Learning about Wine at Ballymaloe Cookery School
The students had one of the most entertaining wine talks ever presented at the cookery school, with Bernard Georges, Export Director of Georges Duboeuf, Beaujolais.
Bernard gave a masterclass on the Beaujolais wine region, and introduced the students to a selection of wines from Georges Duboeuf.
Our thanks to Peter Corr, Febvre & Co Wine Merchants for organising this visit, pictured with Bernard Georges, and Darina Allen. 
Bernard Georges, Darina Allen and Peter Corr
The Cazes family, who own Chateau Lynch Bages, Pauillac, Bordeaux, also run and own a number of other well known wine properties, including Chateau Villa Bel Air in the Graves region, Bordeaux. Florent introduced the students to some of his wines with a tutored tasting, Â and our thanks to Colin Downey of Barry & Fitzwilliam for arranging this visit.
  Rachel Allen with Florent Cazaux and Colin Downey
John McDonnell, Manager, Wine Australia Ireland, presented a masterclass on Australian Wine to the students, with a tutored tasting which included:
 Sauvignon/Semillon from Margaret River, Western Australia
Riesling from Clare Valley, South Australia
Pinot Noir from Tasmania
Multi-regional Shiraz
A classic ‘Cordon Cut’ sweet Riesling from Clare Valley.
Clare Valley, in South Australia, has strong links with Ireland, having being named after Co. Clare, where John and Family live in beautiful Ballyvaughan.
John, pictured presenting the fantastic Wine Australia educational programme, ‘From the Grape to the Glass’ with the students having to choose from the options available with regard to classic Australian wine styles – the wine pictured is Clare Valley Riesling. www.wineaustralia.com for more details on this.
Our thanks and appreciation to John for once again another fantastic presentation to the students, and thanks to John for his time, on which was a busy day for him, travelling onwards to London after his talk at Shanagarry, to a wine presentation in London that evening.
For further events around the country organised by John from Wine Australia, look out for regular updates on Ireland’s wine diary on www.jeansmullen.com
Wine Dinner  Thursday 24th February
Tom Portet, Winemaker with legendary Australian winery, Penfold’s, will visit Ireland in February to host wine dinners at two of Ireland’s leading food-lovers’ venues.
Tom comes from 10 generations of winemakers and so wine is truly in his blood. Growing up in Victoria, Tom honed his craft alongside his father Dominique, a winemaker from France. His first vintage outside of Australia was spent in Bordeaux. Tom later perfected his winemaking skills in Champagne & California’s Napa Valley. With one foot rooted firmly in tradition and the other trailblazing ahead to the future, Tom embodies the best in New and Old World winemaking philosophies. www.penfolds.com.au
Tom travels south down to us in Ballymaloe, Shanagarry, Co. Cork www.ballymaloe.ie on to host a dinner in Ballymaloe House. The previous day, on Wednesday 23rd February, Tom will be in Dublin, for the first of these dinners takes place in The Restaurant @ Donnybrook Fair www.donnybrookfair.ie Chefs at both venues will create special menus to complement these iconic wines.
Famous for its award-winning wines, Penfolds wines have won numerous national and international awards. Join with winemaker, Tom Portet, as he leads us through a range of Penfolds wines, in association with Edward Dillon Wine Merchants, with a matching dinner menu to his wines.
Thursday 24th February 2011. 8.00pm reception, followed by dinner with specially chosen Penfolds wines €75
Book directly with Ballymaloe House
Tel: + 353 21 4652531
To say that the Lapeyre family has been involved in all facets of wine for generations, as vignerons, coopers and merchants whilst true would not fully explain Luc’s devotion to his life as a vigneron. www.luc-lapeyre.leminervois.com
In the introduction of his website Luc asks that on entering his property you leave down your watch as you might your coat and let yourself be guided by the rhythm of the vineyard. Luc is a gentle giant, the original bon viveur, who sets about making natural wines that express where they come from. Luc is fanatical about terroir and letting the vines express themselves to bring out the character that defines each vintage.
Luc (pictured here with Fionualla Harkin from Wines Direct)Â presented three wines to the students:
 Domaine Luc Lapeyre, Les San Bres 2009
Mainly Grenache, which presented the students with a juicy fruity attractive elegant style of wine.
 Domaine Luc Lapeyre, L’Arourier 2008
“From one of the top estates in Minervois, a lovely rich, harmonious wine, with classy savoury fruits; smooth but grown up with a nice dry finish, and some liquorice edges. Perfect with most stews and casseroles. This is brilliant value for money, and well worth buying by the case.” John Wilson, Irish Times Wines of the Year.
“Talk about a wine with attitude! Aromas that will make the smoke of the fire seem insipid; flavours that will leave you on the lookout for the biggest, rarest slab of meat you can see. Smouldering oak provides the backdrop to Syrah-dominated ripe, juicy berries. Stirring stuff.” Mary DoweyÂ
Domaine Luc Lapeyre, Les Clots de L’Amourier 2007
“A mature, elegant Minervois with lovely pointed, piquant dark fruits, plenty of warming alcohol and a big, spicy finish.”The Best Of Wine In Ireland
Our thanks to Fionnuala Harkin of Wines Direct for arranging the visit. www.winesdirect.ie
Waterkloof Vineyard, Somerset West, Stellenbosch, South Africa was started by Louis’s father, Paul Boutinot (Paul’s father, a Frenchman, opened a restaurant in Stockport, based on the French model of mother front-of-the-house and kids peeling potatoes as soon as they’re old enough, which in turn led Paul to ‘fall’ into the wine trade). Following a classic apprenticeship in the wine trade in the early 1970s, Paul launched his own wine import business in the UK in 1980. His private investment in Waterkloof is, therefore, not that of the archetypical foreign-based lifestyle investor, but rather as a hands-on dedicated entrepreneur-cum-winemaker. It is his outspoken desire to produce truly fine wines, consistently with a defining sense of origin from Waterkloof.
In conversion to Biodynamic viticulture, Waterkloof also make a number of wines also under the name of False Bay. The name False Bay was chosen as the farm actually overlooks this particular bay. It is a cornerstone of the False Bay winemaking philosophy that the vineyard must always, and will always matter. The aim is to highlight the unique characteristics of different vineyard sites. The winemaking team, led by Waterkloof-based Werner Engelbrecht, is working hard to reveal the characters of particular terroirs that have been identified as being most suitable. False Bay wines are wines of character, personality, and quality.
Louis (pictured here with Rory O’Connell)Â presented a tutored tasting to the students of two of these wines, Chenin Blanc 2010 and Pinotage 2009. Our thanks to Louis for a great introduction to the wines of South Africa, and to one of the newly emerging wine names to watch from South Africa.
 Le Caveau, has been described by John & Sally McKenna, The Bridgestone Guides, as having ‘pretty much all the wine your life needs’, and that ‘it would be hard to better Le Caveau’, so it was with great pleasure that we welcomed Pascal Rossignol back to the school. Pascal presented the following wines from Burgundy and The South-West France:Â
Pascal Rossignol and Darina Allen
BurgundyÂ
Olivier Leflaive, Bourgogne 2009Â
Laurent Parize, Givry “Champs Nalot” 2007Â Â
Didier Desvignes, Fleurie 2009Â
The South-West of FranceÂ
Alain Brumont Gros Manseng-Sauvignon 2009
Chateau du Cédre ‘Héritage’ 2009, Cahors Â
Jurançon ‘Clos Uroulat’ 2008, Charles Hours.Â
Barbara Lawson, owner Lawsons Dry Hills, Marlborough, New Zealand, spoke to the students about her vineyard, and gave a tutored tasting of some of her wines, including Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling, Pinot Gris, Gewurztraminer and Pinot Noir.
Monica Murphy, Febvre & Co Wine Merchants introduced the students to the wonderful world of wine from the seasons in the vineyard, to winemaking to wine tasting and food & wine, including a tasting of some of the key varietals.
Ross and Barbara Lawson founded Lawson’s Dry Hills in 1992, they had been growing Gewürztraminer grapes for other wine companies on their Alabama road vineyard since 1980.
Their first vintage, which included the Gewürztraminer grown on the Alabama road vineyard, was just fifteen tonnes and was managed by Ross from the old tin shed on the property, which is still standing and forms part of the winery cellar door.
Their Gewürztraminer has gone on to be recognised as one of the country’s finest and has firmly established Lawson’s Dry Hills on the national and international wine stage.
Other plantings soon followed and the company now produce a benchmark range of Marlborough wines including Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling, Chardonnay, Pinot Gris and Pinot Noir, as well as outstanding Gewürztraminer.
All the grapes for Lawson’s Dry Hills are sourced from Marlborough’s Wairau, Waihopai, Omaka and Brancott valleys.
Ross Lawson passed away in February 2009 after a long battle with illness. Barbara continues her work at the winery with the help of her very able team. Ross was the vociferous pioneer of the Screw Cap Initiative which has revolutionised wine closures worldwide. In early 2008 Ross was awarded New Zealand’s Order of Merit for services to the community and the wine industry.
The Lawson’s have very simple company philosophy –
“To produce Marlborough wines of great character at a fair price”
Lawson’s Dry Hills has one other distinction, they believe that it was the first winery in the world to seal all it’s 750ml bottles with a screwcap as a means of avoiding cork tainted wine.
Irish owned, and Irish winemaker, Domaine des Anges is now one of the most renowned of the present day ‘Irish Wine Geese’ wines. Ciaran Rooney (pictured with Darina Allen and Gary Gubbens), originally from Dublin, is the winemaker at Domaine des Anges, in the Fondreche area of the Southern Rhone, and has winemaking experience ranging from training in Stellenbosch, South Africa, to working in Chateau Lafite-Rothschild, in Bordeaux to further experinece also in Oregon and Australia.
Our thanks to Ciaran for visiting Ballymaloe, and also to Gary Gubbins, of Red Nose Wines, Clonmel, Co.Tipperary www.rednosewine.com , winner of The Best Wine Website in Ireland 2010. You can also read Gary’s weekly wine column in The Nationalist Newspaper, and his graet wine blog is well worth reading www.rednosewine.com/blog/
Chief Winemaker and General Manager at Cono Sur, Adolfo (pictured with Rory O’Connell)Â is a multi-award winning winemaker, and especially famous for his Pinot Noir’s, which Adolfo introduced two of his top Pinot Noirs to the students – the 20 Barrells, and Occio, which recently run the award for the best wine in Chile.
Our thanks and appreciation to Ken Kinsella, Adrian McAleer and all at Findlater Wine and Spirit Group for organising this visit.