Food & Drink News Opinion

WINE O’CLOCK: Box clever and let the shop make the choice

By Kilkenny Now 13th November 2020 0

Good wines, like good books, are best bought from shops where you can look at the stock, savour the atmosphere and get advice from somebody who knows what they are talking about. However, successive lockdowns have persuaded many of us to shop online and, while it is not a trend I would like to see […]

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WINE O’CLOCK: A last sip of summer as the nights draw in

By Kilkenny Now 2nd October 2020 Post a comment

Albariño was once a rare visitor to Irish shores. Ten years ago you would have had to go searching for it in a wine shop. But this Spanish white has become very popular and today it gets a prominent place on most supermarket shelves. Sudden popularity sometimes leads to overproduction and a lowering of standards […]

Food & Drink News Opinion

WINE O’CLOCK: It’s hard to get the measure of drinking at home

By Kilkenny Now 18th September 2020 2

Pessimists, we are told, always see the glass as half empty; for optimists it is half full. But it seems we are all a bit optimistic when it comes to pouring wine. A survey has discovered that what most of us regard as an average glass is about 50% bigger than the standard measure you would buy in […]

Food & Drink News Opinion

WINE O’CLOCK: A vintage written in the stars

By Kilkenny Now 3rd July 2020 0

If you have a birthday coming up soon you might want to celebrate with “a heady red wine that can wrap you in rich, gooey warmth … or a luxurious, full-bodied white”. Why? Because your star sign is Cancer (June 21 to July 22) and Cancerians are “governed by sensation—they feel deeply, love strongly and […]

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WINE O’CLOCK: A winter warmer that is also nice chilled

By Kilkenny Now 6th December 2019 0

Last week I looked at wines you might like to try before the Christmas dinner. Afterwards, when the pud has been scoffed and the cheese is on the table, many of us will sip a glass of Sherry, that good old staple for winter days. It is one of the two great fortified wines. The […]

News Opinion

WINE O’CLOCK: It just rolls off the tongue …

By Kilkenny Now 11th October 2019 0

SOME years ago I was given a present of a wine called Gewurtztraminer which, because of its unpronounceable name, I took to be German. A Riesling, I imagined, or something similar. I was wrong on both counts. It is from Alsace, in France (although, come to think of it, Alsace has been in Germany a […]

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WINE O’CLOCK: The grape that got banished by royal command

By Kilkenny Now 27th September 2019 0

FRANCHE Comté is a region of Burgundy close to the border with Switzerland. For centuries, control swung between France, Spain and the Holy Roman Empire. Philip II of Spain was the man in charge back in the mid-sixteenth century and he took a strong exception to the Pinot Blanc style of grape from which they […]

News Opinion

WINE O’CLOCK: Name’s the same but the wine is different

By Kilkenny Now 26th July 2019 0

By MICHAEL WOLSEY IN Ireland we associate the name Sancerre with good white wine, dry with flavours of apple, peach, and apricot – perfect summer drinking. Wines with that name come in the medium price bracket and are a safe purchase. If you order one in a restaurant, you know your guests won’t be disappointed. […]

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WINE O’CLOCK: A hot red from the black soil of Sicily

By Kilkenny Now 12th July 2019 0

LAST week I wrote about the wines of Gozo. From the north of that Maltese island, you can – if the day is clear and your eyesight good – see the coast of Sicily. What you are looking at is the region of Avola (the town of that name is a bit to the west) […]

News Opinion

WINE O’CLOCK: Chardonnay – a good name for wine but not for women

By Kilkenny Now 14th June 2019 0

I READ that Chardonnay is making a comeback. That’s bad news for the unfortunate women who acquired it as a first name in a mad trend that swept parts of the country about 20 years ago. It’s no fun being called after a dodgy wine. But, of course, it wasn’t a dodgy wine back then. […]