They used to be the wallflowers of the wine world, despised for their diminutive form, shunned for their modest nature and left on the shelf. Half-bottles had an image problem. There was something mean and wimpish about them, it was widely felt - something seriously at odds with Ireland's reputation as a generous, bibulous nation. Now, change is in the air. The further we advance into our shiny new wine culture, the more we see the sense of doing things by halves.
"The trend towards quality half bottles is now very clear," says Gregory Alken of Febvre & Co, importers of an impressive range of 43 red and white wines, everything from inexpensive Chileans to Bordeaux-classed growths, in half sizes. Known increasingly for the widest range of quarter bottles in the country, Febvre is making sure that an even broader choice is available to customers with slightly more sophisticated tastes.
"Half bottles have been so successful for us recently that all our stocks have been depleted," says David Dennison of the Wine Vault in Waterford, reporting sales twice as high for the summer of 1998 alone as for all of the preceding year. Mitchells' newly published list for Christmas and 1999 is further confirmation of the wines trade's growing interest in half measures: their grand total, sherries and dessert wines included, is 57. What's the big idea? Frank Searson of Searson's in Monkstown, another good source, puts the consensus view quite simply: people are drinking better quality, less quantity. Whether they are in a restaurant or at home by the kitchen table, there are more and more wine lovers who want to be able to enjoy a drop of something decent without necessarily having to break open a whole bottle.
Halves suit all sorts of situations - people on their own (even if only for the occasional evening); couples with conflicting tastes; drivers who need to keep a strict eye on their alcohol intake. I'm convinced their growing popularity is also due, at least in part, to the fact they allow so much scope for variety in the course of a single meal.
If you're dining a deux, a half bottle of white wine, champagne or dry sherry is just right as an aperitif. You might then decide to try a particular white wine with your first course, followed by a red wine with the main course. Again, a half-bottle is your only man. A certain cheese might taste like a dream with something different again. As for dessert wines, even for groups bigger than two, a half is often quite big enough to provide a sweet finale to a special meal.
Restaurateurs who have built up exciting half-bottle selections see their efforts rewarded by brisk demand - especially at lunch, when time is short and post-prandial slumber not an option. "It's a great way of adding variety to your list, particularly if you deliberately choose half bottles which are different from the full bottles you offer," says John McDonnell of The Whitethorn in Ballyvaughan, which has a cracking selection of 26. "They sell so well that we keep adding more. A lot of people are reluctant to buy a full bottle of a decent Sancerre at £22, but they won't mind paying £11£12 for a half bottle."
Pat Keown of The Hungry Monk in Greystones, offering a brilliantly appetising choice of 36 halves, highlights another advantage some restaurateurs may not have cottoned on to. "There's all this talk about the need to offer more wines by the glass," he says, (glowering at your correspondent, a committed canvasser for this cause). "Why don't more people realise that if you have a really good selection of half bottles, you don't need to have wines by the glass?" The only disadvantage of half bottles is that wine matures in them more rapidly than in bigger sizes - something to bear in mind before you stash too many away for too long. Unless they have a very lofty pedigree, they're best drunk fairly young, all in one go. Even if you're on your own, that shouldn't be too difficult to manage - or to justify. Aren't we constantly being reminded that three glasses a day keep the doctor away?
Not half bad
Sherry
Tio Mateo Fino, Real Tesoro (Wine Vault Waterford, McCabes Merrion, Grapes of Mirth Rathmines and some other outlets, half bottle £6.95).
Dry sherry is so well suited to the half-bottle size, given its tendency to lose its freshness so soon after opening, that every wine drinker in the country should have one tucked in the fridge for high-speed consumption. While it's wonderful to see Emilio Lustau half bottles creeping into more and more off-licences, let's not forget other names. Searsons has the excellent Valdespino Fino Inocente in halves (£5.50), while David Dennison in Waterford, now the agent for the superb Real Tesoro range, offers this bracing but delicately nutty treat.
White
Chateau Bonnet EntreDeux-Mers, A. Lurton, 1997 (Vintry Rathgar, Mortons Ranelagh, Vineyard Galway and some other outlets, half-bottle usually around £4.99).
An uncomplicated and appealing white Bordeaux with good credentials - crisp, fresh and reliable.
Alsace Riesling Reserve, Sipp Mack, 1996 (Mitchells, half bottle £5.75). Keep a few bottles of this to hand to pop in the fridge for instant exhilaration after a hard day's work. Peppy green-apple freshness, then a smooth, slightly creamy finish.
Sancerre Blanc La Croix Canat, F. Tinel-Blondelet, 1997 (Searsons Monkstown, Grapes of Mirth Rathmines, Geraghty's Fine Wines Carlow, Wine Centre Kilkenny, half bottle usually about £5.95).
It's hard enough to find decent Sancerre in full bottles, never mind halves, among all the tart nastiness on the market - but here's the real thing, from a respected producer. Taste the difference .
Red
Chateau Puygueraud, Bordeaux Cotes de Francs, 1995 (Searsons Monkstown, Grapes of Mirth Rathmines, Geraghty's Fine Wines Carlow, Wine Centre Kilkenny, half bottle usually about £5.95).
A tasty textbook claret which has plenty of grip without being austere . . . no wonder there's not much of it left. If you miss out, let the same stockists talk you up to the top-notch cru bourgeois Chateau de Pez 1994/5 (half bottle about £8.95) instead.
Ravenswood Zinfandel, Vintner's Blend, 1996 (Mitchells, half bottle £5.95). Now something completely different - a richly spicy, vanilla-laden Zin from one of the very best producers of this distinctive Californian speciality. Great with punchy food.
Crozes-Hermitage, Delas Freres, 1996 (Redmonds Ranelagh, McCabes Merrion, Vineyard Galway and some other outlets, half bottle usually £5.99).
Crozes-Hermitage is such a variable beast that you may be wary of it. This one needs no such caution, however. See Bottle of the Week.
Katnook Estate Cabernet Sauvignon, Coonawarra, 1995(Mortons Ranelagh, Savages Swords, Londis Malahide, half bottle usually about £6.95).
A complex, stylish Australian Cabernet which even Old-World-only types have been known to rave about. Outstanding.
Dessert
Heggies Botrytis Riesling, Eden Valley, 1996 (Grogans Ranelagh, Vintry Rathgar, Bird Flanagan Rialto, Foleys Cabinteely, Spar Ballybrack, Bradys/Cheers Shankill, Mill Maynooth, Lynchs Glanmire and other outlets, half bottle usually about £8.99).
There are scores of classic sweet wines in half bottles - Sauternes, Tokaji and so on - but why not try this affordable, delectable New World sticky? Lemons-and-marmalade character, but it's light and quite refined.
Wine Log
Searsons of Monkstown has just launched a special offer, with reductions of 15-30 per cent on the normal case-prices of a dozen wines. "Wines we can stand over - this is not an off-loading sale," they promise - and indeed there are many goodies on the list, including the tangy Spanish white, Con Class, Rueda, 1997 (down to £61.40 a case); the succulent Loire red which was a recent bottle of the week, Domaine Filliatreau, Saumur-Champigny 1996 (down to £99 a case); and the seriously beefy Condado de Haza, Ribero del Duero, 1996 (down to £107.40 a case). How to decide? Maybe try a tasting case of the 12 for £90?
Delivery, anywhere in the Republic, is a flat £5. Tel 01 2800405. Bonanza ends November 9th.
Grape vine
Carlow has a new wine shop, now that wine buff Bernard Geraghty has traded his career as a Braun mechanical engineer to live out the dream of purveying his favourite products. Geraghty's Fine Wines stocks a wide range, from well chosen bottles for every day up to big names such as Gaja. Riedel glasses are also on offer, and there's a coffee and wine bar on the premises. 97 Presentation Place, Tullow Street, Carlow, tel/fax 0503 34355.
Grape gripe
IS none of our leading designers a true wine lover? When Paul Costelloe and John Rocha turned their talents towards crystal for Cavan and Waterford, it was sad to find their handsome glasses completely the wrong shape to capture the aromas that contribute so much to the pleasure of wine. Now Louise Kennedy follows suit (so to speak) with her wide-topped wine glasses for Tipperary Crystal . . .
Match of the day
Wondering how to match your Thai? A crisp dry white is the standard reflex, but when Australia's Rothbury wines were re-launched in Ireland recently with a tasting dinner at the Siam in Monkstown, Rothbury Hunter Valley Shiraz 1996 (retail price around £8.99) emerged as an unexpected star. Light and softly fruity with no blockbuster tannins, it was perfect with chicken in a medium-hot, green curry sauce. Winemaker Chris Hatcher of Mildara-Blass, now Rothbury's masters, even drank it in preference to white with his green curry of tiger prawns. Soon to be seen in more off-licences and restaurants . . .