Forget the €6.99s and the €9.99s - at least for a day or two. Swank it up a little, this holiday weekend, with these two New World beauties.
Mills Reef Riesling, Hawkes Bay 2001. Here is an absolute treat - a New Zealand Riesling with a few years of bottle age, giving it a depth of flavour and complexity that we don't often see from a country that is still in the fairly early stages of engagement with this intriguing grape. This is a knockout wine with intense citrus, pineapple and mineral flavours slowly building towards a long, dry finish. Enjoy it as a stylish aperitif, with salads and seafood or with mildly spicy Asian dishes. From Claudio's Wines, George's Street Arcade; Bin No 9, Goatstown; Baily Wines, Howth; Ryan Vine, Navan; Wine Well, Dunboyne and others, usually €14.99.
Hope Hunter Valley Shiraz 2002. This isn't the kind of full-throttle Shiraz that will quickly have you red in the face and reeling. It's more subtle, more elegant, with cool hints of mint, leather and black pepper floating up from a base of ripe, mocha-edged fruit. Packed with appeal and versatile too, this is the sort of wine you could confidently serve to anybody, with almost any kind of food. When's that dinner party, then? From Donnybrook Fair, Donnybrook; Martha's Vineyard, Rathfarnham; No 1 Vintage, Goatstown; McCabes, Blackrock & Gables, Foxrock; Baily Wines, Howth; Harvest, Galway; Le Caveau, Kilkenny; World Wide Wines, Waterford; O'Donovans, Cork; www.simplywines.ie, €14.99-€15.99.