News Opinion

WINE O’CLOCK: A rosé by any other name may taste too sweet

By Kilkenny Now 31st May 2019 0

SUMMER may be coming in but it’s taking its time about it. Still, the sun did put in an appearance last week. It was brief but enough to tempt me into the garden, to open a bottle of wine, and think about cleaning down the barbie or, maybe, cutting the grass. It is unwise, though, […]

News Opinion

WINE O’CLOCK: On the menu, but not in the shops

By Kilkenny Now 24th May 2019 0

READERS sometimes ask where they can buy a wine they have enjoyed in a restaurant. The answer nearly always is that they can’t buy it anywhere. Restaurants do deals with suppliers to give their wines some degree of exclusivity. You may find them in other restaurants but rarely in shops. I like to drink by […]

News Opinion

WINE O’CLOCK: A taste of Italy at bargain prices

By Kilkenny Now 17th May 2019 0

WE eat a lot of Italian food in Ireland. Well, sort of. We eat a lot of pasta and pizza, which is hardly the same thing. That goes for restaurants too. Only China provides us with more ethnic restaurants than Italy, but a lot of so-called Italian restaurants do little more than heat up frozen […]

News Opinion

WINE O’CLOCK: Exiles who bottled the taste of Ireland

By Kilkenny Now 26th April 2019 0

FOR a country with no real wine industry of its own, Ireland has contributed a lot to wine production around the world. Much of this is down to a group of wine merchants who fled the country after 1690, following the defeat of the Jacobite cause at the battles of the Boyne and Aughrim. The […]

News Opinion

WINE O’CLOCK: Some cracking reds to go with your Easter eggs

By Kilkenny Now 19th April 2019 0

NO lambs will die on my account this Easter. It’s not a matter of principle, I just don’t like the meat very much. It tends to be fatty or stringy or both. If you disagree, I recommend Chateau Moulin de Mallet as an accompaniment, a fruity red from Bordeaux (€16.95 in The Wine Centre, Kilkenny). […]

News Opinion

WINE O’CLOCK: A nice wee Prosecco, just what mammy ordered

By Kilkenny Now 29th March 2019 0

WHAT’S your mum’s favourite tipple, asks a flier that has popped into my email basket. I didn’t have a mum. I had a mam, sometimes a mammy, and her favourite tipple was tea. She drank gallons of the stuff and always in the same minuscule measure. Whether quaffed from a giant mug or sipped like […]

News Opinion

WINE O’CLOCK: A hint of Oil of Olay to go with the fish

By Kilkenny Now 22nd March 2019 0

THE late Simon Hoggart, a fine political journalist who also wrote about wine, recalled the most ridiculous description he had ever read of a wine, a Gewurztraminer. “Top notes of vanilla, spice and lychees,” it said, “with undertones of Nivea cream.” Can you imagine telling your guests, “You’ll love this – it tastes of Nivea […]

News Opinion

WINE O’CLOCK: Pinto Gris and Pinot Grigio: neighbours divided by shades of grey

By Kilkenny Now 8th March 2019 0

PINTO Gris and Pinot Grigio are neighbours. Both wines come from the same white grape with a greyish skin (hence the French name ‘gris’). At one stage these wines must have been identical but different production methods have driven them apart. In Alsace, where most of the French Pinto Gris is made, the harvest is […]