In vino felicitas?

 

The Drinks Business (DB) published an article recently (18 March 2024) entitled Scientists prove drinking good wine ‘makes you happier’.

The scientists to whom the article alluded did no such thing

Heaven on earth...

Well, it's been a long time since I attended a wine tasting so how nice that the first was the Pembroke Wine's showing of Hamilton Russell wines from Hemel-en-Aarde in South Africa (pictured above on the 2004 IMW trip). With both Anthony and Olive in attendance, this promised to be an excellent way to get back into the tasting game.

Let’s all bitch about wine, or is that whine about bitch?

This meme appeared on my Facebook newsfeed some time ago – If you’ve never had a Supreme Court case decide if you have the same rights as others, you have privilege. This is so true, and a very simple explanation of what privilege is. Recently, I saw a post on Tim Atkin’s site in relation to wine bitch, something of which I had never heard. This led to two other articles, by Vinka Danitza, (who I don’t know and have never met. Finally, I was sent the four so-called wine bitch articles and the whole thing is quite depressing. 

Singing for your supper...

People like me often have to sing for our supper and recently I had a great time at a wine dinner hosted by The Royal Irish Yacht Club (RIYC) on 18th October, 2018. Many of my best customers in The Wine Library are RIYC members and I also have a few friends therein!

And the bad news is...

A study was recently published by The Lancet in relation to alcohol-related harms and it shows that there is no safe minimum level of alcohol consumption - bad news for wine drinkers! Or is it? The study is extensive and has lots of data (although the copy I found online in the above link does not contain the appendices) but there are some questions about the findings.

Ignorance is bliss

There is an old joke which defines an economist as someone who finds something which works in practice and then spends their life trying to prove it will work in theory. This definition could be used for those who predict wonderful/appalling outcomes for Brexit – we won’t really know the effects until well after March 2019.

However, there are a few things which we can certainly posit with some degree of certainty and one of those is that, whatever transition deal is made between the UK and the EU it is likely to cause the cost of wine to rise rather than fall. Why?

Yet more on minimum pricing

Recently a colleague posted a piece on Facebook about how annoyed they were that Lidl was selling a Muscadet for €3.99, down (allegedly) from €7.99, and wondered about the "plonk inside the bottle". However, I noticed at once that this is a wine imported into Ireland by The Wicklow Wine Company and was able to assure her that it is a good wine. But WWC sells the wine for €14.70 so how is it a) selling for €3.99 and b) was it ever €7.99 to begin with?

It’s such a headache…

It is not uncommon for people to walk into a shop and ask for a zero-sulfur wine, frequently claiming that sulfur in wines gives them a headache. Now, no wines are sulfur free as sulfur (or sulfur-based compounds) are formed during fermentation; when this is explained, then they ask for a “low-sulfur” wine. At this point, if you want to annoy the questioner, simply ask them for a number: what is a low-sulfur level? They will never be able to answer you because they have no idea what they are talking about. Fun, huh?

Paid to proselytise.... or planes, trains, more trains, a bus and even more trains and a car....

I am a lucky man - I've said it before and I'll say it again at some stage. I've just spent two great days teaching WSET Level 4 Diploma students in Belgium and Holland about Australia. Getting here was tricky but, after some wild train rides all across Holland I made to Antwerp Sunday evening (13th Nov. 2016) and the following morning had the first of two classes.

Rock’n’roll blues, or a rose by any other name…

The terminology of wine tasting is notoriously loose and ill-defined and this can cause problems when so-called experts (i.e. geeks like me) try to explain what a wine is like to a normal person (i.e. you!). What seems like a useful term within the trade can be confusing (or even off-putting) to a lot of consumers. One such term, which became fashionable about 12 years ago, is “minerality”. What is this “minerality” of which we speak? As it happens, even the great and good aren’t so sure…

My first published chapter...

It's not that much, really, just an outsider's view of a research project in which I had some involvement some years back. The book is called Applications of Ultrasound in the Beverage Industry and is almost ready for publication.The project relates to using ultrasound to try to hasten the ageing of wine. They also used my photo, shown here, for the cover!

The apparent price of wine...

A few weeks ago John Wilson wrote a piece for the IrishTimes in relation to the price of wine in Ireland vis-à-vis other countries. In it, he stated that generally wine in Ireland is more expensive than other markets and he used Sweden, Canada, Australia, France, Denmark and the UK as comparators.

While it made decent reading I would take issue with a number of aspects – John failed to take into account economies of scale, different trade channels as well as not really looking at a simple question – is wine more or less expensive in Ireland now than ever before?

Thank you so very much....

A trip like this is a costly thing, for all concerned. Every MW on the trip paid GBP 750 to be there as well as flights to and from Australia. Our sponsors in Australia all paid varying sums of money to cover wines, venues, food etc. There’s also the cost of time off work and away from family. Since we have paid we have a right to be critical of the wines we taste and what we hear but that in no way diminishes our gratitude to our hosts. 

When you’re in the dark don’t strike a match

In which I explain my views on some trends and why they may not be important.

Along the way we were given a list of new trends, which was essentially a buzzword bingo lexicon. Cooler sites, early picking, natural acidity, good sulfites, reductive handling, struck match and so on – a range of phrases representing the current trends in relation to new wine styles in Australia.

At last we're on duty...

The Institute of Masters of Wine Australia Trip 2015 started off on a lovely Sunday morning with breakfast at the Sydney Opera house.

The views are stunning and we were treated to a lovely breakfast there, some scene-setting presentations and then a range of tastings designed to show, as briefly as possible, what Australia is all about.

A good start is...

So, once breakfast and emails etc were done and dusted I met up with a good mate ad the day started with a Jasper Hill George's Paddock 2004 and a J. J. Prum Wehlener Sonnenuhr Spatlese 2004. Mmmm both seriously good. From there on to a great bottle shop called 5 Ways to taste some yummy Yarra whites and reds.

 

From there onto The Waterman's in Pott's Point for lobster rolls and an interesting roussanne and a funky nebbiolo, before moving to Aki's for some gorgeous indian food (goat curry) with a Tassie sparkler and a Gamay!

Along the way some lovely beers and great chat. Honestly, it is work...

How many Hawaiian shirts can you pack?

#MWOz2015 - well, the trip has started as I type this little piece in the departures lounge of Dublin airport on a beautifully sunny day. The suitcase is full of Hawaiian shirts (the dress code is smart casual) and we have a breakfast alert: the trip starts with a 6 course breakfast at the Sydney Opera House at 08:30 Sydney time. Which means a lot of disappointed English MWs having to taste fine Australian wine on the day they exit the Rugby World Cup! Unless, of course, they can win...

Countdown to Australia

On the 1st of October 2015 yours truly will get on a Qantas plane and fly to Sydney. Why? Because I'm taking part in the Institute of Masters of Wine's Australia Trip. This is an intense, hectic trip, more or less non-stop for 12 days - you can view the itinerary to see exactly how gruelling it will be. Cricket on the beach? That's the way you do it, wine for nothing and your wines for free...

Exercised about Excise...

The June 2015 issue of Shelflife has an article which claims that "Irish wine consumers pay 624% more excise than their fellow Europeans". Now claims like this are always sensational, especially when used to back up a case - assuming, of course, that the figure is correct. Which it is, isn't it?

Let's keep Good Friday good!

To start, let me remind all my readers that this is my personal blog and represents my opinions only. I heard a part of an interview on Good Friday last between Mr Adrian Cummins of the Restaurant Association of Ireland (RAI) and one of the lunchtime news presenters on RTÉ Radio 1. Mt Cummins was presenting a case for the removal of the ban on selling alcohol on Good Friday; when the presenter pointed out “You’ll make the money yesterday and tomorrow, won’t you?”