Mead. Timeless, ancient and exceptional. This is a fabulous drink made with Honey, Water and Fruit. Simplicity is often the hallmark of brilliance and this is certainly true of the Kinsale Mead from the Atlantic shoreline of Co Cork in southern Ireland. Mead is versatile and makes a wonderful gift. How about the Kinsale Red Mead - Smooth with Irish Blackcurrants and Cherries or the Kinsale Atlantic Mead - Citrus and Crisp. Versatile! The expertise at Kinsale Meadery is world class. In...

We all know where Moldova is? mmaybe not  ...   We all know that Moldova is historically a very important player in how the world trade in wine developed. Right? mmaybe not .... OK, how about the underground cellars that stretch for 200kms? They even hold an underground marathon through them!! Nope? So much to learn! This year The National Office for the Vine and Wine (in Moldova) held a Fair in Dublin. I don't usually talk about events that don't have product in the market but make an...

In this episode we visit and chat with David Dennison of Viking Irish Drinks in Co. Waterford. It was a beautiful summer day in his vineyard. Everything promises well for another fine vintage of the grapes that Dennis grows for his Viking Irish Wines. The vineyard is fascinating for the variety of grape types that David has in the ground. It is, in effect, a magnificent experiment that will inform present and future Irish viticulturists. Remember, folks, you must have quality grapes to...

Kevin Glastonbury, affectionately known as KG, is Senior Red Winemaker at Yalumba in the Barossa Valley of South Australia. The Barossa is one the world's premier red wine making regions and Yalumba one of its most respected wineries. Back in 2019 we had the honour here on the podcast to chat with Yalumba owner (Barossa legend) Robert Hill-Smith. (Listen Back HERE) His family has owned and operated Yalumba for over 170 years! The Hill-Smiths are proud members of Australia's First...

Riedel has a special place in the world of wine. It is one of Respect for a family that has worked tirelessly to perfect how we can further our ability to taste many types of drink but especially that of wine. Riedel stemware is known the world over as being completely brilliant. It is also a family that firmly believes in designing and producing glassware to perfectly suit individual grape and wine styles. To emphasise this Maximilian Riedel spends a lot of his time touring the world...

Last year we were very fortunate to have had a zoom podcast chat with Dave Phinney and the remarkable wines he has created, most notably under the Orin Swift label. Dave is a very busy man! So how cool was it to meet him in person in London and spend a further 30 minutes chatting. Very cool indeed! Orin Swift is one of the great wines from the Napa Valley in  California. Fruit expression in Orin Swift has been elevated to an art form. Just as well then that the labels Dave Phinney...

I met Olly Nolan at the Gifted Fair in the RDS last Christmas. He was showing a range of honeys. I was captivated. Each honey had a captivating scent. Intoxicating even.  Olly's Farm Dublin Honey had taken me prisoner! Wine, Tea, Honey, Whiskey, Stout, and on and on can only stand out as being exceptional if they attack our senses in a visceral way. This should be immediate, lasting and memorable. I just had to find out more about Olly's Farm. I paid Olly a visit recently and we...

In this podcast we talk with Zoltán Heimann whose family, HEIMANN & FIAI, has a long and distinguished history of quality winemaking in the southern Hungarian wine region of Szekszárd - on the border between the Large Hungarian Plain and the beginnings of the Transdanubian Hills. Zoltán likes to refer to himself as the 'Kadarka Man'.  After this tasting and podcast I'll always be in his debt as knowing my Kekfrankos from my Kadarkas! Each grape is brilliant. Each is unique and...

It's a sobering thought to many winemakers that they work at companies and enterprises that, in many cases, are younger than they are themselves! For those lucky enough to work in wineries where age and tradition has seen decades upon decades of continual success they might only contribute to a very limited number of vintages.  It is very unusual that a family can trace its lineage back over 250 harvests. That's a very big number. 1772 - Captain Cook sets sail to find the Anti Arctic:...

Recently I met with David Llewelyn at his farm in Lusk, north County Dublin. It's a small holding where he grows a fantastic collection of fruits that include, pear, apple, cherry and grape.  It's also a business where David makes truly interesting products. Try his Perry (sparkling pear wine). It's really very good! David has a wine label called LUSCA. It's a collection of red wines and a new sparkling wine. They are genuine finds. In this podcast David tells us his story. Why does he...

Bruce Tyrrell was in Dublin recently. His fame and expertise in the world of wine is well known. His wines are among the most awarded. His Semillon considered as among the best ever produced. He was in Dublin behind the Tyrrell Wine's stand at the Cassidy Wines Portfolio tasting serving the wines himself. There are many who would have passed this along to an agency, a distributor or to whoever else. This is Bruce Tyrrell. He tells a fabulous story and continues to work hard at what matters -...

April the 17th 1853. Who'd have thought back then that it would be a date celebrated the world over as  World Malbec Day. After all, back in 1853 it was just an idea presented to the national legislature of Argentina that it might be a good plan to establish a 'Quinta Normal and Agricultural School'. Up to then the wine industry in Argentina didn't have any great focus. As it happens it wasn't until September 1853 that the idea was given the green light and even then it was for the project...

La Kav Wines is the brainchild of Arnaud Clopin. It sells a selection of well sourced wines from France at www.lakavwines.ie. Arnaud's wife is a Kavanagh and he is French - hence La Kav. All straight forward so far! La Kav Wines also has a vineyard on the East coast near Gorey in Co. Wexford. Visit the La Kav website and fly over it in a drone. It is spectacular! When I visited Arnaud at his vineyard the weather wasn't as good as it was for the drone. It was winter. Have a look at...

Ashford Castle in Cong Co. Mayo is a Fine Wine destination and a Five Star hotel. It sits in majestic surroundings. Under the ownership of Red Carnation Hotels Ashford Castle offers a unique visitor experience. Robert Bowe has been part of the fabric of the castle for many years and now with Red Carnation Hotels continues to develop Ashford as one of the most extraordinary destinations in the world. This is a fascinating podcast. Robert details his beginnings at Ashford, how the...

Ashford Castle in Cong Co. Mayo is a Fine Wine destination and a Five Star hotel. It sits in majestic surroundings. Under the ownership of Red Carnation Hotels AShford Castle offers a unique visitor experience. None of this matters unless the staff involved are at the very top of their game. Their wine sommeliers are! Paul Fogarty is Head Sommelier at Ashford Castle. In this podcast he recounts his early days graduating from Athlone, a healthy stint as a wine retailer and a return to his...

This podcast with Morgan VanderKamer is the first in a series that chats with sommeliers working in Ireland. Their expertise is invaluable and enriches our dining experience in a very immediate way.     Morgon is a Canadian, has been in the hospitality industry for twenty years, the last nine of which have been in Ireland. Today, with her partner Stephen McArdle, Morgon is the co-owner of UNioN Wine Bar & Restaurant in Waterford city . Morgon is a Certified Sommelier with the Court of...

It was never our intention or plan to publish our podcast with DIABLO at Halloween! Perhaps the brand decided for us .......  When (the fabulous) Concha y Toro launched the DIABLO brand a few years ago it was hard to see where it might fit into the market. That's the way with leaders and those 'first to the table'. They often see hidden and emerging gaps on our shelves long before the rest of us know they are there! In this recording we were honoured to speak with DIABLO winemaker Tito...

Trivento has been acknowledged by the very best wine writers as the Best Value High Quality label from Argentina. The name means Three Winds. In this podcast chief winemaker at Trivento, Maximiliano Ortiz, brings us to the heart of what makes Trivento so good. We have two of Maximiliano's labels in sale on Ireland - the Trivento Reserve Red Malbec and the Trivento White Malbec. It's unusual to describe Malbec as the 'Red' Malbec but in Trivento's case it's necessary because they are unique...

Jonathan Mitchell is among the most likeable, knowledgable and enduring personalities in the drinks trade in Ireland. His family business, Mitchell and Son, is not just the longest running of its kind but is unique in its offering. In this podcast Jonathan guides us through the remarkable history of his family from an early 1800's bakery in Fairview to a coffee emporium on Grafton Street to their long established presence on Kildare Street in Dublin.  Along their journey to their current...

Orin Swift is an ultra premium wine brand with a fascinating back story. It's a story that begins and continues with Dave Phinney, one of the finest wine innovators around. His vision is extraordinary and his wines are equal to his vision. They are the epitome of what 'unique' and 'original' are - all wrapped into bottles whose labels would not be amiss in an exhibition at the Tate or at our own IMMA.        Dave Phinney's first venture into wine was at the very bottom rung of a harvest...

Ribera del Duero is on a high plateau in the north centre of Spain. It is, in fact, the D.O. with the highest altitude in Spain with vineyards grown at a thousand metres above sea level and above.   In this podcast Nacho Andrés, Export Director from Bodegas Emilio Moro, guides us along the Emilio Moro journey. It's a fabulous story that results in wines of extreme class and quality.  Nacho at Cassidy Wines in Dublin recently Low rainfall, long and bitter winters, lashings of rain in the...

Tea Tasting is very like Wine Tasting. Bouquet, Aroma, Palate Structure, Length, Fruit/Berry Intensity, Weight and so on. Try it some day. Focus into the sensations that Tea brings to the senses. Then add a Sparkle! This podcast with Jacob Kocemba explains all!  Award winning Sommelier, Jacob Kocemba, brought his first Sparkling Tea to the market in 2017. It was a sensation and represented years of meticulous research into developing a product that answered a need.  Jacob (left) with his...

Laura Catena is one of my all time favourites in the world of wine. Her bio is well told HERE and worth reading into. Her father Nicolas is the most decorated wine maker to ever make a living from wine in Argentina and South America. The wines from Catena Zapata are magnificent. While these have all held my esteem for Laura for quite a few years now they only tell half the story. What I really admire about Laura Catena is her continual and real engagement with her audience. She doesn't...