Weekend wine with Blake Creedon

IT’LL always pay you to be aware of what’s going on at Karwig’s. The importer, distributor and wine shop has won many awards and is widely acknowledged as one of the best places to buy good wine — in the shop between Crosshaven and Carrigaline, Co Cork, or online at www.karwigwines.ie.

I was at a brief tasting there this week of some of their new and notable wines. And by a delightful coincidence in a momentous week for these islands, one theme that emerged was the often unseen commonality shared across borders.

A map of Europe will emphasise the lines between countries, but a good wine list will show up some of the bonds across them: Grapes and winemaking styles spanning the south of France and northern spain; the unique German-French tradition in the often stunning simple white wines of Alsace; the contrasting but shared heritage of Spain’s Ribera del Duero which becomes the Douro as it flows into Portugal.