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Natural wines, low intervention wines, artisan wines, real wines, call them what you will, truth is, we love them and can't get enough of them. From the winegrowers point of view, producing natural wines is as much a professional occupation as it is a way of life. What we like so much about them is that they truly reflect their plot of land, the grapes and their vintage. These wines feel alive, and they probably are since they come from vineyards free of any chemicals, with roots deeply implanted in life-bursting soils. In the winery, only the healthiest fruits made it to the vats, no excessive manipulations took place, natural, local yeasts were responsible for the fermentation, with an 'as long as it takes' approach, and no modern additives were used if only in some case, a dash of sulphur (so2) at bottling stage. Good natural wines will showcase fruit purity, energy and balance. Typically, they will have lower alcohol level, be flavour-ripe yet have a balancing natural acidity and/or tannins which make ideal food partners. Here is a list (far from exhaustive) of the natural wines you can find in our wine shop and website: Cascina Degli Ulivi, Bellotti Rosso – Dolcetto – Barbera Cascina Degli Ulivi, Bellotti Bianco Cortese Pierre and Catherine BRETON Bourgueil Trinch! Frantz Saumon, Montlouis Minérale + Pithon-Paillé, Anjou Blanc Mozaik Chenin Blanc Clos du Tue-Boeuf Cheverny rouge Clos des Grillons, Cotes du Rhone Blanc Gran Cerdo Tempranillo Alfredo Maestro Tejero, Vina Amalte – Castilla y Leon Adega Cachin, Peza do Rei, Ribera Sacra Coste Piane Prosecco di Valdobbiadene ‘Naturale’ Villalobos- The Wild Vineyards – Carignan Reserve Louis-Antoine Luyt, Cinsault ‘Quellu’ Bobar Syrah, Yarra Valley            

Just back from the first edition of Ballymaloe LitFest, and what a wonderful week-end that was;  the line-up of International and Irish speakers was unique, and so was the quality of the presentations, forums, pop-ups, tasting and demos. No doubt as Food and Wine festivals go,  there will be a pre and a post-LitFest. 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      

Ketty interviews Pascal Rossignol on her well-known blog 'French Foodie in Dublin'... read here

This coming May Bank Holiday week-end, the Ballymaloe Literary Festival of Food and Wine will bring some of the world’s best known chefs, critics, commentators, kitchen gardeners, foragers and wine experts to East Cork. The festival will be held at Ballymaloe House and Ballymaloe Cookery School. In addition to the usual festival activities (readings, talks, panel discussions) there will be demonstrations, tastings, producer visits, foraging expeditions, lunches and dinners. The objective of the Ballymaloe Literary Festival of Food and Wine is to bring together a wide, varied and international group of cookery writers, journalists, bloggers and critics whilst also offering a varied programme for professional and non-professional food enthusiasts from Ireland and abroad. We are delighted to be involved in what promises to be one absolutely brilliant week-end! see the full list of events here: http://litfest.ie/ and the wine events here: http://www.ballymaloe.ie/things-to-do/wine-events  

Lovely write-up on Carlo and Alessandra Venturini's Monte dall'Ora wines in the Vine Inspiration blog read more here: http://thevineinspiration.org/2013/03/30/tasted-with-le-caveau-monte-dallora/ See our Monte dall'Ora wines here

• Monte dall`Ora, Amarone della Valpolicella
• Monte dall`Ora, Valpolicella Classico ‘Saseti’
• Monte dall`Ora, Valpolicella Ripasso ‘Sausto’

Martin Moran writes a nice article on Natural wines in today's Sunday Times and select two of our imports       Martin Moran recommends: Vouvray 'la Dilettante', Catherine et Pierre Breton Gran Cerdo Tempranillo

  Another nice write up on our recent Artisan wine tasting, written by Paddy (the Vine Inspiration blog), this one is focused on Philipponnat's Champagnes: http://thevineinspiration.org/2013/03/08/tasted-with-le-caveau-champagne-philipponnat/  

  Ken Ecock reviews our recent Artisan wine tasting in his blog 'Free Running wine': http://firstpress.blogspot.ie/2013/02/le-caveau-tasting-great-wines.html  

Our annual Artisan wine tasting took place on Thursday 7th February in Fallon and Byrne, Dublin 2. We presented over 150 wines and eight winegrowers came over to assist us and present their wines. The turn-out was excellent with great vibe and buzz around the room all day long. The day was followed by an informal dinner with the winegrowers who were all very happy with their short stay in Dublin. Here are some pictures taken by Gary: [gallery ids="1104,1103,1102,1101,1097,1098,1099,1100,1096,1095,1094"]

 La Dive bouteille 2013 It was a cold early February morning in the Loire, yet not as cold as the  previous year, where both winegrowers and vistors to La Dive tasting were absolutely freezing in the huge cellars of the impressive Chateau de Breze. La Dive is an amazing gathering of artisan, low intervention winegrowers which takes place near Saumur in the heart of the Loire Valley each year. Brainchild of French wine journalist Sylvie Augereau, it is now in its 14th year and it is gathering pace, fast. Lots of familiar faces were present (see the full list of growers below) and it was brilliant to meet again with Catherine Breton, Luca Roagna, Eric Narioo, Olivier Cousin, Jean Maupertuis, Valerie Chaume-Arnaud, Ludovic Bonnelle, Paolo Vodopivec, Vincent Wallard to name but a few. This was an exciting tasting, where each glass had the ability to surprise you, as often with low intervention wines, the overall impression was that of purity and precision of aromas, vibrancy, liveliness, balance and drinkability. It stroke me how the overall quality of these wines are improving, I imagine the growers are getting better and better at understanding their vineyards and timing each intervention in the winery. The winegrowers:

Champagne

Jérôme Prevost, la Closerie

Hélène et Bertrand Gautherot, Vouette Sorbée

Benoît Lahaye

Thierry Demarne, Demarne-Frison

Vincent Laval

Alsace

Audrey et Christian Binner

Jean-Christophe Bott, Bott-Geyl

Stéphane Bannwarth

Jura

Etienne Thiebaud, Cavarodes

Evelyne et Pascal Clairet, la Tournelle

Philippe et Tony Bornard

Savoie

Jean-Yves Peron

Jacques Maillet

François Grinand, le Perron (Bugey)

Bourgogne

Adrien Roux, Maison Caroline Marion (Chablis)

Vincent Thomas, la Chappe

Catherine et Jean Montanet, la Cadette (Vézelay)

Catherine et Claude Maréchal

Yann Durieux, Recrue des Sens (Htes Côtes)

Fanny Sabre

Jean-Pascal Sarnin et Jean-Marie Berrux

Julien Altaber, Sextant

Isabelle et J-Y Vantey, Rouges Queues

Cécile et Philippe Valette (Pouilly-Fuissé)

Claire et Fabio Montrasi, les Rontets (P-Fuissé)

Philippe Jambon  (Mâconnais)

Arnaud Combier (Saint-Véran)

Beaujolais

Marie et Matthieu Lapierre

Geneviève et Jean-Claude Chanudet, Chamonard

Christophe Pacalet

Carole et Nicolas Testard

Georges Descombes

Karim Vionet

Raphaël Champier

Jean-Claude Lapalu

Bordeaux et Sud-Ouest

Michel Favard, Meylet (Saint-Emilion)

François Décombe, La Haie (Bordeaux)

Franck Pascal, Jonc Blanc (Bergerac)

Béné et Grég Hubau, Moulin Pey-Labrie (Fronsac)

Elian Da Ros (Marmandais)

Magalie et Ludovic Bonnelle, le Pech (Buzet)

Yvonne Hégoburu, Souch (Jurançon)

Mathieu Cosse (Cahors) et La Coste (Provence)

Simon Busser (Cahors)

Stéphanie Roussel,Lassole (Marmandais)

Sylviane et Michel Issaly, la Ramaye (Gaillac)

Myriam et Bernard Plageoles  (Gaillac)

Marc Penavayre, Plaisance (Fronton)

Dominique Andiran, Haut Campagnau (Gers)

Nicolas Carmarans (Entraygues, Aveyron)

Patrick Rols (Entraygues, Aveyron)

Rhône

Jean-Michel Stéphan (Côte Rôtie)

Béa et Hervé Souhaut, Romaneau d’Estezet (St-Jo)

Valérie et Philippe Chaume-Arnaud (Vinsobres)

Marcel Richaud (Cairanne)

Guy et Thomas Jullien, ferme St Martin

Claudie et Bertrand Cortellini, Rouge Garance

Laurence et Antoine Joly, Roche Buissière

Philippe Viret

Jérôme Jouret (Ardèche)

Manu Cunin et Vincent Fargier, Deux Terres (Ardèche)

Gérald Oustric, le Mazel  (Ardèche)

Gilles Azzoni, la Bégude (Ardèche)

Hélène et Christophe Comte, Le Vigneau (Ardèche)

Andrea Calek (Ardèche)

Languedoc

Delphine et Julien Zernott, Pas de l’Escalette

Thierry Navarre (Saint-Chinian)

Yannick Pelletier (Saint-Chinian)

Blandine et Pierre Jequier, Foulaquier (Pic St L)

Charlotte et Jean-Baptiste Sénat (Minervois)

Gilles Azam, les Hautes Terres (Limoux)

Anne-Marie Lavaysse, Gimios (Minervois)

Bernard Bellahsen, Fontedicto

Emile Hérédia, les Dimanches

Laetitia Ourliac, Fond Cyprès (Corbières)

Maxime Magnon (Corbières)

Axel Prüfer, le Temps des Cerises

Alain Allier, Mouressipe (Gard)

Roussillon

Gérard et Lionel Gauby

Tom Lubbe, Matassa

Loïc Roure, Domaine du Possible

Edouard Laffitte, le Bout du Monde

Jacques de Chancel, l’Ausseil

Philippe Wies, La Petite Baigneuse (Maury)

Bruno Duchêne (Collioure)

Manuel Di Vecchi, Vinyer de la Ruca (Banyuls)

Jean-Luc Chossart, Jolly-Ferriol

Gyslaine et A. Castex, Casot de Mailloles (Banyuls)

Christine Campadieu, Tour Vieille (Collioure)

Provence - Corse

Antoine et Jean-Baptiste Arena (Corse)

Jean-Baptiste Dutheil, Sainte-Anne (Bandol)

Peter Fischer, Revelette

Jean-Christophe Comor, Terres Promises

Satellites

John Wurdeman et Malkhaz, Pheasant’s Tears (Géorgie)

Soliko Tsaishvili, Chveni Gvino-Our Wine (Géorgie)

Nikoloz Antadze, Antadze Winery (Géorgie)

Estelle et C. Bongiraud, Francuska Vinarija (Serbie)

Paolo Vodopivec, Venezia Giulia (Italie)

Anna et Eric Narioo, Vino di Anna, Etna (Italie)

Francesca Sfondrini, Massa Vecchia, Toscane (Italie)

Clémentine et Gian-Marco Antonuzi, le Coste (Italie)

Luca Roagna, Piémont (Italie)

Fernando Garcia, Comando G, Madrid (Espagne)

Olivier Rivière, Rioja (Espagne)

Luis Arnedo, Bodegas Lacus, Rioja (Espagne)

Vincent Wallard et Emile Hérédia, 4 Manos (Argent.)

Louis-Antoine Luyt, Le Vin Perdu (Chili)

Joseh Pedicini, Montebruno, Oregon (US)

Autres potions

Julie et Cyril Laudet, Laballe (Armagnac)

Guilhem Grosperrin, la Gabare (Cognac)

Julien Frémont (cidres)

Laurent Cazottes (eaux de  vie, liqueurs)

Ludo et Stéph Hardouin, Brasserie de la Pigeonnelle

Nathalie et Edgar Lefort, Vinaigrerie la Guinelle Les Cafés nature d’ Hippolyte Courty

Loire – Vaisseau Mère

Jérôme Bretaudeau, Bellevue (Muscadet)

Marc Pesnot, la Sénéchalière (Muscadet)

J Bresteau et M Houtin, Grange aux Belles (Anjou)

Philippe Delmée (Anjou)

Johanna et J-F Chéné, Coulée d’Ambrosia (Anjou)

Geneviève et Nicolas Bertin, l’Echalier (Anjou)

Olivier Cousin (Anjou)

Sylvain Martinez (Anjou)

Sébastien Bobinet (Saumur-Champigny)

Eric Dubois, Clos Cristal (S-Champigny)

Antoine Sanzay (S-Champigny)

Thierry Germain, Roches Neuves (S-Champigny)

Sylvain Dittière, Porte Saint-Jean (S-Champigny)

Caroline et Antoine Foucault, le Collier (Saumur)

Arnaud Lambert, Brézé (Saumur)

Romain Guiberteau (Saumur)

Nicolas Reau (Anjou-Chinon)

Patrick Corbineau (Touraine-Chinon)

Fred Sigonneau, de l’R (Chinon)

Jérôme Lenoir, cave des Roches (Chinon)

François Blanchard, le Grand Cléré (Touraine)

Gérard Marula (Touraine-Chinon)

Catherine et Pierre Breton (Bourgueil-Chinon)

Lise et Bertrand Jousset (Montlouis)

Sébastien Brunet (Vouvray)

Mathieu Cosme, Beaumont (Vouvray)

Frantz Saumon (Montlouis)

C. et D. Delecheneau, Grange Tiphaine (Mtlouis)

Grégory Leclerc, Chahut et Prodiges (Touraine)

Noella Morantin (Touraine)

Pascal Simonutti, le Pré Noir (Touraine)

Brendan Tracey (Touraine)

Moses et Pascal Potaire, les Capriades (Touraine)

Aurélie et Jean-Luc Tessier (Touraine)

Cyrille Sevin (Cheverny)

Olivier  Lemasson, les Vins Contés (Touraine)

Christian Venier (Touraine)

Claudine, Claude et Etienne Courtois (Sologne)

Reynald Héaulé (Orléannais)

Noella et J-P Robinot, l’Ange Vin (Jasnières)

Renaud Guettier, La Grapperie (Côteaux du Loir)

Alexandre Bain (Pouilly-Fumé)

Mathieu Coste (Côteaux du Giennois)

Jean Maupertuis (Côtes d’Auvergne)

Géraldine et C Pialoux, Picatier (Cts Roannaises)

 

Tomas Clancy recommends Guy Allion Touraine Sauvignon Blanc in today`s SBP.

For the second time (2008 and 2012), Le Caveau gets top spot in the Sunday Business Post `Best fine wine merchants Nationwide` award. Many, many thanks to Tomas Clancy, SBP wine correspondent for choosing us, to our loyal and dedicated staff, to our friends artisan winegrowers for producing such great and interesting wines and most importantly, many thanks to you our Customers for your support over the years! We`re absolutely delighted and we are looking forward to sharing our discoveries with you in the New Year.