Tag:Red Wine

Everything that’s good to eat is a little better with the right wine. The best thing I can wish you this Christmas is that you enjoy your food and drink as much as I will enjoy mine. And in that spirit, I’m going to suggest a few less than obvious combinations. Christmas really begins once the […]

Today we make the last visit to the vines before Christmas. We’re stopping by Bordeaux to find out how our favourite Bordelais winemakers celebrate Christmas. There’s oysters, apple pie and a lovely tradition with the company that makes the barrels Chateau Hautes Segottes is aged in.   Chateau Thieuley In the Courselle ‘s family, we […]

We catch up with two of our winemakers from Burgundy to hear what the Christmas festivities are like in one of the heartlands of French winemaking. As you might expect, all the food the winemakers mention is tailormade for Burgundy wines. Various molluscs feature prominently on both Christmas menus. While oysters are popular at home in Ireland, […]

In the southern hemisphere, Christmas happens right in the middle of summer. A white Christmas does sound picturesque, but a Christmas BBQ in shorts by the pool sounds way better to me! From barbequed lobster to “monkey’s tail eggnog, not forgetting the amazing Carmenere and Malbec wines, it all sounds fantastic. I think my future […]

As we saw yesterday, Italy has a wonderfully diverse and completely original way of celebrating the festivities – as Alessio Cartone says there are “20 regions, each one with their own tradition”. We spoke to 2 of our Italian wineries, Ciu Ciu Vini and Villamedoro, about what they usually do and how they’ll be spending […]

Cesar Langa produces fantastic wines to Organic standards under the Langa and Senorio de Ayud labels. We Caught up with Cesar to find out what Christmas means to him Bodegas Langa Christmas in Spain gets off to a rather peculiar and unofficial start on Dec. 22nd when children from San Ildefonso School can be heard […]

We take a whistlestop tour to hear how Christmas traditions differ around Spain. There’s the usual Jamón Iberico, cheese, and seafood, along with some southern Christmas Biscuits from Olivares – And plenty of wine!   Bodegas Jimenez Landi “We assemble a Nativity Set in our family home, and we get together in front of it […]

Finding wine to match Christmas dinner is a high stakes endeavour. If not necessarily contempt, familiarity certainly breeds neglect; you might assume the classic turkey, sprouts and roasties will taste just as good with any old wine. Not so, my friend. I’m not saying you need to blow all your budget on bougie bottles, but […]

You might think that working for a wine company makes choosing Christmas drinks easy. Au Contraire. It’s just three weeks to the big day, and my cellar is bare. If you’re anything like me, your current level of Christmas organization is below where you would like it to be. You might be starting to get […]

Staff Favourites Sometimes, we pick the wines for wine of the week with a particular theme or upcoming event in mind. Often, we’ll choose wines from a region that’s a little bit out of the way. Other times we want to draw attention to a producer who does something a little unusual in how they […]

Exploring Spain Spain is always at the top of my list of places to visit next, both as a wine destination and as one of the most fantastic places I’ve ever been. Unfortunately, I don’t have the endless resources necessary to explore Spain as I’d like to. The bills don’t pay themselves, and if I […]

Gems from Northern Italy Even though I was raised by a Francophile and a Hispanist, it never occurred to me to visit Italy before this September. I don’t know what took me so long; Italy seemed to me like a marriage of France and Spain along with its own unique character. I spent a week […]