Organic, Biodynamic and Natural wine presentation
Ballymaloe Cookery School, 25th February 2015
Any occasion to team up to with Colm McCan, Consultant Sommelier at Ballymaloe House and Wine presenter at Ballymaloe Cookery School is always very welcome, so it was a real pleasure to visit Shanagarry once again and introduce some 'hand-made' wines to the Cookery School 12 week certificate students. In front of a full class, the wines showed quite well and were well received.
The wines showed were:
Coste Piane Prosecco di Valdobbiadene ‘Naturale’
Valli Unite ‘Ciapé’ – Cortese – Colli Tortonesi DOC
Bodegas Menade, Rueda ‘Verdejo’
Cantina Tollo, Montepulciano d’Abruzzo ‘Biologico’
Gran Cerdo Tempranillo, GONZALO GONZALO GRIJALBA
Arianna Occhipinti, SP68 Rosso IGT Terre Siciliane
Many thanks to Darina, Colm and the team at Ballymaloe Cookery School for the opportunity to introduce these wines to the class, and indeed many thanks to the students for your attention and feedback, very best of luck with the exam next month!
Picture courtesy of Ketty of French Foodie in Dublin blog
Ballymaloe Grain Store was the venue for our ‘Real wines – Celebrating the Artisan growers’ presentation last Sunday. Pascal Rossignol of Le Caveau was joined by Eric Narioo owner of Les Caves de Pyrene, a UK wine importer championing the cause of Natural wines and his wife Anna Martens, owner/winemaker of Mount Etna winery Vino di Anna. Once again, we greatly appreciated the impeccable organisation of Ballymaloe, lead by sommelier Colm McCan and his team.
We presented 8 wines, each of them bursting with individuality, charm and life. Answering a question during the presentation Eric Narioo predicted that in 20 years, most wines would be produced naturally, given the overwhelming enthusiasm with which an entire new generation of winegrowers around the World are embracing these methods. The demand is certainly growing, with the ‘natural wine bar scene’ in major cities such as New York, London or Paris still in full swing and with more and more restaurants allowing greater space to Artisan wines on their lists.
In effect, Natural wines may never replace conventional wines, but they certainly offer a brilliant alternative to wine drinkers in search of emotion and authenticity, and as in the words of Patricia Nelson recently posted on Slow Food website
‘In the end, there is definitely room to accommodate both markets. Natural wines counter what seems to be increasing homogeneity, and it is heartening to see producers and retailers embracing craft practices while creating products that do not present an ever-pervasive sameness.’
On the wine side, there was a mountain of interesting events, Ballymaloe resident-Sommelier Colm McCan lined up an impressive list of talks, tasting and presentations,
Our own presentation with Mary Dowey 'Going Natural, new trends in wine' went really well - we had a full house at the Carrigaun Room, and the wines showed very well.
The themes of the presentations were:
Biodynamic Wines, illustrated with Valpolicella Classico 'Saseti' 2011, Monte dall'Ora
Natural wines, Vouvray 'la dilettante' 2011, Pierre et Catherine Breton
No Sulphites added, Vina Almate Tempranillo 2012, Alfredo Maestro Tejero
Old Vines, Vinsobres 2010, Chaume-Arnaud
If you want to read more about our event and the LitFest festival, look-up Billy Lyons' excellent blog here
The next day, it was Jancis Robinson's inspiring 'Wine Grapes' presentation and tasting. Jancis lined-up 8 wines, including two of our imports:
Chateau du Cedre, Cahors Cuvée GC 2007
Charles Hours Jurancon 2011 'Clos Uroulat'
Read Jancis Robinson own report here
And to the Big Shed... what a brilliant place to be, the food, the atmosphere, the family-friendliness, and the party atmosphere in the evening were memorable. If you enjoyed the wines served there, chances are they were one of these:
Alain Brumont, Gros Manseng-Sauvignon 2011, Pays de Gascogne
Vouvray 'la dilettante' 2011, Pierre et Catherine Breton
Valpolicella Classico 'Saseti' 2011, Monte dall'Ora
read more on what went on in the big shed in Joe McNamee's brilliant piece here
Full report on LitFest by John and Sally McKenna & Team here
Martin Moran recommends:
Vouvray 'la Dilettante', Catherine et Pierre Breton
Gran Cerdo Tempranillo
