cheese, with creamed leeks and smoked salmon, a terrific flavoursome dish for €8.65.

Gubbeen

For the same money, I enjoyed a lovely salad of Gubbeen and seasonal leaves. Very pleased with that one. Indeed, very pleased with the meal overall as is consistently the case here.

* Saor is Irish for free and producers, 9 White Deer from Ballyvourney, already have a full set of Gluten Free beers in bottle.

Another venison dish, this from the evening menu.

Blairs Inn

Cloghroe

Blarney

Co. Cork

Tel: (021) 438 1470

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/blairsinn/ 

Top Bars. Top Attractions. Top Places to Stay. Best Festivals.

Top Bars

Cask

Cask Cork (where the ugly strawberries go!)

Swagman Sligo (Dale rocks Wine Street)

Dick Macks Dingle (now with its own brewery)

White Horse

White Horse Ballincollig Co. Cork (food, drink, music and its own guitar band)


Top Attractions

Spike Island, Cork Harbour (out on its own!)


Top Places to Stay

Good morning at Carrig House

Carrig House, Co. Kerry

Trident Hotel, Kinsale, Co. Cork

Clew Bay Hotel, Westport, Co. Mayo


Best Festivals

Dingle

Dingle Food Festival

FEAST

Cork Oyster Festival

Meals with a Difference 2017

Meals with a Difference 2017

Night of the Long Table
400 dine out on Cork's South Mall

Bayview Fish Special

Holy Smoke

Café Paradiso

Market Lane (Blasket Island lamb)

SpitJack (Cheese & Fortifieds)

Barnabrow's Gourmet Evening

JP McMahon at Greene's

Sage

Amuse Bouche

A Christmas Amuse Bouche

"one can get tired of too much rabbit for dinner"

His (Fr Travers) acquisition of six hens in May 1941 had not been a success, with five of the six dying without having laid a single egg. More promising was his cook-cum-concierge’s rabbit breeding initiative. The concierge managed to breed thirty or forty rabbits at a time, thus ensuring a constant supply of meat, “although one can get tired of too much rabbit for dinner’. Fortunately for Fr Travers, Mary Maher, an Irishwoman in Laval…. sent two geese for Christmas in 1942 and continued to send parcels of eggs, meat, cheese, and butter right up to the end of the war.

from No Way Out, The Irish in Wartime France 1939-45, by Isadore Ryan (2017). Recommended.

Taste of the Week. Dark Chocolate Apple Crisp Thins

Taste of the Week
Christmas Special

Dark Chocolate Apple Crisp Thins

Lismore Food Company, who make these beauties, say that “Seven days without Chocolate makes one Weak“. I say seven days with chocolate makes my week.

These divine crisp apple thins, air dried and wrapped in the finest dark Belgian chocolate, are an epicurean delight. They have a delicious contrast between the richness of the chocolate and the tartness of the apple and are our Taste of the Week.

All week, that is. With the morning coffee, with the afternoon cuppa. And other occasions I won't mention in case someone is counting. Taste of the Week and very handy to have in the coming weeks. You might even consider dishing them out as presents. I didn’t! 
Stockists here.

Lismore Food Company

The Summerhouse

Main Street

Lismore

Co. Waterford.

+353 86 171 2813

A Trio of Very Highly Recommended Wine Treats!

Chateau Pape Clement Grand Cru Classé de Graves Pessac-Léognan 1998, 13%. 

Amazing how the colour is so dark,  a deep purple with virtually no diminution at the edge. Quite a subtle scent, rounded, hints of spice. It is smooth, elegant, rich and rounded, not a note out of place, a symphony for the senses, perfect on the palate and a perfect long dry finish. 

Concentrated, fine and harmonious from start to finish, an admirable wine and Very Highly Recommended.

It is a blend of mainly Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot with some Cabernet Franc also in the mix and spent 18 months in oak.

The first harvest here was in 1252! It was first planted by Bertrand de Goth, Archbishop of Bordeaux, who later (1305) became Pope Clement V (of Avignon fame). The Graves vineyard was run by the Bordeaux Archbishops until the French Revolution.

When the grapes for this particular bottle were produced, the chateau was under Bernard Magrez, “a passionate wine entrepreneur”. His efforts were rewarded in 2009 when critic Robert Parker gave “the mythical score of 100” to the Chateau’s white and the same score for the red in the following year.

This was a birthday gift that I took a while to open, so I'm not sure of availability or price.

Taylor’s Port Late Bottled Vintage 2011, 20%, €25.95 Bradley's (Cork), Le Caveau

Taylor’s, pioneers of the category, launched their first LBV in 1970 to satisfy a demand for a high quality ready-to-drink alternative to Vintage Port. Unlike vintage port, which is bottled after only two years in wood and ages in bottle, LBV is bottled after four to six years and is ready to drink immediately. Its longer wood ageing means it needs no decanting and will remain in good condition for several weeks after the initial opening.

This 2011 has a solid purple colour. It is aromatic for sure, cherry and plum, berries too. Rich and fruity on the palate, some spice also, hints of liquorice, tannins just about in evidence. Superb balance overall. The blending process ensures it is “balanced and complete and that there is a continuity of style in relation to previous Taylor LBV”. A true Taylor-style port indeed.

This beautiful elegant wine, with a wonderfully long finish, is Very Highly Recommended.

Clos Puy Arnaud Castillon Côtes de Bordeaux (AOC) 2014, 14%, €39.95 Bradley’s Cork.

Not too much to say about this one other than it is just brilliant. Colour is mid to deep purple. Aromas are complex, plum mainly, vanilla too, herby notes. Fruit is opulent, plus a marked freshness (a good proportion of Cabernet Franc may have something to do with that) and acidity, a fair bit of spice also, tannins close to smooth, and a quality finish. Very Highly Recommended. Duck and steak may be the best matches, hard cheeses too.

This vin biodynamique is produced by vigernon-proprietaire Thierry Valette and Puy Arnaud is a standard bearer for organic wine in Bordeaux. This is a blend of Merlot (70%), Cabernet Franc (25%) and Cabernet Sauvignon (5%). It is a recent addition to the Findlater list.

Castillon-la-Bataille is a town on the Dordogne, about 50 minutes east of Bordeaux city and the vineyard is a few miles north of the town. Cotes de Bordeaux Castillon is the appellation title for Cotes de Bordeaux wines made specifically in the district. Until 2009, these wines were sold as Cotes de Castillon.