This week I’m focusing on Garnacha/Grenache, arguably the most important grape in France and Spain yet also a grape that is less known than it should be given that it only occasionally appears on wine labels.

This week I’m focusing on the Languedoc and largely the wines of Domaines Paul Mas which is imported by Cork-based Karwig wines. I toured all their vineyards a few weeks ago and was once again charmed by this part of France.

With summer holidays rapidly approaching I’m focusing on the Loire this week, given that so many of us will find ourselves in France in the coming months. 

There is a tendency among wine enthusiasts to constantly refer to the beauty of vineyards and wine regions, but some of this I think comes from the fact that we feel so at home in these magical places that produce our favourite sustenance.

I always feel I am tempting fate when I write about wines for summer in Ireland — I feel as if the weather gods are waiting to thwart me should I even mention the garden or the word barbecue.

Once again this week I want to encourage you to shop local and to emphasise this I’m giving over the column to a profile of one of Cork’s relatively unsung wine heroes: JJ O’Driscolls Superstore in Ballinlough.

The dreaded ‘C’ word is fast approaching so if you can be disciplined (or can lock the wine away somewhere) it is good to begin picking up some wines or at least thinking about what you will need.

Have you noticed the closure or takeover of a local wine shop recently?

I am often asked to give general (and difficult) wine recommendations along the lines of — “what red wines do you like?” and my answer has been the same for the last few years — look to Spain.

Ireland and Spain have had many connections throughout history but one you might have overlooked is Spain’s contribution to Ireland’s most famous drink — whiskey.

I suppose I had better just come out and admit it, I’m not a big fan of sauvignon blanc.

 

Ireland is a small country that drinks a relatively modest amount of wine per head of population — around 17 litres per year compared with 24 litres in the UK and 53 litres per head in France.

For some reason 2016 seems to have had a higher proportion of celebrity deaths than usual, and this month two well-known wine names could be added to the list — Louis Latour (aged 83) and Etienne Hugel (aged just 57).

Made by Blackwater Irish Spirits in Waterford who produce Muldoon Whiskey Liqueur, this won the Gin Trophy at 2015’s Irish Whiskey Awards.

Here I go again, praising the wines of Spain.

I’m a little late focusing on the Rugby World Cup, but with the final group matches this weekend there will be a lot of tension around and you may need a glass of wine to calm your nerves.

Only a couple of weeks to Budget 2015 and still time to contact Minister for Finance, Michael Noonan, to encourage him to give small wine importers and wine shops a break by reducing our criminally high wine taxes.

I want to begin this week by offering my congratulations to Lynne Coyle MW, wine buyer at O’Briens wines.

According to some Canadian research, men find the scent of grilling meat more arousing than any perfume.

The weather in the past month has been rather unpredictable but there have been enough warm days to convince me that it is time to write about summer wines. 

Unsurprisingly, Our Table, the Cork Midsummer Festival long table al fresco banquet on Cork’s Oliver Plunkett St, feeding 400 white-clad diners, is long sold out.

May seems to have become food and wine festival month. This weekend it is Wexford’s turn with a craft beer trail in the town tomorrow. Greenacres wine shop will be hosting wine tastings Saturday and Sunday.

The Kerrygold Ballymaloe Literary Festival of Food and Wine is next weekend and there are lots of drinks-related events. 

Italy is on my mind this week having recently watched the documentary Natural Resistance at the Grainstore in Ballymaloe about rebel “natural” wine makers in Italy.

A fierce man for the moving pictures, The Menu is very much looking forward to Alliance Francaise de Cork 26th Cork French Film Festival.

Lebanon has rarely been out of the news since the 1970s but through all the years of political turmoil and refugee crises, there has always been one annual event to celebrate: the arrival of the new vintage of Chateau Musar.

New Year Resolutions are usually tedious things such as “visit the gym more than once a week”, “pay off the Visa bill every month” etc. This week I am proposing some pleasurable resolutions which will be no hardship.

Finding good Irish-made gifts under €20 for the page today was easy. 

Up until recently my favourite wine trivia question was “what is the world’s most planted grape?” 

Readers of this column may be getting tired of my raising the issue of excise duty on wine but bear with me for just a few sentences. 

The Indian Summer we have been experiencing in recent weeks is not just putting us in better form, but also the winemakers across Europe. 

HIS WEEK I am focusing on Waterford which held its annual Harvest Festival just a couple of weeks ago with a strong focus on local food producers and of course on wine. 

Back when The Menu roamed the professional kitchen ranges, he had the pleasure of working alongside the very excellent Mags Curtin and it was no great surprise that she went on to become the very first Pastry Chef at Café Paradiso, for she is a fine producer of sweet baked comestibles.

AUSTRALIA has slipped a little in sales in Ireland, partly due to a strong Australian dollar, but we still buy around a quarter of our wines from a country that constitutes just 5% of the global market.

SCHOOL’S out so many families will soon be packing up the car and driving to France to stay at camp-sites or perhaps rented gites.

WHAT better way to celebrate St Patrick’s Day than with an Irish cheese board.

NEW ZEALAND represents less than 1% of the world’s wine production but has become hugely influential in the past 20 years thanks to their unique take on Sauvignon Blanc.

PINOT Noir is one of the great misunderstood grapes but one you will be seeing a lot more of in the coming years if Chile has its way.