Place: Rhône, France

A COMPREHENSIVE SERIES OF ARTICLES ON THIS TOPIC

food

Wine with Leslie Williams: All about Cru Classé Bordeaux

Last week I wrote about natural wines which all the cool kids love, but this week I’m writing about the opposite, as the cool kids have zero interest in cru classé Bordeaux.

food

Wine with Leslie Williams: Focus on an underappreciated grape

food

The best drinks for the festive season

food

Wines of the Week

food

Some of the best wines to look out for in the week ahead

food

Wine suggestions this week are all white and all smell wonderfully

Your guide to European wine at any budget

It may not be as apparent to consumers in Europe but the world of wine has undergone quite a bit of change in the past two decades, writes Leslie Williams. Here he guides you through his picks for the best wines Europe has to off at a range of price points.

Sat, 17 Dec, 2016

Wine: Take a drive and discover wine country

To get a feel for the world of wine you need to get a feel for geography and do a bit of driving – perhaps from Napa to Sonoma, from Bra to Barbaresco or take a drive up the D2 from Bordeaux through Margaux, St. Julien, Pauillac and St. Estephe. 

Sat, 05 Nov, 2016

All of this week’s wines will benefit from some short- to medium-term ageing

This week I want to return to the idea of ageing wines at home and suggest some wine styles you might not think of as age-worthy.

Sat, 24 Sep, 2016

Watch out for the Autumn wine sales in Irish supermarkets

The autumn is wine fair season in Irish supermarkets. Aldi was first out of the blocks last Sunday with an intriguing selection of wines from around the world at their usual low prices. 

Sat, 27 Aug, 2016

Wines from Rhone, France’s second largest region after Bordeaux

If you are grilling at home any of the southern Rhones below will work well. I’ve included one white in case you are cooking fish or would like an aperitif.

Sat, 13 Aug, 2016

Some fruity wines to enjoy with a barbecue, if we get good weather this summer

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).

Sat, 30 Apr, 2016

Alcohol levels of this week’s wines are all 13% or above

Despite all the words this page has expended on a myriad of wines, the reason we are interested is because they all have one thing in common — “the power to banish care”.

Sat, 09 Apr, 2016

Austrian wines you've been missing out on

Austrian wine has come a long way in the last 30 years and if you haven’t been exploring their wines you are missing out.

Sat, 27 Feb, 2016

Wine: Lingering tastes of 2015

Now that we are properly into 2016, I have had some further thoughts on wine experiences I enjoyed last year.

Sat, 09 Jan, 2016

Wine: Some ideas for last-minute Christmas gifts

Just a few days left to pick up some last minute presents and to prepare for Christmas.

Sat, 19 Dec, 2015

Suggestions this week are from O’Briens wines nationwide

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

Sat, 26 Sep, 2015

My favourite wine importers

I have written in the past about the difficulties faced by small wine importers given our draconian wine taxes. We are around 650% higher than the EU average and more expensive for wine than countries such as Sweden and Finland.

Sat, 01 Aug, 2015

Wine: Ballymaloe Litfest line-up announced

Still another full week of January to go but I recommend you cheer yourself up by checking out the line-up for the Ballymaloe Litfest which has just been announced.

Sat, 24 Jan, 2015

Wine: Colombelle L’Original, Plaimont, Cotes de Gascogne 2013

Terroir is one of those frustrating French terms that is beloved of winemakers and wine-writers but remains little understood by most of the wine-buying public. 

Sat, 25 Oct, 2014

Wine: Barton & Guestier Cotes-du-Rhone

IT ALL comes back to France. That country’s wine sales may have fallen dramatically in recent years, but it is still the benchmark producer for most grape varieties and wine styles.

Sun, 24 Nov, 2013