Wines of the Year

Wines of the Year

Its that time of the year again where we ask you to vote for your favourite wines of the last twelve months.

We will then count up your votes and put the winning wines on promotion in the shop, to “spread the good wine news” to all our customers.

We’re looking for your FAVOURITE RED and FAVOURITE WHITE.

Here are some popular wines which may help jog the wine memory..

Reds
Twiggy / Lavignone Barbera d’Asti / Zenato Ripassa / Mas Laval / Mukuzani Georgian / Belleruche Cotes du Rhone / Red Nectar / Kalleske Pirathon / Chocolate Block / Casa Patronales Carmenere / Marmesa Syrah / Sokol Blosser Meditrina / Dry River Shiraz / Il Bucco Montepulciano / Vina Plata Malbec / Antares Merlot / Devils Corner Pinot Noir / Millbrook Shiraz / Chateau La Tonnelle Haut Medoc / Chateau Gravier Figeac St. Emilion / Mudhouse Pinot Noir / Chateau Musar / Resalso Ribera del Duero

Whites
Berticot Sauvignon Blanc / Tsinandali Georgian / Mirror Lake Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc / Huia Sauvignon Blanc / Zenato Lugana / Fontavin Chateauneuf du Pape / Masi Masianco / Backsberg Chenin Blanc / San Giorgio Pinot Grigio / Antares Sauvignon Blanc / Martenot Macon Lugny / Mudhouse Sauvignon Blanc / Barking Owl Semillon-Sauvignon / Spy Valley Sauvignon Blanc / Tamellini Soave / Pieropan Soave / Teresa Rizzi Prosecco / Martin Codax Albarinho / Mulderbosch Chenin Blanc / Prova Regia Arinto

To cast your vote just email: john@nectarwines.com

Thanks for voting!

Wines over Christmas..

Happy New Year from Nectar Wines!

I hope you all enjoyed lots of tasty wines over the Christmas season.
It felt like a bit of a relief to finally get to Christmas this year, after all the economic woes of 2010 and tough wintery weather.
Thanks to everyone who braved the arctic conditions and fought their way down to Sandyford Village for some wine.
It’s certainly the first time we’ve had customers in the shop decked out in ski-wear!



Christmas Day wines in the McGrath household were..
Jeio Prosecco
San Giorgio Pinot Grigio 2009
Les Laquets Cahors 2001

The whites were beautifully chilled..out the back garden in the snow!
Wines were all very enjoyable I have to say.. although discussions concluded
that the Cahors (Malbec) was maybe a bit full-on and heavy for the Turkey and Ham.

There wasn’t a drop left all the same.Definitely a great wine for steak or beef..

Still not sure what’s the perfect wine for Brussels Sprouts..any suggestions?

Other wines I enjoyed over the holidays were:
Barista Pinotage 2009
a fab new South African wine which has that lovely “coffee and chocolate” thing going on..

Parrell Montsant 2006
a lovely full oaky red from the mountains near Barcelona D.O.Montsant, a lively blend of Garnacha, Syrah, Merlot and Cabernet!Needs a breathe to open up but there’s lots going on in the glass..

Mas Laval 2006
One of my absolute favourite French wines (I selected it for my wedding last summer) a beautiful rich and smooth blend of Grenache, Syrah and Mourvedre. You just don’t find wines like this from New World wine regions. Spellbinding!

Our tastings will kick off again in a few weeks..details of our first theme and special guest to follow..

Keep an eye our for our Australian Wine Sale..coming soon!!

China Sichuan

I had another wonderful evening recently at my favourite Chinese Restaurant - China Sichuan. This is quite simply one of the best places around Dublin for great Chinese food and if you haven’t been I heartily recommend it. Great food, quality wines and friendly and efficient service.

I’ve been going to China Sichuan for a few years now and happily followed the guys and their smashing food, from their original base in Stillorgan to their new, modern and stylish restaurant down in Sandyford.

Most times when I go, I end up ordering my favourite spicy dumplings dish for starters - "Hon Yu Guozi"-Poached dumplings, in a hot & spicy red oil broth. They’re really good and so tasty I find it almost impossible to resist ordering them!

One of my favourite mains is "Haozan" Rib Eye Beef-tender pieces of mature rib eye, pan fried in Sichuan pepper sauce, with garlic shoots. Other dishes I’ve enjoyed include their sea bass and tea-smoked duck which are both excellent.

A recent wine discovery in the restaurant was that good Pinot Noir matches very well with Chinese beef dishes. They had a lovely Burgundy (available by the glass!) which went very well with my rib-eye beef dish.

On the dessert front, I thought you couldn’t beat their Banana fritters until I tried the caramelised Apple fritters which the waiter serves up to you hot,fresh and syrupy at your table. I’m not sure if its always on the menu but snap it up if you see it. Great stuff altogether!

For more details check out www.china-sichuan.ie or phone 01- 2935100

Five Years Trading in Sandyford!

We're celebrating five years trading in Sandyford Village!

We’ve sniffed, slurped and tasted a fair number of wines over the past five years
in search of true wine “nectar”(I did a rough calculation and I frightened myself
with a "wines tasted" figure of approx 2000 wines..)

A selection of random highlights..

- Being interviewed by Eddie Hobbs about “wines for investment” on the TV

- Getting our fourth Bridgestone Guide plaque in a row in 2010

- Having a “Sideways” inspired California tasting where we had a “Merlot ban”
and a “shrine to Pinot Noir”

- Getting up early on Wednesdays for a year (Ouch!) to present the weekly WineSpot on Country Mix 106.8fm

- Our Millbrook Wine Dinner in Ballyknocken House and Cookery School (with Celebrity chef Catherine Fulvio)

- Hearing some amazing customer feedback on the Sokol Blosser Oregon Pinot Noir!

- Welcoming various winemakers from Barossa Valley, Minervois, South Africa etc..to the shop, in particular cult winemaker Troy Kalleske of Kalleske wines

- Landing wine from Georgia in the shop! I imagine it’s a long old
spin from Georgia to Sandyford Village!

- Wine trips to Portugal, The Rhone Valley, The Languedoc, Hungary,
Priorat and Tuscany in search of vinous treasure

- Our Icon Wine Tasting where we tasted Barolo, Meursault, Cloudy Bay,
Chateau Musar and some other wine “big names”

All of this would have been impossible without the support of our customers,
so I’d very much like to say a massive “Thank You!” to everybody for helping us along the way…

Here’s looking forward to the next five!

Hopefully we have plenty of fun “winetimes” ahead…

Yours in Wine,

John McGrath

Nectar Wines
Sandyford Village
ph 01 2944067

Wine Club Tasting “New World Wines” Fri 24th Sept 2010

We were joined by Canadian Wine Guru, Colin Egan for our latest wine club tasting and Colin led us on a merry little trip around some tasty wines of the New World.

We covered Chile, New Zealand and Australian wines and the line-up was as follows:

Whites
Casa Patronales Chardonnay 2009 RRP 8.95
Dry River Pinot Grigio 2009 RRP 9.95
Mirror Lake (Marlborough) Sauvignon Blanc 2009 RRP 12.95
Casa Patronales Chardonnay Reserva Privada 2007 RRP 15.95

Reds
Casa Patronales Carmenere Reserva 2008 RRP 11.95
Dry River Shiraz 2009 RRP 9.95
Casa Patronales Carmenere Reserva Privada 2007 RRP 15.95

Colin and myself bravely fought the “battle for Chardonnay” but we were forced to admit defeat when faced with the undeniable success of the Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc. Interesting to taste an Aussie Pinot Grigio!
On the reds the Carmenere Reserva was the clear winner and indeed it gives great “ bang for your buck”,it’s a lovely complex red for the price!

Thanks to Colin for guiding us, looking forward to the next tasting around Halloween.

To join in the tasting fun please send an email to: john@nectarwines.com

Hungarian Wine

This new white wine arrived last week and it’s a real beauty.

Chateau Dereszla Tokaji (Dry) 2009 RRP 13.95
From the Tokaji region in Hungary, where they make the world-famous sweet and luscious dessert wines Tokaji Aszu, this wine is a Tokaji alright, but in a dry and crisp style. This is my kind of white wine, absolutely loaded with tasty flavour and aromas and a fair bit of kick (it clocks in at 14% alcohol, which is higher than usual for white wine.) It has a lovely quirky mineral twist which you generally find in more serious wines (like Chablis for example) and at 13.95 a bottle I reckon it’s a bit of a steal.

We also stock the Chateau Dereszla Tokaji Aszu 5 puttonyos 2003 RRP 29.95 which is a really special sweet wine.

Tokaji is called Wine of Kings, King of Wines and you’ll often see the Latin term “Vinum Regum Rex Vinorum” on bottles of Tokaji Aszu, the sweet wine. Apparently Louis XV of France gave the wine this title (serving it up to impress Madame de Pompadour..good man Louis!!) and that will give you some idea of the historical context of the wine.

Hungary has a strong and proud winemaking tradition going back centuries and their winemakers are starting to make an international impact again with their super wines (after years of struggle and slumber under the Communist regime) Decanter magazine, the famous UK wine publication has a dedicated Hungarian edition! Watch this space..

1001 wines you must try..

I got this book at Christmas “1001 wines you must try before you die” and it’s a really great book for any wine nut. It sets you dreaming and hallucinating about all of the wondrous wines and special vintages out there in the wineworld.
It gave me the idea to set up a little wine club for our customers called “The 1001 club”
Every so often I would source and select a “special wine” for the members to try. Rare wines, limited edition wines, old vintages, off the radar beauties, downright funky wines etc.. no set rules really, just a search for vinous treasure.

These were the first three wines we tried in our pursuit of wine happiness

Sokol Blosser Dundee Hills Pinot Noir 2006 (Oregon)
A sensational Pinot for the “Sideways” fans..

Mas de Libian “La Calade” 2006
An “old-vine” Mourvedre from an excellent, organic Cotes du Rhone producer, big bold and beautiful.

Jean Claude Bessin Chablis 1er Cru Fourchaume 2005 “La piece au Comte”
A tight, mineral beast of a white from a tiny plot of vines in the famous Fourchaume vineyards.

Its been great fun selecting the wines (and trying them!)