On Monday, we’re showing off our Australian wines, using our new dispenser, at the Wine Australia annual fair in Croke Park.

On Tuesday, winemaker Glenn Goodall of Xanadu Estate in Margaret River will join us in Cork to host a tasting dinner at the Blackrock Castle Trattoria.

We may feel the need to take things a little easy on Wednesday.

It’s not in my power to invite you to either of the Dublin events, but you would be very welcome to join us for the dinner in Blackrock Castle. Roll up, roll up, and book a place here.

I replied to the entreaties of Sales & Marketing Manager, Nadine Cattanea, in autumn 2008, and told her as unequivocally I could that her proposed visit would be a waste of time, because we had all the Côtes du Rhône wine we needed, thank you very much.

Nonetheless, since my best effort at unequivocal is a fairly pale imitation of the real thing, I did let slip that our list might one day be the better for something really interesting from a named village (a bit rarer and finer than a generic Côtes du Rhône or CdR Villages).

Ms Cattanea at this point, reasonably enough, saw her chance and visited anyway. I find, looking back, I recorded the occasion with a blog post and photo.

To the chase, anyway – we did, eventually, need to refresh our Côtes du Rhône offering, and the first company we thought of was, naturally, Les V des 4 C. So now we have some very delicious, new-and-exclusive wines for you; and enthusiastic repeat purchasing, when they’ve only been on the shelves a couple of weeks, suggests that we’re on to another good thing. You may have read here, if you take Decanter, that French wines, including cheap Côtes du Rhône, are in trouble in the UK – though Rhône wines overall didn’t do as badly as the rest.

Here’s the line-up, anyway:

• a basic Côtes du Rhône in red or white;
• another Côtes du Rhône from a smaller domaine;
• a red wine from the village of Chusclan;
• a red and a white wine from the village of Laudun.

On the strength of customers’ enthusiasm, I took home a bottle each of the Laudun white and the Chusclan, and I’m very pleased with them. Not least because I finally took a trip out Kanturk way recently and called in, on the way back from the most excellent Secret Garden to have a look in at McCarthy’s butchers, where a warm welcome from Jack McCarthy included an invitation to suggest wine matches for his new, creamy black pudding (which has just won a prize at a French pudding-off, the only overseas competitor to do so in a competition taken so seriously that there is a pudding brotherhood with special robes and hats and everything) and the delicate, toothsome Sliabh Luachra air-dried beef.

If the refreshing, focused fruit and spicy, velvet depths of the 4 Chemins reds don’t hit the spot, I’ll air-dry my hat with a view to slicing and eating it.

Now twitter is to be the venue for a dinner party co-ordinated by unfeasibly energetic, musical, youthful &c. Dublin cook Donal Skehan.  He’s come up with a three course menu, and will post recipes and shopping advice over the next few days.  Between now and Saturday, if you’re joining in, you buy the ingredients, cook the meal and enjoy the results, using twitter to share the ups and downs with everyone else following.

Someone using twitter dropped me in it by suggesting that I might offer recommendations for wines to suit Donal’s menu.   I don’t mind, really – it’s rather flattering.   Here are my thoughts on the matter, though please don’t treat this as something you can Get Wrong (or Right).  You can’t.   It’s not a test.  It’s for fun.

To read more about it and to have a look at the menu, head over to the Good Mood Food blog.  Twitter people, #twinnerparty is where it is at.  wine-searcher.com is a handy search engine for wines, if you’re looking for something in particular.

Goat’s cheese salad
I’ve tasted some Sicilian whites (look out for Cataratto, Grillo, Inzolia grapes – sometimes blended with Chardonnay, or with each other) that would do well here with the earthiness of the beetroot and the pronounced flavour of the cheese – something neutralish, with nutty aromas, good acidity and a little fullness in the mouth. A dry prosecco – very popular, and fun – might fit the bill, too, and is probably easier to find.

Roast chicken
A Chardonnay with a little oak would do nicely, but the honey and parsnips make me think the aromatic qualities and rich body of a Viognier would really be a good match. A quick look around suggests that you’ll find interesting examples in Ireland from all around the world – not just the grape’s home in the Rhône Valley in France.

Red drinkers should try something that will complement, not overpower, the flavours of the food. I’m fond of the Beaujolais cru wines (all made from the Gamay grape) with roast chicken: Fleurie is the most well-known, but there are nine other villages to choose from. Look out for a Morgon, Moulin-à-Vent, or Juliénas. If they’re a few years old, so much the better. Pinot Noirs from the New World: New Zealand or California, say, are a reliable, juicy choice too.

Banoffi pie
If you’re still going, we have a brilliant, inexpensive Spanish dessert wine, made from the sherry grape Pedro Ximenez, to go with this: sweet enough to match the pie, but with a spine of acidity that gives it its own identity among all that sweetness.
With all due respect to the mighty banoffi, I wouldn’t break the bank. A half bottle of any fully sweet white dessert wine would be worth investigating here. Might need a glass of water on the side, though.

I hope you all have fun on Saturday – I look forward to reading what happens.

This has helped the likes of Bubble Brothers, who have interesting, varied wines to suit the interesting, varied outcomes of home cooking.

However, wine is all very well for you enlightened, progressive folk who embrace the benefits of international commerce without a second thought; some of us, who feel queasy about every novelty from beech trees to the loom and beyond, can’t help wondering if all the hoo-ha about wine shouldn’t have a local equivalent of some kind. Don’t talk to me about beer. It’s too painful. How can there be so few choices in a country that has the ingredients mostly to hand, and such a quantity of pubs? But that’s a debate for another day, and I’m hardly qualified to comment.

Paying more attention to apples and what you can make from them would be a step in the right direction, though. What inspired me to put this post up was this recent crisp windfall from the extensive orchards of Blake Creedon, who is nobody’s fool:

…of course the whole apples/juice/cider thing fits in perfectly with the local-and-in-season aspiration which has all but supplanted organics as the foodies’ touchstone…

but who nonetheless thinks it odd that we’re not

fluent in, for instance, Irish apples and their terroirs…

I couldn’t agree more. It would help us all feel a little less foolish with making the wine-speak if were used to flexing our epithets discussing the good things that grow here relatively uncomplainingly.

If you’re one of the people I’ve spoken to who is making wine in Ireland, please don’t take offence. Nor if you’re one of the people who is doing great things with apples already.

I know the climate can be more than a little mouldy here, and that the fine, balanced acidity of apples from, say, England can be hard to achieve, but a little bit of effort with varieties that have shown their worth here in the past, or even – gasp – modern strains could work wonders in the redevelopment of an indigenous food culture. Wouldn’t it be great to have a local cider?

If you’d like to have a go yourself, Cork Free Choice Consumer Group will be meeting at the Crawford Gallery in the centre of Cork on Thursday 28th at 7.30pm, when two very experienced fruit growers, Con Traas and John Howard, will be speaking on the topic of growing your own fruit.

If you do go along, you’ll miss the launch of our new wine club, which takes place on the same evening.  Decisions, decisions.

You would expect a grand event that turned out a roaring success like the Good Wine Show to get a blog post to match, all-singing and all-dancing.  Sorry folks.  I’ve just been too, too busy with all the – agreeable – work that the Show created to trim a quill and write about it.

Other people, however, have come up with the goods in no uncertain terms, and I refer you to some of them as the quickest way of summarizing a very good-natured event that has already paid off, if you want to be commercially minded about it,  in various ways.

If there weren’t a Blake Creedon, we’d have to invent him.  The lares and penates of wine in Cork, not to mention further afield, casts this spell over Bubble Brothers’ part in the libations.

The man they call Robert Francis Wine travelled down from Galway, bringing his Super 8 camera with him to telling effect.

First blog post from any of the three exhibiting merchants was this one from the midnight-oil-burning Curious Wines.

It’s always refreshing to get a review from someone who’s not one of the usual suspects, and it was a pleasure to meet the author in person too.

It’s always refreshing also to get a review from one or more of the usual suspects.  Brian Clayton tells it like it is, and also wields a revealing camera, as you can see here.  Conor O’Neill, who has made reviewing our wines as easy as SMS, joined in with a will too – and, naturally, wrote a review.

We were naturally immensely grateful to the hospitable staff of the Clarion Hotel, and to the representatives of local food who participated in the event: you should investigate the good things to be had from Ummera Smokehouse, Arbutus Bakery, and On the Pig’s Back.

By way of procrastination, I’ll save full acknowledgements to our visiting suppliers for another day, but needless to say it was great to have Pascal Gianesini of Château Jouclary; Toni Garriga of Mas Codina; Cédric and Dorothée Allion from Domaine du Haut Perron; and Ryan Morgan of the Rathbone Wine Group all in Cork with us.

The inaugural Good Wine Show was a friendly, lively occasion for merchants and public to meet and discuss wine.  Our hopes for it, not to be commercially minded, were fulfilled, then.

It’s very rare I go for the glamour to draw your attention to something, but the young lady (and her companions) are holding up the product in question, so perhaps you’ll forgive me this once.

From the www.wildhibiscus.com website, here’s the “backstory”:

The Wild Hibiscus Flowers in Syrup was “discovered” by happy accident at a lively Australian dinner party in 1998, when Lee Etherington and a group of (tipsy) friends playfully dunked a crimson wildflower into a champagne flute.

The flower slid gracefully to the bottom of the glass, and the friends watched, agog, as champagne bubbles streamed across it, and the petals slowly unfurled. Lee, a 21-year-old tour guide who owned a small food business and had only ever used the edible Hibiscus as a dessert garnish, took a sip of his exotic creation.

It was a Eureka moment.

We get all kinds of interesting requests for new products from our customers and from the public generally. Most of these products we’ve heard of, but every now and again there’s an enquiry that adds to what we know about our business or makes us part of a discussion in progress (I’ve mentioned the Sangue di Giuda story before in this connexion).

Recently a customer rang, slightly exasperated by the fruitlessness of her search so far, to ask if we kept hibiscus flowers in syrup. My suggestion, speaking as a gardener as well as a wine merchant, that this was an uncommon request chez Bubble Brothers too did little to disperse the gathering clouds of indignation at the other end of the line. I promised to look into it.

So now, thanks to the prompt and friendly assistance of Lee Etherington, the hibiscus honcho at www.wildhibiscus.com, and his UK importers, wild hibiscus flowers in syrup have been added to our list.

Their arrival in Ireland is imminent, and thanks to a mention in the house magazine of Weddings by Franc, – I must remember to buy a copy – the original enquiry about wild hibiscus as a distinctive, tasty ingredient in a sparkly night in, memorable wedding reception, special dinner, &c. is no longer alone – quite a few people have been in touch to find out where they can get a jar. We listened, we reacted, the stock’s on its way.

Each jar holds about eleven hibiscus buds in cane syrup. They have a redcurrantish, vegetal-fruity taste that balances the sweetness of the syrup. You can put one in your champagne flute and add sparkling wine; make all sorts of interesting cocktails; or set them in jelly and so on as a dessert. It’s a versatile product, and a value-adding talking point that would go a long way to redeeming a lacklustre bottle of fizz. Of course, if you buy your bubbles from us in the first place, it’s what they call a win-win situation.

Kevin Crowley at 5 Fenn’s Quay in Cork city was our host last week for a scamper through half a dozen Portuguese wines. Bubble Brothers don’t have a Portuguese list, and I’m always keen to find out more about what’s in demand. We’ve had a lot of requests lately for wines from Portugal.

I haven’t gone to link town on this post.  You can have the pleasure of following any interesting paths yourself.  Any of the wine merchants mentioned will be delighted to help with enquiries, and you can always ask Kevin at the restaurant, or on twitter at @KevAtFennsQuay.

Here’s the scoop, Betty Boop:

Quinta da Aveleda DOC Vinho Verde 2007, Minho (11½ %) – O’Donovan’s

I was a bit surprised to find that a 2007 Vinho Verde can retain its zing so long.  This water-pale blend of Alvarinho, Loureiro and Trajadura was aromatic, unexpectedly mellow – though clean – on the palate, and had a sherbety, lemon-rind bitterness that made the most of its finish.  Very much worth drinking at about €12.  Smart-looking bottle, too.

Esporao Reserva DOC Reguengos 2006, Alentejo (13½ %) – Karwig Wines

A very different kettle of fish from the Vinho Verde, this is a big white wine along the lines of oaked Chardonnay or white Grenache/Roussanne, with honey and suggestions of oak on the nose and rich, oak-influenced fruit fullness.  There wasn’t perhaps the length of flavour you might expect for €18+, but this would make a very satisfying dinner wine with food that would show off its complexity and balance.

Paulo Laureano Classico VR Alentejo 2007, Alentejo (13½ %) – Mitchell’s

Here’s one that falls into the happy category of wine that you needn’t ponder too deeply unless you’ve a mind to, when it will repay and finally smooth the furrowed brow of the oeno-sleuth.  Glorious purple-red colour and tempting sweety-minty nose; then it’s soft, light and rounded on the palate with some savoury dryness, a spicy finish and velvety tannins.  No wonder this one’s on the Fenn’s Quay list – it’s typical of Kevin’s enterprise to find something great and a little unexpected where his competitors might put their feet up and rely on the usual defaults.  Try it for yourself and see, next time you’re in.  Or via Mitchell’s for about €13-ish retail.

Luis Pato Baga VR Beiras 1999, DOC Bairrada (13½ %) – Karwig Wines

I’m reluctant to even mention this one, or you’ll all belt down to Karwigs and take full advantage of his underpricing this delicious wine, leaving none for the rest of us.  Yes, it was a good bottle – the double denomination of VR and DOC suggests, (and Kevin explained the details in this instance, though I’ve forgotten them) a confident winemaker taking issue with the bureaucracy of classification.  Its age showed in a clear rim to the mahogany-plum depths of its colour, and the aromas were dark and complex, with liquorice and meatiness bound up in a spirituous veil.  In the mouth, the fruit flavours of cherry and plum were still alive and kicking, before a long, very long finish that refreshed and appetized.  We were astonished to learn that you can have this for €16.50 a bottle.  I’d have said €20-€25.

Quinta da Infantado DOC Douro 2006, Douro (14 %) – Liberty Wines

It came as no surprise to learn that the great-grandfather of this wine was a port.  From the first sniff, the alcoholic, heavy, concentrated aromas suggested ancestry of porty stoutness; and in the mouth, thick, sweet brambly fruit poured down into massively textured deltas of milk chocolate, ginger spice and piny top notes.  Big, strong, interesting wine, in other words, for your €18 or so.

Azamor Petit Verdot VR Alentejo 2006, Alentejo (14½ %) – Liberty Wines

Oo missus.  Not every day you find Petit Verdot writ large into a wine all of its own, and you could be forgiven for thinking this just another wilfully egregious experiment for the sake of doing something different.  On the contrary, we thought, though, on tasting.  This one had a ripeness that seemed distinctly European in character: not a jammy, intense punch, but something a little less boastful of its power.  Power there was nonetheless, and plenty of it, with a soft, herbal, dusty attack renewed at each sip, but restrained and focused, long and lingering in the mid-palate, never mind the sensitively controlled grip of the finish.  We liked this, and it’s worth its €20 retail price.

Though in fact I was giddy as a coffee-chewing goat to arrive on Saturday morning for work chiz and find on my desk a marvellous surprise, pictured here-below.  My nosy colleagues had opened the parcel in my absence on Friday, so all there was left for me to do was bask in the glow reflected from the fulvous container you see.  Thank you very much indeed, Roisín O’Shea at Robert Roberts for sending me a one pound tin of very, very good (recently award-winning) loose tea.

All of this luxury simply as a token of acknowledgment for my understated announcement on Twitter:

You can make the connexion yourself on Facebook and Twitter.  Not too many other Campbell’s Teas around, so a straightforward search will turn up what you’re looking for.

Any road up, I like Campbell’s Tea because the tea is great, not the synthetic fake-tan orange of some would-be robust blends, and very far extremely from the cheap mimsy stuff that can’t make a decent cup even if you put twelve bags in the pot.

This is proper tea.  (Yeah, it’s theft, I know I know)

I also like it because of the packaging.  Advertising that tells you explicitly about what you get if you buy a thing sells much more to me than the kind of abstract campaign written by those of my peers who weren’t lucky enough to get a job in the wine business once they’d established the true value in the labour market of an unexceptional arts degree.

When old age shall this generation waste,
Thou shalt remain, in midst of other woe
Than ours, a friend to man, to whom thou say’st,
“Beautiful Flavour
Delicious Rich Cup” - that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.

Thursday 16th July 7pm for 7.30pm

Ticket €10/person

The best way to find out whether you like the wines that Bubble Brothers sell is to taste them, of course.

There seems to be more demand than ever for tastings – hardly a day goes by without an enquiry as to whether we do tastings, run wine courses, &c. Despite the recent decision of the Wine Board, which has  until now overseen the majority of certified wine courses in Ireland, to “cease… educational activity“, I don’t think we can stretch to a full-scale educational programme at the moment.

However, we are about to begin a series of informal, for-fun tastings of our wines, in the very appropriate and good-looking surroundings of Cork’s AGA shop – part of the same block that houses the Irish Examiner’s offices, the Club Brasserie and the Boardwalk on Lapp’s Quay.

The AGA shop displays and sells the iconic range cookers that do pretty much stand for “a way of life”, as the AGA website puts it, but it also sells all kinds of sturdy and beautiful kitchenware, shown off in kitchenly surroundings that are also just the job for a bit of wine tasting.  Future events may take fuller advantage of this food-preparation-friendliness…

The inaugural get-together will be on Thursday 16th July, at 7.30 pm. I’ve put together a selection of eight wines from the south of France for sampling and enjoyment. I’ll introduce them and talk about them, but the approach will be relaxed. The wine is interesting, but so is the meeting and chatting (I’m not really entitled to call it craic, am I?).

Eithne and Nollaig at the AGA shop are as enthusiastic as I am about this collaboration, and have promised a 20% discount on some of their very seriously desirable AGA cookware: pots, pans, kettles and so on (not the stoves themselves, though!) on the night.

I’m still working on some special offers on the wine side – rest assured there’ll be deals all right.

You can buy tickets @ €10/person here.

This all came about thanks to Anthony Cresswell of Ummera Smokehouse in Timoleague – and Twitter.

At a recent food fair in the AGA shop, Anthony (@ummera), besides demonstrating that he has no intention of giving up smoking,

announced a competition question to win an AGA-ish prize using his Twitter account, and I was able to reply almost immediately because I was sitting in front of a computer that told me the answer.

So my breach of etiquette won me the particularly splendid AGA kettle you see in the picture, which I happened to need (some salve to the conscience).  When I went to collect it, I couldn’t resist rather going on about my day job.  So there’s the, er, backstory.

The award seeks to recognize and promote the excellence of hitherto unacknowledged food folk in a spirit of companionable rivalry, though I understand judging was as serious and strict and heated as anyone could wish for.

There was also some excitement as the winner of Mutantspace.ie’s cupcake competition was announced (scroll down till you see ‘em). Congratulations to Liz Slattery.

The very hard work of all those involved – my immediate contacts were Elke O’Mahony and Dianne Curtin – paid off in an intimate, friendly event in the hippest coffeeshopperia in town.

Here’s the view from behind the counter:

And here’s the view from the public end:

You can see at the back, L-R, Elke, Dianne, Declan Ryan of Arbutus Bread (judge), Mlle LeCafé, Hilary from Fáilte Ireland (sponsor), and… after that I’m struggling, but you’re welcome to declare yourself if you’re in the picture and would like a rec.

Anthony Cresswell of Ummera contributed some delicious fare to the occasion, helped out with tables and so on at the preceding food fair in Patrick Street, and took some good pictures too.

Chris Brack, the winner of this first competition, is the man to go to if you fancy a splash of gooseberry curd, or rhubarb and elderflower jam, or rocket and walnut and something-else pesto.  You should see his picture in the Echo soon enough.