Paddy's Diary

Paddy's Diary

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Sligo Tom Located at Last

All is well Linda, we have located Tom; in fact he has been hiding out in Chateau "La Fauconnerie" since your visit her last week. He must have climbed into a wine vat as we were leaving.

Not quite sure how Mikey got in there though, but anyway, both Tom and Mikey are in great spirits! The photo on the right includes one of the Barrel's the guys got through before we found them, it will soon make it's appearance in your Sligo shop.


cheers, Paddy

Monday, August 23, 2010

36 Degrees


Went for a stroll in St.Emilion last evening to cool down a little. 36 degrees here yesterday afternoon and pretty humid. Watched Cork defeat Dublin in a very close game, but one we deserved to win !

Friday, August 20, 2010

Véraison

"Véraison" is the changing of the colour of the grape (ripening).

The righthand photo was taken in my neighbours vineyard, and as you can see from the different colour berries the Véraison has only recently began.

On the far left is a photo taken on the same day in "Chateau Cheval Blanc", one of the top, and most expensive, wines worldwide. The vineyards are perhaps 5 kilometers apart and you can see from the difference in the colour of the grapes how far advanced the Veraison is in "Cheval Blanc".

Daragh and I assisted a good friend move his wine cellar one evening. Following the boxing of the wines our friend Don opened a bottle of "Cheval Blanc 1986" for us to drink with a scrumptious home made Shepard's pie. At €600 a bottle it was a handsome reward for 3 hours work/pleasure.

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

La Fauconnerie

Photo taken with Jean-Claude Paret of Chateau " La Fauconnerie" yesterday evening. Tom & Linda from The Wine Buff Sligo, and their friends Pam & David, experienced some amazing wines with the 2009 perhaps proving to be the most exceptional. More to follow.

Saturday, August 14, 2010

Back Home Again

Have just arrived back home to Montagne, St.Emilion after a spectacular wine tour of the Douro valley and a few memorable days tasting in Porto. Kicked the weighing scale under the cabinet as one should do following a week of excesses. Little or no traffic encountered on route, thirteen hours to arrive home and this included four stops. How did we ever manage before GPS technology? And not once did the GPS shout back!

Stopped for lunch in a small town, Vila pouce de Aguiar, in Portugal. seventeen euro for two meals that included copious servings of sea bream, potato, veg, a side salad, four bottles of sparkling water and a glass of wine! Picked up some fabulous cheeses to taste with Tom and Linda, the owners of the Wine Buff in Sligo, who are travelling out to soak up the atomsphere and do a weee bit of wine tasting.....well I'll keep you posted on the wine tasting.

Friday, August 13, 2010

Rui Paula's "DOC"


Took this photo from Rui Paula's restaurant "DOC" the day prior to our departing the Douro Valley. A fabulous restaurant sitting on pylons in the Douro river with spectacular views; we had the privilege of eating in both Rui's restaurants which are located in Armamar and Porto. At the end of the night we sat out on the terrace to drink a tea (couldn't possibly fit any more wine) and it really was a magical experience.

Reminds me of the time Mike McDonnell and I visited Gerard Morin on the final day of their harvest in Sancerre. After an extremely long lunch with the vendangers, and an even longer afternoon in Gerard's private cellar, Mike and I covered well over twice the ground we should have on the walk back to the hotel. After dinner Mike went missing and I later located him having a few beers with the owner of the hotel. Expressing my shock at Mike drinking beer after all the wine we had "tasted", he calmly replied "yeah, I know, but I just couldn't get any more wine into me".

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Porto 10th August


Have spent the last week in the Douro Valley researching wines and Ports; now in Porto for three days of wine research with friends living here. Originally planned to update this blog daily but a combination of many tastings’ and a lack of internet access delayed the first entry. The real truth is, after the many strenuous tastings’ undertaken each day, the only person with a reasonable chance of understanding my updates would have been me; and even then only at the time of writing them!

There are many exciting developments occurring here in the Douro Valley, and once back in Bordeaux I will do a detailed update. Off to meet a French oenologist friend of mine who has been living here for the last 15 years, he has become a real specialist of Port wines. We shared a few glasses last night and today he is introducing me to some of the up and coming stars of the Douro region.

Hi Ho Hi Ho it’s off to work I go dee dle i d di

Thursday, August 5, 2010

Evening in St Emilion

Plenty of rain here over the last week, I gather almost on par with Ireland. Even hailstones on two occasions! Hailstones are especially worrying for winemakers at this time of year as they will decimate the grapes when big enough. I have seen hailstones the size of golf balls and witnessed the damage they cause first hand, thankfully on this occasion way to small.

It is 8pm and 26 degrees. The weather is supposed to get much warmer over the weekend, 30+ degrees and plenty of sun. It‘s also really windy for this time of year, earlier to my utter dismay, whilst sitting on the balcony, having a nice cup of tea, my chocolate biscuits were blown off their plate and into the garden below. Back out to the balcony now to have dinner; fresh organic vegetable pasta with a nicely chilled bottle of Mas du Novi Rose.

I’m driving to the Douro Valley in the morning for a week of Port and wine tasting, and then onto the city of Porto for a few more days of port tasting. This job just gets tougher and tougher! Will keep you posted.