Mead. Timeless, ancient and exceptional. This is a fabulous drink made with Honey, Water and Fruit. Simplicity is often the hallmark of brilliance and this is certainly true of the Kinsale Mead from the Atlantic shoreline of Co Cork in southern Ireland.

Mead is versatile and makes a wonderful gift. How about the Kinsale Red Mead - Smooth with Irish Blackcurrants and Cherries

or the Kinsale Atlantic Mead - Citrus and Crisp. Versatile!

The expertise at Kinsale Meadery is world class. In this podcast founder owner Kate Dempsey brings us on a journey from setting up the Meadery in 2016 , with her husband Denis, to the present day .... and here they are ...

The faint hum in the background is the Kinsale Meadery at work - wish it was the bees!

One final note. A Kinsale Mead Christmas Gift Pack makes a genuine and fabulous surprise. Brilliant in front of the log fire or with warmed leftover turkey sambos!

We all know where Moldova is? mmaybe not  ...   We all know that Moldova is historically a very important player in how the world trade in wine developed. Right? mmaybe not .... OK, how about the underground cellars that stretch for 200kms? They even hold an underground marathon through them!! Nope? So much to learn!

This year The National Office for the Vine and Wine (in Moldova) held a Fair in Dublin. I don't usually talk about events that don't have product in the market but make an exception here. Why? Because it is truly an interesting story and a genuine part of our wine heritage. Oh, Moldova is pretty much land locked and sandwiched between SW Ukraine and NW Romania down by the Black Sea -a challenged piece of geography.

At the Fair Parascovia Ignat, Head of wine Marketing for Moldova gave us a fabulous presentation and then sat down for a podcast chat. Did you know that winemaking in Moldova dates back to 5,000BC? or that the Milesti Mici winery has the world's most extensive wine cellars - 200kms! That Moldova has Local,  International and Caucus grape varieties across 122,000 hectares of vineyards - this is extraordinary for a country the size of Belgium.

Let's listen to Parascovia tell us the story of Moldovan quality or, as they like to say themselves, Moldova Uncorked : a Wine Adventure.

In this episode we visit and chat with David Dennison of Viking Irish Drinks in Co. Waterford.

It was a beautiful summer day in his vineyard. Everything promises well for another fine vintage of the grapes that Dennis grows for his Viking Irish Wines.

The vineyard is fascinating for the variety of grape types that David has in the ground. It is, in effect, a magnificent experiment that will inform present and future Irish viticulturists. Remember, folks, you must have quality grapes to make quality wine. Ireland may not grow a lot of grapes but what is grown is of a very high quality. In this podcast David tells us what he has planted and why.

We are brought here on a journey that has had its ups and downs. He is a genuine pioneer who has an unwavering passion to make wines in Ireland from grapes grown on his own land. It helps that he doesn't seem to mind the hard work involved! 

Viking Irish Drinks also has  wide range of Craft Ciders in the market along with an intriguing small batch annual production of a Blackcurrant Liqueur.

Kevin Glastonbury, affectionately known as KG, is Senior Red Winemaker at Yalumba in the Barossa Valley of South Australia.

The Barossa is one the world's premier red wine making regions and Yalumba one of its most respected wineries.

Back in 2019 we had the honour here on the podcast to chat with Yalumba owner (Barossa legend) Robert Hill-Smith. (Listen Back HERE) His family has owned and operated Yalumba for over 170 years!

The Hill-Smiths are proud members of Australia's First Families of Wine, have pioneered Viognier beyond what anyone thought possible and brings us The Caley one of finest expressions of red wine making anywhere. 

In this podcast recorded in Dalkey at the Grapevine and hosted by Irish agents Cassidy Wines KG brings us on a Barossa journey where Winemaking, Barrel Making, Sunshine, Skill and History combine to bring us special wines.

It's a great story. Enjoy.

Riedel has a special place in the world of wine. It is one of Respect for a family that has worked tirelessly to perfect how we can further our ability to taste many types of drink but especially that of wine.

Riedel stemware is known the world over as being completely brilliant. It is also a family that firmly believes in designing and producing glassware to perfectly suit individual grape and wine styles.

To emphasise this Maximilian Riedel spends a lot of his time touring the world with a quite fabulous roadshow. At these he presents, through interactive tastings, how to capture the very best from a wine by using the appropriate Riedel wine glass.

Recently Maximilian commanded the attention of an Irish audience of many hundreds (both wine professionals and consumers alike). His presentation was brilliant. His glassware memorable.

The result is that Riedel and Respect are intertwined by Quality and Brilliance.

Enjoy our podcast recorded while Maximilian was in Dublin.

The Riedel Wine Glass and Decanter Collections are distributed in Ireland through Mitchell and Son and by Hospitality Products.

Last year we were very fortunate to have had a zoom podcast chat with Dave Phinney and the remarkable wines he has created, most notably under the Orin Swift label. Dave is a very busy man!

So how cool was it to meet him in person in London and spend a further 30 minutes chatting. Very cool indeed!

Orin Swift is one of the great wines from the Napa Valley in  California. Fruit expression in Orin Swift has been elevated to an art form. Just as well then that the labels Dave Phinney designs are among the funkiest and most personal in the world of wine.

Orin Swift wines are collectable, age worthy and very, very drinkable.

Enjoy our latest chat with one of the really great wine maker personalities.

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Many thanks to the team at E&J Gallo who made this visit possible, to Dave Phinney for his generosity and wines and also to Ireland agents Pembroke Wines (to whom I continue to apologise for accidently blocking them in my WhatsApp!)

I met Olly Nolan at the Gifted Fair in the RDS last Christmas. He was showing a range of honeys. I was captivated. Each honey had a captivating scent. Intoxicating even.  Olly's Farm Dublin Honey had taken me prisoner!

Wine, Tea, Honey, Whiskey, Stout, and on and on can only stand out as being exceptional if they attack our senses in a visceral way. This should be immediate, lasting and memorable. I just had to find out more about Olly's Farm.

I paid Olly a visit recently and we recorded in his Honey House up on the edge of the Dublin hills. What a view!

My knowledge of bee keeping and honey production is, to be honest, rudimentary to the point of being non existent. Thanks must be given to Olly for guiding me through the process and a lot more besides. Choosing to live the life of a small holding farmer on the edge of Dublin city is not for the faint hearted. That said Olly Nolan has made a fabulous success with limited resources. 

Olly's Farm Honey is among the very best tasting products on sale today. Enjoy.

The Honey House

In this podcast we talk with Zoltán Heimann whose family, HEIMANN & FIAI, has a long and distinguished history of quality winemaking in the southern Hungarian wine region of Szekszárd - on the border between the Large Hungarian Plain and the beginnings of the Transdanubian Hills.

Zoltán likes to refer to himself as the 'Kadarka Man'.  After this tasting and podcast I'll always be in his debt as knowing my Kekfrankos from my Kadarkas! Each grape is brilliant. Each is unique and completely different to one another. 

This podcast was recorded at The Lodge at Ashford Castle where Zoltán gave a masterclass food and wine matching meal the night previous. At the tasting we progressed from Village (Szekszárd) to Single Vineyards (Bati Kereszt and Baranya-volgy) to Szivem (a parcel selection wine from Baranya-volgy).

These are wines to explore and to support. Really excellent. 

The Lodge at Ashford Castle : A Red Carnation Hotel

It's a sobering thought to many winemakers that they work at companies and enterprises that, in many cases, are younger than they are themselves! For those lucky enough to work in wineries where age and tradition has seen decades upon decades of continual success they might only contribute to a very limited number of vintages. 

It is very unusual that a family can trace its lineage back over 250 harvests. That's a very big number. 1772 - Captain Cook sets sail to find the Anti Arctic: Rutherford discovers Nitrogen gas: The American Revolution begins: The Boscaini family gather in grapes for the first time in the Vaio dei Masi, a little valley in the heart of the Valpolicella Classico region, northern Italy.

Yes, Masi Agricola by the Boscaini family celebrated its 250th harvest last year.

There were events across the world as MASI is one of the greatest names in the world of wine. We were treated to a celebratory dinner at Glovers Alley by Andy McFadden. Giacomo Boscaini opened and poured for us a special label  Vajo dei Masi 1997 double magnum produced to honour the 2022 celebrations.

In this podcast, recorded in Dublin at last years' celebration, Giacomo Boscaini brings us on the journey that his family continues to travel. It's been a long and extraordinary time and a story with many more vintages to come.

ENJOY.

Looking forward to visiting our signed bottle in Valpolicella one day! The MASI portfolio of labels is represented and distributed in Ireland by the Findlater & Co.

Recently I met with David Llewelyn at his farm in Lusk, north County Dublin. It's a small holding where he grows a fantastic collection of fruits that include, pear, apple, cherry and grape. 

It's also a business where David makes truly interesting products. Try his Perry (sparkling pear wine). It's really very good!

David has a wine label called LUSCA. It's a collection of red wines and a new sparkling wine. They are genuine finds.

In this podcast David tells us his story. Why does he not grow any white grapes? Where did his love of the RONDO grape come from? This a unique story where hard work meets vine growing and wine making talent. Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot! Really?

On the day David was very generous. It was a tasting for the ages! The Lusca Sparkling Wine is the real deal. Remember, David only grows red grapes so this is a Rose. It's so good that I can see a lot of the vineyards' grapes heading towards it in the future. 

The Lusca Rondo is a very versatile grape. The wine ages really well and one sample of a Rondo made with semi dried grapes really impressed these taste buds. Mind you that's testament to David's wine making skills.

Quantities of the various LUSCA wines are small. Hence you won't find any inexpensive bottles! Google Lusca, though, and you'll find a collection of the finest wine stores in Ireland. They all want a slice of the action because ' the action' is so very good. Read an excellent Producer profile here on the Terroirs wine store web site.

Enjoy.