Mary Dowey rounds up the wine news, including the arrival of a range that's ideal with spicy food
Wine writers get pretty blase about tastings. We aren't easily impressed. Oh dear me, no. We require unusual new wines to tickle our fancy as well as familiar ones outstanding enough in every vintage to make us want to do cartwheels. I would hate to be on the pouring side of the table, looking at our sour expressions as we sniff and scribble and spit.
Would a tasting of wines from a leading Indian producer break through the wine scribe's wall of world-weariness? Absolutely. The Celtic Whiskey Shop on Dawson Street in Dublin hit the jackpot. For one thing, there is an interesting story behind Sula Wines, the first Indian company to hit the Irish wine market. Rajeev Samant left his job with Oracle in Silicon Valley in 1993 to return to India, initially growing mangoes in Nasik, an elevated region near Bombay where table grapes flourish. Soon discovering that the climate would also suit wine grapes, he teamed up with Sonoma winemaker Kerry Damskey in 1997 to plant vineyards and establish a winery. Sula Wines has since become a huge international success - listed by leading hotel groups such as Oberoi, Marriott and Grand Hyatt, imported into Italy by the distribution company of top-drawer Piedmont winemaker Angelo Gaja and stocked in the glamorous Parisian wine shop Lavinia.Even better news for Irish drinkers is that these are tasty wines with the smooth texture, generous fruit and low tannins that are just the ticket for spicy food. I especially liked the fruity, honeyed Chenin Blanc 2004, the Zinfandel Rosé 2004 (both retailing at €9-€10) and the concentrated Dindori Reserve Shiraz 2003 (working out at around €18).
The Celtic Whiskey Shop, 28 Dawson Street, Dublin, 01-6759744. www.sulawines.com
WALKING OFF INDULGENCE
Conventional wine tours suffer from one common disadvantage. The more you eat and drink as the days slip by, the worse you feel, especially as the coach trundles to yet another tasting after a gargantuan lunch. What's the solution? To get about on foot and work up an endless appetite. Walking through the Wine List is what Englishman Mark Andrews and his French wife, Laurence, call their programme of guided walks through 10 French wine regions. With a base in Burgundy, they set up their company, Walker's France, in 1988. Most walks are for five or seven days, with the usual group size between eight and 14 people. Plenty of wine tastings are woven into each programme. And lunch, by the way, is the highlight of each day. Call 00-44-20-78313125 or visit www.walkersfrance.com.
NOUVEAUX KIDS SUR LE BLOC
A new generation of French winemakers is creating great excitement. Highly educated, widely travelled and open-minded, they are the polar opposites of the traditionalists whose approach has seen France lose momentum in many key markets. And they are young. Stéphane Ogier, of Domaine Michel et Stéphane Ogier, now 27, was just 24 when the mighty Robert Parker granted one of his wines a perfect 100-point score. Ogier makes powerful, mineral wines of striking purity. My current favourite is his Côte-Rôtie Les Embruns 2002 - silky and reverberating with life.
Stéphane Montez, of Domaine du Monteillet, almost elderly at 33, is a 10th-generation vigneron. His family looked for a vineyard in Côte-Rôtie for 10 years, he says, before finally buying four hectares in 1997. Montez is daringly experimental, particularly in his approach to oak, leaving a high proportion of his fabulously hedonistic Saint-Joseph Cuvée du Papy 2002 in new 600-litre demi-muids for 22 months, while ageing his suave Côte-Rôtie Les Grandes Places 2001 in smaller oak barriques for a remarkable 33 months. Wines from both of these youngsters' domaines are imported by Tyrrell & Co.
TERROIRS COMES DOWN TO EARTH
It is great to discover that Sean and Françoise Gilley of Terroirs, the sometimes expensive wine shop in Donnybrook, have some terrific new bottles at under €10. I especially recommend the zippy Chardet Vin de Pays du Jardin de la France, Couillard 2003 (€9.95) and the refreshing Château Les Hauts de Caillevel Bergerac Sec 2004 (€8.99). (These are also stocked by Michael's Wines in Mount Merrion.) Terroirs' annual sale runs until May 22nd. 103 Morehampton Road, 01-6671311, www.terroirs.ie
IN BRIEF . . .
BAROSSA It will be fascinating to sample the sumptuous wines that Jonathan Maltus (right), the well-known English proprietor of Château Teyssier, in Saint-Emilion, is now making in Australia's Barossa Valley, especially as they are about to reach Ireland. The reds - L'Explorateur 2003, L'Etranger 2003, Emigré 2002 and Exile 2002 - are massively dense, ripe, smooth, alcoholic blockbusters. I preferred Expatrié 2003, a fabulously complex Semillon.
BURGUNDY Pierre-Henry Gagey, head of the respected Burgundy house of Louis Jadot, recently hosted an intriguing Burgundy workshop at the Gresham Hotel.
France is facing a wine crisis, he openly admitted during his trip to Dublin, as it is producing far too much inferior wine.
"We have to face it head on, and from it will emerge something really good," he declared. Although Bordeaux, the Rhône and Beaujolais are the most crisis-ridden regions, Burgundy also needs to clean up its act. Drastic action is guaranteed, Gagey says. Let's hope he is right.