Business

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: Nice label … and the wine ‘s not bad either

By Kilkenny Now 25th September 2020 0

It’s easy to spot Portuguese wines on the shelves of supermarkets and off-licences. They are the bottles with the nicest labels, colourful and artistic. But, like books and covers, you shouldn’t judge a wine by its label. With the exception of their wonderful Ports, the reputation of Portuguese wines has been for pleasant rather than […]

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 Rioja by any other name

By Kilkenny Now 11th September 2020 0

The patience of restaurant staff often surprises me, particularly nowadays when they have to work behind a mask and deal with customers who don’t know the Covid rules or have decided to ignore them. But even before Covid reared its ugly head, I witnessed many an example of forbearance. I recall, in particular, a debate […]

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 […]

Food & Drink News Opinion

WINE O’CLOCK: On tap and poured at your door

By Kilkenny Now 17th April 2020 0

Time was when the milkman would deliver a pint of the white stuff to your door. Now a pub in Belfast is delivering pints of the black stuff. You phone the Hatfield House bar and pay for your order by card. They come to your house in a van fitted with a portable tap system, […]

News Opinion

WINE O’CLOCK: What to drink at a social distance

By Kilkenny Now 20th March 2020 Post a comment

I asked an elderly neighbour if she intended to take advantage of the local supermarket’s scheme to admit only pensioners for the first hour of shopping each day. “It’s no use to me,” she said. “They don’t sell wine that early.” If the early bird can’t get the wine, somebody else must be snapping it up, for there are empty

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: The wine with the feelgood factor

By Kilkenny Now 6th March 2020 Post a comment

Organic wine was once the preserve of small shops and even smaller cafés where it was served by men with beards to women with backpacks. It has become popular in recent years and some organics can now be found on most restaurant menus and in all self-respecting wine stores. An organic wine is made from […]

Food & Drink News Opinion

WINE O’CLOCK: Trump’s trade war on wine backfires

By Kilkenny Now 28th February 2020 0

President Trump has been waging trade wars on several fronts. In October last year he decided that the enemy was European wine – and, incidentally, Irish whiskey and Scotch. He imposed a 25% tariff on these imports in retaliation, he said,  for EU subsidies to European aerospace giant Airbus, which is a rival of America’s […]