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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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Ciaran Rooney, Domaine des Anges, Southern Rhone

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/

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Adolfo Hurtado, Cono Sur, Chile

Chief Winemaker and General Manager at Cono Sur, Adolfo (pictured with Rory O’Connell) 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.

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Marc Hoffmann, Chateau Lynch Bages, Bordeaux

Chateau Lynch Bages is one of the long established and famous ‘Irish Wine Geese’ Chateaux of Bordeaux. We were delighted to welcome Marc Hoffmann, who represents Ch. Lynch Bages, as well as the other wines of Jean Michel Cazes, owner of Chateau Lynch Bages. These wines include Chateau Villa Bel-Air, Graves; Xixto, in Douro, Portugal in association with Quinta do Crasto, Portugal; and Tapanappa, in South Australia in asociation with Bollinger Champagne and Brian Croser of Petaluma fame.

Our thanks to Colin Downey and all at Barry & Fitzwilliam Wines, Cork for arranging this visit.

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Martin Moore – Durbanville Hills Winery

Martin Moore, Durbanville Hills, South Africa Cellarmaster at Durbanville Hills Winery, Durbanville, South Africa, Martin gave a great insight to the winemaking and wine styles, and culinary traditions in South Africa. Martin is one of the most experienced and respected winemakers in South Africa, and you can keep up to date with Martin with his monthly newsletter http://www.durbanvillehills.co.za/#/Newsletter Our thanks to Paul O’Flynn and all at Edward Dillon & Co Wine Merchants for organising this visit. Martin also hosted a fantatic winemakers dinner later that evening at Ballymaloe House.

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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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Upcoming wine events at Ballymaloe House, October/November 2010

Australian Winemaker Dinner at Ballymaloe House, Thursday 28th October 2010.

5.00pm Presentation and wine tasting by David Hohnen, in The Grain Store at Ballymaloe. €15

7.30pm Reception followed by dinner with wines from McHenry Hohnen, which David will talk about during dinner. €70

David Hohnen, one of the best known winemakers in Australia and New Zealand, and the man who founded Cape Mentelle, and also founded one of the wine world’s most iconic names, and arguably responsible for single-handedly introducing the world to New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc with Cloudy Bay, is coming to Ballymaloe, in association with Anthony Tindal, Tindal Wines, to introduce us to his latest wines, McHenry Hohnen, from Margaret River, Western Australia.

His latest venture, along with his daughter, Freya, and David’s brother-in-law, Murray McHenry, is called McHenry Hohnen wines. A not to be missed opportunity to have a wine tasting with one of the iconic figures of the wine world. David Hohnen has been recipient of the inaugural Len Evans Award for leadership in the Australian wine industry, and twice winner of the famed Jimmy Watson Wine Trophy. David Hohnen lives in Margaret River, Western Australia, surrounded by vines, woodland, horses, sheep and pigs!

South African Winemaker Dinner at Ballymaloe House, Tuesday 16th November, 2010,

8.00pm reception, followed by dinner with wines from Durbanville Hills, South Africa, which Martin will talk about during dinner.  €70

Martin Moore, Winemaker, Durbanville Hills Wines, South Africa, in association with Edward Dillon & Co. Wine Merchants. Famous for its award-winning wines and its spectacular views, Durbanville Hills Winery stands proud in the Durbanville wine area a mere 20 minutes from Cape Town’s city centre.

From its vantage point high up on the vineyard it overlooks Table Bay and Robben Island with Table Mountain providing a majestic backdrop. Situated in one of the Cape’s coolest wine-producing regions, in close proximity to the Atlantic Ocean, the vineyards providing grapes to the cellar all add their own distinctive characteristics, contributing to the complexity of taste, texture and weight of every wine in the Durbanville Hills range. The wines have won numerous national and international awards.

Also some dates regarding upcoming wine courses at Ballymaloe – Gift Vouchers also available.

Wine for the Festive Season with John McDonnell and Colm McCan, Half Day Course, including lunch, Saturday 4th December 2010.

Ballymaloe Wine Weekends ‘Introduction to Wine Appreciation’ Weekend Course with Mary Dowey, 18th – 20th February 2011, and also 1st – 3rd April 2011.

(More information on these wine courses on the website, www.ballymaloe.ie and also further information will be in the November mailshot.)

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Masterclass on Wines from Burgundy and The South-West of France

We were delighted to welcome back to Ballymaloe, Pascal Rossignol, Le Caveau, Kilkenny, for another of his fantastic masterclass presentations on wines from Burgundy, and the South-West of France, with the following wines: Laurent Parize, Givry ‘Champ Pourrot’; La Plaigne, Beaujolais-Villages; Louis Boillot, Cotes de Nuits Villages; Alain Brumont Gros Manseng-Sauvignon; Chateau du Cedre, Cahors and Charles Hours Jurancon ‘Uroulat’. Pascal, originally from Gevrey-Chambertin, and now one of Ireland’s most respected and well known independent wine merchant’s, based in Kilkenny. www.lecaveau.ie.
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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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Winemaker lunch with Italian winemaker, Silvia Allegrini.

Winemaker Lunch at Ballymaloe House, Tuesday 28th September 2010, 12.00pm, for wine tasting, presentation and lunch, with Silvia Allegrini, Allegrini Wines, Veneto, Italy, in association with Liberty Wines. We are delighted to be welcoming Silvia to Ballymaloe.

The Allegrini family,  has been handing down grape growing and wine producing traditions over many generations, playing a major role in the Valpolicella Classico area, near Verona, as far back as the 16th century. Their wine has charmed the most refined palates around the world, building on the historic value of Amarone della Valpolicella. They produce the Valpolicella, a Ripasso, and Amarone della Valpolicella. They also produce the amazing sweet Amarone, Recioto della Valpolicella. We will have a special lunch menu to match these wines.

“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’)

Join Silvia Allegrini at Ballymaloe for a talk, tasting and lunch with her world-famous wines, on Tuesday 28thSeptember, 12.00pm.  €40 including lunch and wines.

Special rates for overnight accommodation in Ballymaloe House also available.