Wine: Delheim Chardonnay Sur Lie 2010
Santa Rita is running a competition on its Facebook page, the prize being places at a wine and food experience on January 18 at the five-star Shelbourne Hotel in Dublin hosted by two of their winemakers, Andres IIabaca and Cecilia Torres. While the press release doesn’t spell out the details I expect the lucky winners will be wined and dined and enjoy a tutored tasting of the Chilean winery’s range. All good fun.
However I do have a quibble with Santa Rita billing their event as one that ‘money can’t buy’. This simply isn’t true. Money can indeed buy experiences like this all year round in Ireland. And at this time of year there are several opportunities a week to attend such tastings and dinners.
While it’s really all about a business flying the flag for its brand (that’s why they host them after all), the gamut of wine dinners and tastings does provide an interesting way into the world of taste, and are often very good value.
¦ You could regard tutored tastings as being a bit like a bicycle with training wheels. And when you’re ready to kick away the supports, the best place to launch a voyage of discovery around your own tastebuds is at events such as O’Donovans 12th Cork Wine Fair which takes place on Wednesday, Nov 21, from 4pm to 9pm in the Kiltegan Suite of the Rochestown Park Hotel, Rochestown, Cork.
Some 400 wines will be showcased along with premium spirits, cheeses and gourmet foods as well as craft beers both Irish and international.
As well as open-ended opportunity to wander about trying out lots of different wines there will also be parallel tutored tastings.
Tickets (€10) are available from any of the 16 O’Donovan’s branches in Cork city and county, and all proceeds go to Cork Simon Community.
¦ Finally, the bottles below are a few of my highlights available from branches of O’Briens (www.obrienswine.ie) including their recently-opened store in Douglas, Cork.
This good-value oaked tempranillo is what I call ‘front-loaded’ — announcing itself with a weighty, complex scent of baked fruit laced with coffee and cocoa.
Lightness is the name of the game here — a lovely lick of cherry and red apple in a creamy texture. It’s really quite light in body, which is entirely compatible with its freshness of this very pleasant wine which is both cheap and a bargain.
This is the most rewarding wine of the under-€10 trio. Pour a dab of it into a big glass and enjoy the lovely rich complex scent evolves crisp tempranillo blend sprightly spice
Dense with fresh and cooked red fruit, here’s an old friend of this column, the Cave de Rasteau co-op yet again with its exemplary polished red from the Rasteau appellation which is one of the under-appreciated jewels of the southern Rhône.
Ooh. The crunchy green apple you’d rightly expect from a Marlborough sauv blanc is attended by a smashingly solid texture. I’ve tasted three ranges of Kiwi wines from O’Brien’s and this (along with ARA and Astrolabe ranges) makes it a remarkable three out of three.
For the most part, you’ll be advised to choose light, citrussy, crystal-clear chardonnay — and with good reason. But don’t abandon the other side of the grape. Here it is, writ large: barrique-fermented and rested on its lees, it’s a huge, grainy that loses none of the grape’s lemony allure bedded in texture of astonishing richness.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
