Weekend wine with Blake Creedon

THE market for wine is like a pyramid: tiny quantities of rare and expensive stuff on top; rather a lot of widely available inexpensive wines in the middle, and cheapies competing on price at the bottom.

The selection of wines that California exports to Ireland is the same, only more so: a tiny trickle of luxury-priced wines, and a vast ocean of mass-market household names accounted for by two or three brands. (The latter aren’t really cheapies, by which I mean €6 and under.)

I had a look at some of the latest vintages at a tasting organised by Wines of California in Jacob’s On The Mall in Cork earlier this week. Essentially, it was a trade fair, an opportunity for wholesale importers to showcase their wines to retailers and, especially, to restaurants.