Wine with Leslie: A toast to St Brigid - and super savings with SuperValu's upcoming sale
A toast to women everywhere for the feast of St Brigid. Pic: Danielle Reese/Pexels
The first bank holiday of the year is upon us, and I for one am delighted that it is to honour Saint Brigid, patron saint of brewers (among many other things) and a woman that stood up to any king or bully that confronted her. She could take the rough with the smooth and the bitter with the sweet.
I’m just back from a few days in magical Venice so I will be celebrating St. Brigid with a bitter-sweet Amaro Spritz over the weekend. Aperol Spritz I’m sure you know - 3 parts Prosecco, 2 parts Aperol and 1 part Soda Water according to Aperol’s website. But try Spritz with Stillgarden O’Maro or with Campari, which both have a little more bitterness and alcohol. Sadly Venetian Select Amaro isn’t available here (do correct me if I’m wrong) - you will just have to fly to Marco Polo Airport where you can pick it up for €11.95 per bottle.
Valentines Day is less than 2 weeks away and I have always found that a meal at home, served with fine quality wines is far more conducive to romance than a meal in a restaurant. So I am recommending you prepare a little in advance and you will find Valentines Day offers on some of the better wine websites such as Wineonline.ie.
Whelehans Wines are offering an excellent Valentines Box of three quality French wines for €69 including a Sparkling Rosé from the Loire and and a red and white from the Rhône - I feature the white and the fizz below. If you are ordering from Whelehans I also recommend their great value grower Champagne from L. Bernard Pitois, - there isn’t a dud wine on the their website.
Wine suggestions this week include three seductive wines that are exclusive to David Whelehan’s shop in Loughlinstown in Dublin, and three bargains under €15. Two of the bargains are from SuperValu’s upcoming Spanish Wine Sale which begins next week, and the other is one of my favourite Proseccos, a wine that is sometimes unfairly maligned. Yes the simplest supermarket Prosecco can be thin and dull but Prosecco made with quality grapes such as from Fasoli Gino (below) or Masottino (Ardkeen) and others is a thing of beauty. Brigid would approve.
A seductive tasty Prosecco to kick off the first Bank Holiday weekend of 2023. Fasoli Gino also make fine Soave and Bardolino. This is peachy and ripe with a pleasing pop of citrus on the mid-palate and rounded creamy bubbles. Will also work for Aperol/Campari Spritz.
A bargain from SuperValu’s upcoming Spanish Wine Sale - begins Thursday next. This is 100% Verdejo, Spain’s other great white grape after Albariño and often just as exciting. Sourced from a 125 ha vineyard with a minimum vine age of 35 years - honeysuckle, grapefruit and herbal notes, fruity and fresh with some creamy citrus flavours - perfect for some moules-marinière.
This is one of the wines in the SuperValu sale that will disappear quickly given that you would normally pay well over €30. First and second use French oak - dark centre with brick coloured edges, ripe dark fruit with big plum and blackcurrant essence, dense and ripe with toast and spice notes and good intensity and weight.
This charming Loire fizz and the Viognier below are part of the trio of wines in Whelehans Wines €69 Valentine’s Box. This is 100% Cabernet Franc and pours a pleasing salmon pink with aromas of red currents, cherry and spice. Ripe raspberry fruits on the palate with some buttery pastry flavours and a crisp tangy finish.
Beauchêne’s vines are currently tended by the 11th generation of the Bernard family. This Viognier is gorgeously aromatic with white peach and floral scents, a lush palate with pleasing honeysuckle and creamy lemon flavours, and a touch of spice on the finish. With spicy pan-fried prawns perhaps? Their ‘Le Terroir’ red Côtes-du-Rhône is also recommended.
Another Rhône producer I like, also exclusive to Whelehans. Classic Northern Rhône blend of Marsanne-Roussanne, two grapes that can be equally as seductive as Viognier. This has ripe pear and soft peach aromas, a rounded creamy palate with light honey notes cut through with racy acidity on the finish. With some lemon sole perhaps?
Mark Jenkinson is a bit of a legend in the Irish cider world here as he was the first to perfect keeved cider, the French method whereby the ferment dies naturally leaving some residual sugar. Cockagee is his fully keeved cider while Windvane is made from both keeved and non keeved with 50-50 dessert and cider apples (e.g. Golden Delicious and Dabinett).
This pours a light clear gold colour with aromas of bruised apple and soft pear with a light carbonation. Rounded creamy apple fruits hit the palate first with pleasing layers of citrus tinged fruits and with a touch of lemon sherbet on the finish. Delicious.
