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Orla Murphy visits our shop in Kilkenny. Download the feature here.

Clos Marie, L’Olivette, Pic Saint Loup, AC Coteaux de Languedoc 2005 from Le Caveau, Kilkenny; selected wine shops; and lecaveau.ie (89) Context is everything. In the past, I have found myself tasting in the Languedoc during February and October, and freezing in the process. On those occasions Pic Saint Loup and coastal Languedoc have been the locations, so now, whenever I see the words ‘Pic Saint Loup’, I start to shiver. In fact, this chill does impact on the region’s wines, with cool autumns giving them a vague austerity and conservative fruit profile. This is serious Rhóne varietal stuff – grenache, syrah and mourve’dre, the grapes of Chateauneuf, here with a more savoury black character. The liquorice and tar are here, in a softer form, so you get a Chateauneuf-like offering at half the price with an unexpected savoury edge. An intriguing, well-priced offering. Tomas Clancy Sunday Business Post, 18th January 2009

he Sunday Business Post annual wine awards 2008 by Tomás Clancy While this year has been a testing one for businesses in general in Ireland, the wine trade has been weathering the unsettled times with some degree of aplomb. Wine is now truly part of Irish culture. Large numbers of men downing pints of plain in pubs after a hard day’s labour are almost a thing of the past. People in today’s Ireland have returned to the kitchen and, between conversations lamenting the price of houses and lauding Obama’s victory, many can be found sipping a well priced chardonnay from a well-regarded producer, while stirring a plainer supermarket wine into the cooking sauce. Wine culture fits this new attentiveness to quality rather than our previous scattergun snatchings of excess. And the Irish wine business has responded with flair, ingenuity and realism. This following selection is evidence of this: Best fine wine merchants (Outside Dublin) 1. Le Caveau, Kilkenny 2. Wicklow Wine Company, Wicklow 3. Greenacres, Wexford 4. James Nicholson, Crossgar, Co Down 5. David Dennison Fine Wines, High Street, Waterford Next month will mark the tenth anniversary of the opening of Le Caveau, the Kilkenny wine shop owned by Burgundy native Pascal Rossignol and his wife,Geraldine O’Rourke. The couple perceived a coming trend when they set up this bespoke importation business. Le Caveau would fit in easily in any wine-growing region, especially Burgundy. Among a good selection of wines from around the world, there are wines which are not otherwise available outside Burgundy. The only disappointment is that, after taking time to select a handmade Pommard, after admiring a bottle of a small, family-owned domain’sVieillesVignes, PulignyMontrachet, you emerge out of the shop into Ireland, not into the glare of the sun in Beaune. Sunday Business Post, 14th December 2008

It has been quite a journey. In October 1999, we opened the door of our shop on the Market Yard for the first time. Our idea was to source honest, authentic wines from the four corners of France; wines that would offer very good value and outstanding quality. In the process of sourcing these wines we met some truly extraordinary and dedicated winegrowers who would, with time become our friends. As we went on, the quality of these wines also interested fine restaurants and other specialist wine shops around Ireland, so our business grew a second arm, and we started supplying the trade. In the same time, our shop and website became busier, and for this, we are grateful to you, our customers for your kind support. Today, as we are preparing for our 10th Christmas season, we feel as enthusiastic as the first day. We are now working directly with over 55 amazing winegrowers, mainly in France but also in Italy and Spain and we are planning to extend our offer even more in 2009 with additions from off-the-beaten track regions of France, Italy and the New World. Once the wines are true to their origins and taste amazing, they will make it to our list! Once again, we wish to thank you all for your support over the last 10 years and we are looking forward to discovering and bringing more brilliant wines for many more years. Pascal, Geraldine and the team

Last Sunday, we embarked for a quick tour of Sicily organised by our friends at Caves de Pyrene, where we visited the estates of Ceuso near Alcamo, Marco De Bartoli in Marsala and Caruso e Minini also in Marsala. Ceuso is a 30-ha estate owned and run by brothers Antonino, Giuseppe and Vincenzo Melia who took over and rebuild this estate in 1990. Only two wines are produced by this dynamic team and they are very fine and serious expressions of Nero d`Avola. Scurati a 100% Nero d`Avola and Ceuso, a blend of Nero d`Avola, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. Marco de Bartoli is regarded as one of the two greatest Marsala producer, an organic and minutious approach in both viticulture and vinification which stands light years from the large Marsala producing companies. The wines tasted there were nothing short of extraordinary. Dry whites made with the local varieties Grillo and Zibibbo, Marsala Superiore, Bukkuram, a sweet wine made from sun-dried Moscato grapes and the sublime Vecchio Samperi Ventennale made using the Solera method. The tasting was accompanied by a superb lunch served and prepared by the de Bartoli family. A truly great moment. No doubt, we will have a selection of these wines on our shelves very soon. The last tasting was at the rather large operation Caruso e Minini who produce modern, clean and very affordable wines using, once again, a myriad of local grapes such as Grecanico, Inzolia, Grillo, Catarratto and Perricone. These wines were more predictable in one way, but one must admits that they were very honestly made and certainly represented great value. The welcome of the Caruso family at dinner in a Marsala restaurant was second to none. In all it was a great trip, albeit too short as always, and it was perfectly organised and guided by Dario and Thierry of Les Caves de Pyrene.

The King Sitric Restaurant, Howth, in conjunction with Le Caveau Wine Merchants, Kilkenny, will be hosting a wine dinner on Thursday 6th November from 7pm with Jean Soubeyrand, son-in-law of Olivier Leflaive and Managing Director of the eponymous domaine. The wines of Olivier Leflaive are among the most highly regarded and sought-after in Burgundy, and are characterized by a delicious depth and purity of fruit, and mineral finesse. The evening will get off to a relaxed start, with a champagne reception in the King Sitric’s cellar and downstairs seating area. This will be followed in the upstairs dining room, with its views over Balscadden Bay, by a five-course dinner menu designed to complement a series of wines from Domaine Olivier Leflaive. Jean Soubeyrand will introduce red and white wines from throughout Burgundy, highlighting the diversity of the region: from steely, crisp Chablis in the north to the richer reds of Pommard and Monthélie in the south. Light first courses will be paired with Chablis AC Deux Rives 2005 and St. Romain AC 2006. The main seafood course will be accompanied by both Puligny-Montrachet Villages 2006 and the limited production Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru ‘Les Truffières’ 2006 in a comparative tasting. This will be followed by a course of light game, paired with Monthélie 1er Cru AC 2005, and to finish, Pommard AC 2004 will be paired with a selection of cheeses. Tickets are priced at €100 per person and places are limited to 60 people. Accommodation in the King Sitric is also available, please telephone 01 832 5235 for further details and reservations. We are looking forward to an evening of great food, wine and conviviality!

During the festival (three days only 24th - 26th October), and to celebrate our 10th Anniversary we will offer the following 10 wines at 10 euros per bottle: Tabatau, Saint-Chinian €12.50 €10.00 Mourgues de Gres red €12.50 €10.00 Chateau Turcaud Bordeaux red €12.95 €10.00 Montepulciano d’Abruzzo Frentana €11.85 €10.00 Viu Manent Cabernet Sauvignon €11.85 €10.00 Chateau Negly, Languedoc white €12.95 €10.00 Mourgues de Gres white €12.50 €10.00 Chateau Turcaud entre deux mers €12.95 €10.00 Montredon, Picpoul de Pinet €11.85 €10.00 Viu Manent Sauvignon Blanc €11.85 €10.00 Unfortunately this offer can only be offered to the festival goers, so you will have to make it to Kilkenny this week end to avail of this fantastic offer! Our shop will open Sunday 26th October from 12 to 5pm.

Major change of look, addition of a trade corner, new presentation of our wines and accessories, room for much more information on our wines (in time...), we hope all these changes will make your visit and shopping experience more enjoyable. We welcome your feedback, so if you encounter any broken links, problems or simply if you liked our new site, please do not hesitate to let us know!

Just back from a brief visit to Dominio Atauta and Atalayas de Golban in the wonderful and unspoilt Atauta Valley, the most easternly district of Ribera del Duero, an hour and a half drive from Madrid. Here the relative high altitude, the unique quality of the terroir, the very old Tempranillo (tinto fino) vines (over 100 years for some of them) and the exceptional talent of Chinon native winemaker Bertrand Sourdais contribute to the making of some of Spain`s greatest wines. Many, many thanks to Emma, Rafael and Bertrand and all the local vignerons we met for their kind welcome.

Trade and press tasting: Organised at Fallon and Byrne for the third year running, our annual trade and press tasting went quite well and many thanks to those who attended as well as to Charles Hours and his daughter Marie, all the way from Moneim (Jurancon), Dario (behind our new Italian selection!) and Frank (Clos de l`Amandaie). Many thanks to the team at Fallon and Byrne too! [gallery ids="1457,1458"]

London for Italian wines... A gathering of the most impressive wines from the four corners of Italy took place in Il Bottaccio, London on April 14th and 15th. Very eager for a long time to build a portfolio of Italian estates as impressive as our French one, we jumped on the occasion. As a result, you will see very soon 18 very interesting new wines from Italy, all from dedicated, authentic and utterly skilled producers.

Burgundy again... Is it an excuse to visit home as often as I can or is it because lots is happening in Burgundy? A bit of both I think. The fact is that we have visited Burgundy 5 times over the last 24 months. This time, our four day trip brought us to Laurent Parize (Givry), Louis Boillot, Ghislaine Barthod, Vincent Girardin, Olivier Leflaive, Hubert Chauvenet and Bruno Clair (what a line up of addresses!). On the last day, we visited Michel Couvreur in Bouze les Beaune to sample his magnificent whiskies. Surprising to hear that Burgundy also produce top whiskies. In fact, the carefully chosen distillate and the water are imported from Scotland and the barrels come from the best producers of Sherry in Andalousia. Burgundy happens to be half-way. Michel Couvreur, 80 years of age, enthusiastic and deeply knowledgeable clashroyaleboom.com was a great host. His cellar, 140 metres of galleries dug under the limestone mountain is quite impressive and the whiskies were an absolute revelation. A labour of of love started some 35 years ago.