Food & Drink News Opinion

WINE O’CLOCK: A sweet, rich winner to end your dinner

By Kilkenny Now 30th October 2020 0

In 1698, eight years after the Battle of the Boyne, English kings had grown tired of fighting each other and went to war with France. The French, unsportingly, stopped sending their wine to England and the English, resourcefully, looked for another supply. They found it in Portugal’s Duroro Valley but the wine did not travel […]

Food & Drink News Opinion

WINE O’CLOCK: Raise a glass to the great Irish burger

By Kilkenny Now 26th June 2020 0

Our society has strange values and it’s a sign of them that the lockdown re-openings which created the most excitement were Penneys and McDonald’s. That’s not a criticism – my own priority was the Premier League. I guess those who rushed to the Big Mac queue were aware that yesterday (June 25) was National Burger Day.  The event […]

News

WINE O’CLOCK: A glass full of feelgood factor

By Kilkenny Now 8th May 2020 0

I am always a bit suspicious when I see the label ‘organic’ on any item. The definition tends to be vague, the product expensive and I have never found the flavour of the meat, vegetables or whatever, to be noticeably enhanced. I am particularly  suspicious of ‘organic’ wine because the term has no legal standing. It […]

Food & Drink News Opinion

WINE O’CLOCK: A nice, light white from the home of red

By Kilkenny Now 13th March 2020 0

The Languedoc region of France has been producing wine since Adam and Eve decided apples were too risky and tried growing grapes instead. But it is only in relatively recent years that its wines have become easily available in Ireland. We are most familiar with its reds, many of which come with the word Languedoc […]

Food & Drink News Opinion

WINE O’CLOCK: Reds and whites for a sherry little Christmas

By Kilkenny Now 20th December 2019 0

Christmas dinner is a hearty meal which would seem to call for a hearty red to accompany it. But if turkey is the biggest item on your plate, that may not be true. It is quite a bland meat and can easily be overpowered by the heftier reds. A Beaujolis or Fleurie (Joseph Drouhin Fleurie €19.50, Ardkeen Stores, Waterford); a Pinot Noir (Reserve de Luch, Pinot Noir, €11 at

News Opinion

WINE O’CLOCK: Raise a patriotic glass to Paschal Donohoe

By Kilkenny Now 6th September 2019 0

IN France, Spain or Portugal it is easy to buy a perfectly decent bottle of wine for a fiver or less. In Ireland you can only do this if a supermarket has a struck a deal with the supplier or decided, for some reason of its own, to subsidise the cost. That’s because Irish excise […]

News Opinion

WINE O’CLOCK: There’s more to this one than a fat, fancy bottle

By Kilkenny Now 12th April 2019 0

BACK in the Seventies, no trendy home was without a Chianti bottle. Some people even drank the wine, but the key thing was the rotund bottle, known as a fiasco (flask), in which candles could be burned, the accumulated wax giving them an even chubbier shape. Ruffino Chianti was the best known label bottled in […]