Taylor's Quinta de Vargellas 1984

I decanted a bottle of this yesterday for a wine talk out at DCU last night. 1984 was the year I joined the wine trade. I was hoping that this wine would prove more than a good punch line but would show how short a time twenty odd years is for a truly good wine. I was not disappointed. This was a wow.

It pours tawny with a healthy sediment but still holds a rich heart of aged ruby. The bouquet is eternal ripe figs and very bright rose blossom, ripe peach around the edges and a ton of smouldering west of Ireland peat.

The palate here is rich in an immediate sense of fruit and lots of it. Each element of the flavour profile is light with layers of rich concentration. This is a caress from a very big wine. This quickly develops into an impression of casks and over-ripe fruits. Tannins are light and well integrated. Spirit is well balanced and in no way intrusive. Length is endless.

This was brilliant and drinking very much at its peak. Twenty people fell in love with this wine last night. Vergellas really does have it. Buy a bottle every two years and age them for twenty. Then every year you can anticipate a tasting sensation next year!

Preach the Message from Australia to Bandon

Get out into the trade and preach the message. This must be the mantra that every wine marketing body needs to keep close to their corporate souls for the next while. When 'it's dog eat dog' then the guy who keeps 'on message' will win out.

To that end it was really good to receive a comment re The Curious Wines gang in Bandon. They're new to the scene and are shouting from the rooftops. I haven't tried any of their imports yet so I'll hold back on reviewing their palates. But look at the web site. http://www.curiouswines.ie/ It shows a couple of committed guys working with good ideas, a bunch of good labels, a warehouse, a web selling site and an active blog. Now that's getting stuck in where it counts.

Curiously (couldn't help it..sorry) Wines of Australia, through the Landmark Australia initiative, announced today the make up of the twelve participants in their first seminar aimed at gaining valuable insights from overseas and teaching equally valuable ones in return. Have a look at www.wineaustralia.com/landmark and you'll see how brilliant this initiative actually is.

Dermot Nolan of the Wine Board was successful in his application and he will travel to the Barossa in June. One hopes he will come home shouting from the rooftops and preaching the message through the entire wine trade. This is what we need and what we want. Leadership from the brand leading country and all who sail with her.

All too often good ideas are lost to the chosen few. Curious Wines seem determined to run with the hound and so does the whole of Australia. Let's watch and listen and see who makes the most noise!

Adult Drinks

Fabulous title. ADULT DRINKS. Sort of screams illicit activity; or maybe that's just me!

A Google search reveals that RTE at least treats adult soft drinks as, soft drinks that have a more complex flavour than the sledgehammer sweetness of cola or lemonade. ... That's good. Wish I had phrased it.

I was on Marian Finnucanes show one year (I used to be invited, God bless her.. now I blog....) when I was given a hard time about terminolgy that wine writers use. 'Where', she beseeched, 'are all the gooseberries and blackurrants and woodshavings coming from?' She had a point. I had an answer.

This week I came across something fantastic and much better. Certain 'Santa Christmas Babes' are touring Botanic Inns pubs in the North of Ireland in the run up to Christmas. They are serving a refreshing and thirst quenching ... adult drink absolutely free of charge!! Lead me to it.

It's all courtesy of a good article in the fine mag Licenced Catering News. This drink is described as the perfect adult drink for those who want to avoid festive excess, brilliant for designated drivers and in the words of Stephen Magorrian MD of Botanic Inns, ' We love nothing better than a good party, but we recognise that over indulging, in alcohol, all too easily turns a 'good time' into a 'bad time' so our message (with this promotion) is all about responsible drinking.'

The drink?:

Well, Ballygown Water ....... of course!!

Bring on Fentimans non alcoholic Ginger Beer. Now there's an adult drink that doesn't come from the tap every day.

Christmas is coming and the Geese are getting fat.

Please put a penny in the old mans hat. If you haven't got penny a ha'penny will do, if you haven't got a ha'penny God Bless You.

It's a tough time of the year at the best of times. Last year we were all doing reasonably well and wondering what to buy . This year it's a different story. I suppose it'll be, 'where's the good value?' I admit to feeling sorry for our retailers, After all they have been giving us very very good value for the past few years already. Can they give any better? Of course they can.

At the top end the current O'Briens Fine Wine Sale is astonishing value. Let's face it 20% off a €60.oo bottle of wine is a chunk of cash no matter which way you choose to look at it.

Carry Out have announced a fire sale of 20% off ALL wines. Not sure when this one finishes but it's a good deal when the cash is taken off the regular ticket price. Don't be suckered in to those offers suggesting that the % has been taken off already. As for fake half price offers......!

Why can't someone bring the supers to task for this fake half price gig they seem to get off on so easily? Take Left Bank in Superquinn. It's a half price special at €9.99. The first Cabernet Sauvignon varietal ever made in Bordeaux and so on. It's not a great drink at €9.99. Who in their right mind would suggest that we buy this at €20.49. SQ claims that it bought this to sell at the high price!! They're all at it. The 'Half Price' is the full margin price. If it drinks well at that then go ahead and buy it a second time. If it doesn't then it's a very poor offer.

Centra was offering the Jacob's Creek range at €7.17 last week. Now that's a good offer worth buying. I can't honestly see how they can make that stuff, bring it to Ireland and make money at €9.99 let alone €7.17.

Torres Vina Sol is bouncing around Londis stores at €8.99. I thought Lidl were doing a good job with this at €9.49.

Seems like retailers have been holding something back. Maybe they were just creaming it for the past few years and now need to knuckle down and keep the cash rolling in ahead of the down turn? Who's going to suffer? Won't know for a few weeks yet. Keep putting a penny in the old mans hat.