Bubble Brothers - Cork wine merchants

2007-05-16T11:42:00.000+01:00

The Bubble Brothers blog

has moved to

http://blog.bubblebrothers.com

Please pay a visit and update your bookmarks, links and so on.

Moving to Wordpress

2007-05-04T11:09:00.000+01:00

It's been a bit quiet on the Bubble Brothers blog this week because we've been absorbed in preparations to move to Wordpress, hosted on the Bubble Brothers website. I must thank Richard Hearne for urging us to do this, and I hope I don't have too many damn fool questions for him as a result. Shouldn't do, when his inspiring review of our blog in SEO terms was so thorough, and his advice so lucid.

I must also thank Robert Nowak, our resident IT architect and repairman, for effecting the move and making it seem so easy. None of the rest of us could have begun to do this.

On Saturday I'll try to make the final adjustments that will allow me to fire up the new location and leave the Blogger address as a redirection message.

A jolly bank holiday weekend to you all, and see yis over on Wordpress next week.

Oust that Roman beverage

2007-04-25T12:00:00.000+01:00

...Some folks of cyder make a rout,
And cyder's well enough, no doubt,
When better liquors fail;
But wine, that's richer, better still,
Ev'n wine itself (deny't who will)
Must yield to nappy ale.

Rum, brandy, gin with choicest smack
From Holland brought, Batavia arrack,
All these will nought avail
To cheer a truly British heart,
And lively spirits to impart,
Like humming, nappy ale...

(from John Gay's Ballad on Ale)

I wasn't going to mention St George's Day, but here's some good saint-related stuff from my part of the world, and the local paper's account leads me to i) politics: I think there should be an Oust the Roman Tribune t-shirt, or perhaps anorak is more like it; and ii) beer. At a quick glance, Greene King's last brew of St Edmund ale, which I remember very clearly (bumbling barman dropped our tray of Abbot-and-St Edmunds bang on last orders and then refused to replace it with anything but the cheapest bitter in the house), hasn't made much impact on the web, though it gets a good note here. Anyway, if all this little-Englanding about Saint Edmund (follow the link, read the legend) leads to the beer's being re-introduced, that's no bad thing. Even renowned wine critic Steven Spurrier is coming round to the virtues of humming, nappy ale: his column in this month's Decanter ends "Soon there will be beer sommeliers". Is nothing sacred?

Iki beer on YouTube

2007-04-24T12:18:00.000+01:00

Here's an inscrutable Iki beer advert. We sell Iki only by the case, but twenty-four bottles don't be long going.

Grignolino label 2006

2007-04-23T10:19:00.000+01:00

Every year we sell a little of the Pavia family's Grignolino: "the Beaujolais of Italy"(!). The Grignolino grape took a beating from the phylloxera epidemic of the late 1800s, and it's consequently a rarity even in its Piedmontese homeland. Quite a few of the bottles we sell go to Italians surprised to see a taste of home on the shelves in Ireland, but we have some devotees among our regular customers too. The wine is fragrant, light-bodied and fruity, but has enough tannin to give it structure and relatively fresh acidity - so it's a great choice for a barbeque or any foods on the fatty side. It would make a good match for plainish roast chicken or a meaty picnic.

On the topic of labels, the Pavias have changed their Grignolino label, from sort-of classic with-a-little-picture in previous vintages to the 2006 label reproduced here. No poll this time, because I haven't the old label to hand, though your comments are welcome - but I think it's a great improvement. The wine, on the other hand, has always been good.

We've got a live one here

2007-04-19T10:49:00.000+01:00

This was going to be a brief plug for last night's gig at Cyprus Avenue to raise funds for the Cork Steiner school, but I didn't get the post up in time. Sorry.

A plug too for John Gowan and his excellent coffee
and thanks for the half a croissant he gave me this morning with my cup o' joe. Thanks buddy.

Any road up, from biodynamically empowered children to biodynamically empowered grapes, we tried and are more than happy with the new inexpensive (sixteen euro-ish) Vacqueyras from Montirius. It's not shown on their renovated website, perhaps because it's new, and perhaps because the Vacqueyras we have stocked hitherto - which is now called Vacqueyras "les Garrigues"- is a bit more profitable. Most of the wines are getting a descriptive name added to their appelation on the label, so the Gigondas is to become Gigondas "Vignes 1925", &c. &c.

I'm not convinced that this gerrymandering of the range is the facelift the already moderno-traditional hybrid labels of Montirius need. Much more effective to start again from scratch, in my view. That wine label analysis blog gets closer by the day.

Live ones, and the musical ring to this post generally, lead me to a jazz birthday: Dick Pearce the trumpeter and flugel player. A bit of biog. here. And Ornette Coleman winning the music Pulitzer, how 'bout that? Mmm, ten grand. And later in the year, this should be a good one too, oud fans.

The livest one of all is one of our new suppliers in the Loire Valley, rising star (&c. &c.) Damien Delecheneau of Domaine La Grange Tiphaine. Britt and Per Karlsson, authors of the marvellous and comprehensive bkwine.com, have a very lifelike portrait of Damien over on their website, if you want to see his face. There was such a scrum round his stand at the Loire wine fair I couldn't get a picture of him that wouldn't have been mostly of eager tasters' elbows or nostrils.

We left it a bit late to get back in touch, and when we did place an order, it turned out that most of the Domaine's available wine has already been sold. So we know it's not just the Bubble Brothers tasters who think they're on to a good thing.

Look out, then, in due course, for a brilliant, luminous and fresh-as-a-daisy red blend of Côt (aka Malbec), Gamay and Cabernet Franc called Ad Libitum, which is how you might want to enjoy its juicy, leafy silkiness; and a rosé called Riage Tournant, which blends Côt, Gamay and Grolleau into a sensational summer cooler that's serious enough to make a good food wine too. Both of those should work out at about the fourteen euro mark.

Another summery delight just about to go on sale is the Vin de Sophie from Château la Villatade, which Sophie Morin introduced to us when she visited Cork for our Big Wine Event last year. You can get the general idea (youthful, vibrant, red fruits) here. Good for when the sun shines, and for while you're waiting for it to shine.

UPDATE 21.iv.07
As a result of Per and Britt's rightfully indignant comment, I have deleted their picture of Damien Delecheneau; and, I hope, made a sufficient apology.

Paris Hilton to be the new face of Bordeaux

2007-04-11T13:56:00.000+01:00

I was away last week, which is why there were no posts. I wish I'd been able to pass this breaking news from Decanter on to y'all on the day itself.

Never mind the bolas

2007-04-10T11:32:00.000+01:00

I've been meaning to announce the arrival of Alessandro Speri's Argentinian Malbec, a sumptuous red wine I promised a while ago. It's here at last and I'm absolutely delighted. We stock both cuvées: the Prodigo and the Prodigo Reserva, and Bubble Brothers heartily recommend them.

In fact, we recommend them a whole bunch more than the May edition of Decanter, which arrived this morning, does. The Decanter tasting panels don't usually get it badly wrong, but either there was hessian-tongued bostoonery in the air the day they made their selections from a hundred and twenty-three Arg. Malb's, or else the wines that scored higher than Speri's are simply egregiously magnificent. Decanter gave the 2004 Prodigo Reserva three stars (recommended) and 14½ points, and the 2004 Prodigo two stars (fair) and 13¾ points. In my view, both wines was robbed.

I'll try to get my hands on a bottle of some of the wines that got a higher score, and report back. Good job we don't pay too much attention to critics. Neither should you.

In case you're wondering about bolas, I thought that's what everyone thought of when they thought of Argentina, after football and possibly the Falkland Islands depending on your vintage and provenance. Apparently not.

Our suppliers

2007-03-31T13:16:00.000+01:00

Here's a list of our suppliers, with hyperlinks where possible and reasonably reliable. Please let me know if you'd like any more information. There are of course ways this list could be made more useful - but I wanted to make a start.

ARGENTINA

Speri Argentina

FRANCE

Mas Amiel

Corpel

Domaine Champeau

André Clouet

Chanoine Frères

Louis Chenu Père et Filles

Eric Chevalier, Domaine de l'Aujardière

Depoivre

Maison Fleurie

Champagne Fleury

Gautherin et Fils

Godet, Domaine de Marcé

Château Jouclary

Lalande

Domaine de Longueroche

Domaine de Laballe

Meyer

Montirius

Vignobles Montfreux de Fages

Pierlot Fils

Rimbert

Château de Rozier

Domaine de la Rossignole

Domaine Reine Juliette

ITALY

Colli Euganei s.c.a.r.l.

Az. Agr. Icardi

BEER

NEW ZEALAND

Brightwater Vineyards Ltd

SPAIN

San Marcos de Almendralejo Cooperativa

Mas Codina

Bodegas Altanza SA

Bodegas Pingón

Agricola Castellana SCL

Bodega Hermanos del Villar S.L.

Bodegas y Viñedos Tamaral S.L.

SOUTH AFRICA

CHILE

Château le Tap - Bergerac

2007-03-29T16:21:00.000+01:00

A day of visits, today. Here are M. and Mme. Olivier Roches of Château le Tap, who were kind enough to come down to Cork to let us taste their wines. We enjoyed an informal tasting, and discussion of what sells and what doesn't, and how to crack the Irish market. I showed them the two Rioja labels (see previous post) and persuaded them to stick with the 'classic' label they currently use, on the grounds that French attempts at 'modern' are by no means always successful outside France.

I liked their wines, though the red, which Olivier considers light, would be astringent by Irish standards. We'll mull it over, and also taste two other Bergeracs recommended to me by Patrick Kelly, an Irish wine agent living in France, who always picks the good ones.

Olivier's brother Didier also makes wine in the little Pécharmant AOC, and you can read about his estate (in French) here. Olivier brought some of his brother's wine with him, and it's what they call a vin de garde, ie one for keeping. We tried a 2002, which is still young - fine stuff, big and structured. We'd have to hand-sell it - no-one's going to ask for a Pécharmant!

Your opinion please - Rioja

2007-03-28T15:38:00.000+01:00

Which label do you like best? The same wine is in each bottle - an excellent, inexpensive Rioja that I am fairly sure we are going to buy. Let's call the labels 'classic' (on the left) and 'modern' on the right, for those of you who just want to leave a one-word response, though I'd be very keen to read reasons for a preference. Which one, if either says to you "Buy me, drink me, I taste good, I guarantee to improve your general sense of well-being" and so on?

Chris Wood at the Triskel

2007-03-27T15:52:00.000+01:00

The English have done a pretty good job down the years of annihilating their own folk culture. That's why folk singers are always good for a joke in England in a way that probably wouldn't be accepted here. But that's all another story.

If you're in Cork tonight, you might care to go along to the Triskel and see Chris Wood. There's a whiff of resurgent, neo-Albionist pride about what he's doing.

Down by the Sally Gardens

2007-03-21T14:53:00.000Z

Thanks to Billy's mum for this link:

No need to buy wine racks; you can grow your own! www.windrushwillow.com They sell kits for growing wine racks & coat hangers from willow slips.

And, as if further proof were needed that the answer lies in the soil, here's an Irish blog for all you back-to-the-landers.

the fillet of cheese

2007-03-17T15:17:00.000Z

With regard to the day that's in it, here are two more clips of the Thirsty Trav'ler in the Emerald Isle. Bubble Brothers obsessives may catch a glimpse of the English Market shop.

A Toast to the Sea
A Stout Meal

New blogger is sulking more than the old one used to about embedding these, so please accept the lazy links instead. And bon weekend.

Choya sake on the list

2007-03-17T14:55:00.000Z

In the next few weeks I expect to mostly be posting about the new introductions to our list.

Here's one of the more exotic feathers in our cap to be going on with. We have become agents for Choya, who make plum wine and sake. Have a look at their website and learn how to ask for your Choya product in Japanese! There's a lot of interest in sake in Ireland at the moment, and plum wine's not far behind because of some award-winning cocktail mixing from Irish barmen developing an established theme. Saketini, anyone?

This is as good a place as any to return to the Thirsty Travel(l)er's trip to Japan, for those of you who missed it first time around. Nobody does artless, exuberant inquisitiveness like a certain kind of American. Get this - how sake is made.

I must confess to not having tried the Choya range yet. I'm a bit sampled out at the moment because we've finally been catching up with our backlog of tasting new suppliers' offerings and checking new vintages from established suppliers. If I get around to the Choya products, I'll post my two penn'orth in due course, though I can't help feeling the sakes &c. need a whole new vocabulary I don't yet got. Here's a press-release-looking page, aimed at the USA, that may or may not encourage you to give the stuff a try:

It's great to find new customers because of selling sake - it's better still when sake is a foot in the door while we tell people about what else we're proud of. Our newly nipped'n'tucked list of wines is looking radiantly spring-fresh; no, really.

And as for iKi beer - when we chose just one beer to represent, it looks as though we chose the right one! It's proving really popular, and because there's a story to tell (green tea, marketing with a thick Japanese accent, &c. &c.) people talk about it. And, unless you're all being unreasonably polite, that's what keeps you coming back to BB: the story, feeling involved, making an informed choice, the human side.

In lieu of a postcard

2007-03-13T09:51:00.000Z

www.southwoldgallery.co.uk
www.carluccios.com
www.nhm.ac.uk
www.teddington-lock.co.uk
www.bernithan.com

A sparkling occasion - the Irish Blog Awards

2007-03-01T23:43:00.000Z

If you want something doing, ask a busy man, they say. Well we at Bubble Brothers are the 1er cru classé of busy, or thereabouts, at the moment and yes I did leave relabelling the champagne for the Irish Blog Awards till the last impossible minute. Simply because there has been so much more work than time lately.

So numero uno, thank you, Damien Mulley, for not having a perfectly justifiable cow in response to my procrastinations.
And numero uno (part the second), thank you, Hugh Macleod, for so generously allowing me to use one of yer excellent cartoons to conceal my patent lack of design inspiration when the heat was on.
And numero uno, part III: The Return of the Kings, thank you, Billy Forrester and Cyril Besnard of Bubble Brothers, for staying late at the end of what was already a very long day for you both, to help me out of trouble.

Anyway, we got there in the end in a James Bond-ishly 23:59:59 kind of way; and if you're lucky enough to get your hands on one, I hope you like the look of the bottle.

I'm off on holiday tomorrow for a week, so it's over to the other contributors for the duration. Y'all have fun at the Awards, d'y'hear me now?

Mixed case

2007-02-27T13:20:00.000Z

We are, as they say, up the walls at the moment. The start of the year has been pretty busy all round and now that samples, both solicited and unsolicited, are beginning to roll up in significant quantities, there's a whole lotta tasting going on, as well as the less exciting but very time-consuming administration of thank yous, yes pleases and very sorry, buts.

I've just noticed that one of our foremost suppliers of organic-and-biodynamic wines, Montirius, has invested in a shiny new website. High time I sold them my services as a translator for the few little tweaks on the English side that would do no harm.

I've just placed an order with a new supplier in Burgundy, Louis Chenu Père et (very hands-on) Filles, giving us a fresh lease of life in the affordable French Pinot Noir department. Speaking of websites, check out this simple, clear, striking design.

I was in Lismore last week, and called to say hello to Owen Madden at the Summerhouse, who sells our wines. He's very busy re-stocking, so if Schadenfreude's your bag, go and enjoy a leisurely cup of tea and a bun while he dashes about the place hard at work.

Down the road from Summerhouse is the deli-wine shop run by George Kiely and Tom Doorley. I owned up to spying straight away, but George couldn't have been more welcoming or helpful. They've a great range of wines from a number of importers as well as fancy foods, and expert advice is free.

Back to square one

2007-02-20T16:21:00.000Z

Haven't done a jazz birthday for a bit. Charles Kynard today, rare groove fiends. Nice.

I don't see our wines mentioned too often on the Supervalu blog (because there isn't one, ahem - (picture of Glenda the greengrocer for the Blogorrah boys on the Supervalu website, though)), but in anticipation of that happy day, I'm getting my retaliation in first. What was probably the very first post on this blog mentioned a tasty but pricy

Bordeaux Supérieur offered to us by Château Pierrail, which I had to politely decline. Anyway, to cut to the chase, lo! and behold, there it is in Supervalu, smashed down from twenty euro to fifteen ninety-nine. Now I don't know what got it there: if it was Mme Demonchaux's persistence, or the supermarket buyer's reckoning that a big hefty red with Bordeaux on the label couldn't hurt - but at the sale price it's value, I reckon.

In other news, we're working hard on the consequences of our trip to the Loire wine fair, with samples turning up from day to day and restaurateurs gnashing their teeth to get new wine lists put together.

Iki beer is looking more and more exciting as we go along. There's a container coming in next week, and the press are starting to take an interest now that customers in Dublin are enjoying the refreshing change, &c. &c.

The love bug again

2007-02-14T13:13:00.000Z

Not another plug for our Valentine's offer on this sunny day; rather some seasonal good news and a reminder that we do work hard for your pleasure. We are about to hold a formal tasting of some new wines from Chablis (for which the internet, for what that's worth) seems only to have ecstatic praise. We were certainly very much impressed by the one bottle we did open following a recent visit by the winemaker to Cork. The photo, full of the promise of spring, is from his vineyards. Now we have some prices to reckon with and current vintages from our existing supplier, we're in a position to decide if there's room on board for another Chablis chez Bubble. I theenk so, but you'll have to wait and see.

Search Engine Optimisation

2007-02-14T12:28:00.000Z

Here's a non-wine-related post serving only to take advantage of an enormously generous offer from Richard Hearne, SEO expert. He's asked for a bit of information about each of the bloggers nominated in the Irish Blog awards who wish to cash in on his generosity, which seems like a fair deal, and for a link back. Here is our information:

we're nominated in the Business Blog category;
the Bubble Brothers blog is principally about wine;
I don't really think about a target audience, though there is lots of fun we could have if the people worldwide who supply, buy or drink our wines became readers, or if our readers regularly drank our wines and could bring themselves to comment;
this blog began in summer 2006;
the domain is as old as the blog, though the company's main website has been around for a lot longer;
some of our competitors' addresses are here: bubblebrothers.blogspot.com/2006/12/itll-be-lonely-this-christmas.html.

SEO wise, we don't actually have too much trouble, because we tend to have exclusive arrangements with our suppliers, and don't represent any megabrands, so anyone searching for our wines should find us quickly enough. All suggestions for what I should be worrying about, however, are welcome. I'd be a bit miffed if our position as leading-ish Irish wine blog were overtaken through the use of superior technological cunning. (I wouldn't mind at all being displaced by more interesting wine blogs, on the other hand. Bring 'em on!)

Salon des Vins de Loire 2007

2007-02-13T11:20:00.000Z

OK we're back in business, or rather from business. Cyril and I had a very busy few days last week at the Salon des Vins de Loire in Angers - a trade fair in a huge permanent exhibition centre with over six hundred suppliers showing their wines to visitors from all over the place. You can see the sort of thing in the photos.

The only way to make sense of such an array of wines is to have a notional 'shopping list' before you go in. We were looking for a really typical but inexpensive Sauvignon Blanc, at either Touraine AOC or vin de pays level, first and foremost. After that I was hoping to find a good red wine or two, because we have had a definite if select following for our previous Loire red, the Bourgueil from the Domaine le Petit Bondieu, and nothing in our current list quite compares to the freshness and velvety grip that the Cabernet Francs and Côts (aka Malbecs) of the Loire can offer.

Cyril had a personal quest to sample as many of the very special and expensive sweet wines of the region as possible. Despite their excellence, they're practically non-starters for the Irish market: very expensive and with unfamiliar names. There's only so much horizon-broadening Bubble Brothers can take on at a time.

We were delighted to make the personal acquaintance of our existing suppliers of Pouilly-Fumé. Franck Champeau, in the middle of the picture here, gave us a chance to try the new vintage of the Pouilly-Fumé we already stock as well as of his other wines: a Pouilly-sur-Loire made from the ancient variety Chasselas, and two premium Pouilly-Fumé cuvées: the 'Silex' and the 'Vieilles Vignes', both from flinty clay soils. 'Vieilles Vignes' seems to be a bit of a modish label generally at the moment, but the Champeaus' VV is given the distinction of oak aging and is further distinguished for an oaked Sauvignon, in my view, by being very nice drinking. I'm not sure we intend to expand our range, because the basic Pouilly-Fumé is so good, but the possibilities are there.

We were treated to very warm welcomes all round. The Ibis hotel in Nantes was wholly adequate, but the chambre d'hôte accommodation

that Cyril organized in the heart of the Chinon district was, like many a gîte, superb. If you need a base in the Loire Valley, we recommend it. The picture with the vines shows Chinon in the distance, where we dined extremely well at La Treille, on a menu featuring the use of sweet woodruff (Galium odoratum). What you can't see in the picture, and what I didn't get a shot of, was the great globes of mistletoe that colonized the treescape just about everywhere we went, like ominous shadows on a chest x-ray. Some trees were almost solid with it. Is there anywhere in Ireland like that?

We accompanied the meal with two different cuvées of Chinon from Nicolas Grosbois, who you can see in the picture right, and who extended a very warm welcome to us despite being very busy indeed on his stand at the Salon. The enthusiasm of the young winemakers we met and their broad knowledge of wines and techniques from all over the world would give you hope for the future of French wine. A good few of them seem to have the right ideas about the marketing side of things too.

Now we're back at the ranch, there's plenty to do, as the people we talked to submit their proposals, offers, &c. &c. I think we have more than a couple of definites lined up already, and I'm determined to add one or two of the really magnificent and characteristic reds we tried to the BB list. Jam-juice they ain't, but I think if Gary Vaynerchuk at Wine Library TV is prepared to give them a go - here's a Bourgueil - and he tried a Chinon too, at the same time as the Montirius wine I wrote about earlier - with his chiefly American clientele, we shouldn't be shy.

I'll let you know what emerges from the melting pot. Don't want to give too much away until we sign on the dotted line and the final decisions are made.

Though, breaking news, I have placed my order with Alessandro Speri for his fabulous, grown-up but satin-smooth Argentinian Malbec, Prodigo.

PS nearly forgot, and only found out the day before I left Cork: the Salon in Angers hosted an inaugural blogging trophy for the wine world, with prizes for a Loire Valley blogger, a French one and a world-wide one. Goes with what I said about one or two people taking a wider view of marketing. Nonetheless, nobody was able to tell me who had won, of course - French bureaucracy and all that. But thanks to Vitiblog, I found a link and here are the results: I've left the link to the French page, but you can choose a Google translation into English if you like.

The love bug

2007-02-03T12:03:00.000Z

Ok lovebirds, we have a small something for you. Print out the flyer below and hand it in next time you buy a bottle of our Prosecco-like sparkling rosé from us (English Market or Marina). We will give you, for free, a bag to put it in (as pictured) and also give you, for free, a small, exquisite chocolatey gift to accompany it (not necessarily exactly as pictured, but the real deal, hand-hewn from the Lee Valley chocolate mines, &c., nonetheless).

This may prove very handy for those of you seeking to i) get out of trouble in a hurry on the 13th; ii) lend a thin romantic veneer to inappropriately selfish gifts (golf clubs, power tools...) iii) bring delight to a whole stable of beloveds without breaking the bank. And so on and so on. Anyway, here's the flyer:

Although this is a blog-only deal, we do have something rather similar going on at the airport, so there ought to be a good bit of the very pink and fizzy doing Cupid's work on the 14th.

The traffic lights on the bottle change colour depending on how far your luck is in! Not really.

Here's a possible present for the Dublin-based and winey among you - take 'em along to the tastings reported by Bibliocook.

I'm off to the Salon des Vins de Loire in the company of esteemed colleague, M. Cyril Besnard, until Thursday and don't anticipate doing any blogging until then. But there should be plenty to report when I get back.

Australia tasting

2007-01-30T17:16:00.000Z

Wine Australia decided to hold a tasting in Cork as well as in Dublin this year, and we went along to see what was new and meet some winemakers and generally get a taste of the competition's wines. John McDonnell, who is Wine Australia's representative here, is a charming host and there's no doubt an enormous amount of work went into putting the show on at a second Irish venue. Tempranillos, Sangioveses and Barberas rubbed shoulders with the more familiar 'Australian' grape varieties, while many of the winemakers using the traditional grapes seemed keen to emphasize the specific regional characteristics of their wines. It hasn't all been plain sailing for Australian wine lately, and there was plenty of evidence of suppliers facing up squarely to the challenges of too much competition and climatic upheavals.

Still no sign of Godefroy

2007-01-27T15:11:00.000Z

...who's supposed to be trying to sell us some wine today.

He was last spotted late last night, noodling, with the help of Marta. Perhaps he's still in Wagamama. (Excellent wines there, I've heard). Thanks to our roving reporter for the picture.

URRU Mallow photos

2007-01-27T11:10:00.000Z

I paid a flying visit to the new URRU in Mallow in the hope of getting some shots of the Bubble Brothers crew in action, but they hadn't arrived by the time I had to leave. Things were pretty lively, with a preponderance of ladies-who-lunch types scrutinizing and consuming in equal measure. I just took a couple of snaps (one-handed, baby in arms) but we had a chat with (and a ½-choc each from) Benoit Lorge, chocolatemeister from Kenmare, and Declan Ryan of Arbutus Breads, whose instructions to his team the previous night to bake a little bit of cinema had been fully met, as you may be able to see.

URRU Mallow food fight tomorrow

2007-01-25T15:37:00.000Z

Tomorrow, Friday 26th, sees the official opening, at 11am, by Rachel Allen, of URRU Mallow, a brother shop for the Bandon purveyor of exquisite morsels, kitchen hardware and cookery books. Oh and of course dreamy wines.

Here's a picture of the invitation. If you click it, it may be possible to read what's on offer; but, in short, all sorts of good things will be a-sampling on Friday and Saturday too. The Bubble Brothers team, in the form of Cyril Besnard and his predecessor (on a flying visit) Godefroy Baijot will be strutting their stuff on Friday. If you're so minded and in that part of the world, look in and say hello to Willie Healy, the boss man, and grab yerself a bite while choosing what to drink this weekend, for instance. 022 53192 is the number for Mission Control at the Mallow shop.

Pest control

2007-01-23T14:25:00.000Z

A brief, not wine-related, post. After a whole summer and autumn of not being able to sit oot in our garden's rather atmospheric, leafy sitooterie because of the wasps

who set up home there, we had our revenge and dug the nest out. The wasps had already vacated the premises so I was able to take my time and enjoy the multi-storey architecture.

Very long finish

2007-01-23T10:44:00.000Z

Although he doesn't say whether for good or bad reasons, Damien Mulley reports that people at the SE Barcamp (here's the blog) were asking him about the wine we supplied for the Cork event: the Culpeo Syrah and Sauvignon Blanc. Which is what we call a nice long finish. New vintages of the Culpeo have just arrived in Ireland, and we'll be needing them pretty soon. I'm especially looking forward to getting the lepping fresh 06 Sauvignon Blanc out of Bond (above), which is where our wine is stored before we pay the duty on it and bring it round the corner to our own warehouse. I sepia-ed the picture because plans are afoot to replace these buildings with gleaming office blocks, modern spacious &c. &c. as s.a.p.

Swordsmanship

2007-01-22T13:53:00.000Z

Here's a lazy link to videos of people attempting sabrage, which is opening your champagne with a sabre - or other blade. I haven't looked at the clips yet, but they could prove a refreshing accompaniment to your next tea-break &c. If you're inspired to try it, at least I've given you enough time to practise before next New Year's Eve. Also plenty of time to hire an appropriately magnificent military uniform if you're going for the sabre option. No point in doing something so ludicrously ostentatious unless you're going to go the whole hog.

Time for a brew

2007-01-18T16:28:00.000Z

We acquired a licence to import beer last year (my post at the time is here), and the main reason for this was so that we could work with new-and-exciting, green tea and yuzu fruit-spiked iki Beer. Them's yuzus there on the left, and the picture links to the very attractive Japanese photo-blog it came from by way of acknowledgement.

This afternoon, in the latest instalment, we had the pleasure of a visit from Arjen Hemelaar and Diederik van den Biggelaar of iki Beer here at the ol' Wine Depot. In the photo, from left to right, Billy Forrester of Bubble Brothers, Arjen and Diederik, doing their best to look cheerful in the damp but icy winds howling around the country at the moment. I gather the discussions were interesting and good-natured, and the three stooges are meeting up later on at the Franciscan Well, where iki is already on the menu.

To judge by the iki website, these are the kind of people who would be sympathetic to some fun promotions. Let me know if you've any suggestions, as I'm sure the chaps will be reading this and it would be good to get some fresh ideas.

Fragrant, snorting cave bear WBW 29

2007-01-18T11:47:00.000Z

The idea of Wine Blogging Wednesdays is that you try a bottle of whatever's nominated and blog about it, then some long-suffering person collates the entries to the common weal. This time, number 29, the wine has to be biodynamic, and Jack and Joanne of Fork and Bottle are the long-suffering, &c.

After the disappointment of yesterday's corked bottle, I'm delighted to report that a second foray into the cave yielded a perfect example of Christine and Eric Saurel's Montirius Vacqueyras 2001.

The Saurels' gaff at Sarrians is not so very far from the Chauvet Cave, which is where prehistoric man, insufficiently civilized to make wine, used to keep instead a stock of gigantic furry beasts to see him through the winter, TGIFs &c. You can see some of the graffiti here.

If you fancy the robust and warming embrace of a cave bear but don't know where to get your hands on one, you could do worse than invest in a bottle of this magnificently robust and warming blend of Grenache and Syrah. It's not the more expensive Clos Montirius Vacqueyras that Gary Vaynerchuk is tasting here; last time we sampled the two side by side we felt that the plain Vacqueyras represented better value. This vintage weighs in at fourteen and a half per cent alcohol, and although it's obviously a big wine, it's in perfect balance and has much sweeter breath (a little chocolate-y) than Ursus culpaeus can ever have had. The real pleasure for me was in the vibrant, muscular pulse of cherryish fruit that pushed through the darker flavours and dense structure of every mouthful. You won't be surprised to know that the finish is long and assertive.

On a food and wine matching note, this Vacqueyras was very nearly as satisfying with my hurried plate of egg (daughter's, discarded) and chips as a hot cup of tea would have been. More thoughtfully paired, and brought up to its optimum temperature, it could hardly fail to be sublime.

As for the biodynamics, as I've said before, the Saurels are not doing it for fun, or as a way of differentiating their wine from their neighbours', &c. One look at their website should make that fairly clear. I don't think you can taste biodynamicity, (though organic wines do generally seem to me less fuzzy-tasting, sometimes a little briefer in the finish, than their conventional counterparts) but at the same time the utter commitment of Montirius to making the very best wine possible in accordance with a set of non-commercial principles (of course they do have to run a business, too) is no bad thing in my book. Of course it wouldn't matter how organic or biodynamic they were if the wine were horrible.

Wine Blogging Wednesday - biodynamics

2007-01-17T17:55:00.000Z

I took home a bottle of the 2001 Vacqueyras from Montirius, after much humming and hawing over whether or not to spend the money in the middle of the week just because of WBW, and my bad faith landed me with a corked bottle. Even though it was corked, there was no mistaking a mighty wine lurking in the shadows.

So I'll try another bottle tonight with a glad heart and let you know tomorrow.

Sorry if this interferes with the mechanics of the thing.

I bet not one of you ignorant blackguards knows what a Yeat is

2007-01-16T11:08:00.000Z

The title, before anyone takes offence, is my garbled recollection of what Joe's comment here helpfully reminds me is an episode from Spike Milligan's war memoirs.

Just to let you know that I'd dearly love to go and listen to Paul Muldoon (that's the Blogorrah link again) lecturing on Yeats at UCC this afternoon. Can't see I'm going to manage it though. Grrr.

If you're able and willing to go, here's the link to the UCC page.

An easy mistake to make

2007-01-15T14:29:00.000Z

This just arrived. We're no longer in unit O11, but still and all...

Splash! in the coffee

2007-01-15T12:09:00.000Z

The wretched new Blogger is so greedy for cookies, it has just snarfed my first attempt at this post without so much as a burp of thanks. So here, without any of the loving care of version one, it is.

We sell the excellent Cork-roasted coffees of John Gowan, and drink them ourselves.

We also sell something to go with that cup of coffee: delicious, soft, yielding but not quite chewy, honey+hazelnut+almond, not the explosively brittle hard kind, amaretti, which come to us via, but not from, our suppliers of Moscato d'Asti (another ideal beverage complement), Borgo Maragliano. Here they are, and I know there's nothing about this video that couldn't be improved; you don't need to tell me:

Click To Play

Pastries and coffee infallibly remind me of Slim Gaillard's Dunkin' Bagel, of which, if you've a mind to, you can hear a snatch here, at Amazon.

I am warming up to a little post on 'five things you don't know about me', as encouraged by Kieran at Ice Cream Ireland, by mentioning that I once played a gig with Slim. He called me his drum buddy - so much hipper than pretending to need to learn each pick-up band member's name - and the whole thing was a crazy privilege.

Ruth in urbe, and our man in Mallow

2007-01-12T23:04:00.000Z

People are always asking if we "do tastings", and I can answer that question in two ways...

No...

we don't:

always have a bottle on the go at our own shops (English Market and Wine Depot) as, while this isn't a bad idea in principle, it needs to pay for itself, and achieving this is harder than you might think;

run night-school type wine-tasting courses along the lines of those organized by the Wine and Spirit Education Trust, overseen here by the Wine Board of Ireland. They do it extremely well, and impartially, at a fair price, in Dublin and usually in Cork too;

open bottles for prospective customers who aren't sure if they'll like a wine or not before buying it. Word would get around.

However, yes...

we do, from time to time:

draw attention to ourselves with a portfolio tasting such as last October's Big Wine Event (more photos and so on of that still! to come) in Cork's Clarion Hotel, providing a tasting opportunity for all interested parties, trade and public;

"do tastings" by prior arrangement for groups, generally those who are happy to provide a venue and meet a reasonable fee;

"do tastings" at our retail customers' premises in the hope of promoting their interests along with ours.

There's one of this last kind today! Owing to the wounded-gastropod progress of some connection in the world wide web this morning, what should have been an advertisement now becomes old news, but here 'tis anyway:

You can try some of our wines today between 12 and 2-ish at URRU Mallow, the newly opened specialist food shop built on the success of URRU Bandon, and run by Willie Healy, brother of Ruth. Our new recruit, Cyril Besnard, who really knows all the details about wine that I pretend to and then look up later, will be promoting two red and two white wines from our range. Cyril is hoping to fill the shoes, if not the beret, of Godefroy Baijot,

who you can see here and who I hope will forgive me when he returns to Ireland in a week or two to do some business for his new employer in the Languedoc. It's Jean-Marie Rimbert's hat.

Hello to anyone who's reading this following Blake Creedon's very kind words in today's Irish Examiner. I feel that if Darina Allen is permitted to "tickle our palates" (online, I mean), Blake should be too; and I mention this because it seems only fair, and also because it would be very beneficial to the paper too if there was a way of referring electronically to Blake's expert and amiable column when I'm writing to customers, suppliers, the readership of this blog, &c. &c. I'd be very pleased to get a weekly tip-off for a good bottle from the Examiner's website, and I'd be more pleased than that if I could get it sent to me as an RSS feed. The BBC's website explains what RSS is about pretty clearly.

Strewth, mate!

2007-01-10T16:37:00.000Z

What I should have recommended as an all-purpose Christmas wine was our Little Yering Pinot Noir 2003 from Yering Station. It's easy, lightish and very tasty. I took a bottle home last weekend and it was three-quarters gone before you could say knife, which is always an indicator of a wine that I can recommend to anyone. The price is right, too.

However, the future is looking other than rosy for the Yarra Valley, whence cometh the aforementioned. First of all there have been drought and frost, and then along comes an outbreak of phylloxera, the vine-munching insect whose specific name, vastatrix, devastating, is spot on. Here's the Australian phylloxera website. And here's a local article that mentions Yering. I'll be writing to Brett Fleming, our contact, to find out what he thinks the future holds. Meantime, try, and enjoy, the Little Yerings (there's a Shiraz-Viognier, too) while you can.

UPDATE 16/01/06: I've heard from Brett, and perhaps things aren't as bad as they seem. I look forward to meeting him in a few weeks' time and may have more news after that.

Biodynamic Wine Blogging Wednesday no. 29

2007-01-08T17:36:00.000Z

It's soon time for another Wine Blogging Wednesday. Jack and Joanne at Fork and Bottle are the hosts this time. All you have to do is buy a bottle of biodynamic wine, drink it, and put your tasting notes up on your blog or website on Wednesday the 17th of January. (And let Jack and Joanne know, of course.)

The Fork and Bottle page I've linked to has heaps of useful information and links &c., and I simply haven't time to give you my dilettanteish overview of biodynamics anyway. Please comment below, though, if you've questions you'd like me to answer.

The principal Bubble Brothers biodynamic suppliers are Montirius, Meyer, Champagne Fleury and Château Romanin. All French, you'll notice. If I've left anyone out, please remind me and I'll amend this list.

Mighty Malbec (and the New York Jets)

2007-01-04T11:35:00.000Z

Well, if I end up doing no more than aggregating other people's hard work, it'll just go to remind y'all that we're only a small business and working hard ourselves doing what we do, as well as blogging about it.

And anyway, some people's hard work is so entertaining and informative: here's Gary Vaynerchuk of Wine Library TV and Jets fan - again - tasting the wines of Cahors, including one which has recently come in to stock here at Bubble Brothers, the Prince Probus 2003 from Clos Triguedina.

We also bought a few bottles of the medieval-stylee and very unusual Black Wine 2003, which is enriched and darkened by the cooking/drying of some of its grapes before vinification. Spittoon tasted the 2001 vintage. You can read Andrew Barrow's tasting notes here.

Clos Triguedina's most affordable Cahors is the Château de Flore. We've never had any trouble selling this, and the slightly lighter style of the 2002 vintage that's just arrived makes it all the more appealing to the (I generalize) Irish palate. If you buy a bottle, it's no bad idea to get it open well in advance of drinking, or even decant it if you can, and get it up to a comfortable room temperature so that all those layers of aroma and flavour become as pronounced as possible.

While I don't suppose we're going to have too many really hard winters in this part of the world for a while, these dark, deep reds are real warmers and just the thing for roasts and meaty stews - and if you want to buy them to keep, they're so judiciously balanced they'll probably still be in their prime when the next ice age starts to bite.

Sounds interesting

2007-01-03T14:36:00.000Z

We've struck a deal with Jack at Munster Sounds. If you buy a gramophone set from him, you get some wine free. At least I think that's the gist of the deal. Give him a call for more details. I should add that one of the free bottles is the below-mentioned Châteauneuf-du-Pape.

The badge is a nod to the very first customer to take advantage of this offer, who called in just before Christmas and who is the owner of a very exclusive record collection, with the emphasis on Northern Soul. Fine wine and fine music, though possibly not in this case for enjoyment at the same time.

New Year's honour

2007-01-03T14:05:00.000Z

By way of a break from the less tempting back-to-work chores, I allowed myself to scan through the newly arrived February edition of Decanter to see if any of 'our' wines were mentioned.

Result! Our Châteauneuf-du-Pape, from Domaine de la Côte de l'Ange, gets a very encouraging score from the panel tasting the 2004 vintage, in eighth place out of one hundred and fifty-four wines tasted. If you're interested, it'd be worth buying the magazine for the discussion of these "fresh, delicious" wines and how they fit in to the wider, global wine context.

(In case you're wondering, the difference between the English importer's price in sterling and ours in euro is pretty much normal when all the extras of duty, transport and VAT &c. are taken into account.)

If anyone reading this has first-hand experience of this wine, please leave a comment - we sold enough bottles last month!

Dragon slayer

2006-12-30T11:04:00.000Z

When I'm raising me glass of Vallois Blanc de Blancs at New Year, I shall toast the new Sir George. Proper order.

James Brown

2006-12-25T19:05:00.000Z

RIP James Brown.

Christmas cards

2006-12-23T17:44:00.000Z

Here's a Christmas card from a good customer, which I thought I'd share. (Acknowledgements to the Spectator and Pilbrow.)

And here's a card from one of the suppliers I am really, really looking forward to working with in 2007. More about these tremendous new wines anon, but you're going to love them. Click on the foggy patch to make it work.

Lack of focus

2006-12-23T16:16:00.000Z

Apparently we supposedly specialist bloggers should focus, ie not rámais about our personal stuff or other interests. Wine is all about personalities, though, of all different kinds, and on the 23rd of December it's my guess nobody's listening anyway. So, to follow on from Who would your dinner guests be? in the last post, here's Who do you want to see busking on Patrick St?

These

and

these

and

these

would do for starters. A Merry Christmas to you.

The last hurrah

2006-12-22T18:11:00.000Z

We'll be open at the Marina tomorrow, Saturday 23rd from at least 10 till 6, and probably Sunday 2-6pm as well. English Market shop as per usual tomorrow and also on Sunday, but ring for details. Marina 021 4845 198; Austin 021 425 4641.

TV Dinners

2006-12-21T11:07:00.000Z

Absolutely up the walls here with last-minute orders and deliveries, but anyway, the blog must go on...

Although Nigella Lawson's schmaltz'n'syrup cocktail gives me indigestion, I tell myself she's only doing it for the camera/money and try to see through that. The other week when she cooked ribs &c. I felt that underneath all the good housekeeping stuff there was a soul food cook. You go girl. Then on last night's show, the Christmas dinner, somebody decided to put the dynamic, the soulful Mr Lou Rawls on the soundtrack, which made me very happy: his bacon grease'n'molasses cocktail doesn't give me indigestion.

Jas'n'Oz, the Abbott and Costello of British wine TV, did Champagne, which was interesting for the Bubble Brothers, and in the end, when they said au revoir, it was all about friendships and personalities and the human angle generally. Proper order.

Stocking fillers/your ideal guest

2006-12-19T12:07:00.000Z

Until Austin gets his Bunsen burner going in the shop to start mulling the wine - which should happen about the time he grows another pair of hands - you could do a lot worse than check out Kieran's mulled wine ice cream.

And if you're asking yourself what to buy for the foodie who has everything, here's a gift possibility reported by Decanter.

Who would you like to have around the house at Christmas to give a bit of zip to the conversation, or respite from your nearest and dearest &c. &c.? Controversial old Blogorrah gave a deserved nod to Paul Muldoon recently.

Wine for Christmas

2006-12-12T17:11:00.000Z

I have to say I don't think it actually matters all that much, once you've a glass of something you like within reach. If you've sworn and sweated your way through the production of a full Christmas feed, you may well have so much catering anaesthetic and/or endorphins on board by the time you collapse to consume the fruits of yer labours that you might as well be on the Bum Wine.

The other question is: what goes with the farrago of textures and flavours in the average Christmas dinner? If you're an accomplished enough cook to reduce the whole set of ingredients to a uniform mushy blandness, then any decent wine is going to seem great in contrast. Works for me.

On the other hand, if you do decide to do it properly and have it all under control and waft around the house like some fragrant TV übercook or -cookerin, dispensing gracious smiles, and if your guests - for surely there will be guests - are all that kind of person too, then social pressures demand you choose a bit more carefully. But I still suggest you serve what you know you really like, rather than risking money on something that ought to be tremendous but could still let you down. Discreetly oaked whites, maybe a Chardonnay, and not-too-overwhelming reds would be my choice then. Ones you've enjoyed through the year.

In the aftermath, when you're eating the leftovers, I've suggested in the past our Bourgueil, a light but satisfying red made in the Loire Valley from Cabernet Franc, but we've sold out, to several customers' disappointment, and I think I'm going to wait until our planned trip to the Salon des Vins de Loire in February to choose a replacement for that. Recent research! suggests the following as possibles: Agostino Pavia's Dolcetto d'Asti, a light (12%) acidic red from Piedmont, which would stand up well to pickly sandwiches and cold cuts generally; the same goes for Jean-Marie Rimbert's Les Travers de Marceau, in the 2005 vintage a supple and aromatic St-Chinian. I think there's great value in the remaining bottles of Goedverwacht's Great Expectations Chardonnay 2004. I thought this was terrific when it first arrived, and it's aged really well. Very easy and pleasurable drinking for the digestive days after the 25th, though you'll have to come to the Wine Depot and fight/ask me for it as there are really only a few bottles left.

It'll be lonely this Christmas...

2006-12-04T17:39:00.000Z

Blake Creedon wrote about the pros and cons of buying your wine online in Saturday's Irish Examiner, though the paper still doesn't seem to see the usefulness of making his column and recommendations available electronically, so I can't link to his articles as I'd like. Anyway, in line with my earlier threats to try and increase the number of wine bloggers in Ireland, I've written to all those online wine outlets Blake mentioned:

REPLIER! www.mccabeswines.ie

REPLIER! www.mitchellandson.com

www.obrienswine.ie

www.octavius.ie

www.onthegrapevine.ie

www.wineselleronline.com

www.wineshop.ie

and asked them to have a look at this blog and make a comment by way of answering the following questions:

Does your company have a blog at the moment, or are you thinking of starting one?

If yes, please tell us more; if not, could you give a few reasons why?

We'll see what happens.

UPDATE 8th January 07:
Gerry Gunnigan at Mitchell and Son has written in to say that he's just found this post. (Looks as though some of my e-mails didn't reach their targets first time.) I think a blog would be an interesting addition to their already comprehensive website. Have a look.

UPDATE:
Thanks to John McCabe for a prompt, positive and open-minded response; although blogs are new to him, he's promised to investigate in January.

Flood update

2006-11-30T11:49:00.000Z

Centre Park Road, Monaghan Road, as good as impassable at 4.30pm today. Buy yer wine from the English Market shop instead for the time being.

Did we ever do the right thing moving to a warehouse a bit higher than the flood level.

Technorati tags: Cork, traffic, floods

Market in Gear for Christmas Cheer

2006-11-30T11:39:00.000Z

Uh-oh, 30th November and the 'C' word can no longer be avoided. Thankfully I’m saved the piped music of the festive season, but the English Market becomes a prime place to raise a sesonal glow as the holidays approach. It probably has a lot to do with the tonnes of turkeys and the usual associated buzz, but it may stem from it being Cork’s most venerated emporium of enjoyment, the doyen of Christmas excess. Perhaps it’s the cosmopolitan atmosphere or the chilly effect during cold snaps, bringing to mind any experience of our continental brethren’s Christmas markets. Truth be told, there isn’t yet the adrenaline-junkie’s smiling panic before the impending intensity, but it won’t be long before I start assigning use to every cubic centimetre of space and try to cajole people to queue from the same side.

Disclaimer; no apology for kitschy clichéed rhyming title.

On a commercial note, has everyone tried the light sparkling rosé Rabosa? It’s the pink sister of Prosecco; she’s fun, she’s bubbly, she’s popular and she’s cheap (not like that...she’s under €12)! First time I can’t keep a rosé in stock in November.

Austin @ the Market

Technorati tags: Turkey, Christmas markets, Mulled Wine recipe, Christmas Cheer,

Rhône recommendation

2006-11-29T13:05:00.000Z

I like Gary Vaynerchuk's style, and when Bubble Brothers get around to videocasted tastings, it'll be hard not to have his passionate but unpretentious manner in mind. If you know anyone with the appropriate wine knowledge and stage skills who'd be good at this, by the way, do let me know. We consider ourselves too timid and unlovely to make a really good job of it; though, if you disagree, that'd be nice to hear too, in a way. Even supposing we had the time.

Anyway, here's (first wine he tries) Gary trying one of the wines from Montirius, an estate I wrote about during National Organic Week. I'm just about to re-order from them and thought you might like to get an American perspective. We don't usually stock the Clos Montirius Vacqueyras he's tasting, but in my view the regular Vacqueyras that we do have tickles all the same taste buds.

This wine is a very good reason to keep spicing beef, now we don't need to do it for preservative purposes any more.

Technorati tags: wine, Ireland, Vacqueyras, organic, biodynamic, Montirius, spiced beef

That's Amarone

2006-11-27T12:16:00.000Z

Generally, if you enter almost any drinkable wine into enough competitions you'll trawl up some sort of sticker-on-the-bottle-worthy status eventually, so I certainly don't propose to acknowledge every 'slightly commended' dished out by the Frinton-on-Sea Basketweavers' Guild or whoever.

Sometimes, though, the considered opinion of a great gathering of wine experts is interesting to acknowledge. It's not as good as tasting the stuff yourself, but it can give you some idea as to where to start when you're making your next purchase.

Forums such as this blog could usefully largely displace the medal ceremonies as a means of allowing you and me to find out which wine we might like, but until then, from time to time, I will do a leetle bit of bragging about wine awards and so on.

In conjunction :) with Ampersand in Dublin, we are proud to represent the Veronese wines of Gerardo Cesari. If you met Willie Dardis, wine manager and buyer at Ampersand, at our recent Cork tasting, you'll have some idea of how pleased we are to have a contact there whose enthusiasm matches our own.

Anyway, Cesari have just won the International Wine and Spirit Competition Trophy for Italian Wine Producer of the Year, and two of the wines we buy from them have picked up medals in the rigorous blind tastings there.

One is the Mara Valpolicella DOC Superiore Vino Ripasso 2003, which collected a bronze medal, and the other is Il Bosco Amarone Della Valpolicella DOC 2001, which was awarded gold, ie best in its class (our current stock is the equally mighty preceding vintage, 2000, for the time being) . Here's the judges' analysis:

Wonderful glossy black crimson with a pink glint. The nose of this wine absolutely sings with complexity. Plum, prune, fig, cherry kirsch interlaced with leather, tar, incense, woodsmoke. In the mouth there is layered complexity, lovely fruit weight held with firm yet supple dusty tannins. The finish is very long, holding wonderful freshness of fruit. An absolute classic with a superb future.

So we're pleased enough about that.

Technorati tags: wine, Ireland, Ampersand, Amarone, Ripasso, Cesari, Italian+wine

The end of last week

2006-11-25T12:42:00.000Z

RIP Anita O'Day

Two Fat Ladies

2006-11-23T11:57:00.000Z

I was lately moved by The Swearing Lady’s look at snobbery and Twenty’s expostulation about the word ‘exquisite’, but not enough to write anything. Now having watched BBC’s The Two Hairy Winos last night I have to put my ha’porth in.

I’m not sure these camped-up head-to-heads are meant to serve any useful purpose beyond entertainment of some kind, but the Oz’n’Jas show is at the very least doing the wine business a disservice, by continuing to reduce to binary the subtleties of where people see themselves in society - a class system no longer clearly manifested by what you wear or even your taste in things generally.

They’re both snobs, like we all are: one is the wilfully pig-headed petrolhead bloke, caricatured as inverted-snob oaf; the other the aesthetic college boy who thinks that if only the oiks would make a tiny bit of effort, they could be lotus-eaters too.

I’ve spent half my life and more thinking that wine is what you have to drink when the beer runs out. Now I know much more about the stuff and can make some distinctions I couldn’t before. That’s my business, both senses. If you want to know the easy way to pick the brilliant bottle out of the 7.99 section in the supermarket - hard luck, there isn’t an easy way. You have to go through a bit of the Oz Clarke culture-science-and-politics-and-the-answer-lies-in-the-soil stuff. But at the same time the preaching faction among the self-styled cognoscenti of wine, or music, or whatever, should know when enough is enough. You can really annoy people going on about pruning methods when all they want is some weekend gargle.

We have to know about the intimacies of wine, because it’s what we deal in. I think, though, there are much better ways of encouraging our customers to buy it than with the sort of exasperated know-ally harangue the BBC got from Oz, whether or not they’re as bloody-minded as Jas May.

Marketing Bubble Brothers, or wine, really doesn’t have to be about wine at all – I like the way the blog-world approach reassures me in that view, and it’s got to be refreshing for the consumer. But perhaps some of us like our advertising crass’n’cheesy (not Twenty); at least like that it’s easy to ignore. There are only so many riddles you can bother your head with in one day.

Technorati tags: wine, Ireland, Oz Clarke, James May, marketing, snobbery

How to open a screwcap bottle...

2006-11-22T16:51:00.000Z

Not a great challenge, you might think. But this morning I was at a Wine Australia tasting hosted by John McDonnell of Wine Australia Ireland and Martin Moran, MW, and besides having a look at Sauvignon Blancs and Shirazes that didn't fit the stereotype, we also talked about screwcaps. I heard something so screwy a) it could only be true, and b) it was bound to be on YouTube. The art of the sommelier as prestidigitator need not die with the use of cork to stopper wine bottles. To set the mood, because this one's in France, I should repeat that the last time I even approached the topic of changing from cork to screwcap with one of our French suppliers, he nearly decked me. Get this:

and here are two English guys who mention the same absurdity towards the end of the video:

Technorati tags: wine, Ireland, screwcaps, Stelvin, closures, comedy

Big Wine Event - Bodegas Pingón

2006-11-21T16:16:00.000Z

OK, here's the first batch of photos from the Wine Event. Pablo de las Heras missed his connecting flight in London and had to make a superhuman effort to get to us on time. But he made it to Cork in the end, and kept smiling right through the day. He showed three of his delicious Ribera del Duero reds and made plenty of new fans for the bodega's Carramimbre range.

When we all repaired to the Ivory Tower later on, Pablo presented us with a bottle of Pingón's Altamimbre. This is an indescribably luscious and moreish wine, but too expensive and scarce for us to stock, I think.

It was great to get the direct feedback as people sniffed and swirled. Great if they liked the wine, great if they didn't. This sort of reaction is what really helps us to find out how to go ahead. A bit like comments on the blog, ahem. The more the better. Billy and I did a tasting of Languedoc wines for the parents' association of the Cork School Project last Friday, and it was just invaluable to talk informally to people about what they thought of the wine as they tried it. Fair play and thank you to all those present for their straight talking - a great time had by all.

Today's jazz birthdays are Dr John (pictured) and Coleman Hawkins.
Remind me to pass on Sheila Ferguson's soulful sausage biscuit recipe.

Technorati tags: wine, Ireland, Ribera del Duero, tasting, Tempranillo, Bodegas+Pingon, Night Tripper

Stop Press: 2007 Wine Guide Dinner

2006-11-18T22:23:00.000Z

Short notice I know, but there's a great night out happening this Monday at Jacob's on the Mall. Eighty euro will get you not only a five-course dinner of the finest kind, but also a comprehensive tasting opportunity among the wines of Australia featured in this year's Wine Guide: the Best of Wine in Ireland 2007, hosted by wine expert and editor of the guide John Wilson. They don't normally bother doing this in Cork, so if you can get along to this one, you should.

To coincide with the publication of The Best of Wine in Ireland 2007, Wine Australia is teaming up with the guide’s publishers, A & A Farmar to host a dinner in Cork highlighting the many delicious Australian wines in this year’s guide.

The date is Monday 20th November at Jacobs on the Mall, with kick off at 7.30pm

The evening will start with a tasting of a number of the Australian wines which have performed well in this year’s Best of Wine in Ireland guide. This will be followed by a delicious 5-course meal, accompanied by more star rated wines from the guide. These will be introduced by the guide’s editor, well respected wine journalist, John Wilson.

Tickets cost €80 per person and reservations can be made directly with
Jacobs on the Mall on (021) 425 1530

So book your passage for what should be a great night.

If you require any further information please contact John Mc Donnell at Wine Australia on 065 7077264, or ireland@wineaustralia.com

echnorati tags: wine, Ireland, Australia, tasting, Cork

bubbly links

2006-11-16T14:56:00.000Z

I'm making progress with the deck-clearing, and at long last the Big Wine Event stuff will begin to emerge from this Saturday onwards. Here's an atmospheric photo as a taster:

Donal took some great shots with the new low-light Canon and I'll be putting those up alongside our own, just to remind you how very good his are. If you're reading, Donal, we are going to send a thank-you, for collection at the English Market shop, very very soon.

I finally got around to finding a site that will allow me to salt and pepper the wine stuff with 'on this days' from jazz-land. Nice. Today is one heck of a day for jazzy birthdays:

Arguelles, Steve - 1963
Condon, Eddie - 1905
Handy, W.C. - 1873
Krall, Diana - 1964
Sumlin, Hubert - 1931

and that's only the more famous ones, sorry no time for links. Lotta candles burning tonight.

The gift-buying public at present mostly seems to be interested in our improved and expanded range of packaging. How are they finding us? Some ad hoc searches with the terms you might think of on Google: wine, packaging, box, Ireland, &c. &c. didn't put us very near the top at all. Not that we're going to give up on the excellent wines and champagnes, but it makes you think.

I'm also planning to e-mail the other Irish wine importers, merchants, journalists and so on and ask them if they would ever find five minutes to join me out here in the wilderness. If you know of any other Irish wine blogs, please tell me quickly, so I don't embarrass myself.

Technorati tags: wine, Ireland, jazz, packaging, wine boxes, Irish wine blogs

Tis the season to be jolly

2006-11-15T17:56:00.000Z

Or it soon will be.

Will has passed on this Neatorama suggestion, which will "make a perfect stocking filler for the wine lover in your life" (good to practise them seasonal clichés while there's still time) and comes from the copious and varied selection at iwantoneofthose.

Ho ho bleeding ho. I thing the thing itself is probably quite fun, just the idea of it that's naff.

Technorati tags: wine, Ireland, champagne, naff, gifts,

AGRICOLA CASTELLANA SCL HARVEST 2006

2006-11-14T14:39:00.000Z

Agricola Castellana SCL has finished the 2006 harvest with more than 12 million kg of Verdejo, Sauvignon Blanc, Viura , Palomino, Tempranillo and Cabernet Sauvignon grape varieties.
This harvest has been the earliest one in recent times, starting on August the 31st 2006 with the variety Sauvignon Blanc and Verdejo: 15 days earlier than usual. Due to the high temperatures during September (many days the temperatures rose above 30ºC) this harvest has been one of the fastest in the D.O RUEDA history.
In the third week of September began the harvest of the variety Tempranillo and already in the first week of October the whole crop was received in our facilities.
Concerning grape quality, our enologist Angel Calleja says that it is excellent, although the grape yield was lower. That is the reason why the volume of the harvest was finally smaller than expected.
On the other hand, and due to the high temperatures, the alcohol content of the vintage 2006 is slightly higher and the wines are not as explosive in the nose as in 2005, but more powerful and elegant on the palate.
Agricola Castellana SCL has been once again the biggest producer and bottler of the Designation of Origin Rueda this year, receiving in its wine cellar 25% of the grapes of the whole area of Rueda.

Technorati tags: wine, Ireland, Rueda, winemakers, 2006 vintage, Agricola Castellana

Jazz Jizz Lingers On

2006-11-13T12:22:00.000Z

The Jazz Festival is gone, Halloween has bid us adieu and our Big Wine Event is now a delicious memory. A couple of weeks on easy street to catch our breath before the big wind up towards the Holiday Season....or so it used to be. This year the Market has been unequivocally busy and lull-free. Even the Tuesday after the Jazz was wonderfully active, usually one of the more....relaxing days of the year.
Maybe the charms of our city wooed people into taking an extra day off before heading back to Dublin for more capital punishment, or wherever else they needed to be. Perhaps it's down to David McWilliams; all of us reverting to our new stereotype because he's only told us we've gone loo-laa for splashing the cash, eating and drinking so/too much.

Or it could be that for the first time we all remember just how crazy things get as the holidays approach and we just want to get an early start. Should the latter be the ultimate reason, I would like to commend all the Pope's children, siblings, cohorts and in-laws in their new found wisdom and planning. The thing is, we all know it's still going to be mennnntallllll!

Tasty aside - this week the Shop loves O’ Flynn’s Gourmet hot-dogs. A vast selction of pork (and other) sausages awaits from which to choose a tasty lunch or hearty snack. At the Chicken Inn, English Market.

Technorati tags: wine, Ireland, hot dogs, English Market, Cork

Road safety question

2006-11-11T17:57:00.000Z

I wish I had been able to make time to put up a post about road safety &c. as suggested recently by Damien Mulley, following Damien Blake's initiative. That week was a very busy spell for us here though, and I came in to work unusually early one or two mornings in the fortnight after the opening of the new N8.

Anyway, I got a speeding ticket in the post yesterday and of course I'm ashamed and fed up about it, though I can't dispute the accusation. The 50 kph limits (slowing traffic from 80kph) approaching the Corrin roundabouts just outside Fermoy begin a good quarter of a mile back on straight road, and end about a mile further on. You can drive up to the Jack Lynch tunnel roundabout at 100.

I did the Hibernian Ignition course and thought it was very good, and partly in consequence consider myself annoyingly law-abiding.

However, I do think it is true that some cameras are sited in what have been called "cynical and revenue-orientated locations", of which the quote scene of the crime unquote seems to me to be one - which in turn leads me to asking your advice, dear reader.

This morning I tried out pedantic observance of all the speed restrictions on my way in - ie not fitting in with fellow road users - and even on a Saturday morning, this clearly caused an amount of frustration not too far from road rage in motorists behind me. In busier traffic, I feel strongly that my obeying the letter of the law could have led to an accident, as drivers behind succumbed to impatience.

Should I carry on driving at odds with everyone else, ie legally, and risk causing a head-on collision as drivers behind overtake riskily? How would I feel if I did? (clue: not self-righteous)

Should I keep doing what everyone else does, and take my chance of acquiring some more penalty points?

Should I avoid the trouble spots by choosing alternative routes where due observance of the limits is less likely to cause trouble? Whaddya think?

roadsafetyblog

Art appreciation - what do you think of these?

2006-11-09T12:22:00.000Z

Come on, people - gimme the vox pop here please. Our Rioja supplier, Bodegas Altanza, is launching some super-special wine in bottles as substantial as champagne bottles with a dimple in the bottom you could bath a baby in. They'll cost about fiftyish a bottle because it's a limited run of 14,000 bottles, everything about them's classy, and I gather it took no little persuading to get the Miró Foundation to grant permission to use the pictures. Would you go for this if you had fifty euro to spend on impressing someone(yourself included)? The samples only arrived yesterday so we haven't had time to try the wine (new French oak, 13½% alcohol) yet, but let's suppose it's a five-star modern-style Rioja. Feedback please.

Technorati tags: wine, Ireland, Rioja, Miró, labels, gift

Our organic suppliers - Montfreux de Fages

2006-11-09T10:58:00.000Z

The excitement and busyness of our recent wine event left one or two things on the back burner, so I'm relieved to hear that our latest order from Montfreux de Fages is on its way to Cork this morning, as our stocks are getting low.

This is an organic winery that began with a commitment to organic methods and respect for the environment, and which has supplied us with one of our most popular red wines, the vin de pays Bergerie des Prieurs, as well as a delicious Sauvignon and a Picpoul de Pinet on the white side.

My new contact at the company, Carole Jacquemin, has promised that we can expect to see them signed up as contributing members to this blog very soon. I look forward to it - some more recent news than their website provides would be very welcome!

Technorati tags: wine, Ireland, Montfreux de Fages, organic, National Organic Week

Our organic suppliers - Montirius

2006-11-08T15:39:00.000Z

Among the most passionately committed practitioners of bio-dynamic and organic winemaking we work with are Christine and Eric Saurel of Montirius in the Southern Rhône. Their website, though still only in French, gives plenty of detail and photos about what's involved in their work from year to year. I would suggest you give their Vacqueyras serious consideration, especially if you are in the habit of buying Châteauneuf-du-Pape without looking at its less costly but equally delicious neighbours. I am sorry to say it's very difficult to correspond with our suppliers as often as we'd like, and Mrs Saurel has rapped my knuckles more than once about this. I'm hoping the Saurels will sign up as contributing members of this blog, and then we can at least stay in touch that way...

Technorati tags: wine, Ireland, Vacqueyras, organic, biodynamic, National Organic Week

My champagne's more expensive than your champagne...

2006-11-08T10:36:00.000Z

Decanter reports this morning that Pernod Ricard is to market a €1,000 a bottle champagne, so as to distinguish itself from the common herd of Krug, Dom Perignon, Cristal and so on. Relying on a brand to tell people what sort of person you think you may be is pretty gutless. But perhaps I'm just jealous of all those big, clever people who'll be going along to Toys 4 Big Boys with all their manly dosh to see whose champagne is bigger than whose.

Technorati tags: champagne, showing off, performance anxiety, the common herd

National Organic Week

2006-11-07T17:19:00.000Z

To jolly things up while the Bubble Brothers website waxes and wanes - the final bugs are due for extermination tomorrow - the post title links to a site where you can listen to Tom Lehrer's 'National Brotherhood Week'.

We stock a fair few organic wines, including an organic champagne and an organic cava. And organic olive oil. Oh, we're terribly organic, in parts, down here at Bubble Brothers. I'm not linking to them: you know where to look. I'll try to put in some producer links, though.

The whole business of what makes a wine organic is very vexed. Even if you grow your grapes organically (and what does that mean?), should you process them with the same equipment that you might use for your non-organic grapes? Is it worth jumping through all the hoops to get what can often be expensive certification? Will this really make a difference to the consumer, in enough of your markets, to be worthwhile?

Customers often tell me that they want organic wine because non-organic wine makes them unwell in this or that particular way. I'm sceptical about limiting yourself to organic wine purely for health reasons. I tend to say, if a theory works for you, then follow it by all means - but there are so many variables in the production of a bottle of wine, and usually so many other factors to take in to account, that the organic-ness or otherwise of your chosen beverage probably doesn't make such a lot of difference.

Organic wines, in my small experience, generally are cleaner-tasting: less adhesive in the mouth and with a finish that doesn't outstay its welcome. That's about the size of it in tasting terms.

Now as for the wider issues, there's clearly every reason to work with a minimum of poisons &c. if you can. Also, the nature of the work involved in doing things organically means that the growers really have to care about and understand what they're doing, which is good. It's not always easy convincing the workforce, though. Mas Amiel - the link is to a comprehensive account by the Wine Doctor, Chris Kissack - are trying to 'go organic', but they told me that explaining the new approach to the team in the vineyards is proving an obstacle. That said, organics and biodynamics are very big in French winemaking. More of this anon.

Meanwhile - are you more or less likely to choose a wine if it's certified organic?

Technorati tags: wine, Ireland, National Organic Week, organic, biodynamic

Marathon winemakers

2006-11-07T13:47:00.000Z

By way of a follow-up to my earlier post about two of our suppliers who were to compete in the New York Marathon, here are their results:

Frederic Corpel came home in 3220th position in 3:24:46,

Sebastien Gimenez in 6489th 3:41:19

Great times, gentlemen. You know the sun almost always shines on the Ballycotton 10. Still time to get yer entries in.

Technorati tags: wine, Vinitrio, New York Marathon, Corpel

Sake video

2006-11-07T10:40:00.000Z

I got a circularized e-mail this morning suggesting I have a look at this video clip of Kevin Brauch, the Thirsty Traveler's, trip to Japan to investigate sake, since we import and sell a variety of sake and related specialities.

It seems like a nice freebie, and it sheds some light on a product we're still only beginning to learn about ourselves. Let me know if it's not as generous a gift as it seems. There are more episodes at:

http://www.travelistic.com/video/show/530
http://www.travelistic.com/video/show/531
http://www.travelistic.com/video/show/532

Technorati tags: sake, Ireland, rice wine

Another reason to stop drinking wine/only drink the good stuff

2006-11-06T17:30:00.000Z

It's National Organic Week, by the way. I say, I say, I say...

Q. What's worse than finding a maggot in yer apple?
A. Finding half a maggot in yer apple.

Which news is in the same conscience-stricken ballpark as another Decanter item, which I didn't want to let slip by. Is the bottle you've chosen worth putting a pound of waste materials into the planet for?

Technorati tags: National Organic Week, wine, industrial waste

Soccer news

2006-11-06T14:09:00.000Z

Re the Jay-Z Cristal boycott thing, again:

Sighs of relief all round. Roederer have a new celebrity endorser for Cristal. After putting Jay-Z's nose out of joint through allegedly not being culturally all-embracing enough, the champagne house in question has, according to this Decanter bulletin, apparently found favour with a champion of the 'working man's sport' of soccer football and his well-known Mrs. I think they were silly not to drink up the Ruinart provided and be happy, meself.

Technorati tags: champagne, Beckhams, Cristal, Ruinart

Rage against the dying of the light

2006-11-06T10:06:00.000Z

Whether you're a giver-in or a rager, if you like Sauvignon Blancs you have to rush out and vote with yer wallets for this one. I've just tried the 2006 vintage of Gary and Valley Neale's Brightwater Sauvignon Blanc , and it's simply magnificent, every bit as good as the gobsmacking 2005 we currently stock "Our 2005 Sauvignon Blanc was selected as the best Sauvignon Blanc from Nelson and will soon be sold out", which was a wine of the week in both the Irish Times and the Examiner back in spring. This despite the fact that the New Zealand styles of Sauvignon are not exactly breaking news any more.

As the days grow gloomier and the weather gets colder, it's easy to retreat into big, warming red wines - see previous post - but please, just ignore the weather and go for what the Neales call "Nelson Sunshine in a Glass" this week. It has all the aromatic intensity you'd expect, located squarely in the cat's pee/elder/nettle/passion fruit area of the olfactory spectrum, and it does taste first of all of sunshine, but also of succulent green fruit &c. &c. It really cheered me up, never mind all the flannel.

I'm inclined to agree with Tom Wark of Fermentation that some of us with other angles and motives in the wine business should steer clear of writing wine reviews. Other people do this part far better than I ever will, but when it's one of our own products that's really astonishingly good, perhaps I can be forgiven the occasional lapse.

Technorati tags: Brightwater, Sauvignon Blanc, wine, sunshine

All Souls

2006-10-31T17:11:00.000Z

We'd like to apologize for the gremlins' making the Bubble Brothers website disappear sporadically over the last while. It wasn't our fault, honest guv, and I think it's been fixed now.

I'll probably report on our Big Wine Event in dribs and drabs as the days go by. There was so much going on that even summarizing it would make a post too long for comfort.

The recent dearth of posts is owing to the fact we're all very busy catching up with jobs the Event displaced, and dealing with the interest it generated.

Normal service will be resumed as soon as possible. Oh yes.

Do you "Bubble Brothers"؟

2006-10-26T17:33:00.000+01:00

PS NB the irony mark in post title. How did we live without it؟

Further to Damien and Tom's posts on this matter today, I should like to make our own position perfectly clear.

Q: What do zippers, baby oil, brassieres and trampolines have in common?

A: No, the answer isn't that they're all part of the setup for a highly inappropriate joke. In fact, the above list (along with thermos, cellophane, escalator, elevator, dry ice and many more) are all words that fell victim to those products' very success and, as they became more and more popular, slipped from trademarked status into common usage.

Will "Bubble Brothers" manage to avoid this fate? This year has brought a spate of news stories about the phrase's addition to the People's Republic of Cork and the Munster English dictionaries, an honour that's simultaneously highly flattering and faintly unsettling. Consider, for example, this passage from a New York Times story published last May:

"Jim sent a message introducing himself and asking, 'Do you want to throw a party?'" Mr. Fry recalled in a telephone interview from his home in Buda, Tex. 'So we Bubble Brothersed him, he passed the test, and B called him. That was in March 1996; we spent the summer organizing the event, and we hosted it that autumn.'"

Now, since Rory and Billy didn't actually launch Bubble Brothers until 1997, Mr. Fry's usage of 'Bubble Brothers' is as distressing to our trademark lawyers as it is thrilling to our marketing folks. So, lest our name go the way of the elevators and escalators of yesteryear, we thought it was time we offered this quick semantic primer.

A trademark is a word, name, symbol or device that identifies a particular company's products or services. Bubble Brothers is a trademark identifying Bubble Brothers Ltd. and our wine technology and services. While we're pleased that so many people think of us when they think of exciting wine, let's face it, we do have a brand to protect, so we'd like to make clear that you should please only use "Bubble Brothers" when you’re actually referring to Bubble Brothers Ltd. and our services.

Here are some hopefully helpful examples.

Usage: 'Bubble Brothers' as noun referring to, well, us.
Example: "I just love Bubble Brothers, they're soooo cute and cuddly and adorable and dacent!"
Our lawyers say: Good. Very, very good. There's no question here that you're referring to Bubble Brothers Ltd. as a company. Use it widely, and hey, tell a friend.

Usage: 'Bubble Brothers' as verb referring to searching for exciting wines from, um, Bubble Brothers.
Example: "I Bubble Brothersed it at the well-known shop in the English Market, Bubble Brothers, and it's pretty delicious all right."
Our lawyers say: Well, we're happy at least that it's clear you mean shopping at Bubble Brothers. As friends of the Wine Depot note, to "Bubble Brothers" means "to engage Bubble Brothers' friendly staff in conversation by way of finding out information about sensational wines from around the world."

Usage: 'Bubble Brothers' as verb referring to searching for information via any conduit other than Bubble Brothers.
Example: "I bubble brothersed him at Tesco's and it's pretty delicious all right."
Our lawyers say: Bad. Very, very bad. You can only "Bubble Brothers" at our dedicated retail outlets. If you absolutely must use one of our competitors, please feel free to "buy" from Tesco or any other wine merchant.

Thanks for your attention, and we look forward to serving your wine-related enjoyment needs again soon.

Technorati tags: wine, benighted, delusions of grandeur, King Canute aka Cnut &c., Don't be evil, Google

In vino veritas

2006-10-25T13:59:00.000+01:00

Some of the bloggers who came along to our event yesterday - patience, I'm building up to a properish report - have been so kind as to post about what they thought of the occasion, and with some tasty tasting notes too. Real vox pop., which is one of the hopes I had when the BB blog began.

"Some men in suits were playing giant Jenga in the lobby" says Randomgrub.

"Have to admit that the BB are not stuffy wine merchants" says Despod.

Damien Mulley had to forgo pleasure for business, but he's on a freebie for our next event, for all the support he's given us.

And if Donal can make the BB event look even one-tenth as spiffing as he makes the Roaring Forties look in these pictures, our future is assured.

Technorati tags: wine, women, song

John Berryman

2006-10-25T13:03:00.000+01:00

Today is the anniversary of the birth of the American poet John Berryman.

Technorati tags: John Berryman

Bubble Brothers Big Wine Event

2006-10-24T11:03:00.000+01:00

Just a quick update on how it's looking on the bright and sunny morning of our Big Wine Event.

Jean-Marie Rimbert and Patrick Van Den Driessche, our French visitors, arrived yesterday and enjoyed a nightcap with our own Godefroy Baijot, so they're accounted for.

Pablo de las Heras had some trouble with his flight, but kept on trying, re-routed via Dublin, and just rang to let me know that he has arrived safely at Kent Station.

Let's hope ex-racing driver Erik Banti took our advice about how long it takes to drive from Dublin, where he stayed last night, and Cork. We look forward to seeing him later on.

Brett Fleming should have got in to Cork late last night.

The Bubble Brothers crew are all present and correct and ready to go. Apparently the room at the Clarion looks great. I was going to try and blog through the day, but it's not going to happen.

Yous'll just have to come along for yourselves - we will be selling tickets at the door from 5pm onwards.

Technorati tags: wine, tasting, sunshine

the eleventh hour

2006-10-23T15:52:00.000+01:00

All very very busy now with the final preparations for tomorrow's event. Wrote to Stormhoek to see if there are any possibilities there, especially with another Cork blogger dinner coming up. Jay-Z, who stopped drinking and endorsing Cristal, has found a new, exclusive, and shinily packaged champagne with an ace of spades on it. Q. What do Motorhead and Jay-Z have in common? Here's Decanter's report.

Technorati tags: Stormhoek, champagne, Cork blogger dinner, Lemmy

Our visitors at the Big Wine Event, pt 2

2006-10-20T11:38:00.000+01:00

I'm doing this from home at dial-up speed, so the post isn't as linktastic and colourful as usual, sorry. Come and meet Erik Banti (previous post) and these gentlemen on Tuesday and try their wines. Tickets still available for our Big Wine Event from Austin in the English Market, and from the Wine Depot. Bit late for posting tickets I should think.

Jean-Marie Rimbert, Domaine Rimbert, Berlou, France

My first understanding of what Bubble Brothers were all about came through the overwhelming experience of a bottle of M. Rimbert's Mas au Schiste fairly soon after I joined the business. It's not an overstatement to call this a cult wine, and I have no hesitation from vintage to vintage in recommending it to anyone who enjoys red wine. It's one of those wines where the cost is identifiably worth it. Rather like Bubble Brothers, Domaine Rimbert has had to make a brand out of itself, with no famous heritage to trade on and only the quality of the goods to judge by.

M. Rimbert is an entirely hands-on winemaker, and his sense of humour makes dealing with the Domaine and selling his wines a pleasure. It will be an honour to meet him. It's not every day my communications with France contain much scope for language outside the strictly commercial, so the punning names and humorous labels of the Rimbert wines are a blast of fresh air, and suggest an approach to life that fits very well with the sociable character of the wines.

I'm hoping M. Rimbert will manage to bring some samples with him - my latest order will be arriving in Cork just a few hours too late - so that we might get the chance to taste the Carignator, the very mighty Carignan that comes out at nearly fortified strength and simply demands something like roast boar as an accompaniment.

Pablo de las Heras, Bodegas Pingón, Ribera del Duero, Spain

We have enjoyed considerable success with our wines from the Ribera del Duero in northern central Spain. They offer a style generally plumper and richer than Riojas, but at better prices and with a similar grading from young reds to crianzas to reservas. Pablo de las Heras has been an enthusiastic and friendly correspondent: I am especially grateful to him for telling me to stop apologizing for always being too busy! Pablo will be presenting three of the 'Carramimbre' range from Bodegas Pingón: the young wine and crianza that we stock already, and also the premium reserva grade, which is new to us, and which should be just marvellous. A perfect special bottle Christmas present.

Brett Fleming, representing Yering Station and Mount Langi Ghiran

In a previous post, I mentioned the visit of Brett to the Wine Depot earlier in the year. Since then, we have worked with him to add to our range some new Australian wines from the portfolio he represents. On Tuesday, you will be able to try an inexpensive but fabulous Pinot Noir and Shiraz-Viognier from Yering Station in the Yarra Valley, and perhaps their corresponding Chardonnay - so new, we've had to ask Brett to bring samples in his luggage!

We'll also be very proud to show off a trio of uncompromising (-ly moreish) Shiraz wines from Mount Langi Ghiran, which are not to be sneezed at, despite astonishingly focused black pepper character that proves terroir isn't just for Europe.

A representative of Chanoine Frères will also be joining us,

to show off not only the Tsarine champagne that was enjoyed by Michael and Niamh Flatley's guests last weekend, but also the Chanoine-labelled brut and brut rosé, which are very delicious and more affordable. It'll be a treat to welcome a champagne supplier and get up to date with all the latest in the world of bubbly.

Technorati tags: Rimbert, wine, tasting, Bodegas Pingon, Chanoine, champagne,Tsarine, Yering, Langi Ghiran,

Erik Banti, 'The Viking' is coming to Cork

2006-10-16T16:52:00.000+01:00

I'll try, while time remains, to introduce as many as possible of the overseas guests we are expecting at our Big Wine Event on Tuesday. First up, Erik Banti from Tuscany, who'll be showing three wines we do stock and probably a couple we don't. He also makes some stratospherically delicious vintage olive oil, which is worth its high price. Here are some bits and pieces gleaned from the www.

First of all, thanks very much indeed to Per at BK Wines, who graciously allowed me to use a photo from his website until we can snap some of our own on Tuesday - let's hope Donal's feelin' trigger-happy! The BK website is well worth a look if you are at all interested in wine, and there's plenty available there as RSS too, including a newsblog - count me in - and a wine picture blog as well. Also some very tempting wine tours of France and Portugal.

This, from www.erikbanti.com:

The passion for wine is in Erik Banti's blood. As a child on his father's farm, La Braccesca, in Montepulciano, he watched with wide-eyed wonder as the grown-ups worked in the vineyard and bottled the resulting nectar. A few years on, as an economics student, Erik drove racing cars and played golf, collecting Italian awards and prizes on the race-track and the putting green. Later, as a photographer, he worked for Vogue and National Geographic, and was a favourite on the film sets of Fellini and Zeffirelli. Still later, now a travel agent, he was the first to discover the Maldives and other exotic paradise islands.

Laughing all the way to the (bottle) bank

A thousand passions, a thousand professions, using all his energy. But as a wise man said, "When the ground shakes beneath your feet go back to your roots". So one day, tired of queues and traffic lights, Erik returned to his roots, to his first passion: he moved into his property in Maremma and opened a restaurant in the medieval Montemerano house, which would be a benchmark for local culture and traditions for years. Above all, in 1981, Erik corked the first bottle of his own Morellino, a wine as yet unknown outside its local area, which would astonish the world thanks to the strong-willed "Viking", as they call him around here.
Erik has come a long way since then, and so has his Morellino. His vineyards stretch over hectares of land perfectly suited to growing fine wines. The layers of arenaceous rocks fragmented by mining guarantee perfect drainage for the vineyards, promoting excellent growth of the vines.

Emilio Guarigli

and a couple of links from Google:

this one has some great recipes, and this one is from Enoteca de Rham - "the premier agent of outstanding boutique wineries throughout Italy"

Though I'm really looking forward to meeting Mr Banti, notice I'm not pimping the goods too much. I think you should come along on Tuesday and taste for yourselves. Get yer tickets here.

Technorati tags: Erik Banti, wine, wine blogs, Morellino

Taittinger may leave cork behind

2006-10-16T16:15:00.000+01:00

Corks! Spittoon brought to my attention this story suggesting that big champagne house Taittinger is thinking of putting a stop to stoppering its wines with cork.

Technorati tags: cork, champagne, Taittinger

Big Wine Event free tickets

2006-10-14T16:21:00.000+01:00

I forgot to mention this - my apologies.

All ten free tickets for the Big Wine Event have been snapped up.

You can buy as many as you like, though, and you do get your tenner back when you subsequently buy a case from us.

Flaw in the carpet

2006-10-14T15:17:00.000+01:00

The title links to a Canadian post that very eloquently saves my explaining, I hope, what I mean.

As you may know, when I'm in the shop I will try to sell you wine from Château Jouclary without paying much attention to what you've asked for, whether it's directions to the olive stall or a magnum of champagne. I think all three wines we buy from Pascal Gianesini at the Château are delicious and really great value, as well as being wines that people who 'don't like French wine' like. The reason they're so widely accepted is because the Cabardès appellation requires its wines to be made with both 'Atlantic' grapes and 'Mediterranean' ones; meaning, as far as the old Jouclary is concerned, you get a happy marriage of lots of soft, plummy Merlot with more gutsy, spicy Syrah and Grenache. The newly arrived 2004 vintage has just a tickle more peppery grip than the plumptuous 2003, which went like hot cakes. Best of both worlds, in short, in my view.

Anyway, didn't one of our good customers here at the Wine Depot finally succumb to my insistence that this was the elixir of eternal youth, &c., only for the word (and an unopened second bottle) to come back to me: this had turned out to not be the good stuff at all, at all, grave disappointment, you get my drift, from three separate tasters round the same table.

I can only suppose - the remaining contents of the offender had been poured away - that this was one of those rare but unfortunate instances of a 'bad' bottle. Please let me know what you think of the Jouclary Tradition 2004. Go out and get some from Austin in the English Market, or from me here at HQ, and report back below - if you're in the market for a great bottle of red wine for twelve euro, that is.

It bears repeating that if you have a bottle of wine that's not right (actively not nice, as opposed to just not to your taste), keep it and return it, insofaras this is practical, to the place you bought it, whether it's Bubble Brothers or anyone else.

I'd rather know, and will replace the bad bottle. More and more - most - wine retailers are realizing that this is the way to do things, so don't be shy to talk to us (them).

Choose your words to me carefully if it's the Jouclary, though... That bad bottle just reinforces my view that this is a handmade, real-deal wine very near to the divine. By the way, I hadn't tried our Extremaduran crianza, the Heredad de Barros, for a while, and did so last weekend. It's marvellously smooth and suggestive, and fabulous value compared to some of the big-brand Spanish reds. Find out what I mean at our Big Wine Event. I could drink it till the cows come home and I recommend it, but until further notice, the Jouclary's top of the list for me. What about you?

Technorati tags: Jouclary, corked, artisan wine, Extremadura

Congratulations, Mr and Mrs Flatley

2006-10-14T13:32:00.000+01:00

Get Your Own! | View Slideshow

Technorati tags: Michael Flatley, Niamh O'Brien, wedding, Tsarine, champagne

What pumpkins are really for

2006-10-13T15:48:00.000+01:00

Every so often I present a wine tasting in Brennan’s Cook School, on the top floor of Brennan’s Catering shop near the Parnell Square end of Oliver Plunkett St. A very nice set-up it is, with the kitchen laid out much as a classic television cookery programme set, but with mirrors so you can see into the pots from a comfy seat. There is a wide choice of cookery courses - both practical and observational – for all age groups. It is in occurrence with the ‘Taste of Cork’ evenings that I do tastings, but very much as support to the food. We pick a number of wines to accompany specific dishes prepared and demonstrated on the night by various luminaries of Cork’s restaurant scene.

On Wednesday past, Denis Cotter of Café Paradiso cooked five scrumptious dishes, three of which were built around the very seasonal pumpkin. What a dose of joy! I don’t think we use enough pumpkin in Ireland, a situation very soon to be rectified in my kitchen at least. Ingredients included Nohoval chillies, kale, leeks, West Cork Gabriel cheese, Cratloe sheeps cheese (and many more).

Shameless plug...to upgrade pumpkin dish from “Joy” to “Rapture”, accompany with Mas des Bressades Cuveé Tradition Blanc, available from all good English Market Bubble Brothers outlets.

Austin @ The Market.

Technorati tags: pumpkin, cookery, food, Café Paradiso, Brennan's

Wedding Champagne

2006-10-13T09:44:00.000+01:00

It looks as though the papers are spilling the beans this morning, so I don't suppose there's any harm in our being explicit about it either: Mr Flatley of the imminent nuptials has had the excellent good taste to choose a champagne from Bubble Brothers for his guests tomorrow. It's one of the exquisite Tsarine champagnes from Chanoine, the second oldest house in Champagne. Fair play to himself for working with a local merchant - local people for the whole do in general - when other options were plainly open to him. I'll post again tomorrow, but our best wishes kinda go without saying.

Technorati tags: Michael Flatley, champagne, Tsarine, wedding, CastleHyde

Pink Pink Fizz

2006-10-11T12:11:00.000+01:00

Our search for the perfect Prosecco has proved fruitless so far - no pun intended - but on the way, we've discovered this pink frizzante from the north of Italy. It's made from Raboso, so it's not Prosecco, but if we informally call it a pink Prosecco, I hope you'll get the general idea without anyone sending the lawyers in.

Love at first slurp - it's such cheerful drinking there's no point in doing a big analysis. This is happy fizz, dry but not too dry, full of strawberry fruit and smooth effervescence, and it'll cost about twelve euro a bottle when we put it up on the site and in our shops. Austin in the English Market should have it in stock by Saturday this week.

You will be able to try it at the Big Wine Event on the 24th October in the Clarion, Cork.

Technorati tags: Raboso, Prosecco, rosé, fizz, frizzante

Champion Riesling from Brightwater

2006-10-10T09:44:00.000+01:00

Hot off the press, for fans of what many wine buffs think the noblest white grape of them all. I've just got an e-mail from Valley Neale of Brightwater Vineyards, our New Zealand supplier, with the following good news:

Here is a photo of Gary accepting the trophy for the Champion Riesling at the Liquorland Top 100 Wine Awards held in Auckland last Friday night.

This is an international competition open to all wines marketed in New Zealand and is judged by an panel of 22 international judges including Nick Bulleind MW (Aust) and Phil Reedman MW (UK).

About 1500 wines from New Zealand, Australia, France, Italy, Spain etc were entered and only 77 gold medals were awarded. Only 4 of those golds were for Riesling of which 2 went to Brightwater Vineyards.

Brightwater Vineyards completely dominated this class by winning the Champion Riesling Trophy, 2 gold medals for 2006 Riesling and 2006 Dry Riesling and the Best Value Award for the 2006 Riesling (despite being the most expensive Riesling to win gold or silver!)

Of course we're delighted for the Neales, and we'll have to set about deciding on our next order before all of this wonder-wine is snapped up. In the meantime, dear readers, treat yerselves with a bottle of the 2005 and look forward to the arrival of the golden 2006!

This is probably a good time to point out that we have just received our first shipment of Brightwater's lusty Full-Bodied Pinot Noir - so new, I haven't put it up on the site yet. If you want to be an early bird, though, we do have a couple of cases down here at the Marina. Full details from the usual contact.

Technorati tags: Brightwater, Riesling, Liquorland, Pinot Noir, congratulations, gold medal

More Big Wine Event

2006-10-09T15:29:00.000+01:00

We're booking our overseas guests in to their accommodation, we've got what ought to be some very welcome post-event eatin' lined up at the Ivory Tower, and we're doing our best to make sure everyone comes along on the day to try the wines we're so proud of. All those of you who can, please tell the fellow members of your micro-miniature-gauge railway modelling associations, crochet clubs, poetry circles &c. &c. to dust off the charabanc and get ready for a lively - and yet so civilized - evening out.

Also, and joking apart, this will be an ideal opportunity for club secretaries to organize a winning night out with next to no effort, as well as a chance for those responsible for corporate thank-yous and so on to wrap up a good chunk of the seasonal challenge in one go.

You can now get a look at the wines on offer when you follow the 'buy a ticket' link on our homepage. The picture of the ticket links to a .pdf list of the wines we expect to show.

I'm refraining from comment on the Fermoy bypass as much as possible, but I have to say I'm one feckless troglodyte subclass fare-dodger who's really looking forward to enjoying the magnificent 300 yard stand of Olearia just outside Watergrasshill when it comes into flower. The road less travelled and all that.

Technorati tags: wine, tasting, Fermoy bypass

A change from trampling grapes

2006-10-05T17:39:00.000+01:00

I had an e-mail from Sébastien Gimenez of Vinitrio, one of our Languedoc suppliers, from whom we buy the Fréderic Corpel wines some of you may know. He and Fred are running in the New York Marathon in November. Try out them translation buttons:

Chers fournisseurs, chers agents, chers clients, chers amis, maman,

Vous ne le savez peut-être pas encore mais après un essai concluant au Marathon de Paris 2006, l'équipe Vinitrio (Frédéric & Sébastien) participera ce dimanche 5 novembre 2006 au grand Marathon de New York.

Evidemment en vue de grandes performances nous avons besoin de votre soutien.

Ce soutien qui ne peut-être :
moral, tant nous serons loin lors de cette épreuve,
ni matériel, à moins que quelques bonnes âmes ne se décident à nous tricoter des maillots
pourra être financier, alors voila ce que nous vous proposons :

...and he goes on to make an amusingly presumptuous offer I think we shall accept. I'd really like to see him join in and blog about it here, but perhaps with only a month to go the gallant Vinitrio team have other things on their minds.

Technorati tags: marathon, Corpel, Vinitrio

Blogtastic

2006-10-05T15:05:00.000+01:00

You may recall my mentioning our

BIG WINE EVENT

on TUESDAY the 24th OCTOBER in the CLARION HOTEL, CORK

between 5 and 10pm

There'll be a hundred or so wines to taste, visiting suppliers from France, Spain, Italy and Australia, bags, boxes and exclusive glassware, mighty entertainment altogether &c. &c.

I suspect I may have hinted at a deal for bloggers - well, here it is.

Ten free tickets - one per person please!

Buy your ticket on our website, enter the coupon code

241006blogtastic

when you check out, and you ought to get your ticket free, gratis and for nothing.

If it doesn't work, let me know - the guinea-piggery on your part is your side of the deal, as I try out hitherto unexplored bits of our webshop.

An element of blogospheric fair-play and decency is required here, please (I reserve the right to investigate &c. if I get the feeling I'm sending half a dozen tickets to the same person) in deference to the amount of knowledge and time I have to spare on making the offer available at all.

Technorati tags: free ticket, Big Wine Event, tasting, wine

Domaine Aonghusa - Irish wine

2006-10-05T14:39:00.000+01:00

It's all happening here at the moment, but I just wanted to follow up my post about the flying visit of Pat Neville from Domaine Aonghusa in the Corbières, because i) he's just sent an e-mail, ii) in it he pointed me to his new website, to which the post title links, and iii) I very much look forward to his becoming a contributing member of this blog and giving us a how-the-harvest-went post in the near future.

Technorati tags: Aonghusa, Pat Neville, wine, Corbières, suppliers

English Market Shop

2006-10-03T18:05:00.000+01:00

Hi All,

Some of you may know me as I am he who grins in the Bubble Brothers English Market Wine Shop from Tuesday to Saturday.

Very happy to be joining the blogging scene, on which I will endeavour to inform and entertain. I’m lucky to be exposed to many like-minded people in the shop. I’m even luckier to be exposed to people who leave me with cherished moments, such as a kind lady from Oregon last week who bought a Chardonnay from the Loire Valley. She was very keen to taste it as she “never knew that they’d got Chardonnay in France”.

All bloggers welcome online and in the shop!

Austin

Fire extinguisher

2006-10-03T16:13:00.000+01:00

Nicely busy here at the moment, he said, not without understatement.

Just a quick post to thank all those of you who have been so kind as to comment on the Culpeo wines served at BarCampIreland on Saturday. From doing what I could to spy in on proceedings electronically, I am very sorry I couldn't attend. Lots to think about. And, of course, I'm very happy the wine went down well. I'll make sure Juan Oyarzun at La Fortuna knows this.

On another matter, with reference to our Big Wine Event on Tuesday 24th October in the Clarion hotel in Cork, we are almost certain to be welcoming Jean-Marie Rimbert,

maker of Le Mas au Schiste, our - cult is not too strong a word - red wine from St-Chinian in the Languedoc. His website is being revamped at the moment, but it's bound to be worth a look when it's back.

We're also looking forward to the visit of a representative of one of our bigger champagne suppliers, Chanoine Frères. Oh, did I mention we're selling some champagne and wine to a soon-to-be-wed celebrity dancer and North Cork resident? Chanoine champagne, as it happens. Come along on the 24th and try for yourself the wine that cools the feet of flames.

Technorati tags: BarCampIreland, wine, tasting, winemaker, visitor, Big Wine Event, Michael Flatley, wedding

BarCampIreland Culpeo Syrah

2006-09-30T13:26:00.000+01:00

I hope everyone is having a great day at BarCampIreland, and I'm sorry I'm not able to get along. Anyway, it's about lunchtime, so please let me know what you think of the Culpeo Syrah, if that's, so to speak, your poison. Non-drinkers may like to contribute eavesdroppings.

Technorati tags: BarCampIreland, Culpeo, La+Fortuna, wine

BarCampIreland Culpeo Sauvignon Blanc

2006-09-30T13:17:00.000+01:00

I hope everyone is having a great day at BarCampIreland, and I'm sorry I'm not able to get along. Anyway, it's about lunchtime, so please let me know what you think of the Culpeo Sauvignon Blanc, if that's, so to speak, your poison. Non-drinkers may like to contribute eavesdroppings.

Technorati tags: BarCampIreland, Culpeo, La+Fortuna, wine

Localizing Beaujolais nouveau - again

2006-09-28T11:03:00.002+01:00

Yet another e-mail flogging Beauj. nouv. arrived just now.

I can't help thinking that slipping a few bob to the local TEFL school could easily put a stop to this sort of thing, which might be thought quaint, but, sure as eggs is eggs, is not going to tempt me to buy wine:

Red fruits aromas, a fresh flavour lightly fruity.

Many assets which enable it to be tasted chilled accompanied by a dish of pork-butchery or at any hour of the day, for the pleasure.

Do not wait - Let yourself be seduced !

Technorati tags: wine marketing, TEFL, Beaujolais+nouveau, localization