Chateau Turcaud Keeps Coming Up Trumps in Bordeaux. Check out this convincing double, one red, one white

Château Turcaud Keeps Coming Up Trumps in Bordeaux

Check out this convincing double, one red, one white

Château Turcaud Entre-Deux-Mers sec 2018, 13.5%, €15.55 64 Wine Dublin, Bradley’s of Cork, Greenman Dublin, Le Caveau Kilkenny

This Grand Vin de Bordeaux is a blend of Sauvignon Blanc (65%) and Semillon (35). Best served well-chilled. You’ll also notice a Terra Vitis stamp on the label, meaning that the vineyard is run on “sustainable viticulture” principles.

You'll note a good depth of yellow in the colour with aromas of pineapples and citrus, some blossoms too. On the palate, it is more intense, more assertive than the nose alone, with a lovely wave of mainly citrus fruit flavours, an excellent mouthfeel, well balanced and with a good finish. Very Highly Recommended.

This delightful wine is at its best as an aperitif or with marinated salmon, foie gras, fish terrine, scampi, scallops, lobster, fish in a sauce, white meat, and most cheeses. It can benefit from decanting a half hour to a full hour before the meal, and is ideal served chilled but not too cold. Generally at its peak after 2 to 5 years.

Maurice Robert bought Château Turcaud in 1973. Nowadays it is run by Stéphane and Isabelle Le May (Maurice Robert’s daughter). I climbed to the top of the famous local Abbey Le Sauve Majeure and, from the 159th and final step, had a great view over the surrounding countryside. I didn’t know then the view included the immaculate vineyards of Caveau Turcaud.

View from the 159th step!

Château Turcaud Merlot Cabernet Bordeaux (AOC) 2015, 13.5%, €15.80 64 Wine Dublin, Bradley’s of Cork, Greenman Dublin, Le Caveau Kilkenny

“.. an unhappy vintner will make a closed wine, a wine difficult on the palate; and a vintner in love will make an open wine, one that changes as it rolls around your mouth and then gets better as it slides down your throat.” 

Looks like the winemaker at Turcaud, under the shadow of the splendid ruins of Abbaye de La Sauve-Majeure, must have been in love during this vintage. Must check with Stéphane next time he’s in Ireland!

This lovely Bordeaux blend has a beautiful garnet robe. The nose is fresh, blackberry and red fruit, smoky notes and some spice too. Fresh and fruity too on the palate, all in harmony though, rounded tannins. And that harmony continues in the long finish. Quite a finalé for an entry level wine. An excellent wine at an excellent price and Very Highly Recommended.

Chateau Turcaud recommend pairing it with full-flavoured meats such as rib of beef, game, duck breast, and strong cheeses. and say it is best decanted one hour before the meal. This blend of Merlot (mostly) and Cabernet may be enjoyed even when quite young thanks to its intrinsic fruitiness, and can benefit from being served slightly chilled.

* The opening quote is from Death in the Vines by M. L. Longworth.

Blacks Win Gold For Their Rum At World Awards. Amazing Kinsale Duo Soon To Lay Down Their Whiskey

press release

Blacks Win Gold For Their Rum At World Awards

Amazing Kinsale Duo Soon To Lay Down Their Whiskey

Husband and wife duo, and founders of Blacks Brewery and Distillery, Sam and Maudeline Black, were in high spirits on winning a prestigious Gold award for their Blacks Golden Rum at the World Rum Awards. Founded originally as a craft beer brewery in 2013, this unstoppable couple expanded and opened their distillery in 2015, where they began producing gin in their top-of-the range facility in Kinsale, Co.Cork.  In 2018, they made history with Blacks Spiced Rum, Ireland’s first-ever rum, made entirely from start to finish in Ireland. Continuing to add to their extensive range of award-winning craft beers and spirits, this year their first bottle of Blacks Golden Rum hit the shelves, after maturing in ex Irish whiskey oak barrels for the last five years.

The World Rum Awards are the leading global rum awards, which select the very best in all of the internationally recognised styles, and award and promote these world best rums to consumers and trade across the globe. It was with immense pride that passionate entrepreneurs, Maudeline & Sam, accepted this coveted World Rum Award, a recognition of their master craftsmanship and innovative recipe. Blacks Golden Rum was the only rum to win Gold in its category - World’s Best Column Still Rum 5 Years & Under, and the only Irish spirit to make the winners list. This was the first time Blacks Brewery & Distillery entered these illustrious awards, with their golden rum undergoing a series of three stringent judges tasting sessions. Due to Covid19 restrictions, this year, all aspects of these awards took place behind closed doors, with virtual tasting sessions chaired by head judge Peter Holland. The distinguished judging panel comprised of international, leading journalists, specialist drinks retailers and industry experts.

Speaking in relation to the taste of this Gold award-winning Blacks Golden Rum the judging panel commented, ‘An interesting nose. It starts off with wood varnish and dunder/funkiness. Very ripe tropical fruit and very ripe stone and citrus fruit with a very notable dry orange peel aroma. There is roat vegetal notes too. The palate is quite straightforward and easy. One dimensional with easy tropical fruits and little hints of wood smoke and medicinal characteristics.’

 

Sam Black

‘We couldn’t believe it when award organisers contacted us with the good news. Gold! We are very proud of our golden rum, as we are with all of the beers and spirits which leave our brewery and distillery displaying our name. They really are a testament to the time and talent invested by all of our team in Kinsale, but to receive this recognition on a global scale, especially when up against such long standing and established rum brands it was just phenomenal.’ commented Founder Sam Black. 

Having made their mark on the global rum stage, there is no stopping this pair who already have their eyes firmly on their next endeavour - the whiskey market. Always looking for a unique angle, and bringing creativity to their business, be that in the form of seasonal craft beer recipes, production methods or eye-catching packaging, Maudeline & Sam wanted to make their whiskey journey special too. They have achieved this by opening up their business to other whiskey enthusiasts who wish to share in their passion with the Blacks Whiskey Founders Club.

Already boasting over 100 members, the Blacks Whiskey Founders Club gives whiskey lovers the opportunity to purchase their own cask of whiskey, starting from €6,500. This club allows members to create their very own personalised and branded whiskey, with a cask expected to deliver over 397 bottles of pot still single malt Irish whiskey, or to use this as an investment opportunity and after the five-year maturation period sell back their cask to Blacks. This buy-back scheme will generate a minimum 4% annually compounded (approx. €280 per year per cask) return on a members initial investment.

Phase one of this €1million project has now been completed, the installation of two copper whiskey stills. With the club still open for new members to join, and with lots of different cask options to choose from for example ex bourbon, sherry or port, the next key date in the diary is the first annual Blacks Whiskey Founders Club party, which is set to take place on Friday 18th September. This annual event gives members an opportunity to network and check in on their whiskey, becoming an actively engaged part of the distilling process. During the day members will have a choice of some social activities such as golfing and a Kinsale Harbour sailing trip,  while in the afternoon there will be tours of the distillery and brewery, with lots of spirit and beer tasting.

Speaking in relation to the Blacks Whiskey Founders Club , Sam Black commented, ‘This really is a unique opportunity for whiskey enthusiasts, who otherwise would not be in a position to produce whiskey alone. It was my passion for brewing and my wifes support that gave me the push to open Black Brewery & Distillery and I want to share that experience with others. Some of our members who have already joined plan to bottle and label their whiskey to gift to family, friends, as corporate client gifts and to sell some on the secondary whiskey market, while for others its an investment opportunity, but one in which they to play an active role in also creating a piece of our famous Irish whiskey heritage. The next few weeks mark a huge milestone in this project as the actual whiskey production begins. I look forward to watching our club grow, adding more people to the Blacks family and getting to meet a lot of these face to face at our annual get-together.’

Blacks Brewery and Distillery are among some of the lucky businesses who have been able to adapt their operations processes in order to remain functioning safely through this Covid19 pandemic. Not only are they still supplying beers and spirits to off-licenses and supermarkets across the country, but they are also playing their part in trying to fight this virus and support the community, with the production of much needed hand sanitiser. Despite their online sales increasing over the last month and sales staff required to focus their efforts here, Maudeline and Sam were still adamant that they were going to use their resources to help, and therefore redeployed members of their sales team, who would have primarily focused on on-trade pubs and restaurants.

Sales staff are now helping in the distillery to bottle and label hand sanitizer. This supply of hand sanitiser is being split between charities, such as Cork Simon and local Kinsale volunteers, and consumers. In addition to charity drops and for consumers through retail stores, when placing online spirit orders through the Blacks website consumers receive free sanitiser and one is also donated to a charity group in their name. Now that the new copper whiskey stills are installed they will also play a role in this sanitation process, as before whiskey production begins in the coming weeks the stills must undergo a cleaning run in manual mode with vinegar, followed by a sacrificial alcohol run which will also be transformed into hand sanitiser.

Commenting on the new edition to their production line Sam Black said, ‘We consider ourselves very fortunate to still be in a position to stay open and meet the demand of customers. It is a very hard time for the entire Irish community and we just wanted to play our part, no matter how small in helping during this crisis. When we became aware of the huge shortage of hand sanitiser for those on the frontline we realised we were in a unique position to be able to assist, and so we quickly went about altering our production process to start manufacturing and getting this into the hands of those who need it.’

To find out more about the award-winning Blacks Golden Rum, to become a member of the Blacks Whiskey Founders Club, or to place an order for some of Blacks Brewery & Distillery famous craft beers or gin visit www.blacksbrewery.com. You can also contact Paul, a member of the Blacks team at paul@blacksbrewery.com or stay connected online at Instagram/blacksbrewery Instagram/blacksdistillerykinsale, Twitter @BlacksBrewery or Facebook/BlacksOfKinsale

Diwald. Where Quality Comes From The Vineyard.

Diwald. Where Quality Comes From The Vineyard.

Continental climate but sometimes it rains, just to make the Irish visitor feel at home on the Danube!

“Quality comes from the vineyard, there is no doubt about it.” So say the younger generation of the Diwald family winery in Austria, organic since 1980.

“There is nothing that can be improved in the cellar, quality can only be retained. Wine must be fun, it must always offer something new and it must tempt you to have another sip. And when the bottle is suddenly empty, then you know it’s perfect!” 

“Today, the Diwald wine style follows a simple credo: the wines – whether white, red, rosé, orange or cloudy – should be lean, elegant and cheeky, but still offer depth and body. They are individual wines which speak to our – and your – taste buds….”

Most of Austria’s vineyards are in the east of the country and Wagram, just to the northwest of Vienna, is one of the best areas for white whites and especially so for the Grüner Veltliner (thanks to the soil being particularly rich in loess), the most widely planted white grape in the country. The district, close to 3,000 hectare, stretches along the Danube from Klosteneuburg (itself a historical viticulture centre) to Krems.

Wagram, neighboured to the west by Wachau, Kremstal and Kamptal, is one of Austria's 16 official wine regions, and its loess soil is noted for its water retaining properties. Warm days and cool nights also help the wine-growers and the climate is generally continental.

Diwald Zweigelt (vom Löss), Wagram Austria, 2017, 12.5%, €16.60 Mary Pawle

Zweigelt - a crossing of Saint-Laurent with Blaufrankisch, created in 1922 - is the most widely planted red-wine grape in Austria. According to Wine Searcher, well made examples have the potential to cellar for a decade. The “vom Löss” on the label indicates the grapes were grown on loess sites. Diwald practise cluster thinning in the loess-soil Zweigelt vineyards in order to reduce the yield dramatically and so considerably improve the grapes’ ripeness. “The wine becomes more concentrated, but never too heavy” and that is certainly the case here.

Colour is a rich ruby, bright. Rich fruits feature in the aromas. At its juicy heart, you’ll find flavours of cherry, plum and raspberry. A light dry wine with excellent acidity but one with a concentrated backbone and no shortage of tannin. Highly Recommended.

It’s a wine that needs food and expect it to be a good match for beef stews, goulash, mushrooms. Try also with Roasted ham hock, Grilled sausages with mustard, Duck Confit (try the excellent Skeaghanore version). Here’s an insider’s tip. If you’re lucky enough to get your hands on venison, then use some Zweigelt in the cooking and the remainder (maybe a second bottle) to drink with it!

Diwald “Goldberg” Riesling (Wagram, Austria) 2016, 12%, €21.55 Mary Pawle

Riesling is the King of Wines, according to Diwald. “..it is our secret love.” A love they share with us via this Goldberg. A light straw colour with green tints. Aromatic as ever, citrus prominent. And a citrus-y tingle intro to the palate soon followed by richer more exotic flavours. A crisp acidity ensures harmony from first sip to very satisfying finalé. This supple wine has no shortage of minerality and is Very Highly Recommended.

By the way, did you know that “deacidification” is a thing in Riesling and indeed in other wines? It is. But not here in Diwald. Here’s what they have to say on the subject: “Riesling originates from the Upper Rhine .… This grape variety demands a lot of its vineyard site and wine grower, but offers long-lived and expressive wines in return. We think it’s also important to mention that we do not de-acidify any of our Rieslings – they should be allowed to show their true, unaltered personality!”

Importer Mary Pawle has a couple of tips for you: “Allow this wine a bit of time before pouring. Try it with smoked duck breast.”

Diwald Grüner Veltliner (Wagram, Austria) 2018, 12%, €20.75 Mary Pawle

Light straw colour, bright, and micro bubbles cling briefly to bowl of the glass. Clean white fruit (apple, pear) aromas, a hint of pepper, even ginger. Quite an initial tingle on the palate and then the clean fresh fruit flavours flow in, acidity there also, minerality too and a lingering finish. The “vom Löss” on the label indicates that the grapes were grown on loess sites. 

Grüner wines are quite wide ranging, from light quaffers to serious sippers. The Diwald aim is to make wines that are “lean, elegant and cheeky, but still offer depth and body.” Serious winemakers but fun people and this is a cheeky wine that is elegant yet approachable and so so easy to enjoy!

The selected vineyards with their loess soils make it possible to create a spicy, lively and thoroughly full-bodied wine which reflects its origins. Light, dry and flavour-packed and Very Highly Recommended.

"We are still trading," that's the message from Mary and Ivan at the hillside HQ of Mary Pawle Wines in Kenmare. Both are cocooning so neither can deliver but their courier company Landbridge is taking up the slack. While demand from restaurants is knocked out, other regular customers are still ordering and there's even an increase in orders from smaller shops. So be sure and contact Mary if you need wine!

Barolo 2016 is something rare!

Barolo 2016 is something rare!

Franco Massolino (with a map of the Barolo area in background).

“Barolo 2016 is something rare! An outstanding vintage. Unique.” So said Franco Massolino during a Liberty Wines organised online masterclass last Friday. Fellow Barolo winemaker Giuseppe Vajra was our other speaker, both introduced by Tim Platt (Sales Director Liberty). Dennis Drazan Sunjic coordinated the speakers and also the question and answer session at the end.

So what made 2016 so good? Franco pointed to the weather during the year that gave them “the longest cycle of vegetation”. “The winter was relatively warm, and dry. Spring came early. A lot of rain at the right time. “We never had temperature too high and it was never too dry. September unusually warm, but not crazy.” Following the warm days and cool nights of September,  “complete ripeness was achieved in our harvest”.

He said the wine has the identity of the village, it is complete, elegant, powerful. “With longevity, 30 or 40 years no problem. The different wines underlined the identity of our various vineyards. The Barolo has achieved an outstanding level of expression, a really classical expression.”

Giuseppe

Giuseppe confirmed Franco’s assessment. “He is really spot-on, it is a killer vintage, a textbook classico vintage that expresses a sense of place and highlights the differences in the various terroirs.”

It was the first year that Giuseppe had kept a diary of the season. And the first benign sign he noticed was the “abundant flowering”. In the wine, there is a promise of longevity, the tannins are not in your face, ”so you can already enjoy it and I think that the flowerings is key in this”.

Dennis asked him to talk about recent vintages and Giuseppe said the 2015 is very good and the 2017 is excellent and interesting. But 2014 was challenging because of rain and hail. Franco though was more optimistic about the 2014, perhaps because they were able to salvage some “small quantities with outstanding qualities”. Obviously the hail didn’t hit every vineyard equally. “We have some small quantities and are extremely proud of it”. Seems to be the classic case of a good winemaker producing an excellent wine in a bad year.

Dennis then posed a tough question for the duo. “Which is your best cru from 2016?” Very hard for Giuseppe to answer as they had invested so much hard work into each. He didn’t really want to pick one but, under gentle pressure, went for the Barolo Bricco delle Viole for “its flair and elegance”. 

Franco agreed that it was a tough question and he picked the Barolo Parussi. “I got great satisfaction from that as it is the youngest of our vineyards.” He quickly added that the Marghleria “is also very good.”. Both men agreed that 2016 was similar to 2008.

Franco admitted to “still trying to understand more”..”to take care of each plant in the best possible way.” You can gather that the improvement in the fortunes of Barolo over recent decades owes much to men like these. He continued: “There is a big difference to what happened in the 70s and 80s when the goal was to produce as much as possible. There was attention too to quality but not like today.”

The soil - like lasagna

Franco’s family have been in the wine business here for 120 years. “Our range of wines represent the historic style of Barolo, a unique wine in this micro-climate, the right place to show Nebiolo’s potential. We try to balance all our wines, to respect the identity and delicate notes of the variety. We don’t change a lot in the winery.”

Franco

Giuseppe was dragged away from his soccer games (he was playing too much of it - well he was just 15) to plant his first vineyard. He and his current team are still youthful and he is proud of their work. “We hope we get wiser as we go on. We started organically and our first vintage in 1972 was not a good one, not worth ageing!” The whole extended family are at work here in this “multicultural team” near the village of Barolo.

Franco’s family are in the area of Serralunga d’Alba “where every hill can be different” and that results “in great variety” in the wines around here. The family is involved here too and they “always look for the best expression.. while looking after our vineyard”. In fact, most of them are out and about in the vines these days, staying away from the offices due to Covid19.

The virus was also on Giuseppe’s mind. “We think of all you hospitality people these days. Stay strong!” He talked about the soil of the area, “basically sedimentary”, layers laid down over the years ”like lasagna”. And he reckoned that tiny variations in the ph readings (a measurement of acidity and alkalinity) for the two areas may account for the differences between wines from the two villages.

Check out the Barolo producers below:

Massolino http://www.massolino.it/

Vajra http://www.gdvajra.it/en/homepage

Recent Masterclasses:
 Charles Heidsieck, one of the most admired Champagne houses.
Meet Ted Lemon of California's Littorai vineyard

Foraging, Cocktails, Tasty Trad and Sheer Temptation...Welcome to Week Two of the Virtual Festival of Food

Foraging, Cocktails, Tasty Trad and Sheer Temptation... Welcome to Week Two of the Virtual Festival of Food We've all been getting used to quieter times, and the Festival Team is counting ourselves lucky that we live in such a beautiful and peaceful part of the world. So we're delighted to bring you a further flavour with Week Two of the Virtual Food Festival. This week, we found out the sheer joy of wild garlic, so abundant right now (Facebook, Twitter and Instagram), and as all that foraging put a thirst on us, we were thrilled to quench it courtesy of the inspired Strawberry Sour from the Blackwater Distillery (Facebook, Twitter and Instagram). Nicola and Dvir at Mezze showed us how to spread our wings and celebrate Mimouna - a traditional North African time of feasting - at home with hummus, flatbreads and pomegranate mimosas (Facebook, Twitter and Instagram), and The Tannery's Paul Flynn gave us another feast with his Mediterranean inspired Lamb (Facebook, Twitter and Instagram). Nor did we forget your gaelgeoir dog (tá brón orainn, madra...), with a yummy dog biscuit recipe for your best buachaill (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram). Woof woof! Right now, Stocktons Wing frontman Mike Hanrahan is presenting a virtual version of his Festival gig, including his legendary chowder, from his own living room via Facebook, and we're looking forward to sheer temptation from Dungarvan's 2Sisters and Legacy Cider tomorrow. Check back online, follow us on social media, post your own recipes and event suggestions with the #VirtualWWFOF2020 and #WWFoodatHome, or sign up here for your weekly Virtual Festival Round Up. In the meantime, please support your local businesses and continue to buy local where you can. Love from the team at The West Waterford Festival of Food

Amuse Bouche

There were pancakes, of course; and sausages; and duck confit and goose-liver terrine; and sweet pink onions, fried mushrooms with herbs, and little tomme cheeses rolled in ash; and pastis gascon, and nut bread, aniseed bread, fouace, olives, chillies and dates. To drink, there was cider and wine and floc, with fruit juices for the children and even a dish of leftovers for the dog, which later curled up by the fire and slept, occasionally twitching its tail and muttering vague obscenities between its teeth.

Outside, the Autan wind gained strength, and we began to hear the rain smacking against the window glass.

from Peaches for Monsieur le Curé by Joanne Harris (2012). Very Highly Recommended.

A Quartet of International IPAs. Including a couple of crushables!

A Quartet of International IPAs

Odell (Colorada) “Good Behaviour” Crushable IPA 4%, 355mls can Bradley’s

Light gold colour, good mix of hop and fruit flavours. Very pleasant beer. Crushable, you may know (I had to look it up), is beer aficionado’s argot, meaning an easygoing, super-drinkable beer.

Odell say: “Both sessional and bursting with flavour. Good Behaviour is built like an IPA with bright hop flavours and tropical fruit, yet balanced with a light body, slight haze, and crisp finish that’s truly crushable!”

Unusually, the calories (110) are boldly printed on the label. 

“Unlike many low-cal beers and hard seltzers, Good Behavior was brewed without extracts or artificial sweeteners. All of the tropical fruit and peach flavors come from specialized brewing techniques with a blend of nine hop varieties, including Odell’s current favorite experimental, HBC 586.”

Sierra Nevada (California) Tropical Torpedo IPA 6.0%, 355ml can Bradley’s.

A little darker in colour than the Odell and also slightly more hoppy but there is a lovely twist of the tropical fruit in the aroma and on the palate. Virtually no indication while drinking that this Nevada is some fifty per cent stronger than the Odell.

They say: “Inspired by the island life, we created an IPA completely disconnected from the mainland. We used our one-of-a-kind Hop Torpedo to deliver an intense rush of hop flavor and the lush aromas of mango, papaya, and passionfruit with every sip.”

Garage Beer  (Barcelona) “Ocata” IPA 5.4%, 440ml can Bradley’s

In a distinctive black can, this Session IPA, made with Mosaic and Palisade hops, is easy drinking and juicy with hops asserting themselves in the finish. Another well-balanced beer from the quartet. Colour’s close to the Nevada but cloudy. Add this to your crushable list!

Garage Beer Co is the “hottest micro brewery to come out of Spain” and is based in central Barcelona. Founded in 2015, after a successful crowd-funding campaign, they are already making waves  in the craft beer community via their collaborations with established breweries such as Cloudwater. By the way, if you find yourself in the Catalan capital, be sure and check out their downtown brewpub.

Samuel Smith (Yorkshire) India Ale 5%, 550ml bottle Bradley’s

If the Garage Beer Company is the new kid on the block, Samuel Smith, established 1758, is the old reliable.

This ale comes in amber, darker than the other three. And it’s hops all the way in the aromas. And rich fruity hops too in the mouth. By the way, the malt is not found wanting either. Reckon a couple of these would have made life in Lahore or Lucknow or Secunderabad tolerable for a hot hour or two. Not bad either for those of us in Cocoonabad these days.

The label on the bottle is based on Samuel Smith’s Victorian letterhead when the brewery was a contractor to Her Majesty Queen Victoria’s forces.

They say: “Brewed with well water (the original well at the Old Brewery, sunk in 1758, is still in use, with the hard well water being drawn from 85 feet underground); best malted barley and a generous amount of choicest aroma hops; fermented in ‘stone Yorkshire squares’ to create an exceptionally full-flavoured complex ale with an abundance of maltiness and fruity hop character.” 

* Our next beer post will take a look at a bunch of Irish IPAs.