Crémant d'Alsace, Meyer-Fonné - Irish Times wine of the week

The Irish Times - Saturday, July 16, 2011 In the pink for salad days JOHN WILSON WINE: Looking for something light to suit the mellow days and long nights? Try a glass of rosé, a sparkling wine such as cava, or an Australian pink. They can put a stretch into your euro as well as the evenings OVER THE NEXT few weeks, I will be covering summer wines. Other than sparkling wines, all will cost less than €15 a bottle, and under €12 where possible. For the most part, I have tried to select lighter wines that are suitable for drinking by themselves or with light meals. It is only right that when holidaying in Ireland we should try to buy local. However, if you know your off-licence has an unexciting and over-priced range of wine, why not buy online or by mail order? It will allow you to choose from a far more interesting range of wines. You could also have it delivered to your door. Most wine merchants offer a mail-order service, and at this stage, most have websites as well. My own favourites include The Wine Store in Kildare (great for French and Spanish wines), Wines Direct in Mullingar (which has a retail outlet just off the motorway), and Le Caveau in Kilkenny, but there are plenty of others too, including Wineonline, Red Nose Wine, Curious Wines, the Corkscrew and Simply Wines. Now that we have a burgeoning micro-beer market, you can buy really good local beer in many parts of the country. See beoir.org for a list of brewers and stockists. You could even give the brewery a call to see if they accept visitors. Crémant d’Alsace Brut Extra NV, Domaine Meyer-Fonné, 12%: Alsace produces some excellent sparkling wine, made by the traditional Champagne method. This wine, made from a blend of pinot blanc, chardonnay and pinot noir is bone dry with just two grammes of residual sugar. It is a very stylish wine, with a lightly bready nose, wonderful clean crisp citrus acidity, balanced perfectly by some lovely ripe fruit. It is streets ahead of most Champagne at this price. Stockists: Redmonds of Ranelagh; Fallon Byrne, Exchequer Street; Le Caveau, Kilkenny, lecaveau.ie view the full article: