O'Briens Wine Blog

Any fan of fine Mosel Riesling or indeed anyone looking for top quality whites that range from off-dry to sweet should delight in the arrival of one of the Mosel’s finest producers; Selbach-Oster is now available in Ireland.

This family owned Domaine has had vines since the 1600′s and these vines are situated in some of the most famed plots in the Mosel and Saar valleys. The defining feature of these wines - like all great Mosels – is that exquisite balance between honeyed sweetness, rapier acidity and ‘fresh as a mountain stream’ minerality.

Drink the off-dry wines nicely chilled as a pre-lunch/dinner treat and match up the sweeter styles with fresh fruit sorbet or even soft blue cheese; Cambozola or Saint Agur (but not Roquefort).

 The Selbach-Oster range hit our shelves this week and they are simply stunning wines:

Selbach Riesling Qualitätswein €9.99:

Off-dry 10.5% alcohol, light and very clearly defined in its crunchy green apple fruit, this is a fine match for Cantonese and Thai cuisine or equally happy on its own.

Selbach Riesling Incline €11.99:

Off-dry 11% alcohol; this will be my default aperitif for the rest off the year; aromas of blossom and wild honey abound and while there is some sweetness it is hardly noticeable with the level of mouthwatering apple fruit

 Selbach Riesling Spatlese Saar €13.99:

Quite sweet 8.5% alcohol, the lightest of the wines but also the most delicate and pure, this slips down far too easily. (this is the bottle I bought today for home use!)

Selbach Wehlener Sonnenuhr €18.99:

92 Parker Points & 91 Points Wine Spectator

So this is getting pretty close to proper dessert wine. The richness acquired from the grapes ripening in the vineyard’s warmest plot the Sonnenuhr or “Sundial” really shows through. Tremendous fruit, everlasting finish and still only 8.5%.

Selbach Graacher Domprobst €28.99:

91 Points Wine Spectator

Nectar of the Gods! Properly sweet and paradoxically rich yet delicate; the Graacher has such an intensity of pure apple and nectarine fruit running parallel with cool minerality that every sip just electrifies the palate. (8% alcohol)

Famous wine writer and all round font of wine wisdom Michael Broadbent has been known to recommend a glass of Mosel at 11 am to add pep to the step. I am not advocating that early a start but when the sun is shining a glass of chilled Mosel is a great way to start a summer evening.

Brewed a lager, looking like an ale and tasting incredible. Brooklyn Lager is a dry hopped lager hailing from…you guesed it… that is dangerously close to the top of my summer beer list. As soon as you pour this beer you realise it’s no ordinary American lager. It pours a fantastic amber colour and almost immediatly you get a fresh citrussy floral nose. On the palate it is almost pale ale in character with a strong malty caramel presence but still manages to maintain the freshness and cleanness of a lager with a dry and refreshing finish. A triumph and on special in all stores now at €8.45 for a 6pack (35.5cl 12oz bottle). You won’t be disappointed!

We’ve just about recovered from another busy, but brilliant, four days at Taste of Dublin.  In our opinion this was the best year yet!  For anyone who hasn’t been to the event before, Taste of Dublin  takes place every June in the beautiful surroundings of the Iveagh Gardens.  

The event is a great day/evening out and you can try dishes from a selection of some of the top restaurants in Dublin.  There are also local food producers sampling yummy food, and drinks suppliers at the event, along with our very own O’Briens Wine Bar!  

O'Briens Wine Bar at Taste of Dublin

The atmosphere was buzzing for every session.  Our bar was right beside the main stage this year and the entertainment was awesome!  We witnessed some pretty impressive dance moves and we’re told that the ringing in our ears will stop any day now  

The downpour on Sunday afternoon didn’t seem to spoil the day, most of the stands had enough shelter for every one and once the plastic ponchos were distributed, a conga line (no joking) made its merry way around in front of our bar.  

It was great to see lots of our customers there and also to meet people who were visiting Taste for the first time – we hope you all had a great time and that we’ll see you again next year! 

We were sampling and selling at our stand and if you visited us, but need a reminder of what we had, here’s a list of the wines:   

One of the best-known names in wine is Châteauneuf-du-Pape; it is a byword for quality, class and frequently chosen as that special bottle for Birthday’s, anniversaries or simply meeting the future father-in-law for the first time. So what’s the appeal? Firstly there’s the name; understandably many people think Châteauneuf is one wine because of the word Château, many have heard that Châteauneuf-du-Pape is good and naturally follow that advice.

 Secondly there is the general style of the wine and its image, big heavily embossed bottles that usually start at €25 and deliver big jammy flavours, smooth rich mouthfeel and invariably high alcohol. Even the mainstream versions should give plenty of texture, big fruit and high alcohol.

What remains of the original Chateauneuf-du-Pape "Castle of the New Pope"

So is it all it’s cracked up to be? Well frankly yes; when it’s good, Châteauneuf is the best wine in Southern Rhone and truly world class but the problem is there are many Châteauneufs. It is not a single producer or Château it is a wine region. There are good producers and not so good producers within this vineyard zone and many of the less scrupulous producers will turn out masses of lesser quality wine from potentially good vineyards because they know that the name will sell the wine.

Warning bells should be beginning to ring for example if you see a “bargain” Châteauneuf; dipping below the €20 price point is not common practice for the good estates. Invariably the bad producers pass off bland, heady wines as the real thing and invariably they disappoint. Good producers know that well-made Châteauneuf commands a premium and will charge accordingly. 

So what is good Châteuneuf-du-Pape? What is the real deal, a wine that truly delivers on the promise of that much used name? Perhaps the wine-style that most fits the bill and satisfies the general expectation of Châteuneuf is the big, dark fruited, intelligently oaked “modern style”. Estates that pick ripe grapes that generally increase the percentage of Syrah and age the wine in smaller format oak barrels. 

From all our tastings in the last year the wine that has stood up and declared itself “The Real Deal” is Domaine des Sénéchaux 2007. It epitomizes everything that is great about Châteuneuf, even though it’s a big wine with masses of fruit and oak there is tremendous purity to the fruit and fine acidity holding everything in balance. It is one hell of a wine that is going to provide sublime drinking for a decade or two. 

So if anyone has ever felt cheated by blousy, alcoholic, dilute tasting Chateauneuf go out and try Sénéchaux and see what all the fuss is about; this is the real deal. 

We were fortunate to taste and select the wine just before it scooped two of the biggest awards in the wine world; Trophy at the Decanter World Wine Awards and a Gold Medal at the International Wine Challenge. 

      94 Points 

Some of the most frequently asked questions during our wine courses and wine tastings surround the themes of wine storage and investment.

Questions like:

• Will most wine improve with age?
• What are the best wines to invest in?
• Where should I store my wine?
• How long will this Champagne I got as a present last?

My answers usually begin with this simple statement: the vast majority of wine for sale is meant to be drunk within 3-5 years of purchase. This especially applies the fashionable whites of the moment; Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Grigio.

Most reds too are not designed for the long term, the fruity Chilean Merlots and Carménère, Argentinean Malbecs, most inexpensive Australian Shirazes and Cabernets are very much geared for immediate enjoyment. It’s not just the New World; Côtes Du Rhônes, Languedoc reds, most Chianti and Valpolicella are all destined for short lives.

Only when you go up a notch or two in the quality ladder do you begin to get wines that are specifically designed to develop and improve with age. Bordeaux reds of the €20+ bracket, 1er Cru Red & white Burgundy, New World Reds from €25 up, Italy’s Barolos, Brunellos & Chianti Classico Reservas can all improve with time. These wines shed their primary fruit and fresh oak imprint to become complex wines with all the multi-layered aromas and flavours associated with aged fine wine.

 There are less expensive wines that can age extremely well but as a rule of thumb do not risk the sub €20 category; it is advisable not to stash away cases of €15 Bourgogne Pinot Noir in the hope that in ten years time it will be extraordinary.

With wine bought for investment it is necessary to spend a bit to gain a decent profit, gone are the days when a €200 case of Bordeaux blossomed into a €2000 case after ten years. In terms of investment the only real contender is Bordeaux and if you want to make money buy big and buy safe. The traditional “Blue Chip” Château in a good vintage are usually the best bets. I say bet because it is always a gamble and markets can change dramatically. Economic downturns, natural disasters, political turmoil can all have direct effects on the various buying markets. Get it right though and the dividends can be good. Those that bought Lafite 2005 for € 5600 can know expect to get around €10,000-12,000 in Auction.

Those who bought Pontet-Canet in 2008 for €570 can expect €680; if they sell now that’s 20% in 2 years.

So do your homework, ask for advice, and research what wines are likely to show greatest returns balanced by the lowest risk.

If you have bought expensive wine to invest in then proper storage is essential and it is strongly advised that you pay for professional storage. For all other wines for storage up to a year or so then these are the golden rules:

1. Store away from direct sunlight.

2. The place must be between  4°C and 18°C.

3. Temperatures should not fluctuate more than 2-3°C.

4. Humidity levels should be greater than 50%.

A dark cupboard under the stairs is very often suitable; just make sure you keep longer term wines out of the kitchen as they can spoil in only a couple months.

The last answer concerns Champagne and as a lot of people are given Champagne as a gift there is a tendency to hold on to it too long; waiting for a “special occasion”. Most non-vintage Champagne can be good with a few years extra bottle ageing from time of purchase. The trouble is it’s a “non-vintage” wine so you do not when it was made, it could have been sitting on a shop shelf for several years before it was bought. So with non-vintage Champagne it is not worth the risk; open it up and enjoy it as soon as you can.

Vintage champagne is a different matter; these are wines from one a single year (technically a very good year) and will very often improve and develop with time. A good mid-level €40-€60 brand can be very delicious after 6 or 7 years whereas prestige cuvées like Dom Perignon or Bollinger Grand Année can evolve for 10 years and more if properly stored.

Of course there are many “Fine Wines” that can be bought and stored for several years, rewarding the patient collector with sublime aromas and flavours. Just remember that most of wines you come across are designed for drinking not for keeping.

 The first sunny weekend has already past and there is just the glimmer of hope that we may see a few decent sunny spells over the coming weeks. With that in mind it is the perfect time to try some new summery wines. Our stream of new arrivals are wines that are particularly suited to a bit of sunshine and a spot of al fresco dinning.

The light lunch: It’s Saturday, the lawn is mown or the balcony washed down and the sun has just hit its stride. Time for a home-baked pizza and crunchy salad for lunch, if you were on holidays in France you would be reaching for a rosé but here a glass of fresh aromatic white seems more appropriate. San Felice Vermentino is perfect; floral and peachy on the nose with excellent lively fruit and zingy freshness on the palate, a wine made for this kind of dining.

If the lunch is a bit more serious and you fancy a more classic style then the brand new Cave de Lugny Macon-Lugny will fit the bill. Way more richness and complexity than your average Macon wine; this is quality Burgundy that cries out for grilled fish, chicken and pasta dishes. Serve lightly chilled.

Late evening Barbecue: The coals have been glowing for an hour and the grill is just about ready for its first skewers of lamb and green pepper and well-seasoned pork ribs. It is time or a glass of red and ideally this should be not too heavy but have plenty of soft ripe fruit. Our new arrival Arribes de Vettonia Crianza from the little known Arribes region in far west Spain is a cracking wine for just opening and enjoying, it is great on its own but comes alive with savoury food and barbecue fare is ideal.

If this is a big family occasion and the wine needs to be ratcheted up a notch or two then try out our new Portuguese star wine; Quinta Nova. It is phenomenal, packed with sweet blackberried fruit and subtle hints of spice but most of all this is smooth, very smooth; there is a lovely silken texture to it, meaning; it’s terrific with or without the food.

Sunday Lunch:  Outdoors or inside the centre piece (besides the Mother-in-law) of Sunday Lunch is roast chicken; it is a comforting tradition that is not set to change any time soon. The brilliant thing about roast chicken is that it leaves you open to a huge amount of choice for a matching wine.

Crisp, dry whites are a classic choice; Sancerre, Pouilly-Fumé or Chablis, along those lines we have just landed the stunning Jean-Marc Brocard Petit Chablis. This has all the hallmark minerality and wonderfully pure, appley fruit you would expect from one of the finest producers in Chablis and this clear, fresh white is the perfect counterbalance to crispy chicken skin.

Red can work equally well with a roast chicken; make sure it’s not too heavy and avoid too much tannin. Lighter Bordeaux, Italian reds, fruit-driven Rhônes all work well but Pinot Noir is the ultimate choice. The new vintage of Astrolabe Pinot Noir (2007) with roast chicken is one of the most perfect food and wine matches you are ever likely to try. It’s not cheap at €19.95 – Marlborough Pinot Noir never is – but when you put this in the context of fine Burgundy only the €30+ Burgundies can match Astrolabe’s tremendous depth of fruit.

Food and wine matching is of course a matter of taste, one person’s dream combo may be someone else’s cold tea and porridge. If anyone has their own desert island food & wine matches or a particular combination of food & wine that really works for al fresco dining then please let us know.

Fish and Chips with Cava anyone?……..sound strange but it works!

Cheval Blanc

Our final day in Bordeaux started off with a pretty poor excuse for a croissant and a cup coffee more suited to a roadside service station – just the thing to bring us down to earth after the d’Yquem launch.

Fortunately things climbed rapidly upwards from here and an unscheduled visit to Cheval Blanc was next. Here we tasted a trio of stunning St-Émilion’s; La Tour de Pin, Petit Cheval and Cheval Blanc itself, the wines were sublime and Cheval Blanc is going to top a lot of lists for wine of the decade! Dense but sumptuous fruit, multilayered, complex and very silken in texture – amazing wine. 

It was then over to Château Beau-Séjour Bécot for the main body of St-Émilion Grand Cru Classés. Here there was a similarity to the Margaux tasting in that the high quality of the vintage was not totally harmonious. Some wines failed to achieve balance but once again the wines that did get it right were quite remarkable. Indeed they were so rich and ripe they seemed almost drinkable then and there!

At opposite ends of the spectrum Pavie-Macquin was luscious, opulent and packed with layer upon layer of ripe fruit whereas Figeac was serious, structured and intense. Choose wisely and St-Émilion will seriously reward in 2009, they will be amazingly open early on but no-one doubts that theses are wines with years of evolution ahead of them. 

  The Star Wines? Cheval Blanc, Petit Cheval, Pavie-Macquin, Figeac, Beau-Séjour Bécot, Troplong Mondot, Canon. 

Staying on the right bank it was Pomerol next and the core tasting was at a Château that unfortunately took the timely decision to treat some part of the tasting room with chemical cleaner in the recent past! So once you struggled past this heady, bleachy aroma quite a bit of concentration was needed to get at the wines. As a counterbalance many of these Pomerols were very open and aromatic. 

It is obvious that there are a few weaker links with the Right Bank Merlots but many Châteaux have produced stunning wines. At the top end of the scale La Conseillante stood out, a pillar of structure and reserved power, velvet texture but what richness, what concentration! This is a keeper that will evolve for decades.In its company and equally compelling was Chateau Clinet, pitch perfect Pomerol, very plush ripe fruit, a rounded feel but with great complexity in the everlasting finish. 

The danger area some producers fell into was over-extraction and heavy oak use – point chasing wines that rely more on texture than fruit purity. Having said that, I can see 2009 Pomerols being on many people’s wish lists for years to come. 

The Star Wines? La Conseillante, Clinet, Petit-Village, La Pointe, La Croix de Gay.

The ivy-clad Troplong Mondot

Finally we were able to wind-down with a light lunch at Troplong Mondot, typically St. Emilion in style with none of the Medoc’s formailty here, a very relaxed lunch. Seated at long benched tables with hearty pâtés, cold meats and salads alongside the family themselves. A  good lunch that showed off the superlative quality of Troplong itself in the guise of the ‘98 and ‘07 vintages, great wines but someway behind the level of their monumental ’09.

There was a warm postprandial feeling of job done (for now );300+ wines tasted, notes written and a plane to catch.

The En Primeur (early purchase) campaign begins now in earnest and anyone who has an interest in obtaining the wines mentioned or indeed any others En Primeur then please drop me an e-mail at dstewart@obrienswines.ie

Dave Powell, Owner and Winemaker of Torbreck Vintners, will be hosting a dinner in The Strand Hotel, Limerick on Friday 7th May.  Check out details below.

Torbreck Winemaker Dinner Limerick

Wines for the Tasting

Dave Powell, Owner and Winemaker of Torbreck Vintners, will be hosting a dinner in The g  Hotel in Galway on Saturday 8th May.  Check out details below.

Torbreck Winemaker Dinner GalwayWines for the Tasting

Tasting evening in aid of the Bray Cancer Support Centre, Thursday 22nd April.  Tickets are still available for this event in O’Briens Quinsboro Road and O’Briens Vevay Road.

Wine Tasting Evening in aid of Bray Cancer Support Centre