Stop press: Sunday Business Post endorses Curious Wines’ fine wine selection
We are honoured to have been finalists in these awards. Thanks to the SPB.
Curious Wine Blog
Irish Times piece: Growing wine specialist looks forward to vintage years
Inside Track Q&A: Mike Kane, co-owner of Curious Wines interviewed in the Irish Times. What is your business worth and would you sell it? The business is priceless to me. I was a very miserable but successful blue-chip executive and have never looked back since I started up the business.
Build your own cellar one rack at a time!
IF YOU’RE LIKE US you probably ‘cellar’ your wine in some idiosyncratic combination of fridge, wardrobe, pantry, attic and glove box; and, while those spots will do in a pinch, it’s of course much nicer if you can gather all your beloved bottles in one handy place where the ..
Small Sips #17: Carbonic Maceration
CARBONIC MACERATION is a wine fermentation method that’s synonymous with France’s pretty Beaujolais region.
NEW: Domaine de Pellehaut 'Ampelomeryx' (Gascony, SW France)
Devoted brothers Martin and Mathieu Béraut tend this family estate, at three centuries old the longest established in the Gers, just west of Toulouse. As well as creating singular, sought-after wines, the guys make a range of Armagnacs (brandies) and also breed Blondes d'Aquitaine cattle.
Small Sips #16: Blending
BLENDS are usually taken to mean blends of different grape varieties, of which classic examples include Bordeaux (Merlot, Cabernets Sauvignon and Franc), Champagne (Chardonnay, Pinots Noir and Meunier) and the southern Rhône’s ‘GSM’ (Grenache, Shiraz, Mourvèdre).
Keep calm and drink Prosecco
OKAY SO, earlier on we tweeted a story about a possible looming Prosecco shortage and lo and behold if we didn't end up shortly afterwards speaking about it on Dublin's Spin 1038 FMAnyway, if you like your Prosecco (and who doesn't?), we reckon there's no need to panic.
New Zealand – No one-trick pony
WITH 70% OF KIWI WINE production (and 85% of exports) accounted for by pungent, ebullient Sauvignon Blanc, New Zealand is likely to remain synonymous with this most-distinctive of wine styles for years to come.
All good!
Cheers! It's a good day for Ireland.
Vintage variation – don’t go changing
VINTAGE VARIATION reminds us that wine is really an agricultural product at heart, made in the field.
Curious about the story behind Curious Wines?
From an interview with Curious Wines' head honcho and chief wine taster, Michael Kane - from Think Business. BEFORE TAKING the entrepreneurial path at age 35, Mike Kane had a variety of roles with employers such as C&C, Texaco and GE Money.
Small Sips #15: Wine Competitions
WOULD A SHINY GOLD MEDAL sway you in the wine aisle? Wineries think so; that's why the globe's most successful wine competitions - Decanter World Wine Awards, International Wine Challenge, International Wine & Spirit Competition - attract many thousands of entries each year.
Small Sips #13: Turning water into wine
JESUS GETS A LOT OF KUDOS for turning water into wine but this is a trick that wineries across the world do all the time when they irrigate their vineyards, a widely-used but controversial practice that can increase grape and wine yields by up to 300%.
‘Brix’ Chocolate for Wine
WHOEVER SAID "don't mix your pleasures" obviously hadn't tried the devilishly good combination of wine and luscious Brix chocolates, now available at Curious Wines. These seriously tasty chocs were developed specifically to complement wine by Dr.
Top 10 wine clichés
WE AT CURIOUS hate when lazy wine communicators fall back on these tired banalities while speaking or writing about their subject. Wine is the world’s most diverse and thought-provoking drink - how hard is it to come up with fresh, engaging ways of talking about it? Unbelievable! P. S.
Small Sips #12: world’s most-planted wine grapes
COMMITTED WINE DRINKERS could rattle these off in their sleep but, anyway, here are the world’s top 10 most-planted wine grapes: Cabernet Merlot Airén (used for Spanish brandy) Tempranillo Chardonnay Shiraz Grenache Sauvignon Trebbiano/Ugni Blanc (used for Cognac) Pinot Noir.
Small Sips #11: Champagne
Okay, let’s be clear: sparkling wine can be any old fizz, but Champagne is always a particular sparkling wine made in a certain way and that can come only from the legally-delimited Champagne region of northern France. (Now, that should keep the Champagne lawyers happy.
Small Sips #10: Ageing Wine
ONE OF WINE’S ENDURING MYTHS is that all wines improve with time; in fact the overwhelming majority of wines sold today are best drunk within a year or two of harvest! The reason for ageing wine is to give time for harsh tannins or acidity to mellow, and to allow complex, ‘tertiary’ aromas ..
Small Sips #9: Vino de Pago
Innovative VINO DO PAGO is Spain's most illustrious appellation, the highest classification that can be attained under Spanish wine law.
Customer Questions #7: Is there cream in ‘Cream Sherry’?
Lactose-intolerant oenophiles will be happy to hear they can enjoy a chilled glass of vinous ‘Cream’ without keeling over – it is dairy free! This Sherry style – whose defining trait is its sweetness – was christened in a moment of inspiration by a nineteenth-century no ..
Customer Questions #6: Does this need to be decanted?
Do you need to decant your wine? Maybe. Decant if: The wine is ancientTo separate it from its sediment. The wine is a very young 'big' redAllowing it to ‘breathe’ can soften its tannins and encourage it to be more expressive.
Customer Questions #5: Is old wine better?
ONE OF THE BIGGEST myths around!The majority of today's wines are at their peak shortly after release. Whites, especially, don't take well to years of gathering dust in a drinks cabinet.
Small Sips #8: Malbec
MALBEC IS A DARK-SKINNED GRAPE that is most associated with the high-altitude (up to 3,000 metres!), desert vineyards of Argentina's Mendoza region. The variety is in fact originally from southwest France, where it is still widely cultivated today, especially in Cahors.