Irish wine

Tomorrow when I'm not so tired.

It's not St Pat's Day, nor is it April 1, but they actually do make wine in Ireland. Even Sauv Blanc, I believe.

If they can make wine in Sweden http://www.sweden.se/eng/Home/Lifestyle ... l-harvest/ , they certainly can in ireland.

I have data only from 2000, that being the year that th EU declared that Ireland was indeed a "wine-producing nation". The data I have indicates that in 2000 there were only four "commercial wineries" in Ireland, two producing not wine per se but mead; one a hotel that produced white wine entirely for its own restaurant; and one that produced some 4,000 bottles of red and white wines that were actually put on sale.

True, several hardy souls are growing grapes for home-winemaking and most of those people keep their grapes under plastic canopies most of the year.

I adore Ireland and the Irish but I am not planning a trip there to taste wines.

Best
Rogov

I like Irish wines- Lynch Bages, Langoa and Leoville Barton, Kirwan (there are a couple others, but I'd have to look up)

oh yeah Boyd-Cantenac

I have an American friend who put a lot of time into looking for Irish wine, and asked me to help since I'm so close (?).

Most leads went dead and she ended up with just two names, both hotels one that supposedly has vineyards from which they made wine -- Longueville House and Bunratty Castle Hotel which made Mead (not wine). Neither of their websites mention their drink products, though my friend has a photo of the Bunratty Mead label from a bottle exported to the US.

Another name that keeps coming up is Blackwater Valley Vineyard which supposedly grows/makes Reichensteiner but as Longueville House is in Blackwater Valley its not clear if they are the same.

We had a tasting a few years ago with Japanese wines and an Irish Amurensis from Thomas Walk Vineyards at the end: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1741&p=12150&hilit=koshu#p12150

Actually, the Irish wine I was thinking of is made in the Willamette Valley and Yakima, Washington by an Irishman named David O'Reilly. Not an American Irishman, an Irishman. His label is Owen Roe.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Owen_Roe_O%27Neill

He doesn't have a regularly open tasting room. Like his ancestors he does these guerrilla things - tastings popping up here and there. We were driving down the road yesterday, having just left Cana's Feast, and saw this sandwich board by the side of the road that said "Owen Roe". A name we know quite well. A gravel road led away from the paved road. We took it.

Sure enough there was a tent set up outside this barn and a couple of lovely ladies were standing at tables there. They were pouring a couple of whites. We chatted with them a bit and they liked us and decided we could taste free. (We discovered a couple of minutes later that everybody could taste free).

We went inside.

Free guerrilla tastings. It was the 2008 releases. 12 of them. There was a very nice cheese and good bread table about eight different cheeses.

This man can make some wine. And he's a very nice man. He sources grapes from the Willamette Valley and Washington and has a load brought up in a refrigerated truck from Santa Maria in CA.

He makes wine that is eminently drinkable today and some that will get better with years of rest.

All the folks pouring the wines were pleasant and knowledgeable - you could tell they enjoy their jobs.

We tasted all the '08s on this list as well as a couple of '07s.

http://www.northwest-wine.com/owen-roe-winery.html

My numeric score for all the reds is Yes. We came away with a bunch of them.

The next guerrilla tasting will be on Thanksgiving - he's gonna haul out the library stuff - and I know where.

We had a tasting a few years ago with Japanese wines and an Irish Amurensis from Thomas Walk Vineyards at the end: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1741&p=12150&hilit=koshu#p12150

Thanks for that, Otto. Thomas Walk was one of those names that we couldn't confirm. I'll pass on the info.

Interesting to note that the label image* shows 'made and bottled by Vin du Longueville'

*with article here http://www.curiouswines.ie/blog/2009/01 ... walk-2006/

I like Irish wines- Lynch Bages, Langoa and Leoville Barton, Kirwan (there are a couple others, but I'd have to look up)

Good...but you missed the best Irish wine: Haut Brion.

Hey, Chef, I've had some of the Owen Roe wines, and I like them very much. I think I'd probably like O'Reilly as well.

Hey, Chef, I've had some of the Owen Roe wines, and I like them very much. I think I'd probably like O'Reilly as well.

Maybe we'll meet at the next guerrilla tasting.

I have an American friend who put a lot of time into looking for Irish wine, and asked me to help since I'm so close (?).

Most leads went dead and she ended up with just two names, both hotels one that supposedly has vineyards from which they made wine -- Longueville House and Bunratty Castle Hotel which made Mead (not wine). Neither of their websites mention their drink products, though my friend has a photo of the Bunratty Mead label from a bottle exported to the US.

Another name that keeps coming up is Blackwater Valley Vineyard which supposedly grows/makes Reichensteiner but as Longueville House is in Blackwater Valley its not clear if they are the same.

This is what I wrote on my blog a couple of St Pat's Days ago ...

.... what do you know, there's an Irish Sauvignon Blanc from Lusk north of Dublin. The winegrower is David Llewellyn, regarded as one of Ireland's pioneering winegrowers, even though his vineyard was planted as recently as 2001. He also grows Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Chardonnay and Gewurztraminer. It's a sideline to his mainstream cider production business.

In 2006, Irish wine writer, Tomas Clancy, tried Llewellyn 's newly fermented Sauvignon Blanc and described it thus: " The wine smells almost miraculous with distinct grassy, green gooseberry notes. It tastes fresh, with clean, lime-like touches and a building sweetness that thankfully was cut short."

Cheers,
Sue

Hey, Chef, I've had some of the Owen Roe wines, and I like them very much. I think I'd probably like O'Reilly as well.

Maybe we'll meet at the next guerrilla tasting.

Well, since you know where...

Ho Bryan is 'merican wine (the Dillons), don't think any Irish ever owned.

I've only tried a few Owen Roe wines, but liked the dry ones (a dessert wine not so much)

This is what I wrote on my blog a couple of St Pat's Days ago ...

Thanks, found some newspaper mentions, but no website for the vineyard.

All the Irish wines seems hobbyish rather than commercial operations.

Ho Bryan is 'merican wine (the Dillons), don't think any Irish ever owned.

I've only tried a few Owen Roe wines, but liked the dry ones (a dessert wine not so much)

You're being too literal again, Dale.

The reference to Haut Brion was not for the ownership.

In the history and storytelling of the old estates, there was a literary reference to a travelling Irishman back in the 1800s doing the continent and commenting in his correspondence about finding in France a wonderful Irish wine called "O'Brion". Something along the lines of the sentiments expressed in Cahill's "How The Irish Saved Civilization", to the effect that the Irish somehow got involved in anything involving culture and...uh...'inspirational beverages'.

It was amusing...well, I guess it was until I tried to explain it.

alas, less literal than uninformed, just never heard that story, though I remember Pepy's reference in 17th century (I mean, I remember reading it, I wasn't there)

alas, less literal than uninformed, just never heard that story, though I remember Pepy's reference in 17th century (I mean, I remember reading it, I wasn't there)

I believe Rogov was though. If he had been around, I'm quite sure he and Pepys would have been 'peeps.

[Jenise]

Hmmm...this doesn't compute. David O'Reilly was supposedly pouring his wines here yesterday afternoon. I didn't attend, but I know he was expected.

Hmmm...this doesn't compute. David O'Reilly was supposedly pouring his wines here yesterday afternoon. I didn't attend, but I know he was expected.

He must be able to replicate himself.

[James Roscoe]

alas, less literal than uninformed, just never heard that story, though I remember Pepy's reference in 17th century (I mean, I remember reading it, I wasn't there)

I believe Rogov was though. If he had been around, I'm quite sure he and Pepys would have been 'peeps.

Rogov wasn't around?

Rogov wasn't around?

Let's just put it this way: I continue to have a passion for pickled oysters.


Best
Rogov