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 […]
A few months ago I was given a bottle of raspberry wine. It sounded like something my granny used to make and I was in no rush to try it. I stored it away carefully in the back of a cupboard with that cactus liqueur I brought home from Lanzarote and the banana concoction somebody […]
The lovely weather seems to have abandoned us but Met Eireann says it should soon be back, so don’t put away the barbecue just yet. When the sun comes out we reach for the rosé. It’s Ireland’s favourite summer wine and, although I’m not a big fan, I have to admit it goes well with […]
When I eat in a restaurant with a good wine list (a fading memory, alas) I like to drink it by the glass, letting me try more of the range: a crisp white with the starter, a smooth red with the main course and a nice dessert wine with some cheese to finish things off. It’s an expensive little pleasure because restaurants impose a heft mark-up on wine. But I
SOME people like to drink a dessert wine with, reasonably enough, their dessert. I like to drink them as my dessert. The sweetness of the wine combined with the sweetness of most puddings is just too much for my taste, but a glass of Sauternes, sipped just by itself, is a lovely end to a […]
I AM not certain what constitutes a callow youth but I’m pretty sure I was one, way back in the day, when I got a summer job in what passed for a posh restaurant in the Belfast of the late 1960s. I served a very glamorous woman, dining with equally glamorous friends, but told her […]
THERE’S nothing so simple that somebody can’t complicate it. Last week Britain’s Guardian newspaper produced a small magazine on how to prepare breakfast. It devoted two whole pages to making a bacon sandwich and another two to poached eggs. In case you missed it, I’ll give you an edited version. BACON SANDWICH Fry or grill […]
THE importance independent retailers make to Kilkenny’s economy has been recognised as three local businesses were nominated for national awards. The three local stores nominated for the 2019 Independent Retail Awards are Silverspring Fruit & Veg, nominated for Fresh Produce Provider, The Wine Centre, nominated for Off Licence Of the Year, and Butterslip, nominated in
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) […]
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. […]