Competition time at the Wine Buff.

Barry working his socks off at the event.

Many thanks to everyone who visited, tasted and enjoyed the Wine Buff stand at the Taste of Cork Festival 2008, over 15,0000 visitors celebrated Cork's first Taste festival against the stunning backdrop of Cork City Gaol, 27-29 June 2008. The weather held up, the restaurants sold out of their most popular dishes, we just had enough strawberries for the Prosecco’s, the live entertainment kept spirits high and the overall mood at the event was fantastic!

Thanks again for making the weekend so enjoyable and hope to see you all again next year.

Congradulations to the winners of our free draw.

1^st Prize -  Gillian O'Connor, Model Farm Road (Case of Wine)

2^nd Prize - Stefanie Kolle, Blackrock (Case of Prosecco)

3rd Prize -  Viven Squire, Sundays Well (Gift Box)

Wine Buff Wines reviewed.

Dear customer,

The Wine Buff is delighted to share with you the recent accolades our winemakers are receiving, both locally and internationally, for their wines and wine making excellence. We are very conscious however that the accolades that really count are those received from people like yourself, Wine Buff customers. We thank you for your support.

Recent reviews.

Cavallotto Barolo Bricco Boschis 2003

91 points Wine Advocate (Robert Parker)

The 2003 Barolo Bricco Boschis, a dark ruby, reveals a wild, brooding personality. It offers masses of dark fruit and grilled herbs in a full-bodied, idiosyncratic, somewhat animalistic style. It is a massively tannic, impressively structured Barolo that needs bottle age to settle down. While it may not have the elegance of the superb 2001, this quirky Barolo improved markedly in the glass and is likely to offer much pleasure for those who can be patient. It remains one of the better relative values in Barolo.

La Fauconnerie Montagne Classic St Emilion 2005

88 points, Sunday Business Post (Thomas Clancy) – BUY Recommendation

St Emilion is the home to some of the world’s greatest merlot, and as all its wines are sold out in advance, it is no place for bargains. Paddy O’Flynn of the Wine Buff buys the entire production of Chateau La Fauconnerie. The wine is shockingly good – a well balanced, complex offering, awash in rich tones of blackcurrant, violets and cassis over fine grained tannins and a mid length finish. At the price, it is a steal.

Villa Erbice Amarone Tremenel 2001

89 points, Wine Spectator – Best Amarone Tasted.

There's spicy currant and raisin on the nose, with a healthy dose of vanilla and oak. Full-bodied, with velvety tannins, turning chewy on the finish. Has lots of spicy oak character. Polished and pretty. Drink now. Only 400 cases made. 

Ted Fest 2008

The Wine Buff Team are delighted to be the official (non ecumenical) wine sponsors for the Father Ted Fest 2008 to be held in Kilfenora, Co Clare from February 25 to February 27. We are all huge fans of Father Ted and hopefully this year there will be more wine consumed than the traditional Toilet Duck cocktail!

New shop in Sandycove, Co Dublin.

New to Sandycove, a specialised wine boutique “The Wine Buff” will open to the public on Thursday 31st May 2007. Michael Cussen and Eileen Buckley embark on their first business venture opening a franchised “Wine Buff” boutique specialising in exceptional quality/priced wines sourced directly from  artisan vineyards throughout Europe.

Managing Director Mike McDonnell said: “This is our first location in Co Dublin, we are hugely excited about this fabulous location in Sandycove. Michael and Eileen are an extremely motivated and highly enthusiastic couple, we are confident their customers will experience the same high levels of customer service and incredible range of quality/priced wines our nationwide customer base has grown to expect from the “The Wine Buff' brand'.

Michael and Eileen are customers of the Limerick Wine Buff shop for many years now and they have decided to embark on owning their own Wine Buff Franchise. “We both worked in the coffee business and have looked at various business opportunities, 'The Wine Buff' was always our first choice when looking at a retail business opportunity as we absolutely fell in love with the concept of helping people make informed decisions when purchasing wines, so, having constantly enjoyed our frequent visits to our Wine Buff shop in Limerick, we decided to open one for ourselves” said Michael.

Eileen added “the south Dublin region was our first choice for location and finding a shop took a few months of intensive searching, we were determined to secure the best location to help ensure growth of our new business, we found that ideal location in Sandycove. Michael and I are looking forward to sharing the fabulously exciting Wine Buff experience with our new customers”.

The Wine Buff opened a new shop in Drogheda when husband and wife team, Barry and Anne Sheridan marked there first venture into franchising and retailing with their new shop at 16 Laurence Street, Drogheda, Co. Louth.

Asked about the choice of The Wine Buff, Barry said: “We met The Wine Buff team back in July and decided The Wine Buff was the ideal franchise that would suit Ann and I, both from a product and business model perspective”

“We identified Drogheda as a potential location back in September and with the help of The Wine Buff team located a shop in October. Once the shop was secured I travelled to Bordeaux to become familiar with the wines and meet the growers in the region” said Barry

“We opened the shop on the 3^rd November and have been overwhelmed by the response from the Drogheda public, many have already been back after experiencing their initial Wine Buff experience, and we now look forward to the busy Christmas season” added Barry.

Outstanding Small Business.

The Wine Buff received a Highly Commended Award in the Outstanding Small Business category for 2006.

According to Angela Kennedy, Awards Director, “the aim of the awards is to celebrate the achievement, innovation and excellence of small business in Ireland and to pay tribute to their outstanding contribution to Irish industry. In 2005, more than 2,000 new businesses were started every month in Ireland which is a true barometer of our pro-innovation culture. The SFA see this Awards Programme as a major platform to both recognize and foster this new entrepreneurial talent and culture throughout the country spurring on creativity and employment which ultimately drives our economic development”.

Finalists Announced in the 'SFA National Small Business Awards 2006'

OUTSTANDING SMALL BUSINESS FINALISTS (up to five employees), sponsored by O2 Ireland:

The Wine Buff – Limerick

“This year’s finalists are representative of a diverse range of businesses, driven by single-minded people who perceived a need in the marketplace and followed their instincts with a drive and vision that epitomizes the essential elements of true entrepreneurship. This Awards Programme has set about to identify and acclaim the new entrepreneurial role models, across a variety of sectors, who have spawned new ideas, taken risks and who continue to make such a valid contribution to Ireland’s growing innovation culture”, Angela Kennnedy, Awards Director.

The short-list of finalists in the inaugural “SFA National Small Business Awards”, partnered by O2 Ireland and Bank of Ireland Business Banking, were officially announced today by Angela Kennedy, Awards Director & SFA Chairperson. The aim of the awards is to celebrate the achievements of small business in Ireland, and to recognise the vital contribution of the small business sector to Irish industry.

'We are delighted to have been shortlisted for this prestigious award, which recognises the hard from all The Wine Buff team to provide our customers & franchisees with the highest levels of service,' said Mike McDonnell Managing Director of The Wine Buff. 'We have achieved consistent growth over the last year, and for the third consecutive year we have outperformed the Wine market as a whole.'

The overall winner will be announced at the Gala Awards Dinner which will take place on Friday, 24th February 2006 in the Mansion House, Dublin.

The Wine Buff moves to Sligo

The Wine Buff launched its eighth franchised shop in Ireland on Saturday 12th November, when husband and wife team Tom and Linda Ryall opened their first shop on Rockwood Parade in Sligo town.

Tom and Linda are originally from the States, “My grandfather emigrated to Boston from Co Tipperary in the 1890’s and eventually settled in Colorado. We’ve been to Ireland on numerous occasions and decided to make the move back in 2004”, said Tom.

Both Tom and Linda have strong business backgrounds. Linda has held a number of senior Human Resource positions in companies such as DHL and Coors. Tom worked in the electrical industry for 32 years and managed an electrical distribution company in the Western US.

“We are passionate about food and wine and had planned to open a restaurant in the Galway region”, said Linda. I recently received a degree in Culinary Arts and have worked in a variety of restaurants in the US”.

“This time last year I was looking for a suitable restaurant location in Galway and walked into The Wine Buff shop in Salthill, Galway. We tried the wines, were bowled over by the quality/price and the rest is history”. said Tom.

“We visited Sligo in January and immediately fell in love with the town, the spectacular countryside and friendly people” adds Linda. “Its a vibrant town with a growing community and it’s the perfect location for The Wine Buff”.

Dublin 14th October 2005

The Wine Buff has been chosen as a finalist in the 2005 Irish Franchising awards. This competition is held each year by the Irish Franchise association.

The Wine Buff is a finalist in the category of Best Emerging Franchise. Other finalists include The Bagel Bar and Contours Express.

“We are delighted to be considered for this award, and to be included in such esteemed company”, said Mike McDonnell of The Wine Buff. “In these awards we are competing with world-class franchising companies and it is very gratifying for our franchisees who work diligently to ensure exceptional customer service and value to our customers”

Article by Haydn Shaughnessy, Irish Times 18th October 2005.

Just what does our glass of red wine contain that is causing many of us to feel so ill, asks Haydn Shaughnessy

My first meal in a restaurant and the first time I drank wine was aged 24 in a brasserie off Lincoln's Inn Fields in west central London.

Outside, two teams of girls played netball in gym slips while the bearded cider drinkers of London, bottles hidden in brown bags, stood watching alongside a few wigless barristers. I took a peep also, before boring through a heavy drape into the world of wining and dining.

They were seated at tables close together, generally in groups of four, rarely larger, rarely smaller, people drinking wine and smoking, quaffing before a drag.

Those who did not eat, smoked cigarettes between swigs of wine, or leaned over to talk, leaned back to talk, hung their heads on an open palm to talk, and swigged wine. It seemed to be appearing in their eyes, little pools of swigged wine.

I had seen the future.

My first encounter with the red stuff was a bottle of George Dubouef's Cru Beaujolais Fleurie, a captivating little number that converted me immediately from the pint glass to the tall tinted bottle and the fruity red.

Sadly, George Dubouef is now cradling 50,000 gallons of adulterated Cru Beaujolais.

France is hit periodically by wine adulteration. In 2002 it was the turn of bordeaux, in 2001 burgundy. Poor George, a dealer I've trusted for two and half decades, had been taken by a scurrilous grower who offloaded something cheap and nasty on him.

Talking shame, a lingering wine scandal broke finally this summer in South Africa when the reputable KWV winery conceded publicly that its sauvignon blanc was produced with artificial flavouring.

The scandal had been fermenting since the turn of the millennium when it became apparent that the grassy sauvignon blanc, characteristic of cold climates, was miraculously appearing in the warmer Robertson area of the Cape, renowned for its chardonnay and shiraz.

Prior to the fingering of KWV, the prestigious magazine, Wine International, quoted local winemaker Abie Brouwer as saying: 'It's not unique to us. It happens all over the world.'

By the time the story did break, KWV stood alone and a national scandal was averted.

Wine drinking is not only a newly acquired habit for a growing number of people, it is coupled to new and more diverse ways of eating. We are blessed with better lifestyles and wine is integral to the sense of greater well-being.

But anecdotal evidence suggests more people are suffering from wine-related illnesses.

Paddy O'Flynn of The Wine Buff, a chain of franchised retailers with outlets in Cork, Ennis, Limerick and Galway, has built a large part of his business from catering for people who've experienced health problems after drinking red wine.

'Sit in one of the shops for a day,' he offers, 'and see how many people come in and say, 'I love drinking wine but I can't anymore.''

O'Flynn supplies wines only from growers and producers he knows personally and is able to visit regularly. He claims his wines are sourced only from producers who respect the land and do not use additives or preservatives.

One wine 'victim ' is Neil Cassidy, a manager in the hospitality trade.

'I was having a glass of wine over dinner one evening, it was a Californian wine, and suddenly my face went purple, my neck was red and I couldn't breathe.' Neil happens to be an asthmatic. He is describing anaphylactic shock, a sudden catastrophic allergic reaction.

'I have an emergency inhaler and that didn't work so it was frightening, very frightening. I ended up in hospital on a nebuliser.' That's a machine to help you breathe more easily.

Adverse reactions to red wine are not uncommon but the problem was, until recently, assumed to be confined to headaches.

The red wine headache is a universal phenomenon, first noticed when salad bars became the rage in America.

Deli-owners used sulphur sprays to preserve their lettuce leaves, and a minority of customers developed migraine. Sulphur is naturally occurring in wine but winemakers add more depending on how long the wine will sit on a shelf.

Fewer than 1 per cent of people though have a sulphur sensitivity, according to the US Food and Drug Administration, and sulphur is added in greater concentrations to white wine than it is to red, though complaints come mostly from red wine drinkers.

Sulphur, clearly, may not be the problem.

In support of this conclusion, the reactions associated with wine drinking are broadening, according to O'Flynn.

'We often hear from people that they get joint pain after drinking wine and, more often than not, it's after drinking New World wines,' he says.

'Many of the New World wines are shipped to Europe in steel containers for bottling and that exposes them to heat amplified by the steel which effectively kills the wine.'

The redoubtable wine critic Oz Clarke has also recently come out publicly against the big branded wines that he once promoted, beginning two decades ago on BBC's Food and Drink. 'I get blackcurrant, I get plummy juices, I got shiraz.'

Now Clarke claims that the big brands are a travesty of winemaking and blames it mostly on the addition of sugar to the wine.

So, I get flavourings, I get low-grade wines added, and I get sugar. I might also get ascorbic acid, a common additive that freshens up Chilean wines, as acknowledged recently by winemaker Felipé Muller at a tasting in Cork.