May’s case of the month is a hand-picked mix of the best of this month’s specials, with wines from the Languedoc, South Africa and California, and over 20% off normal prices!

This 12 bottle mix contains:

From the Languedoc, France:
1 x Pont de Gassac Blanc 2010 (RRP €14.99)
1 x Pont de Gassac Rouge 2010 (RRP €14.99)
1 x Domaine Delsol Picpoul de Pinet (RRP €10.99)
1 x Dignite Syrah 2008 (RRP €12.99)
1 x Grandiose Sauvignon Blanc (RRP €9.49)
1 x Grandiose Cabernet Sauvignon (RRP €9.49)
1 x Moulin de Gassac Classic Blanc 2010 (RRP €8.99)
1 x Moulin de Gassac Classic Rouge 2010 (RRP €8.99)

From South Africa:
1 x Paarl Heights Chenin Blanc (RRP €8.99)
1 x Paarl Heights Shiraz (RRP €8.99)

And from California, USA:
1 x Crane Lake Sauvignon Blanc (RRP €8.99)
1 x Big Top Zinfandel 2009 (RRP €10.99)

A delectable mix, normal price combined for these 12 bottles is €128.88, but they’re yours for only €99 or €8.25 per bottle including delivery during May.

And we’ve got all red and all white versions, with two bottles of each type from the standard mix, and with equivalent discounts.

Click here for May mixed cases ->

Well, ok, we’re being a little optimistic that summer is going to start any time soon, but we’re all set for a summer of great wine offers to see you through rain or shine.

No longer a well kept secret, the Languedoc has been producing some of France’s most interesting and best value wines for quite a few years now. Through great value vin de table, fashionable sub-regions, star estates and modern icons, there’s no region in the world right now offering a greater diversity of styles and, in our view, bang for buck. It’s time to get exploring France’s deep south: we’ve 20% off every wine from the Languedoc* in May and June (*excludes wines over €25).

If you prefer New World to Old, from crisp Chenin Blanc to Napa Cab we’ve also got 20% off all wines from California and South Africa – and, with prices from only €7.19 per bottle, you don’t need to be a Fat Cat to afford them.

And finally, to Australia’s Langhorne Creek and the country’s second oldest winery (what were you doing in 1850?), we’ve 20% off Bleasdale wines*, also until the end of June (*excludes icon wines over €25).

Now don’t forget to stock up on charcoal for the impending heatwave

Australian Ant Moore (pictured) plies his trade in New Zealand, making some of the most distinctive whites of the Marlborough region, and vibrantly fruity, yet rustic and complex reds of Central Otago. Here, in the second part of this two part series, his right hand man Craig Murphy talks us through the winemaking process.

This is a continuation. To view the first post click here.

We add the yeast to the Pinot Noir. Still on skins, it has been soaking for 3 days. The colour of the juice is now deep purple and it’s time to ferment. I like to pour the culture into a little nest. Start it off slowly, because when the reds take off fermenting it’s all done in days. And all the way through the cellar hands are plunging. Four guys to a tank, four times a day. Every day, every tank until done. Then we let it soak some more. Time to extract the tannins and develop the palate of the wine.

The Sauvignon Blanc is now settling in a stainless tank. The cooling is set at 8 degrees. All looking good. Time to let gravity do its thing. 2 days later we test the racking valve to see if it is clear. Perfect, as clear as water and still tasting fantastic. Time to rack the tank. One of the cellar hands hooks up the pump, sets up the lines and cleans everything. The destination tank is gassed and we let it go. All valves are opened and the clean, clear juice flows into the next tank. Three hours later the door is opened and we finish the racking. All we can smell is full on Sauvignon aromas that are just pouring out the door.

The Pinot has been soaking post ferment for 5 days, we have tasted every day and finally time to press the wine off the skins. The cellar hands set up the gear and drain the wine off the tank. Then, when wine is not flowing anymore and the free run tank is looking full, it’s time for the best job in the winery. Digging out the reds. The rookie cellar hand is told to get their boots on, harness up and they are handed the red shovel, and they are told to dig. Six tonne of Pinot Noir needs to be dug out and loaded into the bins then tipped into the press. Good chance to show how fast you can go and the records for fastest time are openly boasted about in the smoko room later that day. Time to clean out the tank, and get ready to load it with the next truck load of Pinot Noir that has just arrived.

The Pinot Noir now needs time in oak; we go through and select which clone is going to go to the best suited Barrique. All wine has been inoculated with malo to give some more complexity on the palate. Once the oak is full, they are moved into the warm room and left. Stirred every couple of weeks and then topped as each barrique loses some volume… the angels share.

Now what… which yeast are we going to use for the Sauvignon? Which yeast will enhance the structure and produce the best ferment? Yeast is mixed up and left to hydrate. Good fermenter this one, the culture is strong and the yeast smells good. Fresh baked bread, we add a little Sauvignon just to get it used to the extra sugar in the juice. Then we tip it into the tank, “Go forth and multiply little yeasties” is the prayer offered as the last of the culture is added. And now we wait. Two days and the tank is starting to prickle and the tell tale signs of CO2 are being released, well through the lag phase. Now onto the growth phase, 12 hours later the temp is lowered as the ferment is rolling over. Foam and CO2, and a fantastic aroma of tropical fruits, capsicum and cut grass are floating out the top of the tank. Temperature set for 12 degrees and the tank is perfect. We taste every day and make sure that all is looking good. Finally, after 15 days the ferment is done. All the sugar has been fermented and the alcohol is present. We now have wine.

Multiply this by 30 other tanks of wine and we have a vintage. Now for the best part. Blending.

Blending can make or break. I like to taste everything. Get an idea of what the vintage is like. Then it’s all on. 8 am let’s start tasting, 10 am and we have tasted 30 wines. I know what I want now. Mix this with that and taste. Try a little of this tank. Have to make sure the others are keeping up and the blend has been written down. By midday all the whites are done.

Generally a big day and by the end we are tired and are looking forward to a steak and cheese pie from the bakery. The blends are completed. A decision has been made. Time to finish the wines, filter and get ready for bottling.

The Pinot has now had 4 months in oak. Malo is complete and the wine sits and ages. We stir, we top, we taste, we stir some more, and so on. Then in February we need to blend and then the process starts again.

Bottling, 4 months from harvest the truck rolls in and we load the transport tank and watch it drive out the gate. The Sauvignon Blanc is prepped and then 6 am the next morning I roll into the bottling company and one final taste and the final sign off, everything is gassed off. No air around here, the labels look good, and the guys are keen to get rolling, big day today.

I watch as the glass rolls down the line, a blur of glass and wine, the colour of the labels as the bottles whizz past and then into the cases. But it does not stop there. Time to get it to market.

Winemaking in Marlborough, where Sauvignon Blanc is king and we do the best in the world.

Get up to 25% off the Ant Moore range before midnight Monday 30th April.

Piemonte in north west Italy has bags to offer the curious wine drinker. It is probably the most developed wine producing region in Italy, largely thanks to its influence from neighbouring France.

The winemakers of Piemonte use the proper fermentation and ageing techniques that are required to make commercially sound wines, and a great choice of grape varieties at their disposal allows them to plant whatever works best on specific plots of land.

Here are some grape varieties that have helped make Piemonte famous for its wines:

Nebbiolo: The variety behind Barolo and Barbaresco, and perhaps the most famous red grape of Piemonte. This is one of the finest and longest living wines from Italy. Naturally high in acidity, many of the wines made from Nebbiolo are also high in tannins. With age they develop amazing complexity. Red fruits, floral notes, mushrooms, tobacco, you name it.

Barbera: Here’s a variety in some cases easily challenging some of the best Barolo’s. Grown all over the provinces of Alba, Asti and Alessandria, these rustic wines have big acidity, with a warming rustic edge and tons of character. Overcropping and questionable winemaking was once an issue, but with care in the vineyards and oak ageing, they are now a lot more accessible.

Dolcetto: Like Barbera, careful fermentation and oak ageing has softened the edges of a once slightly rough wine. I usually get red or black cherry flavours from Dolcetto, and when it has seen oak it is smooth and concentrated, whilst remaining quite light in body. A great partner to traditional Italian pasta dishes and pizza.

Moscato: Widely grown throughout the country, the white Moscato from the Asti province has done wonders to raise the profile of this lightly fizzy, low alcohol wine. Asti Moscato has a fuller fizz and comes in between 7 and 9.5% ABV, however Moscato d’Asti has a lighter fizz and comes in around 5.5% ABV. The sweetness of d’Asti makes it a good accompaniment to dessert.

Cortese: This is the grape variety used in Gavi. Cortese makes delicate, light whites with soft and subtle fruity citrusy flavours. The better versions usually have some minerality and that nutty, savoury edge, but the wonderful acidity is the signature characteristic of most. Generally speaking, the best expression of the grape comes from the Gavi zone.

Arneis: Another indigenous grape variety to Piemonte, Arneis almost met its end in the 1970s when only two houses were producing it. With a surge in demand for white wine from the region in the 1980s, Arneis made a remarkable comeback and is now also grown, albeit to a limited extent, in California and Australia. It is pleasingly dry and scented with relatively low acidity.

International varieties: Don’t be too surprised to find wines of Piemonte made from better known international grape varieties. Younger producers have experimented with Pinot Noir, Syrah, Sauvignon Blanc and Cabernet Sauvignon with some success. One of the big success stories is that of Chardonnay, which has truly made itself at home in north west Italy.

Pictured: Barbera grapes at harvest / Get 20% off all Italian wines under €25 up to and including Monday 30th.

The Ancient Greeks knew it as Oenotria, or ‘land of the trained vines’. It was in fact the Ancient Greeks who brought wine to Italy, but it was the agricultural and engineering brilliance of the Romans who brought it so many steps further. Not only are they responsible for bringing vines to far off lands, but they harnessed technology to produce the kind of wine we enjoy today.

As far as we know the first mutter of vines in Italy came around the 3rd century B.C. when Hannibal invaded. It’s hard to believe the vintage of 121 B.C. (Opimian Vintage) was regarded as an excellent year for wine, so much so that it was still being drank over 100 years later. Then came the hard archaeological evidence showing winemaking facilities that were built as extensions to large villas between the 2nd and 3rd century A.D., although there is solid evidence showing wine production in some scale in the 100 years either side of zero A.D.

The rapid growth of Rome and the opening of new trade routes to Gaul (western Europe, mainly France) and Spain brought great wealth and prosperity, and with that, disposable income to spend on wine. Vineyards popped up on the slopes behind ports so as to have easier access to the demand of foreign lands. The regions of Lazio and Campania around Rome became the first widely recognised wine regions of Roman Italy.

With the fall of the Roman Empire economic chaos rained, but despite the fine wine market also disappearing, the basic Italian diet remained the same. Bread, olives, fish and wine. A renewed interest came about between the 11th and 14th centuries, a period of time when Italy’s population almost doubled around 8 million people. An economic revival saw Florence become the banking centre of the world. The rich merchants of the cities became a new market for fine wines. As their Roman ancestors did, land was deforested and planted with vines that were raised on trees, stakes or trellises. This increased yield by exposing the grapes to sunlight.

At a time when Italy’s international exportation of wine was in full flow, they still had more than enough for themselves, both in ordinary everyday wines, and those of the finer variety. By the 14th century familiar names such as Barbera, Trebbiano and Nebbiolo had crept into wine vocabulary. The civic and monastic chronicles show the divisions in terriotory and the excitement and advances around making quality wine. Even the cellarmaster of Pope Paul III recounted his wine experiences with great interest during papal travels in 1536.

In the 17th and 18th centuries Italy again left behind the rest of the wine world with the rise of modern wines in bottles with cork stoppers, many now marked as being from specific producers. Records show not long after, however, that quality began to suffer. It wasn’t truly until post Second World War, long after phylloxera had devastated European vines and after numerous international varieties has been introduced, that Italy again came into its own.

After economic recovery a class of consumers was created who had an interest and the means to buy wine. Today it remains an essential part of the Italian diet, as well as a source of great pleasure for enthusiasts all over Italy and throughout the world.

You can smoke it, you can eat it, and now you can drink it in the form of a Cabernet Sauvignon. Whatever your opinion is on the controversial plant, cannabis laced wine is back in fashion (where have I been the last 27 years?). In California at least. But don’t go to Napa Valley expecting a lot of superficially happy, friendly, drowsy or paranoid wine drinkers. Well, no more than anywhere else in the world. This is something that’s being conveniently kept off the radar and behind the closed doors of a small group of cheeky rogue winemakers.

How do they do it? Marijuana is dropped into fermenting wine and the alcohol from the fermentation process extracts the major psychoactive compound from marijuana. Some producers opt for maximum extraction, keeping the wine in barrel for nine months before bottling it. In the 1980′s this was typically done with rosé, although today red wine made from Cabernet Sauvignon is the vessel of choice for those happy chappy winemakers.

Due to the legal risk involved, the wines are going for $100 or more per bottle. Technically, if caught in possession of marijuana in California, the maximum fine is $100, with no criminal record. Whether that incorporates marijuana hidden within a chocolate brownie or a bottle of wine, I’m not entirely sure, but the chances of getting done for possession are pretty slim either way. California’s laws are relatively relaxed around the substance. Medical marijuana was legalised in 1996, and people can grow it for themselves without any invention from the law.

Crane Carter, president of the Napa Valley Marijuana Growers, claims it delivers a quick high and “an interesting little buzz”. Offered a cannabis cuvée at a Burgundy dinner in New York, wine writer Mike Steinberger described it as having “a pungent herbal aroma that called to mind a college dormitory on a Saturday night – that, or a Grateful Dead concert.”

Momma said I’m never allowed to take pot…

Source: The Drinks Business

I know this is real winter grub here, but while April is refusing to behave I still have that urge to eat warm, rich, weighty food. The first time I tried toad was when Curious Davide (<– click and scroll down to view his other recipes) made it back in January. This is more or less how he did it.

The most important thing of course is your choice of sausage. Mass production has yet to master the sausage, not unlike the wine conundrum, so ignore those scrawny pink ones their flogging in the supermarket. There is only one place to pick up good sausages and that’s at a good butcher. You’re getting better value, supporting the independent, supporting choice in what we eat, and if your butcher is sourcing high welfare animals, you’ve nothing to feel guilty about.

Toad in the hole (serves 4)

Ingredients
6 thick pork butcher’s sausages
2 free range eggs
150ml milk mixed with 150ml water
125g plain flour
1 tbsp grain mustard
3 tbsp unsalted butter

For the gravy…
2 large onions
325ml stock
1 tbsp flour
75g butter
Worcestershire sauce

To serve…
Creamy mash potatoes & broccoli

Method
Pre-heat the oven to 220 degrees C. Mix the eggs, flour, milk, mustard with a whisk, beating out the lumps of flour. Season with a little salt and pepper. It should be a nice consistency, thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Set aside for 10 or 15 minutes.

Put the butter in a baking tin and place in the oven until hot and melted. Remove from the oven and pour in the batter before arranging the sausages in it. This will cook in about 30 minutes, but just keep an eye on it. I like it nice and golden on top so that it crisps up.

For the gravy, melt the butter in a heavy base saucepan and cook the onions slowly until brown and soft. Get them really soft in texture so they’ll almost go to mush. Add the tablespoon of flour, stir and cook for a few minutes and add some of the stock, continually adding and stirring. Season with salt and pepper, add some Worcestershire sauce and bring to the boil, and then gently bubbly over 10-15 minutes stirring occasionally.

Serve the toad with vegetables of your choice and generously pour over the gravy. Be careful not to eat the plate too.

The wine match

I would be partial to an artisan ale as an accompaniment depending on my mood, otherwise it would be a rustic, medium bodied Spanish or French red.

La Mano Mencía is the type of wine that would be enjoyed at the end of a hard working day by an old, dirty, withered miner, as would toad in the hole. It’s savouriness and earthiness give it real character, and it’s interplay with the flavours of the food should work a treat.

The beautifully crafted Moulin de Gassac Albaran would be my choice from France. Although it must be said, this isn’t the most complicated dish to wine match so by all means go with your gut instinct.

Co-winemaker Craig Murphy (Murph) is Ant Moore‘s right hand man in the winery. In these two posts, the second to follow next week, Murph invites us to better understand the winemaking process in their production of Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir. There’s some technical ‘wine-speak’ used here, but I think most of us will be able to follow easily enough. If you do have any questions, leave a comment and I’ll get one of the lads to answer for you!

It’s the beginning of April, the days are still hot, but the nights are starting to cool down, exactly what we want to ripen Sauvignon Blanc. The vineyards have stopped growing and the vines are starting to shut down. All the vine’s energy is now concentrating on ripening fruit.

The fruit is looking clean and very nice. Strong ripe berries with green golden colours. Each berry full of juice and flavours, two winemakers walking through the vineyard tasting and talking about what flavours we can taste. The refracto has been dusted off and we are testing for sugars. 22.5 brix, almost perfect. The weather is looking clear and the fruit is in great condition.

“Let’s do it” the decision is made. I make a call to the harvester and the winery and the fruit is booked in. Forty minutes later the harvester rolls in and starts to set up. We follow along to make sure the machine is picking well and taking all the fruit. The machine rolls over each row, shaking and beating the fruit onto the conveyors and into the holding bins on the harvester. The harvester runs up and back down the next row and has to empty straight to the truck. An hour or so later, 10 tonne heading down to the winery.

We are in the car again and moving to the Pinot Noir vineyard. The block has been looking really good. We had been in there two days earlier but thought it needed a little more time. Each vine perfectly manicured by the vineyard guys. Each cane of each vine producing two beautiful black bunches of fruit. Small black berries and strong skins. We taste for tannins and they are tasting ripe, the colour stains our fingers. Yes, time to go. The hand picking gang pulls up and they start to toss out the picking bins. Ten gang members to a row. Best way to do this so only the cleanest fruit comes in. Eight hard working hours later and the truck is loaded and the fruit pulls into the winery.

The winery is about 10 mins drive from the main Sauvignon Blanc vineyards. It pulls in and then backs up to the ramp. Paper-work is handed over and the load is dumped into the receival bin. 10.24 tonnes. The destemmer is switched on, must pump is primed and the press has been cleaned. Ready to go. 20 mins later the fruit is in the press and we are closing it up and setting the program. Now we wait for 3 hours. The press works away making its puffing noises as the air pressure is released and then it rolls and starts to blow up again to press out more juice. The first juice flows fast; it smells clean and full of tropical fruits, cut grass and tastes fantastic, sweet, cool and bursting with flavour. This is going to be an outstanding tank. All the buzz of the winery, staff running everywhere and in every direction, another truck rolls in with the next load and another press starts up.

The hand picked Pinot Noir is unloaded and weighed. Then through the destemmer and the must chiller and the whole lot, skins, pips and juice are left to soak, each open top tank holds 6 tonne of crushed fruit, and its black and a mass of skins. The cellar hands climb to the top of each tank and start to hand plunge the fruit back into the juice. We need to extract the colour and the flavour. I roll up my sleeves and plunge my arm in. Pull it out again and my skin has changed colour to bright purple. Looks great. I wash my hands but the colour does not come off.

Yes, you know the vintage is here when your hands are purple.

There’s a lot more goes into making good wine than you might think! Next week, in part 2, Murph talks open fermenters, oak barrels and the bottling cycle. Get up to 25% off all Ant Moore wines until the end of April.

Langmeil’s Three Gardens SGM 2010 has won a Blue-Gold Medal at The Sydney International Wine Show, which is one of the few shows in the world to judge wines based on their ‘food-friendly’ characteristics. Blue-Gold Medals are awarded to the highest scoring Gold Medal wines selected from the 2000 wines submitted for judging.

Three Gardens is a blend of three different grape varieties, Shiraz, Grenache, Mourvedre, sourced from three high quality vineyards, or gardens as they are known, in Barossa Valley. It was our best selling Australian wine of 2011.

Judges’ Comments

Warren Gibson: “Lifted spicy attractive well done. Pure and well balanced. More sweetness apparent with the dish. Tannins are dissolved with the venison and it’s an excellent match.”

Megan Brodtmann: “Deep plum in colour with a black middle. Plum and raspberry aromas with some mint. On the palate plum and cherry fruits and grainy tannins. There was a balanced fruit with the oak. A spicy aftertaste which went very well with the food.”

Oliver Masters: “Intense lifted raspberry and spice on the nose. Full, fresh, tight, fine palate. Good dense mid palate with fresh acidity. The acidity worked well with the venison.”

Ken Dobler: “A very rich dark crimson colour. Rich mulberry and ripe plums on the nose. The palate showing sweet black fruit with lovely length and persistent flavours. The rich jammy fruit looked slightly at odds with the savoury dish.”

Navneet Singh: “Ripe and generous fruit with succulent black raspberry slight chocolate and cinnamon spice. Quite elegant and attractive with the food.”

Martin Williams: “Woodsy forest floor and pencil shavings. Firm tannins and pronounced acidity.”

When I start talking about a random grape variety or region for no apparent reason (and yes, I’m aware I do that a lot) it’s a pretty sure bet that I’ve recently had my taste buds tickled. Last Thursday evening I produced a bottle of South African Chenin Blanc that made me think why don’t I drink this stuff more often?

The wines of South Africa, for which Chenin Blanc is the country’s flagship white grape variety, are oddly overlooked in Ireland. We don’t buy a lot of South African wine, despite the great value it has to offer. Okay, so there is usually a small enough range to choose from wherever you go, but that’s only because the demand isn’t there. Being a pivotal player in taking Chenin Blanc to the forefront of global recognition, we too often opt for a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc or an Italian Pinot Grigio instead. Chenin doesn’t seem to be a very fashionable variety here and I think our boycott of South African wines has hindered its yearning for appreciation.

So what are we missing? Chenin Blanc produces medium bodied wines of high acidity. In South Africa their crisp acidity complements clean citrus and tropical fruit flavours. Originally hailing from Loire Valley (France), Chenin of the Vouvray appellation is particularly highly regarded. Here the wines can be dry or off-dry, with some of the same citrus and tropical flavours abundant in the South African wines, but with a vegetal edge that can be attributed to the cooler climate. In the vintages when the grapes don’t fully ripen, the grapes can be used with pleasing results in the sparkling Crémant de Loire. In the hotter vintages, they can ripen enough to provide a honeyed sweetness, yet the wines retain a wonderful balance thanks to the naturally high acidity. Chenin is also susceptible to noble rot, so it makes some exceptional dessert wines.

By its nature, the Chenin Blanc vines can be quite vigorous if they go unchecked. They can produce high yields which ultimately leads to a fairly neutral and bland wine, and that’s why we do have some very cheap South African white in the supermarkets that are nothing to write home about. But for the best part, good quality can be and is achieved from lower yields and smart winemaking, and the final product doesn’t have to be expensive. Like Chardonnay and Riesling do so well, Chenin can express the unique characteristics of where it is grown, and if it is handled correctly in the vineyard – vines pruned, harvested at the right time with the necessary care – and in the winery, where the winemaker has to achieve balance and may even reach for the oak barrels, then you’ve got a very fine specimen on your hands.

The wine got me thinking of Chenin again was the Paarl Heights, recently recommended in the Irish Mail on Sunday. For the even more adventourous wine drinker, try the whites of Vouvray or Anjou. The better the vintage the better the wine. Generally speaking that is.