The Winebuff Blog

Archive for the ‘Wine Events’ Category

Cooking for the Queen

Mar
14
2012

The Wine Buff and The Waterford Festival of Food are delighted to be jointly hosting ”An Evening with Michelin Star Chef Ross Lewis in conversation with Paul Flynn, of The Tannery” entitled “Cooking For The Queen”. The event in being held on the Sunday the 25th March in the historic Dromana House, perched on a rocky outcrop overlooking the strikingly beautiful, unspoilt river Blackwater. A wonderful setting for what promises to be a wonderful evening of food and chat.

An unusual feature of the Dromana Estate is the Hindu-Gothic Gate Lodge.

Ross Lewis of Chapter One sourced wild salmon from Dromana on the Blackwater to feature on the menu for the state dinner on the occasion of the recent visit of Queen Elizabeth. The evening begins with a conversation between Ross and Paul about Ross’s experience cooking at the banquet, followed by dinner  which will be cooked by Eunice Power.

Eunice has collaborated with local producers and fishermen from Helvick to compile a sumptuous menu.  Some of the ingredients and produce appearing on the menu include Comeragh mountain lamb, wonderful goat’s cheese from Anna Leveque, wild salmon from Dromana, local honey, local vegetables from Country Store, beer from the Dungarvan Brewing Company, wines from the Wine Buff, along with rhubarb and herbs from her own garden. A treat is truly instore for this events’ ticket holders. 

The event is sponsored by The Wine Buff, Dungarvan and tickets are now available to purchase from The Wine Buff, Grattan Square Dungarvan or online from The Waterford Festival of Food for €60 per person. Book early to avoid disappoimtment, these events sell out very quickly.

The Wine Buff goes International.

Oct
25
2011

The Wine Buff opened its first non-Irish shop this October in Plasencia Spain, which is situated about 200km west of Madrid. The franchise was opened by Asun Manzano Sanchez-Ocaña.  Asun is extremely excited about her new adventure and proudly states, “I am now part of The Wine Buff International family.”

 

Asun, a pharmacist by profession, sold her pharmacy in 2009 and was searching for a rewarding business opportunity when she encountered The Wine Buff. Asun is confident The Wine Buff’s concept of extraordinary wines @ ordinary prices, suits the Spanish market, especially in the current economic climate. So confident in fact, she has plans for two further boutiques in Salamanca and Caceres.

The opening of the new Wine Buff shop was attended by over 250 visitors to the shop and the selection of French wine is proving a winner with the Spanish customers.  

A Tipple of Sherry

Oct
23
2011

We are looking to add Sherry to our exculsive portfolio of wines and ports and next Wednesday the 26th of Oct we have a Sherry tasting in the Wine Buff Cork, yes you heard right a Sherry tasting not the mass produced sherry “Grandma drinks at Christmas” but real sherry from the oldest wine producing regions of Spain and in Robert Parker’s magazine the Wine Advocate, he gave rave reviews to 3 different bodegas and the scores ranged from 87 points all the way up to 96 points. Whether you agree with Parker’s scores or not, if someone with so much knowledge about wine can put a sherry in the same league as a first growth Bordeaux, maybe there is something to be said for it.

The wines are from 5 to 20 years old and are made in the traditional solera system. Basically this means that each harvest new wine is blended with old wine. This is accomplished by building a pyramid like stack of barrels, one on top of the other, where the oldest wine is at the bottom and the newest wine is at the top. In this way, the wine at the bottom of the stack is drawn off to be bottled, and in theory, contains wine from the very first time the solera was filled up. The goal is to add complexity to the wine over time, while mitigating the harmful effects of bad vintages.

How do you get different styles of Sherry ?

Sherry is what it is because of a yeast called flor, if you looked into a barrel of sherry it would appear as having something wrong with it. Every year, in a percentage of the newly filled barrels the yeast flor begins to grow and creates a thick layer of yeast cells that coat the top of the wine within the barrel. Where the wine touches the air it creates a slightly oxidised flavour.

 Sometimes this is actually wanted, as in the case of Tawny ports and Oloroso Sherries – the longer the wine is in contact with this air, the darker it will become, taking on colours of dark wood and rich caramel. With Fino sherry, the flor protects this from happening, and a wine aged 20 years is still as crystal clear as the day it entered the barrel.

Wines that develop the flor, a process that is neither guaranteed nor exactly understood, can produce the following styles:

Fino - Served cold, pale in colour, sharp acidity with light salt nut quality.

Manzanilla - A light style of fino make around the port of  Sanlucar de Barrameda a city in the south of Spain. This style is the only type of sherry that is so site specific it cannot be produced anywhere else.

Amontillado is basically a wine that is first aged under flor but which is then exposed to air. The wine with time becomes darker and richer than a fino.

Oloroso is left to mature longer with the air producing a darker, richer wine. Again naturally dry,  can be sold sweetened this is called Amoroso.

In the end, most Sherries are dry with two exceptions, Cream and Pedro Ximenez.

Pedro Ximenez is a grape that is harvested at a naturally high sugar level, these grapes produce an intensely sweet dark brown or black wine.

Cream Sherry -  a common type of sweet sherry made by blending different wines, such as oloroso sweetened with Pedro Ximenez.

The NEW !! Wine Buff Ranelagh

Oct
05
2011

The Wine Buff launched a new store in Ireland on Friday the 30th of September, when Ivor Geraghty opened his new Wine Buff shop at 51 Cullenswood Road on the Triangle in the centre of Ranelagh village, Dublin 6. 

Ivor is a true local having been born and reared in the area and now lives only a five minute stroll from the shop.

Ivor has strong business backgrounds, he “did the state some service” for over thirty years before deciding that providing the good people of South Dublin with great wine might be even more satisfying! During this time Ivor was also working as a music critic and radio presenter and it was here that he learned that while there might be such things as a free lunch, free wine just isn’t worth lifting the glass for!

Having learned about wine from long languid holidays in Italy it was only when Ivor became familiar with The Wine Buff range that he truly appreciated the qualities of a good French and Spanish wine.

“In fact it was a chance gift of  French wine bought in The Wine Buff Clonmel, which introduced me to both the wines and the shops!, I did some further research on the businees and of course the wines and the rest is history” said Ivor.

So call in for a chat when we are open or a taste during Wine Time  at weekends. Ivor will be delighted to take you through our range of wines and his favourites.

Electric Picnic 2011 – A BLAST !!!!!

Sep
15
2011

This was the Wine Buff’s first year as traders at Electric Picnic 2011, in the past we have been on the other side of the counter, now we had a new perspective of EP…work, work and great fun. Barry and Anne from the Wine Buff Navan ran the Wine Bar at EP and had us on site Thursday with great enthusiasm to set up and soak in the amazing atmosphere.

The Wine Bar was right next to the Theatre of Food and the Pop Up restaurant run by Naimh Shields author of the blog eat like a girl.

Job done we headed back on the train to Cork, to pick up the sleeping bags, tents, and some warm clothes.

Back again on Friday, we waited with anticipation to see if the party goers wanted a glass of wine or (two), well they sure did. Friday was a great  night, with loads of chat and craic in the Wine Bar, even a heavy rainstorm did not dampen the customers festival mood.

Saturday started well, breakfast from Rathmullen House sitting down with Sally and John McKenna from the Bridgestone Guide, some real milk and the skies looked good and they stayed good for most of the day. We were busy and involved in numerous food events, a tasting with The Food and Wine Magazine, supplying wine to the Pop of Restaurant run by Niamh Shields, food demo with one of the all time veggie greats Dennis Cotter from Café Paridiso and a few wines at the speed dating…busy busy and on top of all that ran out of Prosecco!

Adding to the great buzz we were voted best dressed trader of Electric Picnic by the Bridgestone Guide. Well done to Anne from the Wine Buff Navan for the winning artistic input..

Let’s just say Sunday morning was amazing, driving to Limerick at six in the morning for more Prosecco, stuffing it all into the back of the van and driving back with the convoy of Tipp cars on the way to their ill fated All Ireland.

The remainder of Sunday was brilliant with party goers really enjoying the Wine Buff experience and so many of our customers were regulars from our shops from around Ireland, delighted to see us in the midst of Electric Picnic.

We finished in style with a big blow out party though I must say the trek into the woods at two in the morning was over the top and I still would like to know who promised free rum in the hidden bar in the middle of the Salty Dog wood.

Thanks to everyone and we mean everyone who supported us over the weekend and hopefully we will see you all again next year. Keep safe.

A Taste of Donegal

Sep
01
2011

What a great weekend at the third “Taste of Donegal Food Festival”. The event was held on the quayside in Donegal town with Donegal Bay and the Bluestack mountians as a back drop, can’t get much better than that! Richard from the Wine Buff Letterkenny was on hand at the Wine Buff stand to answer questions, assist in tastings and did a great wine talk after Neven Maguire had warmed up the crowd for him.

In all there were 71 stands at the event a big increase on last year and this was matched by over 28000 visitors over the three days.

Thanks to everyone for making it a fun weekend and a big thank you to Ernan McGettigan and his team from “A taste of Donegal” who organised a great festival for 2011.

Big Ted, who is BIG into cookies www.bigtedscookies.com

Stuart from Boozeberries, never left the stand all weekend!!!! www.boozeberries.com

Visited this stand many times at the weekend Yum Yum real cakes. www.thecakeandcrumb.biz

The Smugglers Creek Inn did an amazing seafood sausage. www.smugglerscreekinn.com

Richard from The Wine Buff Letterkenny with an entralled audience.

Future master chef, watch out Neven Maguire !!

Peter Thomas as passionate as ever about his cheese. The new Clarseach was wonderful.

CĂ´te du RhĂ´ne Celebration

May
31
2011

CĂ´tes du RhĂ´ne is the name of the large Appellation d’Origine ContrĂ´lĂ©e (AOC) covering a large section of France’s RhĂ´ne region. Although CĂ´tes du RhĂ´ne wines can come from the north or south part of the RhĂ´ne valley, most of the value-priced wines are made in the south and this region was awarded in 2010 “Wine Region of the Year”.

For the month of June we will be celebrating the CĂ´te du RhĂ´ne region of France with special tastings in our shops, free draws, price reductions on selected wines and free glasses with six bottle purchases.

Some say the CĂ´te du RhĂ´ne is a perfect pizza wine others use it to turn a bland dinner into a bit of an occasion. But this is what you really should know: CĂ´tes du RhĂ´ne is a wine that is great value, food friendly, earthy and delicious whatever the occasion.

Wines from the region are very versatile with food whether you are eating red or white meat, pasta, pizza, fish or roasts, the reds when tasted with food become a fruity, spicy sauce in a glass.

We have two new CĂ´te du RhĂ´ne Villages wines stocked for the month of June these show great a depth of flavour, great complexity and aging potential of about three to six years.

So call into your local shop for a taste, we look forward to seeing you.

CĂ´tes du RhĂ´ne: Domaine Montmartel Red, Domaine Montmartel White, Tour Couvette Red, Tour Couvette White.

CĂ´tes du RhĂ´ne-Villages: Domaine Montmartel VISAN, le Mas des Flauzieres SEGURET

Other Regions – Chateau des Roques Vacqueyras, le Mas des Flauzieres Ventoux, le Mas des Flauzieres Gigondas, Chateau des Roques Vacqueyras White.

Waterford Food Festival 2011

Apr
19
2011

The weekend saw the final two days of a brilliant Waterford Food Festival 2011 and what a weekend it was, full of sunshine, great crowds, food and more food. The Wine Buff Dungarvan owned by Michael Sheehan was smack bang in the middle of the action and he was the designated ticket office for the entire festival, as we would say in Cork, he played a blinder. The shop was thronged all weekend with festival goers buying tickets, enquiring about events, popping in for a chat and the odd tasting or two. Michael and his team were on hand and always in high spirits to deal with all eventualities. Bualadh Bos Michael.

Michael and his couple of (special) helpers on Sunday.

The festival finished on the Sunday with a massive farmers market in Grattan Square, 65 stalls took part last year and this year a whopping 105 stalls were on display with everything from Kangaroo kebab skewers to handmade chopping boards. We opened the Domaine d’Arfeuille, the Buyante Frizzante and the Vidal del Saz Tempranillo and they all went down a bomb. I have pictures below of just a few of the many artisan foodies and producers taking part. Looking forward to an even better 2012, (if’s that’s possible).

O’Brien Chophouse from Lismore www.obrienchophouse.ie

The Tannery, driving force behind the festival.

The Tannery Restaurant, a driving force behind the festival. www.tannery.ie

Tastefully Yours from Co Wexford.

Tastefully Yours from Co. Waterford.

One of my faourites from Cork, Boy!

One of my favourites from Cork. Boy! www.tasteofmemory.ie

The lads for Corleggy Farm in Co. Cavan.

 

Eunice Power catering in the thick of it. www.enuicepower.com 

Boho Kitchen cupcake display. www.thebohokitchen.com

SO Sligo Festival 2011

Mar
25
2011

Paddy’s Day was the Wine Buff kick off for the  SO Sligo Festival  2011, so we packed the car and headed northwest to visit Tom and Linda at the Wine Buff Sligo, and O Boy, were we in for a culinary treat. We arrived late that evening and after a few tasters of wine (purely work related) Tom and Linda went into overdrive and started on various authentic Mexican dishes which were amazing, menus to follow on a later blog post.

Friday the 18th for many people was a day of recovery from the night before. Linda did a great wine talk at the food venue, while Tom held guard in the shop. Friday night was Asian food night and yet again the taste buds were tantalised to the maximum, Tom’s chillies went down a BOMB!!! He even produced the hottest chilli in the world (nicknamed the Ghost) which I declined, lucky escape.

Saturday kicked off with a walk along the seashore with Johnny from the Irish Seaweed Kitchen who gave us a most interesting and informed talk on Irish seaweed and a little about the Japanese invader. For the record it is illegal to harvest or pick seaweed in Ireland, you need a special licence which takes approx 5 years to obtain. Sounds like an Irish problem with an Irish solution don’t you think? Anyway I spent a couple of enthralling hours listening to Johnny and picking seaweed (problem solved).

Back in Sligo we welcomed a steady stream of visitors and customers to the shop, the winning wine of the day was the Ontanon Rioja Crianza from Spain.  O’Connell Street was buzzing with activity from the seaweed seller to the children dancing to the many Irish bands playing jigs and reels on the street. I think I even spotted a future Michael Flatley.

The shop got busier and busier and we should have known by the atmosphere the stage was being set for something greater that evening, though I must say I did mention to a few customers Ireland would put manners on the English by at least 10 points, pity I’m not a betting man.

Tom and I slipped out mid way through the first half, for a few scoops and watched a great match against England. I felt sorry for the couple of English chaps next to us in the pub at one stage it looked like they were going to concede a cricket score, who are we to gloat, maybe next time. So finished a wonderful SO Sligo Festival for 2011.

Food and Wine Buff wine.

Mar
04
2011

The Wine Buff Letterkenny and Navan have been busy organising and hosting their Food and Wine evenings. The Navan shop had their first 2011 food and wine tasting experience last Thursday night in Earl’s Kitchen. This was a follow on from the hugely successful Christmas Food and Wine nights.

Five courses were served up with five wines and once again the food from Earl’s Kitchen was excellent. Kicking off was a Tomato and Olive Crustini with Balsamic Glaze the 35 diners were then treated to one of the dishes of the evening, Pan-fried Scallop with Black Pudding, Mustard and Dill Cream  matched to a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc from Joseph Ryan, it was a great choice.

The main course was Corn-fed Chicken, Parma Ham Roulade with Butternut Squash Puree accompanied with another Joseph Ryan wine, the Pinot Noir, again everyone raved about the quality of the wine and how well it complemented the main dish.

We finished the evening with a light Vanilla Pancotta with a Spiced Plum Compote and then a selection of Farm House Cheeses which were accompanied by one of our new Portuguese wines from the Douro Valley Gamboz this finished the evening off brilliantly.

The demand for places on the night was almost double subscribed and the 35 diners had a wonderful taste experience, we will be running another night shortly – so if you missed this one keep an eye on the website or call into Barry at the shop for dates and times.

The Wine Buff Letterkenny held another sell-out night of food and wine, this time in the chic surroundings of Cafe Blend, Letterkenny. Long time customer and well known local musician Terry Monoghan provided the extra dimension of live music which went down well with the 47 guests as well as Pauline’s phenomenal food.

Food served on the night was a starter of trio of prosciutto wrapped asparagus; forest mushroom soup and Italian style blinis. Main course was posh pizza. Dessert was cheese board. All matched with a selection of our wines.

This is the second night of a planned 9 night run in the Wine Buff Letterkennys annual food and wine 2011 calendar. Watch this space for the next night and get in fast!!  Â