The Corkscrew Winter Wine Fair

One of my favourite things to do of a day or evening is to attend a wine fair. If you've never been, what usually happens is... a wine retailer hires a room in a hotel or function room in a restaurant/pub, and displays his/her wares for all to sample.

Typically there can be as many as a hundred wines open for tasting. You can get absolutely steamboats if you wish, or pretend you are a pro and spit everything you taste into a spitoon. It's a great way of trying wines that you've never tasted before without commiting to purchasing a bottle. It's also a good way of finding another producer of a variety you are already familiar and happy with.

The best thing of all is that all tastings at these events are free, you just pay a nominal entry fee.

Which leads me nicely onto a wine fair which is happening this weekend in the salubrious surroundings of The Westbury Hotel off Grafton St in Dublin City Centre, and which I will be attending.

One of my favourite wines shops - The Corkscrew, based on Chatham St - are holding their annual fair, with all proceeds going to Cheeverstown charity.


When: Sunday Nov 14th
Time: 1-6pm
Where: The Westbury, Dublin 2
€: 25 bucks



Have a look at the 2 flyers, and feel free to pass them on to anyone who might be interested in heading along.  You can buy tickets (€25) online here or drop into the shop on Chatham st to get one.

See you there!

Puglian Wines hit the shelves and Parker Points

The wines of Leone de Castris (which I wrote about here), imported exclusively by Retrovino, are now available in a number of Dublin city centre locations including The Corkscrew on Chatham St, and Fallon & Byrne on Exchequer St. Both shops now stock the 2006 Salice Salentino 50° Riserva and the 2008 Primitivo di Manduria "Villa Santera".  The Salice Salentino "Maiana" is available across from Fallon & Byrne in Dylan McGrath's new restaurant Rustic Stone.

The Corkscrew have also launched a fantastic new website which I think you'll agree look particularly slick. You can follow their tweats @corkscrewnation

In other new ....Recently posted on "eRobertParker.com", Wine Advocate issue n. 189/ June 2010 included the article "The Best of Southern and Central Italy" by the prestigious sommelier Antonio Galloni.

The….

-         “Villa Santera” Primitivo di Manduria DOC ’09

-         “Messapia” Verdeca IGT ’09 (on the Market)

...have obtained the same Score (90 points) on “eRobertParker.com” issue n.190/August 2010.

eRobertParker.com has posted  Wine Advocate Issue #190/ August 2010. This Press Update includes the article “Italy's Finest Values” by Antonio Galloni.

Please find Galloni’s introductory comments and wine reviews below.

LEONE DE CASTRIS

“If these wines are any indication, recently arrived consulting oenologist Riccardo Cotarella is having a profound impact on quality at Leone de Castris.”

Leone de Castris Primitivo di Manduria Villa Santera 2009 – 90 points

“The 2009 Primitivo di Manduria Villa Santera is a joyous red bursting with varietal character. Dark fruit, licorice, clovers and flowers emerge with lovely inner sweetness, adding complexity to the dense, expressive fruit.”

Leone de Castris Verdeca Bianco Messapia 2009 – 90 points

“The 2009 Verdeca Bianco Messapia is one of the finest wines I have tasted from Puglia. Bright citrus, lime peel and flowers come together beautifully in this rich, textured white. The balance here is simply beautiful. Verdeca, thought to be of Greek origin, is one of the many ancient varieties that are being rediscovered in southern Italy.”

RetroVino Wines at Rustic Stone

After a year long haitus after the demise of his Michelin starred restaurant Mint, chef Dylan McGrath opens his new restaurant Rustic Stone, on Dublin's Georges St next week (Tuesday 24th August).

Dylan's previous restaurant, Mint, was hailed as one of the most exciting places to eat in the country. It received many accolades, among them; a Michelin star, Food and Wine best chef and best wine list, hotel and a catering gold award for excellence. It was the only restaurant, besides Restaurant Patrick Guilbaud, to receive 2 stars in Georgina Campbell’s guide.

Dylan has been working extremely hard over the last few months with his new team creating an original concept that maintains his own distinctive innovative style and creativity, but at a price that is affordable and accessible to everyone. “At Rustic Stone our philosophy is simple”, said Dylan, “we source the best seasonal ingredients available, apply simple techniques to extract the best flavour and at the same time we give the customer the information they require to add nutrition and structure to their diet”.

Rustic Stone is a new casual dining, contemporary restaurant which will deliver on the flavours Dylan is so passionate about but without the formality he previously would have been associated with.

"My new "rustic" idea will add some real nutritional goodness to everyday dining", said Dylan, " In today's health conscience society so many of us try to be careful with what we eat which sparked the initiative in me to try to create a fresh, new menu which combines amazing flavours with nutritious food", he said.

Rustic Stone is also adopting an old Spanish technique which is still quite new in Ireland. Customers will be served their meat or fish dishes on a hot volcanic stone which they cook themselves. This method adds an element of theatre to the meal yet at the same time adds to customer preference allowing them to have their dish cooked exactly how they like it.

Also on the menu is a list of salads and dressings carefully chosen by Dylan which is left to the customers to add and mix themselves. Along with these salads will be a choice of new and unique side orders which are packed full of flavour. Dylan is particularly excited with his new range of sugar free cocktails and desserts which he has created specifically for Rustic Stone.

Best of all, Italian wines from the RetroVino portfolio will be available at Rustic Stone.  There will be also a handfull of well sourced French and Portuguese wines.  Look out for Pieve de Pitti "Cerretello" and "Aprilante" as well as a sumptuous Salice Salentino "Maiana" from Leone de Castris in Puglia. 

Rustic Stone is located on 17 South Great Georges Street and will officially open to the public on Tuesday the 24th of August. The restaurant will open for lunch from 12pm to 2:30pm and for dinner from 5:30pm to 11pm. For more information you can visit www.rusticstone.ie

RetroVino Q&A on SourGrapes.ie

The latest in the "Intojuicing" series from Lar Veale's sourgrapes.ie sees a Q&A with Colly Murray of RetroVino.

Click here for details...

Sunday Tribune Article

Lar Veale of sourgrapes.ie and wine editor @ The Sunday Tribune has penciled a review of Cerretello, Aprilante and Tribiana from Pieve de Pitti in yesterday's edition of the paper...
Click on the tumbnail for enlarged version...

New 2010 Italian Wine Portfolio

I realise that we're almost halfway through the year already, but I've just gotten around to updating my online portfolio of Italian wines on www.retrovino.com. My new year starts during the Summer months as RV was set up in the Summer of 2009. The following wines arrive just in time to kick it off.

So, what's new?

A fine selection of Piemontese Barolo, Barbaresco & Barbera from Oddero, Conterno Fantino and Guidobono. A new Chianti Classico from Fattoria Campoperi. 2 Brunelli & a Rosso di Montalcino from Col D'Orcia in Tuscany. Some classic Venetian wine in the form of Valpolicella, Amarone, Soave from Cantina di Negrar. There are also wines from Silicy, Umbri, Abruzzo and Emilia Romagna.

Have a quick look here. As always, I would be delighted to hear your feedback.

I'm currently working on making the regions and producer lists load dynamically, to alleviate some of the busyness of the page. Its a bit of a eyefull at the moment. A nice bit JQuery should sort that all out!

The Sunday Tribune Wine Section by Lar Veale

Before you tuck into your brunch this Sunday, leggit down to the shops and pick up a copy of The Sunday Tribune and check out Lar Veale's article about Pieve de Pitti wines - available in Ireland via RetroVino.

A little birdie tells me that Cerretello (Chianti Superiore), Tribiana & Aprilante (both white Toscana IGT) will be featured.

If you have stumbled across this post after 25/4/10 then see sourgrapes.ie where you are sure to find the afforementioned article!

New Arrivals - Leone de Castris

Besides Primitivo, Apulia’s other major grape variety is Negroamaro. In many aspects, Negroamaro is the exact opposite of Primitivo. It ripens notoriously late, producing wines that are high in acidity and with nervy tannins but not very deeply coloured, with less sensual fruit than Primitivo. While Negroamaro can be harnessed to make some attractive unoaked, early-drinking, fruit-focused modern wines, its major interest in the past have been its ageworthy versions released after years of cask ageing, not in their primary youth but in the glory of their balsamic tertiary evolution. Aged Salice Salentino, the best appellation for this style of wine have been some of the best wines of Italy’s Meridione.

Salice Salentino, a small village in Salento rich in vineyards and olive groves, is the landscape giving life to the Leone de Castris wine tradition. New vines have been planted over the years: Chardonnay, Pinot, Sauvignon, Cabernet, Merlot, Montepulciano, going together with the traditional ones: Negroamaro, Malvasia nera, Verdeca, Bianco d'Alessano, Moscato, Aleatico, Primitivo.

The Winery’s production is very rich: red, white and rosé DOC wines (Salice Salentino, Locorotondo, Copertino, Primitivo di Manduria), interesting IGT Salento and Puglia wines, sparkling rosé and white wines; a distillate and an extra-virgin olive oil.

RetroVino will be importing two Primitivos; an IGT and a DOC from Manduria as well as my personal favourites, the Salice Salentino "Maiana", and the 50th Anniversary Salice Salentino Riserva. The Five Roses Rosata (Rosé) which was the first rosé bottled in Italy in 1943 will also be making an appearance on the Irish market. Lets hope we have the weather to relish it!