The revised Autumn season will include a selection of the WSET Foundation & Intermediate Certificate courses and as always we will be providing the courses throughout the country.

The addition of these courses comes following the many requests of past students on our “One Day Wine Appreciation Course”.

We will very shortly be unveiling our up to date schedule of courses alongside our brand new website which will cater for every level of wine enthusiast.

Thanks to everyone for their support and feedback and for helping us to grow and develop to the point where have now achieved these new courses through the WSET!

Tom

Don’t fear this is certainly not the case!  What we do know is that in certain native plants, fruits and vegetables share certain components.  Some grapes contain components of peach for example, this is reflected in the Viognier grape which can often be described as producing a ‘peachy’ or fruity apricot style wine.  In fact viognier and peach share a compound called ‘Linalool’.  This compound is also shared by Muscat, Riesling and Gewürztraminer and is in fact in some soap & perfume products too!  The cosmetic company LUSH describe it as follows: Linalool is a colourless liquid with a soft sweet odour. It occurs naturally in many essential oils such as Tangerine, Spearmint, Rose, Neroli, Mandarin, Lemon, Lime, Lavender, Cypress, Grapefruit, Cinnamon, Chamomile, Palmarossa, Ho Wood and Ylang ylang.  All grapes contain varying percentages of similar compounds.

Overall however the flavour of a wine is affected by two factors: 1. Nature, 2. Winemaker.

The natural climate plays a major role in determining the characteristics of a wine made from a particular grape variety.  A cool climate results in grapes (and eventual wine) at the lower end of the ripeness scale.  These would share earthy, ‘green’, vegetal and herbal characteristics while being high in acidity.  Warm climates will result in wines of riper flavour, fruitier with softer acidity.  Sauvignon Blanc is a good example of this.  It shares a compound called ‘pyrazine’ with bell peppers and asparagus.  Sauvignon Blanc produced from a cool climate at the lower end of ripeness produces a wine where the pyrazine characteristics are very noticeable.  At warmer regions the fruit becomes riper and the pyrazine begins to take a back seat versus the developing compounds associated with riper fruits.  Therefore as an aside tip we can also deduce that herbaceous ‘green’ wines come from cooler climates or have been produced with grapes picked early.  A good example of this would be a Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc.  Warmer climates will reveal only slight grassy notes with riper melon and apply styles, on the highest end of the ripeness scale intense and luscious tropical aromas will be present overwhelming and covering up any traces of herbaceous characteristics.

So just as we explained how nature - climate, temperature and ripeness will affect the flavour profile of a grape, so too will the winemaker’s interaction with the fruit in the winery.  Oaky aromas, creamy/buttery characteristics and toasty nuances all imply that the winemaker has played further with the fruit during the wine making process.  But remember at no stage will apples/cherries/gooseberry/spice be introduced, these aromas are all naturally occurring and easy reliable triggers for us to use when describing a wine to friends or seeking assistance in the wine shop.  We’ll chat about these additional winemaker induced characteristics soon.

In preparation for September we have already added two courses to the Autumn schedule.  Both of these courses are in Dublin but we will shortly be adding to the selection nationwide.

Click either of the links below to be directed to the relevant course page:

Saturday, September 18th 2010 - One Day Wine Appreciation Course : Dublin

Sunday, September 19th 2010 - One Day Wine Appreciation Course : Dublin

As with all our courses, all you have to do is simply show up to the venue on the day (Hilton Hotel, Kilmainham).  Everything will be provided for you - course book, iso wine tasting glasses (your to keep and take home after), all wine samples, morning refreshments upon arrival, tasty two course lunch with wine & certificate of completion.

Enjoy the essentials of wine wine making, wine tasting and introduction to wine regions of the world all in one day!  We will also cover wine & food pairings, our guide to buying wine sensibly and any questions at all you might have.

Join Tom and the team as the share their combined knowledge and experience in a friendly, informative and fun environment.  Just a pity we have to wait so long until September!

To make a wine note for future reference you should record: What the wine was, its name, brand, country it came from, colour, grape variety and any other info that helps you remember it.  If you want you could also mark it out of ten.  Remember that it is also important to record details about wines that you may not have liked so much - this will help you avoid buying a style of wine you don’t like in the future.

A layout for your tasting note might look like this:

An example of how you could complete this tasting note would be:

Your note should reflect your thoughts and feelings for the wine.  Don’t feel anxious or intimidated about how you describe it.  Use words and phrases that you can relate to and which sum up the wine as it tasted at the particular time.  After you have written a few notes you will start to feel more comfortable about describing wine and should also begin to find yourself identifying flavours and tastes far easier.

Best of Luck!  Tom

Christmas is the ultimate party season.  At times it may seem daunting when faced with the challenge of deciding what wine to buy for groups of people, particularly with so many different styles of wine & your guests differing palates for wine, consider also the style of party food that you will be serving during the party. Some simple tips when choosing wine for parties would include: 

• Pay attention to grape variety of the wine and where it comes from.  Look out for fruity but easy drinking whites and reds (avoiding too much tannin in the latter). 
• Use wine that will compliment whatever food you plan to serve at the party.  Fresh whites such as Sauvignon Blanc with loads of juicy and tropical fruit flavour work well with party food, rich sauces and spicy flavours.  For red try soft easy drinking examples such as ripe Merlot or fruity Shiraz. 
• Look out for bargains - At Christmas many great wines will be on promotion and represent very good value for money.  Your sales assistant in the wine store should be able to guide you here. 
• Error on the side of caution with exceptionally special offers unless they are brands you recognise, know and trust.

When buying wine as a gift, talk to the sales assistant in the store.  They should be knowledgeable about all the different wines they have on their shelves.  Some wines will have colourful promotions but before you are lured in by these give the sales assistant some information about the person(s) you are buying the wine for.  Do you know what style they like to drink?  Do they have a grape or country of preference?  If you’re unsure - why not choose something that you like or sounds good to you.  Have the advisor in the shop tell you something about it and its background, that way you’ll have a story to tell when you hand over the wine as a gift, the person who receives it will certainly be delighted that you put that extra thought into your choice.  Most shops should offer a Christmas packaging service where they will gift wrap your purchase or maybe have a nice wooden box to hand.

Christmas Dinner and Wine pairing can be tricky.  Quiet often people will put such hard work into preparing a wonderful three course meal and at the final hurdle fall short with the wine.  The wine you choose for your Christmas should compliment the food, when paring them there should be a harmony between both.  Important things to remember here is that it’s not just the turkey that needs to be paired with a wine but also all of the trimmings, sage or chestnut stuffing, cranberry sauce, crispy roast potatoes etc.  Remember the spicy flavours as well as the bland.  Try to find a wine to compliment all these characteristics. 

If you enjoy white wine try a bottle of Chablis Premier Cru.  This wine is packed full of fresh apple and gentle pear flavour typically complimented further by subtle use of well integrated oak.  For a more substantial white with greater body try a Californian Napa Valley Chardonnay. 

If you prefer red wine go for a wine with juicy berry fruit characteristics - this will work well when up against turkey meat which can tend to be a bit dry.  Nice ones to choose would be a Cotes du Rhône from France, Rioja Reserva from Spain or Reserve (>€14) Merlot from Chile.

One purchase you should make this Christmas is Champagne.  Try some wonderful, quality Champagne with a fresh crisp fruit style and the lovely biscuit-yeastiness typical of all great Champagnes.  Ask in your wine shop or off licence for some recommendations.  Use this to get a party started, for Christmas morning festivities and above all to ring in 2010.

If you’re still stuck for some Christmas gift ideas why not pick up the gift of a Wine Course for your friend or loved one?  We have wine courses scheduled for throughout 2010.  If you not sure that you want to commit to a particular date then you can simply choose to purchase one of our gift vouchers.  These are packed in seasonal cards and will arrive to your address discreetly in discreet plain envelopes so as not to alert any of the intended recipients.  Click here to browse our course dates.

Happy Wine Shopping!

First off, decide what you are buying wine for.  Do you need to purcase for any or all of the following events:

• Pre-Christmas entertaining -
  • people calling around, supers and parties? 
  • How about Christmas Day itself? 
  • Wine/Christmas gifts? 
  • New Years Eve? etc etc

If so then make a list, including any other events/occasions.  Decide what is your budget for all of these purchases?  Whitin this budget how much do you plan to spend on your Christmas day wines?  For most people this will see the highest average spend per bottle.  And why not!  If you’re going to go all out and prepare one of the tastiest and most anticipated meals of the year then surely you deserve to treat yourself with the wine you choose to accompany it?  Adding up all the occasions and events you may need to purchase for might result in a frightening total, but remember that some of those who call round to an event or to visit may also bring wine as a gift too.  Now that you have a list prepared - stick to it!!

Sourcing your wine in advance and buying it in bulk (multiples of 12 bottles) will entitle you to greater offersand discounts at your local wine retailer.  Most will offer 12 bottles + 1 free of charge or 10% discount on these bulk buys.  Don’t let this oportunity pass you by.  Many shops will have complimentary wine tasting events underway for Christmas or maybe a few bottles oopen at the weekends to let you try before you buy.  Similarly online retailers have special packages prepared for any events that may arise during Christmas.  Many ‘branded’ wines will be available on special offer pre-Christmas. With the year that’s in it we are most likely to see some of the best offers in a long time!  Before the usual Christmas week traffic chaos arrives, plan in advance and get out there to pick up your bottles or have them delivered from the internet - many will offer free delivery.  If you can do it now it might even free up your December budget for other seasonal purchases?  Remember these wines are for Christmas - resist the temptation to dip in too early! 

Now that you have the wines home/delivered put them aside and sort them according to their occasion.  Other items worth doing a quick check on include wine glasses - do you have enough?  Keep an eye out in supermarkets for special offer eight and twelve packs - ideal for parties and large groups, especially when there might be breakages.  If you want to get the most from your wine it is worthinvesting in some good glasses.  These glasses will be lighter and have a better balance and feel than the more inexpensive options at the supermarkets.  Avoid ‘designer’ glasses withetchings, frosting, gold trims etc - these look attractive on the shelf but can often be clumsy, while distorting the appearance and flavour of the wine.  Simple glass/crystal with a narrow rim are best.  The narrow rim makes the glass feel far more comfortable as it touches your lips for a sip.  These glasses can be a treat or special Christmas present to yourself?  Look out for Riedel & Speigelau among other brands,  expect to pay about €20 per stem. 

can occasionally break corks

Final checklist should include a good quality wine-opener.  Try to avoid the cheaper ones in supermarkets, these have a nasty habit of splitting and breaking up corks in the neck of the bottle. 

waiters friend corkscrew

 Instead opt for openers with a wide bore.  These are known as ‘waiters-friends’ and are a simple yet very effective way to open even the most stubborn of corks.  On average these will cost about €12 and will be available from a local wine shop.

Check back soon for the next Christmas update, including wines for Christmas and a review of some good seasonal bargains!

I recently had a chance to look through a selection of new wine packaging methods and containers, one of these are pictured below.  

Wine by the Carton

This is a range of white, red or rosé wine packed into a tetra-pak carton as opposed to a bottle or bag-in-box.  While this is something you may have seen before, (particularly if you’ve completed a backpacking holiday to Australia or such like and drank your fill of ‘brick wine’), the pack featured in the image here is only 250ml.  That is the equivalent of most large domestic wine glasses.  (Quarter bottles in Ireland are 187ml).  This baby brother of the ‘brick’ wines, i.e. the full one litre size tetra-pak cartons, at first glance can seem a little gimmicky.  I popped a few samples into the fridge and must admit I’m pleasantly impressed.  They fit comfortably and chill quickly.  Each pack comes with a straw attached and easily pierces the foil closure on the carton.  These cartons simply use the same design as any regular fruit juice carton you might already have chilling at home.  The benefits - one (large) single serving or one carton per person while on a picnic or at the beach.  The tetra-pak system being used is really great for preserving the quality of the wine, it is sturdy and completely airtight, no light or UV rays can penetrate into the liquid thus the juice inside is preserved unti you pop into it with the attached straw!  The packaging is also very environmentally friendly, being recyclable and crushable for waste disposal.  The part of the experience I was least looking forward to was the whole idea of sucking the wine through a straw.  The makers have thought of this too.  Instead of the typical open ended straw they have designed a straw which is sealed at the tip but has four different smaller holes which act like jets - directing the wine across different angles in your mouth.  This has been dubbed the “sensory straw”.

The wines I tasted were produced by Cordier in Bordeaux.  The white & rosé were crisp, refreshing and had a nice amount of fruit and citrus flavours, perfect for that elusive Irish summers day on the beach.  The red, well it’s still in the press - will update later.  Cordier wines are imported into Ireland by GWL in Cork and can be found in the Carry Out chain of off licences.  Although the small cartons have yet to arrive the full size bottles from this innovative producer should be on the shelves.

While I had the chance I switched on the video recorder and saved some of the tasting.  Roger provides a good deal of additional info about the winery & the region.  Hopefully we’ll get more and more video posted over the next while, afterall a picture (or video) is worth a thousand words!

Take a look!

Ribera del Duero received its D.O. status (Denominacion de Origen) in 1982.  In the early eighties Ribera del Duero was relatively unknown outside of Spain, (Rioja was still commanding all the attention).  The main grape variety in Ribera del Duero is Tempranillo,  referred to locally as ‘Tinta Fina’.

In 1983 Don Gregorio Garcia established Bodegas Valduero in the region.   It was one of the first wineries to establish itself in the region, as I write this today there are over 200 registered wineries operating in Ribera del Duero!  Certainly a lot of the new wineries to the region are benefiting from the success & prestige of the region generated by other wineries such as Vega Sicilia & Valduero.

The Valduero winemaking team is led by Yolanda Garcia Viadero, daughter of Don Gregorio.  Yolanda has been at the helm since the wineries inception back in the early 80’s.  Certainly Valduero has benefited greatly from the continuous stewardship shown by Yolanda over the last 26 years.  I tasted my first Valduero crianza back in 2003 and have been a big fan since.  The style of Valduero is very elegant, producing a fine, well structured wine with typical aromas of dark fruits, tobacco, hints of mocha and subtle earthy characters all wrapped in a refined yet impressive veil of rich oak.  I am always impressed by how ‘alive’ and fresh the wines of Valduero taste, this seems to hold true throughout the selection of wines produced.  I got to try a nice selection including a five year old crianza and a ten year old reserva, and despite their age I remarked on a couple of occasions how big, fresh and alive the fruit flavours were.  This style of wine is not simply achieved overnight.  It takes years of experience with the vines in the vineyard, some trial and error and careful nuturing to produce a harvest that achieves such powerful and memorable wines - well done Yolanda!!

Some of the main points Roger was keen to remind me of… !!

• The Bodega is situated at 840m above sealevel, making it probably the highest vineyard in Ribera del Duero.  This altitude is important as it contributes to large temperature variations between day and night, this works to stress the vine as it doesn’t have a steady temperatue to develop in.  Such stress to the vine ultimately produces fruit which will take a little longer to ripen and will have a lot more character than its rivals.
• The vines (tempranillo) planted for the red wines are trained (although they may appear hacked) into low bushes. 
• 200Ha. (Each. - hectare, is about the size of a football pitch) of these low bush vines are planted, making it the largest area of low bush vines in Spain!  The fruit is all harvested by hand into small crates to ensure that the berries do not get squashed enroute to the winery.
• The winery is still family owned and managed.

The winery reinvests heavily into their vineyards and facilities to ensure quality year after year. 

One of my own favourite features of Valduero is thier enormous winery - it’s made up of three long tunnels buried into the side of a hill. 

Each tunnel serves its own function:

1. Fermentation tunnel,

2. Barrel Ageing Tunnel,

3. Bottle Ageing Tunnel. 

Another update from Roger was about an additional tunnel - required to keep up with demand and addition volumes being produced at the winery now.  (Production of a white wine unique to Valduero has steadily increased over the last five years).  This new construction is to be capped with a tasting room offering a magnificant view across the vineyards of Ribera del Duero.

I had a chance to travel to the winery last summer while on holidays and took a few snaps while I was getting the grand tour.  While I was there some other keen tourists stopped by to check things out.  If you do get the chance to travel to the area it is certainly worth checking out - even ring in advance and you might be welcomed with a glass of wine!  It was early days in the holiday when I visited so I still had the enthusiasm to scribble some tasting notes - I’ll dig them out and compare to what I got to taste last week.  I’ll try get them posted later this week.

Full details about the course can be found here.

The course will be our very popular “One Day Wine Appreciation Course”.  This course covers all the wine basics you need to know from vineyard to bottle.  We pack plenty of information into the day along with lots of tasting and interaction.  A full lunch with wine is included in the price and the official tasting glasses we use (6) are yours to keep and take home after the course!