Wine: Laurent Miquel Nord Sud Viognier, Languedoc — €11- €12.99

THE RETURN of the Wine Geese tastings as part of The Gathering have been the highlight of the wine year and Cork has been particularly lucky as almost all the tastings have been in the real capital.

L’Atitude 51 wine bar on Union Quay have been the driving force behind many of the tastings and I was very pleased to help present one earlier this month with wines with Philip Grant of Chateau Bellevue la Foret and Neasa Corish Miquel from Laurent Miquel.

Some of the Laurent Miquel vineyards date back to the 18th century and Philip’s vineyards are even older but there was a distinct contrast of styles in the wines they presented. Bellevue la Foret, for example, is very much cherishing tradition by focusing their efforts on the fragrant but temperamental Négrette grape native to the Fronton area, while Laurent Miquel recently planted a 14ha high altitude vineyard with Albarino from Galicia and has had huge success with his Viognier — more usually found in the Northern Rhone.