Time to get smart, it has suddenly struck me. Why wade through an ocean of bottles, looking for elusive beauties, when the indolence of high summer is so hard to resist? Why not winkle this week's wine tips out of the finest palates in the land?
Ireland has three Masters of Wine - holders of the highest qualification in the wine world. Those two little letters MW betoken a series of notoriously difficult exams, stretched over years, demanding both Murderous Work and Mighty Will-power - not to mention quite exceptional tasting skills. Martin Moran MW works for Gilbeys, besides contributing a new wine column to Himself magazine. Alan Crowley MW is business development director at Edward Dillon & Co. Dermot Nolan MW is an independent wine consultant and lecturer. I put the same 10 questions to them all:
Favourite summery white under £7?
Moran: Correas Torrontes-Chardonnay, Argentina, 1997 (widely available, £5.99-£6.49). The exotically fruity Torrontes grape is tamed by the Chardonnay, and the Chardonnay made more interesting by the addition of Torrontes. Crowley: Carmen Sauvignon Blanc 1998 (widely available, usually £6.49). A refreshing, tropical fruit style with balancing ripe citrus flavours.
Nolan: My original and best, J.P. Branco NV (very widely available, £4.39) - exactly what you would want for a summer wine: light, fresh, fruity, with a bit of weight. Favourite summery red under £7?
Moran: Big Frank's Red, Minervois, 1997 (Pettitts stores in south-east and selected independents, £5.99£6.49). Typically gutsy, spicy Minervois with a healthy dollop of Syrah - and I love this style of unpretentious labelling which makes wine more casual and everyday.
Crowley: La Chasse du Pape Cotes du Rhone , Gabriel Meffre, 1997 (SuperValus/Centras and many other outlets, usually £6.99). From one of France's most exciting regions, it's ripe and fruity, with characteristic Rhone overtones of pepper and spice.
Nolan: No idea. I've tasted 1,500 wines or more in the past year but don't recall anything that stands out.
Favourite swanky white?
Moran: Trimbach Cuvee Frederic Emile Riesling, Alsace, 1993/1995 (McCabes Merrion and other good independent wine merchants including Greenacres Wexford, £19£20). Trimbach makes great dry Rieslings that age and develop for years at much lower prices than white Burgundy. This has typical petrol and citrus character.
Crowley: White Burgundy has always been my favourite top quality dry white wine, so I'd select Chateau Viviers Chablis, Lupe-Cholet, 1997 (good independents, about £12.99). A classic Chablis, typically steely and crisp with lemon-tinged fruit.
Nolan: Maybe a Wehlener Sonnenuhr from Dr Loosen (James Nicholson, £15-£17), a classic fresh appley Riesling which, with lots of age , will develop into a ripe, honeyed and petrolly wine. Or, for more general but still slightly swanky drinking, a mature bottle of Blue White Chenin Blanc, Stellenbosch, Old Vines (selected independents, about £7.50). It has that lovely honeyed apple nose of ripe Chenin with good weight and roundness on the palate.
Favourite swanky red?
Moran: Santa Rita Casa Real Cabernet Sauvignon 1995 (Superquinn and leading independents, £17-£19). Probably Chile's best red, this has the lot: intense, ripe, blackcurrant fruit, spice, vanilla, weight, length. Cru classe claret this good would be twice the price.
Crowley: Plaisir de Merle Cabernet Sauvignon, Paarl, 1996 (good independents, £12.99-£13.49), to reflect the outstanding quality that South Africa is capable of producing. With Paul Pontailler of Chateau Margaux as consultant, this wine combines real French complexity with New World sun-ripened fruit. Rich, velvety . . . really excellent.
Nolan: Chateau Musar (good independents, about £15), as it has that fabulous ability to age, going from a big, chunky wine in youth to a wonderfully rich, smooth, almost chocolately wine when mature. Or a good Chianti like the perfumed, elegant Castello Vicchiomaggio 1993 (about £15), or the beautifully balanced, round and mature Carpineto Chianti Classico 1991 (about £17).
Favourite region for a wine holiday?
Moran: Australia's Hunter Valley - pretty scenery, excellent wines and I have happy memories of working here as a cellar rat in 1984 . Also, as visiting vineyards endlessly would be a drag, it's close to the wonderful city of Sydney. McWilliams Semillon is the classic example of how wonderful this grape and region can be. (Coming to selected independents soon). The Bottle of the Week also gives the flavour: see below.
Crowley: California, with its well organised winery tours, sunny climate, good restaurants and guest houses. You'll have an opportunity to taste excellent, well-priced wines like Fetzer Home Ranch Zinfandel 1997 (widely available, £7.99-£8.49). Uniquely Californian, it combines ripe black cherry flavours with attractive spiciness.
Nolan: I love both Burgundy and Jerez. Burgundy for the hedonistic pleasure of its finest wines - like the beautifully aromatic, supple Nuits-St-Georges 1er Cru Pruliers from Domaine Robert Chevillon (Burgundy Direct, various vintages, around £25). Jerez for the setting, the climate, the wines, the flamenco, the passion involved in sherries like Valdespino's Fino Inocente (Searsons Monkstown, £9.95), a superbly delicate aged fino - fresh and dry with great pungency.
Best up-and-coming region?
Moran: Southern Italy and Sicily, where a heady mix of local and international grapes, investment and flying winemakers are producing exciting wines at low prices. Candido Salice Salentino (widely available, £6.99£7.49) is the old guard; Australian producer Hardys has an excellent new Sicilian range, D'Isinto (arriving in Ireland any day now).
Crowley: Spanish regions other than Rioja - Navarra, Penedes and Valdepenas, for instance - are producing well-priced wines with warm fruit and a layer of that oaky vanilla much loved by Irish consumers. The Los Llanos range from Valdepenas (back in Superquinn soon, around £5.99) is a starting point. Nolan: I'm not sure if there are any left. These things will be cyclical from now on: as one region excels another must decline. But Italy is very exciting at the moment, with Chianti offering excellent value while small producers such as Stefano Inama in Soave and Pervini in Puglia make some great and characterful wines. Italy is one of the last countries where wines have genuine character.
Most sadly neglected treat wine?
Moran: Any Riesling. This should be the perfect modern grape - intense, fruity, characterful yet light. Try my swanky bottle or some of the great Germans stocked by Searsons of Monkstown. Crowley: A Mosel Spatlese from a good estate such as Max Ferd. Richter or J. J. Prum - rich and flowery but backed by crisp lemony acidity. Germany is still producing top quality wine, even though its image has been tainted by the mass production of nondescript wines.
Nolan: Classic German Riesling - like the Dr Loosen Erdener Pralat 1971 Auslese Lange Goldkapsel I included last year in a tasting of non-French classics: still superb, with 15-20 more years in it, and a steal at about £50 in the UK.
Wine you'd like to buy for your cellar?
Moran: I don't have a cellar and the only wines I'm keeping are a couple of cases from my son's year of birth. But if I had space and spare money I'd buy top 1997 Rhones from the likes of Guigal, Chave or Jaboulet - e.g. Jaboulet's Hermitage La Chapelle 1997 (top independents, about £50).
Crowley: Some of the 1998 Bordeaux are well worth laying down if you can get them at the right price. Although it's been proclaimed as a Pomerol and St Emilion vintage, my choices would be in the Medoc: Chateau Latour or Chateau Leoville-Barton. Nolan: No idea, but whenever funds allow I usually check out the British brokers for fine Burgundy, mature Rieslings and Chenins or older Musars (1960s and 1970s).
Wine that tastes like twice its price?
Moran: Melini "Le Grillaie", Vernaccio di San Gimignano, 1997 (Vintry Rathgar and a few other outlets, usually about £7.99). "Poor man's Meursault" is the classic moniker for this oak-aged Tuscan, which should say it all.
Crowley: No hesitation: Carmen Grande Vidure-Cabernet 1996 (good independents, usually £10.99). This Chilean blend of a rare old Bordeaux variety with a well-known star is incredibly intense, dark and chocolatey without being overpowering. Worth a lot more! Nolan: No idea. Anyone who expects price to relate to quality needs to reappraise their whole approach to wine.
Champagne you'll drink for millennium?
Moran: Champagne Laurent Perrier's aptly named deluxe cuvee Grand Siecle 1990 (in stock soon, £75-£80).
Crowley: Cuvee Dom Perignon 1992 (leading independents, about £75), for its rich, biscuity complexity and sparkling, lemony edge.
Nolan: I have some Pol Roger 1988 (Redmonds Ranelagh, magnums about £160) - and Pol Roger is my favourite champagne, always rich and well textured with great length and elegance.