As is our Saturday routine, I'm in the kitchen drinking coffee and blogging, behind me Little Bill is watching his latest Movie (Alvin and the Chipmonks - Jason Lee must have some whopping gambling debts) and Herself is upstairs, catching up on her sleep. I wanted to write about something that has been exercising me of late, to whit, am I the only blogger in Ireland who reviews wines from the bargain/Supermarket/call it what you will section of the wine market here?
I'm not really sure what exactly I wanted to say beyond that, I don't know if the above is true and if so, does it bother and/or please me? Rather than bore you with some existential musings I thought I'd have a quick look around some of the non-commercial wine blogs and find some articles and bits of interest.
The image at the top of this post I took from this post on Sour Grapes, a comprehensive list of Irish wine blogs.
A humourous post on wines to be had in Leggs (we've all done it) from a blog I've only just discovered - My Grape Escape
A nice way to blow the wad in London , courtesy of Wine Perv.
A lot of Aussies reviewed on the Grapes of Sloth.
A guide to bluffing during Wine Tastings from The Grapefruit.
That's it for now - Ourselves and the Fabtastic Four are off to Olesya's Wine Bar tonight to sample some of their 400 wines (100 by the glass apparently), so I expect a hangover and some reviews tomorrow.
My take on it is that the bottom shelf wines need no review, or at least not that much - they mostly sell on the back of the regular massive discounting and rarely do they cater for more than the subsistence drinker. Get a bad one? Sure it's only €6/7 and a bit of pot luck, most of the time.
ReplyDeleteThere's simply so much of the stuff, tasting so alike to each other that it really doesn't matter where it's from or what's on the label.
However, I will admit that where reviews are helpful is in identifying those hidden gems, the Laurent Miquels of this world, wines which have a bit more to offer.
One of those real gems for me is in the Tim Adams range, but he's definitely not lower shelf.
Keep up the good work Willie and enjoy Olesya's. I'd also recommend Ely on Ely Place (or indeed Hanover Quay and Custom House Quay) - excellent selection of wines by the glass and bottle.
Lar
ya its true there is a lot of pretty similar wines at the lower ranges- but i always take it as a little victory when i find a little gem at that range! so i say- keep up the good work! and thanks for the mention!
ReplyDeleteWhile I agree that there's an awful amount of dross at the €6/7 range, it is still the entry point for a lot of people, particularly those getting into wine for the first time. So I think it's our duty as wine enthusiasts to do a better job at exposing the Laurent Miquels/Tim Adams -standard wines out there.
ReplyDeleteThe reality is that consumers are more price-conscious than ever, and in order to drive wine sales up against other alcoholic drinks absolutely all segments of the market need to be looked after.
Anyway thanks for the link Willie!
Eamon
Guys,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comments. One of the main reasons I started this blog was to find those "gems" and let people know about them...
Willie