Easter Irish lamb will grace the dining tables of much of the country and at its best there is no finer meat.

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.

This week is all about the Celtic Whiskey Shop in part to celebrate its new bar/restaurant/shop called the Irish Whiskey Experience on New Street (just off Main St) in Killarney, Co Kerry.

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.

Ireland was always very brand-conscious up until recently and it took the arrival of the German discounters and the recession to shake us up a little.

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. 

Christmas is coming, but first things first – we are now in Game Season and we should start to see pheasant, partridges and wild ducks appearing in good butchers this month. 

HAVE you ever wondered what it is actually like to own your own vineyard in France?

I AM frequently asked what wine is the best value at the moment and I have had a stock answer for a number of years: buy from Chile and Spain.

MOST of us think of red wines made from Tempranillo and Garnacha (Grenache) when we think of Spain, but this week I want to highlight one of my favourite white wines.

JUST a few days before Christmas and I hope you have your wines chosen. If not don’t fret, most wine shops and supermarkets have frozen their prices until Christmas before the €1 excise duty is added.

FROM the 1970s until recently, if someone mentioned Spanish wines your first (and only) thought was Rioja.

I’VE been catching up with the affordable end of two old-school wine wholesalers who supply independent wine stores.

FOR three weeks from next Wednesday, Dunnes Stores is promoting its ‘Mediterranean food and wine festival’.

Fishermen trying to protect Europe’s richest shellfish beds frantically deployed their nets and other equipment today to scoop thick globs of oil from the sea as slicks from a sunken tanker spread along Spain’s Galician coast.