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Enrique Garcia, Bodegas Pingon, Ribera del Duero, Spain

The Ribera del Duero is probably the most exciting area of Spain from a wine perspective. There are many similarities between Rioja and Ribera del Duero. While the wines are quite distinctive as a result of significant differences in terroir, both regions produce wines selected for long aging with highly complex vinification procedures, producing intense, extremely long-lived wines. Wines are classified as much for their longevity as their grape quality, and Ribera del Duero produces some extremely fine wines capable of aging for many years. Bodegas Pingón is one of the best producers in the Ribera del Duero consistently producing  award winning wines.

Visit of Enrique Garcia, Bodegas Pingon, Ribera del Duero, Spain  pictured here with Darina Allen and Billy Forrester, Bubble Brothers Wine Merchants, Cork www.bubblebrothers.com

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Sherry Talk and Tasting with César Saldaña, Consejo Regulador, Sherry at the Grainstore at Ballymaloe House.

Wine Event at Ballymaloe

Sherry Talk and Tasting with César Saldaña, Consejo Regulador, Sherry

 

For a world class presentation & tasting of different styles of Sherry, on his first ever visit to this part of Ireland, in association with Wines of Spain.

 

The Grain Store at Ballymaloe,  Wednesday 25th May, 7pm,  €10

 

César Saldaña is a passionate and expert speaker on Sherry – its wines, food, culture and history. He is the Director of Sherry – the Consejo Regulador, and is without doubt the worlds best speaker on Sherry – a world renowned Sherry ‘Ambassador’, on what is becoming a very fashionable drink once again – Sherry. A great opportunity to learn more about the unique special wine that is Sherry, and taste its many different styles, including Manzanilla, Fino, Amontillado, Oloroso, Pedro Ximenez.  An evening not to be missed. All welcome.

The Grain Store at Ballymaloe,

Ballymaloe House, Shanagarry, Co. Cork,

Mob: 083 3631468.    Tel: 021 4652531

e-mail: thegrainstore@ballymaloe.ie

 

 

 

Also:

Thursday 26th May, 8.00pm – Sherry Dinner at Ballymaloe House

Sherry Dinner with César Saldaña in association with The Irish Times Readers Evening, and John Wilson, wine writer, The Irish Times, and also in association with Wines of Spain. A specially selected menu will be matched to specially selected Sherry at each course. Please note that booking for this Sherry Dinner, on Thursday 26th May, at Ballymaloe House, will have to be made directly through The Irish Times Readers Evening office.

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Neil Ellis Wines, Stellenbosch, South Africa.

We were delighted to welcome Neil Ellis, owner & winemaker, Neil Ellis Wines, Stellenbosch, South Africa.  www.neilellis.com (pictured here with Pascal Playon and William Tindal)

Mindful that no single vineyard can satisfy the needs of all grape varieties, Neil Ellis set out to identify distinct terroir in which individual varieties will excel. He placed the emphasis not only on the environment but also on caring viticultural practises by a dedicated team of growers which extends through to the winemaking practices, to make distinctive, refined wines that are expressive of their terroir and rank amongst South Africa’s finest.

Today the journey of Neil Ellis Wines is not only of Neil Ellis anymore, but a team of young, dedicated winemakers harnessed in their pursuit of quality winemaking. After four decades of making wine, the next stage of the journey has begun with Neil’s son, Warren, sharing responsibilities as winemaker and viticulturist.

Our thanks to William Tindal and Pascal Playon of Tindal Wine Merchants for organizing this visit. www.tindalwine.com

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Felix & Aura Meyer, Meyer-Fonne, Alsace, France

 Our thanks to Pascal Rossignol, of Le Caveau Fine Wine Merchant, Kilkenny - Pascal is well-known to students of the 12-week Cookery Course at Ballymaloe Cookery School for his fantastic wine presentations and tastings.  Our thanks to Pascal for aranging this visit www.lecaveau.ie
Within few years, Felix Meyer has built a solid reputation in Alsace. Working extremely hard in the vineyard, keeping yields ridiculously low, the immense quality of the granitic soils of Katzenthal is reflected in every single of Felix wines. No other grower in the area produces wines with such precision, purity and expression of terroir.

Vinification takes place in traditional large “foudres”, on fine lees similarly to Leonard and Olivier Humbrecht with whom Felix worked for several years before returning to his 11-ha family estate.

“Felix Meyer is one of the more ambitious and successful young vignerons of Alsace”. Wine Advocate

“…one day at my place in the south of France, in the company of Domaine Tempier’s Daniel Ravier, I was tasting through an assortment of samples from all over the country. We lowered our noses into glasses of a Pinot Blanc. Hmm,  old vines, who’s that? Meyer-Fon … We looked up at each other, eyes widening. HEY, that smells great. Wow, the stuff wine dreams are made of. We continued through the domaine’s samples with huge smiles and oohs and aahs, enjoying that rare thrill of recognition that you experience when you discover something crucial in your glass.

Not long after that, there I was in Katzenthal near Ammerschwihr, tasting with Monsieur Meyer: impeccable vinification, purity of expression, depths of interest, a strong sense of terroir, stylishness, class, and pure hedonistic pleasure, too. Grosse tête is French for egotistical, blinded by self-importance, conceited. Félix Meyer is the opposite of a grosse tête. He still has humility, still has a sense of wonder, and is still capable of self-criticism. He is a seeker and a perfectionist. Quantities are limited because while he makes several different cuvées, the domaine has only eleven hectares of vines” Kermit Lynch.

Pictured during their recent visit to Ireland, at Ballymaloe Cookery School, Felix & Aura Meyer, owner/winemaker, Meyer-Fonne, Alsace, France, with Florence Bowe.
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Barbara Lawson, Lawsons Dry Hills, Marlborough, New Zealand

Monica Murphy, Barbara Lawson with Hazel and Darina
Monica Murphy, Barbara Lawson with Hazel and Darina Allen

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.

www.lawsonsdryhills.co.nz

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.

www.febvre.ie

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.

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Jean Smullen, Wines of Chile

Jean is a member of the international Circle of Wine Writers and writes a monthly column for Retail News,  one of Ireland’s retail trade magazines.  She presents a regular wine slot with the national news station, Newstalk as part of the Sean Moncrieff Show, which broadcasts a  nationwide “Movies and Booze” feature on a Friday afternoons from 3:30 – 4:30 p.m..   She also writes  a regular wine column for Prudence a bi-monthly magazine which prides itself on being the definitive Irish guide to savvy living and since April 2009 has been writing their weekly wine blog which is emailed to subscribers every Friday.  For more information about Prudence or to sign up for their ezine www.prudence.ie  

Starting October 2010 Jean now has a regular slot on TV as one of the featured wine reviewers on RTE television’s new afternoon magazine show 4 Live.

Jean’s website www.jeansmullen.com  features the wine diary for the Republic of Ireland  which highlights forthcoming trade and consumer events.  This site provides a key planning role for all wine events taking place in Ireland.   

Since 2006 Jean has been one of the wine judges at Concours Mondial de Bruxelles, one of the wine world’s best known international blind tasting competitions.  This year she participated at the  2010 Concours Mondial  which took place in  Palermo, Sicily.    The 2011 Concours Mondial will take place in Luxembourg  from 5th – 8th May, 2011.   For more information about Concours Mondial their website is http://www.concoursmondial.eu/ 

 Jean  also judged at the  2010 Mundus Vini competition in Neustadt an der Weinstraße in Germany from  August  27th – 29th 2010  and was a judge at the 2010 Vinipax which took place  the Alentejo region of  Portugal in October.  www.mundusvini.de      www.vinipax.com

Our thanks and appreciation to Jean for yet again another of her fantastic presentations to the students.

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Silvia Allegrini, Veneto, Italy

We were delighted to welcome Silvia Allegrini, of the famous and historic Allegrini winemaking family, to Ballymaloe, during her first visit to Cork. The Allegrini estate, dating back to the 16th century, is located in Fumane di Valpolicella, near Verona, in North-East Italy. Among the wines they make, are Valpolicella, Palazzo della Torre, La Grola, La Poja,  Amarone and Recioto. www.allegrini www.allegrini.it Our thanks to Gerry Gunnigan, of Liberty Wines, for organising this visit. www.libertywines.ie

Allegrini, have also launched the first talking wine label in the world, which can be found in fine wine shops around the world. A new and revolutionary technology that allows a bottle of wine to ‘talk about itself’. The technology, called Ecocoder, is a combination hand-held scanner and speaker that is activated by touching the language options on the back label of one of their wines, Palazzo delle Torre. The device decodes information embedded in

a special layer of ink and instantly plays a pre-recorded audio file stored in its memory card allowing you to hear first-hand from the producer about the wine’s history, origin, production, flavours and ideal food pairings. The labels have been designed by an Italian label design firm called Modulgraf www.modulgraf.com who specialize in innovative

technology.

Allegrini’s Palazzo della Torre, is a wine produced using an innovative take on the ancient Roman winemaking technique of drying grapes to concentrate flavours and structure. The juice from the dried fruit is then blended with wine made from fresh grapes to start a second fermentation, increasing its richness, density and complexity.

Allegrini have also been forward thinking embracing the stelvin ‘screwcap’ closure, for their Valpolicalla, in order to maintain the style of the wine, eliminating any potential cork taint. Because of this, their Valpolicella is not allowed use the ‘Classico’ status, because of Italian wine law, which does not permit screwcap closures for the ‘Classico’ classification.

We look forward to welcoming Silvia back soon again. Our thanks also to Silvia for doing a short video clip for the Ballymaloe iPadwine list.

“Superb estate. Excellent Recioto, and Amarone” Hugh Johnson

“Simply put, Allegrini are to wine, what Ferrari is to cars” Matt Skinner (Jamie Olivier’s Sommelier, and author ‘The Juice’)

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Pictured are Silvia Allegrini and Darina.

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Jean Trimbach, Alsace


With a resounding ‘Bonjour’ on Thursday afternoon, Jean Trimbach introduced himself to the students of the 12-week cookery course. With great pleasure, we welcomed back Jean Trmbach to Ballymaloe on Thursday 1st July, and the students had a truly memorable introduction to the wines of Alsace and Mason F.E. Trimbach.

Jean spoke about the unique ‘micro-climate’ that Alsace enjoys – Colmar, the ‘wine capital’ of Alsace is the second driest town in France (the driest is Montpellier, 10ookm away in the South-West of France), its varied and important history, its great food culture and amazing restaurants, and of course, the great wines that are made in this amazing wine region.

Jean gave a tutored tasting of three of his wines, a Riesling, Pinot Gris and Gewurztraminer. What a treat for the students, and the wines showed really well.

Afterwards, Jean Trimbach also gave a talk and tasting at The Grainstore at Ballymaloe, and our sincere thanks once again to Jean Trimbach for taking the time to visit Ballymaloe.

Jean Trimbach, Alsace and Mark O'Connor at Ballymaloe Cookery School
Jean Trimbach, Alsace and Mark O'Connor at Ballymaloe Cookery School

A special thanks also to Mark O’Connor and all at Gilbey’s Wine Merchants for organising this visit.

www.maison-trimbach.fr

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Bertrand Verduzier, Henriot Champagne


We were delighted to welcome to Ballymaloe today, Bertrand Verduzier, of Henriot Champagne.

The Henriot family have been in the area since the 16th Century and it was in 1808 that they began to sell what had been until then a very private Champagne. This was the birth of the House which is still today managed by those who bar its name. From the choice of grapes to the bottling, the Henriot family is completely involved in the making of the Champagne which is to correspond to their idea of perfection. For nearly two centuries and seven generations, the family has patiently kept its secrets, enriched by tradition and savoir-faire. It is above al at the time of blending, the highlight of Champagne’s tradition, that the House exercises its skill to enhance the character of the grapes which has been rigorously selected from the best vineyards, above all Chardonnay, which is at the heart of the Henriot blends, which are famed for their elegance, refinement and exquisite lightness.

Bertrand Verduzier, Henriot Champagne at Ballymaloe
Bertrand Verduzier, Henriot Champagne at Ballymaloe

Our thanks to Matthew Tindal and Michael Henchy of Tindal Wines for this visit.

www.champagne-henriot.com

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Eric Talavet, Château Valandraud, Saint-Emilion, Bordeaux

We were delighted to welcome to Ballymaloe today, Eric Talavet, directeur général, of the renowned Château Valandraud, in Saint-Emilion, Bordeaux

Started by owner, Jean-Luc Thunevin, this is the original of the ‘garagiste’ (garage) wines, that was actually started in a garage by Jean-Luc in 1991, along with his wife, neither of whom came from a background in wine, but pursued their interest in wines, and purchased 0.5 hectare of wines in Saint-Emilion, and did everything with obsessive attention to detail. The rest is history, and after rave reviews by the international wine critics, Chateau Valandraud is now today still the original, and one of the most renowned of the so called ‘garage’ wines.

Eric Talavet, Château Valandraud, Saint-Emilion, Bordeaux
Eric Talavet, Château Valandraud, Saint-Emilion, Bordeaux

www.thunevin.com