Votes are now open for the Irish Internet Association’s (IIA) Dot ie Net Visionary Awards 2011 to be held in Dublin next month. And I was delighted to find out that we have been shortlisted for ‘The Best Use of Social Media’ category.

There are only four shortlisted for each of the fourteen categories, so everyone on the shortlist has a pretty good chance of taking the gong home. I like the democratic way the IIA are conducting this, allowing the public to vote, so it doesn’t come down to the opinion of a judge or three. It is decided by you.

Best Use of Social Media (sponsored by Blacknight)

The Net Visionary Best Use of Social Media recognises the person or company who has demonstrably displayed best practice use of social media for driving business growth through the use of Social Commerce, Social media for customer engagement, customer support or other social media integration.

The contenders:

Conor Lynch: SocialMedia.ie
Donal O’Sullivan: Business-Startup.ie
LookWest.ie: Western Development Commission
Matt Kane: Curious Wines

Voting closes on the 2nd of September. Best of luck to everyone taking part and thanks to everyone who has voted Curious Wines so far!

Date: 30 September 2011
Venue: National Gallery Ireland
Dress: Semi-Formal
Band: TBC
Time: 7pm

They say self-praise is no praise so I’ll do the honours.

Last Thursday, 26th May, saw the inaugural Bord Gais Energy Social Media Awards take place at the Mansion House, Dublin. We were in the running for two awards on the night, finalists in the Best Business Twitter Account Marketing & Sales and Best Blog of a Business categories.

We’d been here before, twice bridesmaids at the Irish Blog Awards but never the bride, and with the competition getting stiffer every year we weren’t exactly holding our breath.

But what do we know! It was a genuine shock and absolute delight when we were named winner for the Best Blog of a Business 2011, sponsored by Frontline LED.

We were thrilled to bits. It’s our third major web award but the first for the blog. The website is the shop window for our wines but the blog is the window to us and our passion. Over three years Chief Blogger Matt, occasionally assisted by myself and the erudite Julian, has built up a treasure trove of wine education, wine news and articles, first-hand experience and witty personal commentary, largely for nothing more than the love of the subject. We’d like to think it’s a blog of a business and a bit more.

Huge indebtedness and thanks to Ciara Crossan of WeddingDates.ie, herself a deserved winner on the night, who kindly collected the award on our behalf. Also to Damien Mulley who continues, it appears at times almost single-handedly, to champion and promote Irish social media and who by all accounts put on another great night of celebration and appreciation.

I gleefully took the plaudits on the night via an excitable Twitter stream but I was quick to recognise that it wasn’t really my gong.

@curiousmatt on Twitter, Matthew to his mammy, the Pasty Faced Chocolate Fiend to @curiousmolly, this ones for our Matt. Well done, kid.

Oh, and thanks Mom!

The results for the Decanter World Wine Awards (DWWA) were published yesterday at the London International Wine Fair. The annual DWWA is one of the worlds best known wine competitions. This year there were more than 12,000 entries, 11% up on last year, with judges awarding regional trophies, medals (gold, silver and bronze) and commendations.

One-fifth of the world’s Masters of Wine were present to judge the awards. Of note, New Zealand has won its biggest-ever number of awards this year with 121 medals, and Seifried’s Sweet Agnes Riesling picking up a regional trophy for the fifth year running. Asia is also making big inroads with China leading the way, and Japan, India and Thailand hot on its heels.

I took a quick look through some of the winners on the Decanter website yesterday. Of our own wines it looks like Brent Marris has more to celebrate with The Ned Sauvignon Blanc grabbing silver and The King’s Bastard Chardonnay taking bronze. Duval Leroy also hauled more medals. The Brut and the 1999 vintage both earning silver, and the most unique of the range in my opinion, the Organic Brut landing bronze.

In addition, as if a 90 point Parker score wasn’t good enough, Chante Cigale Châteauneuf-du-Pape Rouge took silver, and bronze medals were awarded to the Glaetzer Wallace and the Borgo Magredo Prosecco. I’ll be getting a copy of the Decanter Magazine with all of the awards once it has been published, so hopefully we’ll be able to add a few more to the list!

Source: Decanter

Winemaker Eric Monnin has finally released his massively anticipated 2007 vintage Syrah, months after we ran out of the 2005 vintage. Already it has grabbed one of only 37 Gold Medals at Syrah du Monde, a competition which recognises the world’s best wines from the Syrah grape. The ’05 clinched Silver Medal at the 2008 awards.

Anyone notice how we have managed to skip a vintage? Speaking to Eric at this years London Wine Show, he explained that 2005 was the first year for Dignité and like any first vintage there was a big risk involved. If it works out, great. People will buy, enjoy their purchase and call for the next vintage. If it doesn’t work out, you’re left with a load of bad or mediocre wine that has been a huge drain on time and financial resources.

Eighty percent of the Dignité Syrah blend spends 12 months in three year old oak and 10% in two year old oak, but the big hold up is the other 10% which sits in new Allier oak barrels for 21 months. As a result, Eric didn’t really know how good the wine was going to be until after the 2006 harvest had past.

Thankfully the 2005 turned out to be excellent, so it was an easy decision to give the ’07 vintage the go-ahead.

“We were delighted to win silver with our first vintage of Dignité 2005 at last year’s Syrah du Monde so this gold win confirms we’re definitely on the right track.”

Eric Monnin, Winemaker.

Over the course of 3 days, international experts tasted 387 wines from 27 countries, commenting that ‘diversity and quality are the watchwords for the 2010 winners’. For more information check out the Syrah du Monde website. Click here to view Dignité Syrah 2007.

There were two Curious Wines listed in this years New Wave Spanish Wine Awards, a competition that highlights some real finds from Spain available on the market today. These wines have already excelled with other awards this year, adding further proof of their brilliance. Both were issued awards after breaking into the top 119 in the competition.

El Tesoro Monastrell Shiraz 2008

El Tesoro, meaning ‘the treasure’ in Spanish, is from the Jumilla region in the province of Murcia, which is notable for its superb Monastrell.

Bodegas Juan Gil, with plenty of wine-growing history in the harsh climate of the Jumilla, use some of their Monastrell and Syrah fruit from vineyards on the slopes of the Penarubia mountain. These grapes, from 20 to 30 year old vines, produce wines with plenty of fruit and character.

The 2008 vintage also clinched Silver at the 2010 Sommelier Wine Awards. Here’s what the judges had to say:

“A rich wine with a smoky nose, good length and well-balanced, controlled tannins. ‘This would be amazing with a barbecue’ suggested Luigi Buonanno”.

Fernando de Castilla Classic Manzanilla

One of the most exceptional of the small, independent sherry houses, Fernando de Castilla was revitalised in 1999 by Jan Pettersen, a Norwegian gone native with a passion for top quality sherry with 15 years experience at Osborne. After taking over the cellars of the Sherry shipper Jose Bustamante, located next door to the main facilities of Fernando de Castilla, Jan quickly established Fernando de Castilla as masters of the production and ageing of fine, unblended, untreated Sherries.

This non-vintage also won bronze and silver at the International Wine Challenge in 2010 and 2009 respectively.

“It’s a fact isn’t it; we all like to win something. Savouring that ‘punch the air’ moment –the sense of achievement.”

Eric Monnin, 2010 Critic’s Choice Winemaker

So what do you need to know about the Sommelier Wine Awards? Well, as the competition director Chris Losh put it, they are awards ‘judged by the on-trade for the on-trade’. All submitted wines were tasted by panels made up of top sommeliers and restaurateurs, each chaired by an MW (Master of Wine) or consultant with particular restaurant trade understanding and focus.

Judging took place January to March 2010 – the key being that wines were tasted blind by category. Following the first round of tasting approximately two thirds of the wines were eliminated. Those remaining were placed on the silver list. After re-tasting, the highlights were then chosen as gold award winners.

As in previous years, a number of wines from the Curious Wines list have excelled. Five wines made the Gold List and another five (one arriving in the coming weeks) landed silver. One of our top winemakers, Eric Monnin (the man behind Dignité – 2007 vintage on the way), picked up the 2010 Critic’s Choice Winemaker; like we needed anyone to tell us how good he was.

2010 Gold List

Paarl Heights Chenin Blanc 2009

Domaine du Pré Baron Touraine Sauvignon 2008

Domaine Chante Cigale Châteauneuf Blanc 2008

Fernando de Castilla Classic Fino Sherry

Lallier Champagne Grand Cru Grande Réserve NV

2010 Silver List

El Tesoro Monastrell Shiraz 2008

Domaine de Vedilhan Syrah 2007

Tabalí Reserva Viognier 2009

Dexter Pinot Noir 2008 (currently 2007 vintage)

Cuvée L’ancienne Mâcon Charnay 2008 (coming soon)

2010 By the glass (food wines)

Domaine du Pré Baron Touraine Sauvignon 2008 paired with mushroom risotto.

Lallier Champagne Grand Cru Grande Réserve NV paired with poached white fish.

I’m starting to think we’re doing something right in this new (well, new for us anyway) world of blogging. Last Thursday night we were delighted to hear we were awarded Silver for Best in Blogging at the prestigious 8th annual Digital Media Awards in Dublin! It’s fantastic news, especially considering the competition. Ronan Lyons bagged first place and the trophy, so fair play to him! The winners page can be viewed on digitalmedia.ie

March 27th is the date of the Irish Blog Awards in Galway, so be there or be square!

Eight months on from picking up Ireland’s Best Commercial Website at the Digital Media awards, Curious Wines is at it again, picking up Best eCommerce/Services Website at the Irish Web Awards. Curious Mike, his lovely wife, Curious Mary, and the very talented Sabrina Dent, made the trip north to Dublin’s Radisson SAS for Ireland’s most prestigious web awards ceremony.

We faced some stiff competition (sincerest congrats to all those shortlisted), but we managed to walk away trophy in hand, with a real sense of pride and joy. As well as Sabrina, Mike and I must acknowledge the hard work of Katherine Nolan (@dochara), who does all the amazing stuff at the back-end that makes the site so easy to get around. So ladies, from the bottom of our hearts – thank you for making this site Ireland’s best wine website.

Other winners on our radar are regular contributors to this blog, Look and Taste, who picked up best videocaster. Sabrina’s husband won best new web application for Kildare Street, so well done to John, and to all the other entrants who are continuing to raise the bar in Ireland’s tech and service industries.

A final word of thanks to headline sponsors Realex Payments, Best eCommerce category sponsors CyberCom, and most of all the inimitable Damien Mulley who puts on the best (and dare we say it, most authentic) awards ceremony in the industry.

All winners on the night can be viewed here, and thanks to everyone on Twitter and Facebook for your warm congrats, we’re overwhelmed with the love!

Keep watching this space, as Ireland’s best wine website is about to get even better.

Following on from our making the shortlist for Best Ecommerce Site and Most Beautiful Website at the Irish Web Awards this coming weekend, our Twitter feed was peppered with lovely little love notes:

• @Grayzie: Well deserved nominations. If you don’t win, those peeps need their heads checked!
• @davidmcavinue: You must be running out of space on the mantlepiece. Well done!
• @brianclayton: Congratulations on the well deserved nominations there gents!

So we’ll be keeping our fingers crossed for a gong and a reason to pop open a bottle of bubbly on Saturday night- thanks for the good wishes! Speaking of wishes, there’s nothing to warm a wine seller’s heart like the sound of happy customers who’s only regret is that they didn’t buy more:

Had a lovely evening in with The Last Stand. Only sorry I got 2 bottles and not the full box.

And other nice things to read from more lovely customers:

• @Omaniblog: Curious Wines are great to deal with. I can swap the one bottle I didn’t enjoy for another – and they have so many good ones at greatprices.
• @grapes_of_sloth: I started off with your Spatlese Pinot Blanc 2005 – beautiful.

Beautiful indeed. Thanks for the love, guys

It’s that time of year again. The results of Decanter World Wine Awards 2009 have been released, and we’re delighted to see, of our current vintages in stock, one Gold, one Silver, five Bronze and four commendations awarded. All can be seen below.

This adds nicely to our medal collection from last years awards, most of which we still have in stock (including a lovely gold medal winning Albarino, which is one of many). We’ll keep you well informed of new award winning vintages as they come in – as well brand new award winning lines.

The Decanter World Wine Awards is great for consumers seeking for tried and tested wine that will deliver on quality, but it must be remembered that there’s big money involved in entering the competition, so many of the smaller producers with lesser marketing budgets can be overlooked.

Gold Medal

Glaetzer Amon-Ra 2007: Ripe fruit with a savoury spice, bacon, liquorice, chocolate and opulent oak – exceptional complexity.

Silver Medal

Langmeil Hangin’ Snakes Shiraz-Viognier 2007: Medium intensity. Gorgeous nose. Lovely, supple mid-palate. Plush and gorgeous.

Bronze Medal

Alta Pinot Grigio 2007: Fresh, herbal, spiced pears and apple. Good acidity, well-balanced, integrated palate.

Tussock Sauvignon Blanc 2008: Fresh but slightly oily note. Well made with good balance.

Elgin Vintners Sauvignon Blanc 2008: Flinty, steely nose, very crisp, classy balance. Long finish.

Langmeil Blacksmith Cabernet Sauvignon 2006: Mint and cassis. Focused. Generous, ripe tannins.

Langmeil Three Gardens 2006: Subtle evolution. Tea, black fruit and pepper, firm tannins.

Commended

Heartland Cabernet Sauvignon 2006

Rockbare Shiraz 2006

Rockbare Chardonnay 2007

Chateau Bauduc Bordeaux Blanc 2008

Other recognised wines of earlier vintages

I’ve recognised the earlier vintages, many of which have received awards in previous years, as I believe they pay testament to the ability of the winemakers.

Woodstock “The Stocks” Shiraz 2006 (Bronze Medal) – 2004 vintage

Tabali Reserva Syrah 2007 (Silver Medal) – 2006 vintage (Bronze Medal in 2008 Awards)

Mirabello Pinot Grigio Rosé 2008 (Commended) – 2007 vintage

Tohu Sauvignon Blanc 2008 (Commended) – 2007 vintage (Air New Zealand Elite Gold)

Palazzi Negroamaro 2007 (Commended) – 2006 vintage

Saxanburg Private Collection 2006 (Bronze Medal) – 2004 vintage

Alvaro Palacios Les Terrasses 2007 (Bronze Medal) – 2005 vintage

Fuenteseca Bobal-Syrah 2008 (Bronze Medal) – 2007 vintage (Bronze Medal in 2008 Awards)

Heartland Viognier-Pinot Gris 2007 (Bronze Medal) -2006 vintage

Glaetzer Annaperenna 2007 (Bronze Medal) – 2006 vintage (Trophy winner in 2008 Awards)

Glaetzer Bishop Shiraz 2007 (Bronze Medal) – 2006 vintage (Commendation in 2008 Awards)

Langmeil Orphan Bank Shiraz 2006 (Bronze Medal) – 2005 vintage (Bronze Medal in 2008 Awards)

Domaine Chante Cigale Chateauneuf-du-Pape 2006 (Bronze Medal) – 2005 vintage (Bronze Medal in 2008 Awards)

Another wine I would like to mention is the 2008 white brother of our award winning Chateauneuf-du-Pape from Domaine Chante Cigale. It won a Decanter Trophy (the top accolade), and we’ll be doing our best to get our hands on a few cases before Christmas.

That’s it for another year – in the meantime watch this space for new wines and awards.

Click here to view all of the results from the 2009 Decanter World Wine Awards