WONDERFUL WHITES for Summer
James Tobin, DipWSET James Tobin holds the WSET Diploma in Wine and Spirits and is a Certified Wine Educator, he looks after wine communication and staff training for O’Briens. With a background in hospitality, James is a keen cook and he has been working with wine his entire career.
W
ith the summer season in full swing (even though the weather may not play along!), and what this means in terms of wine selection is the marked shift from red to white as we look at wines that work well with the salads, seafood and lighter seafood dishes that grace our tables. It isn’t always as simple as that though, some whites are better suited to these dishes than others, in general terms I would look at an un-oaked white wine which is lighter in body with crisp acidity and moderate alcohol. Taking all of this into account, we have put together a stunning set of summer whites, all of which will be available as part of our Buy 1 Get the 1 ½ price all summer long (Mix & Match).
Château Les Auzines, Corbieres, France, July 2017 @corajanewynne - O’Briens Wine
I have highlighted below just a few of my favourites, but to see the full selection you can go to wine.ie, or even better, why not drop into one of our 34 stores nationwide.
OUR TOP PICKS...
Monasterio de Palazeulos Verdejo €13.95 buy 1 get 1 half-price
Domaine de la Chauvinière €14.95 buy 1 get 1 half-price
Pouca Roupa Branco €14.95 buy 1 get 1 half-price
Wonderfully aromatic and zesty
Simply perfect with seafood
“Wonderful freshness with citrus and tropical fruit notes” - Matthew Nugent, The Irish Sun, July 2017
Starting out in central Spain, the de Alberto Winery is located in a historic old farmhouse founded by the Dominicans in the 17th century. Their vineyards are at the heart of the Rueda DO, and working with the local Verdejo variety, the de Alberto team produce crisp, refreshing, and elegant white wines. Their delicious Monasterio de Palazeulos (€13.95 buy 1 get 1 half-price), is an intensely fruity wine with aromas of melon, fresh cut grass, fennel and apple.
G r e a t o n i t s ow n i t makes for a wonderful pairing with simple g r i l l e d f i s h d u e t o i t ’s clean crisp profil e. For my next choice, we have to cross the border into Portugal and head south for Alentejo. When João Portugal Ramos began his career as a winemaker, the Alentejo region was still widely unknown. Nobody has done as much for the region’s promotion and reputation as João Portugal Ramos. A mix of local grape varieties with a splash of Sauvignon, Pouca Roupa Branco (€14.95 buy 1 get 1 half-price) strikes the perfect balance between the ripe, almost tropical fruit and the zesty fresh finish.
João Portugal Ramos and his vines soaking up the Southern Portuguese sun in heart of the Alentejo region
Finishing up in France, Domaine de la Chauvinière is located on some of the best soils in the region at the top of the sloping bank of the Maine river which gives its name to the appellation Muscadet Sèvre et Maine, this unique site produces perfectly ripe grapes with a beautiful sugar/acid balance. This premium fruit provides 4th generation winemaker, Jérémie Huchet with the perfect
base from which to craft his single-estate Muscadet (€14.95 buy 1 get 1 half-price), which is a really refreshing wine with tangy green apple and lemon peel fruit, while ‘sur lie’ or ageing on lees adds weight and texture and light bready note. If there is shellfish on the table, it would be hard to find a better white wine to serve with this beauty.
Lieubeau Chardonnay Sauvignon €15.95 buy 1 get 1 half-price
Albiano Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi Classico €14.95 buy 1 get 1 half-price
Picouto de Cima Vinho Verde €14.95 buy 1 get 1 half-price
Incredibly well-balanced white
An intriguing mix of citrus and fennel
“Nicely textured green apple fruits.” - John Wilson, The Irish Times - June 2017
Domaine de Cigalus, Languedoc, France, July 2017 @corajanewynne - O’Briens Wine
BRILLIANT BBQ WINES
Jean Luc Columbo, Rhône Valley, France , July 2017 - Paul Crosbie - O’Briens Wines
James Tobin, DipWSET
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ugust is the perfect time to have a look at some simple guidelines on how best to pair wines with BBQ dishes successfully. Above all, you should choose fresh, fruity, wines; zesty, citrusy whites, and bright, fruity reds and take care to avoid overly oaky wines either red or white and also avoid any red with heavy tannins.
THE ESSENTIALS...
Plaimonte Cotes de Gascogne Le Labyrinthe €13.95 or buy two for €20.00
Bougrier VDF Hauts Lieux Rosé €13.95 buy 1 get 1 half-price
Gérard Bertrand Solensis €17.95
“A citrus burst on the nose, and an exotic fruit palate.” - Matthew Nugent, The Irish Sun
Simply perfect with seafood
Bursting with ripe bramble fruit
To put you in the mood to fire up that grill, I have picked out some of my BBQ favourites. From Southwest France, Le Labyrinthe Côte de Gascogne (€13.95 or two for €20.00 ) is wonderfully fresh & fruity with grapefruit aromas and underlying exotic fruit. The zesty & refreshing palate finishes long on those exotic notes. For a real treat serve it with some sizzling chilli and garlic prawns.
Bougrier VDF Hauts Lieux Rosé (€13.95 buy 1 get 1 half-price) is a delightfully light and fresh Bougrier rosé which hails from the Loire region of Touraine, renowned for its refreshing, mouth-watering wines. Light strawberry fruit on the palate is balanced by a crisp finish and a distinct mineral edge.
As I said above Rosé wines are very versatile and work well with most Barbeque dishes, but to see it this wine at it’s best, try it alongside some mildly spiced Chicken Kebabs.
From a leading Languedoc estate, owned and run by winemaker, Laurent Miquel and his Irish wife Neasa, Les Beauchamps Syrah (€14.95) is youthful and vividly fruity with juicy cherry and blueberry fruit and could even be served lightly chilled. This is just the wine to go for with homemade beef burgers. For my last selection, I have a chosen another red, Solensis (€17.95) which is made with organically grown Syrah and Grenache from the sun-drenched vineyards of the Languedoc. From these perfectly ripe grapes, Legendary winemaker, Gérard Bertrand has crafted a delicious red, jam-packed with ripe bramble fruit. This wine is just crying out for a charcoal grilled rib-eye steak.
Jean Luc Columbo, Rhône Valley, France , July 2017 - Paul Turner - O’Briens Wines
Les Beauchamps Syrah €14.95
Ocho y Medio Malbec €9.95 down from €12.95 (August)
Monte Real Rioja Reserva €12.95 down from €20.95 (August)
Extremely elegant syrah
Juicy plum and blackberry fruit
Silk-smooth rioja
@CoraJaneWynne
My top tip though would be to try a Rosé, pink wines are fantastic barbeque wines as they are incredibly versatile and very food friendly.
James Tobin, DipWSET
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@LynneCoyleMW - Sancerre, Loire Valley, France February 2017 - O’Briens Wine
osé wines can be such good wines for food-matching, particularly with the grilled fish, barbecues and salads filling our tables just now. I have chosen four wines below which should illustrate what a wonderfully diverse wine style Rosé can be. The most classic region for Rosé has to be the South of France, so to start I am going with a new wine from the Languedoc region, Gérard Bertrand’s Hedonisme is a delicious, berry-scented, organic, dry-Rosé. Bursting with fruit on the palate & quite full-bodied for a Rosé but all very well-balanced.
Hedonisme Rosé €15.95 Buy 1 get 2nd half price
“A citrus burst on the nose, and an exotic fruit palate.” - Matthew Nugent, The Irish Sun
Naranjas Azules Rosé €16.95 Buy 1 get 2nd half price
Wonderfully crisp & dry
Bertani Bertarose Chiaretto Veneto IGT €16.95 Buy 1 get 2nd half price Rich and full flavoured Rosé
@CoraJaneWynne - O’Briens Wine Delheim Pinotage Rosé €12.95 Buy 1 get 2nd half price
“Never fails to impress...delicate, fruity and refreshing this is a winner” - Matthew Nugent, The Irish Sun, July 2017
All of the wines above are included in our buy one get one ½ price promotion all summer long.
Merlot, both of which are grown on the gently sloping hills which sit above the Lake. Anyone who has visited this area will surely agree with me that this must be one of the most picturesque locations in which to grow grapes. I like to think that all this natural beauty can’t but have inspired the winemakers in delivering a rich, full-flavoured Rosé bursting with ripe strawberry and raspberry fruit, this is a must try a sumptuous Rosé that over-delivers in every way. Barbecued pork chops with a simple marinade of lemon and garlic would
@CoraJaneWynne - O’Briens
We cross the Pyrenees into central Spain for my next choice, which is made from the most traditional grape used for Rosé; Garnacha (or Grenache in the south of France), but apart from the choice of grape variety, Naranjas Azules is anything but traditional. In the winery,these black Garnacha grapes are handled in exactly the same way as if making a white wine, yielding a very pale pink Rosé that remain and dry. For food matches think tapas such as Seafood Paella or Prawns Pil-Pil. Next up is Italy and the region of Lake Garda in particular, Bertarose is a blend of the local grape variety Molinara and
be the perfect partner for this wine. For my final selection, we have to head south, nearly 9,000km in fact to the South African region of Stellenbosch. It is here that Delheim craft their wonderfully exotic Rosé, using their national grape variety Pinotage and just a splash of Muscat. This wine sits firmly in the ‘bursting with fruit’ camp, just off-dry in style and packed with ripe raspberry and cherry flavours. All that fruit makes this wine a great match for lightly-spiced Asian dishes. If ever a wine deserved to be called ‘Sunshine in a Glass’ this is it!
Jean Luc Colombo Les Pins Couchés Rosé €16.95
Whitehaven Pinot Noir Rosé €18.95
Serious food friendly Rosé
Delicious ripe cherry and raspberry fruit
Vinexpo, Bordeaux, France, June 2017 - O’Briens Wine
Lynne Coyle MW Lynne is our Wine Director and one of less than 355 Masters of Wine worldwide. Lynne sources and selects our wine range. Starting a career in the hotel and restaurant industry, she is still a passionate foodie as well as being a member of the Champagne Academy.
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Wine Trends as seen at Vinexpo 2017
he dust is still settling on Vinexpo 2017, the nineteenth edition of the prestigious wine trade fair in Bordeaux where over two thousand wineries, wine buyers, sommeliers, Masters of Wine, Michelin starred chefs, trade bodies and media descended. In temperatures of 37â °C, for four days, they worked tirelessly by day at the fair and partied equally so by night at the stunning Bordeaux Chateaux who willingly flung open their doors for the historical fair. One of the largest and most lavish of international wine fairs, the great and the good of the wine world met at Vinexpo 2017 to do business, taste, attend seminars and consider subjects from climate change to Brexit. They are there to network, educate and be educated, see and be seen and perhaps most importantly of all, to discover. To
rummage the halls, prospecting for the cutting edge, the noteworthy, the chic and the very latest innovations in wine, that’s what it’s all about. For white wines, trending styles for this year are the unoaked crisp and refreshing; Albarino, Gruner Veltliner and Godello are good examples – heavier fuller styles of white are out unless it’s from Burgundy, of course. Rosé continues to soar, with countries such as France growing sales year round and not just during the summer months. In terms of Rosé colours, the paler and more Provence-like the better. For reds, Malbec holds its position of interest capturing the imagination with its ripe, approachable fruit driven style – Argentina is still out in front but France, Chile and Uruguay have new and interesting styles on offer. Its notable on my own rummage through the halls, that wine packaging formats continue to evolve and that wine comes in many shapes and sizes from pouches, plastic glasses to cans and boxes and of course the traditional 75cl glass bottle. However, this year without doubt it is clear that the latest innovation is in wine labels. A contemporary retro vibe on wine labels was apparent at every turn, with an increasing number of wines in the traditional bottle adorned with a far from traditional label. With such a profusion of funky new wine labels, one could be forgiven for thinking that a marketing guru somewhere had given the same “get down with the kids” advice to wineries worldwide. However, apart from having fun designing the labels, the wineries I met have their own specific and interesting reasons for their message on the bottle. Highlighting the international interest in indigenous grape varieties, the Cave-Cooperative, Les Vignobles Foncalieu who are based in the Languedoc in the South of France have launched Ensedune. The range is made from local grape and the name of the person who grew the grapes and his image are all given pride of place on the front label. Export and Marketing Director, Alexandra Ladeuil, wanted to emphasise the philosophy of cooperative working on the label by “showing authentically – that
Vinexpo, Bordeaux, France, June 2017 - @ LynneCoyle MW, O’Briens Wine
this is real wine made by real people”. Liberté Ēgalité Fraternité, recently quoted by French President Emmanuel Macron, is the motto from the French Revolution - Freedom, Equality, and Fraternity...A new wine range developed by Gerard Bertrand, owner and wine maker of twelve wine estates is clearly on-trend. The red, white and rose labels are in the colour scheme of the French flag and sport images from the French Revolution, Gerard states “for the times in which we live, this range is aligned to French, international and human values.” Craft & Origin, with its hip imagery, sold in a dumpy 50 cl bottle and sealed with a crown top looks not like wine but like the latest trendy craft beer to hit the shelves. With the objective of attracting a new type of wine drinker it offers a less traditional and intimidating look and feel. The wine style is very accessible made from the ever popular fruit-driven Shiraz and a refreshing crisp Sauvignon Blanc from South Africa. There is no doubt that this trend for contemporary retro wine labels could suggest that winemakers are not taking wine quality as seriously as they might, but my extensive tastings in Bordeaux in the name of research indicates this is not the case. You can test my theory for yourself with these three to try. Original article published on the Taste.ie
A Vaca Cuca Albariño 2016 12.9% ABV – Galicia, Spain €19.95
Crisp green apple and citrus
Romeo & Juliet Passimento Gargenega 2015 Veneto, Italy €12.95 down from €17.95 (August)
Concentrated cherry fruit
Norton Porteño Malbec 2016 13% ABV – Mendoza, Argentina €14.95
Un-oaked and juicy-fruited
We hope you’ve noticed our brand new look in Donnybrook? If not come in and see us soon! Our team has been working hard to bring a brighter, fresh new look to really enhance your shopping experience! We’ve more space for our new wine arrivals and promotions as well an expanded fine wine selection and craft beer area! One of our biggest changes is our approachable, easy to browse spirit section. Pop in and have a closer look and with new arrivals in craft spirits including gins, whiskeys and more arriving every month, there’s always something new to discover. Try before you buy with our expert team, led by Donnybrook store manager, David Breese, (who is awaiting the results of his Wine & Spirit Education Trust Diploma). He’ll have in-store tastings every Thursday - Sunday from 1pm so why not call in and taste a few of his favourite wines! We’re are also delighted to announce our recent partnership with Ireland’s leading takeaway service – Just Eat! You can now order some of our favourite wines for delivery when your order your food via the justeat.ie app and website. Ts & Cs apply.
Meet the manager David Breese
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