The inaugural international Literary Festival of Food and Wine took place at Ballymaloe House, Grainstore and Cookery School over the May Bank Holiday wekend, 3 – 6 May. A magical weekend was had, with many wine & drinks events, and here are a selection of photographs and some links to write-up on the weekend. We are already looking forward to 2014 Literary Festival!
Jancis Robinson MW Wine Grapes presentation and tasting at the Literary Festival
olm pictured with Jancis Robinson MW at Ballymaloe Literary FestivalGer Buckley, Master Cooper, Midleton Distillery pictured with Bill Yosses, Pastry Chef, The White House
Tom Doorley and John Wilson ‘Wine & Words’Peter Corr and Literary Festival wine & drinks crew
Douro – still and fortified with Maurice O’Mahony, Wine Alliance
Mary Dowey and Pascal Rossignol ‘Going Natural – New Trends’
Ger Buckley, Master Cooper, Midleton Distillery
Sherry with Leslie Williams, wine writer, the Irish Examiner
Rieslings to be Cheerful with John McDonnell, Wine Australia IrelandNick Lander, Joe McNamee, Paul Flynn and Niamh ShieldsSingle Pot Still Whiskey from Midleton Distillery matched with Irish Farmhouse Cheese by L Mulligan
A Wine Goose Show with Susan Boyle
Pierpaolo Rapuzzi, Ronchi di Cialla, Friuli
Penfolds Grange and The Rewards of Patience with John McDonnell, Wine Australia IrelandJohn Wilson, The Irish Times and Juan Gil, Albarino, Rias Baixas
Tom Lynch, El Comandante Wines, MendozaWine & Literature with John Wilson, wine writer, The Irish Times
William O’Callaghan, Longueville Irish Apple Brandy and CiderMaurice, Pascal and Geraldine checking the wines.Sherry in The Big ShedDaphne launching the literary festival with NyetimberJohn Bowman with the box office crew – Nicola, Aoife and Ka
An article written by Mrs.Myrtle Allen, on her weekly cookery column for The Farmers Journal, in 1966
I was delighted to be shown an article today, by Mrs.Allen, from one of her ‘Scraps and Cuttings’ books, all about her weekly cookery column in The Farmers Journal. The article, dated in Mrs.Allen’s distinct neat writing, 2nd September 1966, titled ‘The Wild Geese’, about Ireland’s ‘links with wine producing areas’, and her visit, in 1966, to Chateau Leoville-Barton, and also mentioning Chateau Lynch-Bages and Chateau Haut Brion, and her visit also to Hennessy Cognac.
Mrs Myrtle Allen and her 1966 article on The Wild Geese Wines
Also of great Wine Geese interest, is The International Wine Museum, in Desmond Castle, Kinsale dedicated to the Irish people the world over, both long ago, and current generations, involved in winemaking around the word, is well worth a visit, and of course Ted Murphy’s book, A Kingdom of Wine, The Story of Ireland’s Wine Geese, is brilliant, and this years series of wine geese events that I am involved along with, along with Beverley Mathews, of L’Attitude51, Wine Cafe, Cork and Maurice O’Mahony, of Wine Alliance, and the broader vibrant wine commuity of Cork city and county, is very much inspired by Ted and all his things ‘Wine Geese’ related in Ireland and around the world.