A BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO WINE
Our wine expert Tom Doorley cuts through the nonsense to share his love of reds, whites… and all that bubbles in between
Where to start? I’m hoping to share just enough information to enhance the enjoyment of fermented grape juice in all its forms. I’d like to encourage some pushing at boundaries, to demystify some of the nonsense that often surrounds the world of wine and, above all, to take out that old mortal enemy: wine snobbery.
So let’s get a few things straight. Wine is an agricultural product made by farmers. So, it’s no different, really, from butter or cheese. And just as there’s a whole gamut of cheese styles, from processed plastic slices to oozing, unpasteurised farmhouse delights, so it is with wine. There’s some terrible industrialised stuff, some amazingly rare and handcrafted gems, and there’s a whole bunch of wines between those two extremes.
And another thing. Almost everyone can taste. Some unfortunate folk with conditions like anosmia can’t of course. But virtually everyone can taste wine and come to some conclusion about it. It shouldn’t be a search for what I call fruit‘n’nut speak, the buzzwords that professional wine writers use to describe aromas and flavours. You don’t have to describe the wine to anyone; that’s our job and apologies if the language we use sometimes seems a bit daft.
So, if you can’t detect something in a wine that I describe as, say, dark cherries or toasty vanilla, that’s fine. When you’re tasting, just take in the whole view. It’s unlikely that all styles of wine will appeal to you. That’s okay too. People like me might argue that you’re missing out on something wonderful but you don’t need to listen to us. Just as I don’t listen to people who tell me that kidneys and liver are delicious.
Overall advice? With wine, it’s very easy to get into a rut, to stick with what we know we like. But try to make a habit of trying something new every now and then. Make new discoveries, explore what all the fuss is about. By all means, be a wine enthusiast but remember, if you’re thoroughly bitten by the bug, not everyone is similarly excited.
In any event, Sláinte!
THESE days we are very conscious of grapes. Fifty years ago, there was just wine: Bordeaux, Burgundy, Chianti and what have you. Then some New World producers started labelling their wines with the name of the grape, or the main grape, and suddenly bottles were marked Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon. Many European wines are blends of different grapes, so this so-called ‘varietal labelling’ is not nearly as common as it is in, say, New Zealand and Chile. But grapes – along with yeast – are what make wine, so let us look at the best known ones.
ALBARIÑO
Aromatic grape with high acidity from Spain’s Galicia, known n Portugal as Alvarinho.
TRY: Baron Amarillo Albariño Rias-Baixas, Spain. (€9.99, Aldi)
BARBERA
Versatile Italian grape centred on Piemonte, making deeply coloured, quite full, acidic red wines.
TRY: Boeri Barbera d’Asti, Italy. (€15, whelehanswines.ie)
CABERNET SAUVIGNON
Great red grape of Bordeaux where its joins other grapes to make claret. Slow to ripen, big on tannins. Blackcurrants. Cabernet Franc is lighter. TRY: Specially Selected Chilean Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon
(€7.99, Aldi)
CARMÉNÈRE
Plummy, round if from South America. Used in some Bordeaux blends. Chilean versions are easily confused for Merlot. TRY: Casillero del Diabolo Carmanere, Chile. (€9, Tesco, SuperValu)
CHARDONNAY
Lemon zest, apples – some of Chardonnay produces the most sought-after white wines, some terrible dross and lot in-between. Often oaked: expect toasty vanilla. TRY: Ken Forrester Petit Chardonnay, South Africa. (€14.95, O’Brien’s)
CHENIN BLANC
Honey, freshly cut grass. Capable of making easy-drinking, industrial whites and long-lived treasures with great complexity.
TRY: Cambalala South African Chenin Blanc. (€7.99, Aldi)
GAMAY
Gamay is a distant relation of Pinot Noir of Burgundy fame and has made part of Burgundy, the Beaujolais, its own. The wines tend to be low on tannins, high on acidity, light to medium-bodied, fragrant.
TRY: Colin-Bourisset Morgon, France.
(€10.99, Lidl) GEWURZTRAMINER
Spicy, rose petals, lychees. Fabulously, spicily fragrant .
TRY: Michel Leon Alsace Gewurztraminer, France. (€14.99, SuperValu)
GRENACHE/ GARNACHA
Body and Spice. Spain’s most commonly planted red wine grape although it’s all over the globe now. Known as Canonau in Sardinia.
TRY: Tesco Finest Garnacha, Spain. (€12, Tesco)
GRÜNER VELTLINER
The big white grape of Austria has taken the world by storm. Wines vary from light and crisp to ripe and complex. Lime zest and white pepper.
TRY: Grüner Veltliner Reserve, Austria. (€7.37, Lidl)
MALBEC
Still the grape behind the socalled ‘black wines’ of Cahors in Southern France and now the biggest performer in Argentina. Rich, dark, spicy.
TRY: Alamos Mendoza Malbec, Argentina. (€12.50, Dunnes Stores)
MARSANNE
Nutty, floral. Joins with Rousanne to make lovely aromatic, full whites in the Rhône.
TRY: Tahbilk Marsanne, Australia. (€17.50, winesdirect.ie)
MERLOT
The other great red grape of Bordeaux where it works in concert with others, and famous for its solos, especially in South America. Plump and round.
TRY: Carmen Insigne Merlot (€8, Tesco)
MOURVÈDRE
Bramble jelly, tannin. Rarely a solo performance. Monastrell in Spain, Mataro in Oz.
TRY: Luzón Finca la Solana Monastrell, Spain. (€9, O’Brien’s)
MUSCAT
Spicy, grapey. Yes, the only wine grape that smells of ripe grapes! Makes delicate, fragrant dry wines and seductive sweet ones. TRY: Brown Brothers Orange Muscat & Flora, Australia. (€14, O’Brien’s, independents)
NEBBIOLO
Plums, liquorice, leather. The grape that makes Barolo and Barbaresco in Piemonte but doesn’t seem to enjoy travel. TRY: Ricossa Barolo, Italy. (€20, SuperValu)
NEGROAMARO
This ancient grape variety makes big, dark, rich wines in Puglia. Black cherry, dark chocolate, spice.
TRY: Integro Negroamaro Puglia, Italy. (€11.89, O’Brien’s)
PINOT BLANC
Could be taken for a modest Chardonnay. Versatile.
TRY: Kuentz-Bas La 4ème Tour Pinot Blanc, France. (€16.95, O’Brien’s)
PINOT GRIS/GRIGIO
Neutral to grapefuit zest. Wildly popular since its starring rôle in Sex And The City.
TRY: Castellore Organic Pinot Grigio, Italy. (€7.99, Aldi) scale, using a pressurised tank rather than a bottle. This is called the Charmat method, metodo Italiano or, much more prosaically, the tank method. n qry this for the Charmat methodW Costellore Organic Prosecco, Italy. (€N4.99, AldiF n
There’s also the transfer method where the secondary fermentation happens just as in the methode traditionelle but the bottles are emptied into a pressurised tank. It seems like a lot of trouble, but there’s a cost saving.
PINOT NOIR
The great red grape of Burgundy and big in Champagne too. A huge success in New Zealand and cooler parts of South America. Raspberries and cherries. TRY: Oyster Bay New Zealand
Pinot Noir (€14, Tesco)
PINOTAGE
South Africa’s very own grape variety. Plum, blackberry, spice. TRY: Clos Malverne Pinotage Traditionally Basket Pressed Pinotage Reserve, South Africa.
(€12, Dunnes Stores)
Some so-called ‘natural’ wines, the ones called pet nat (short for pétillant-naturel) sparkle because they are bottled before they have fully fermented and they finish in bottle, producing a lightly sparkling wine that’s a bit cloudy. This is very much on trend and is called the methode ancestrale. n qry this for methode ancestraleW
Kamara Pure Pet’
RIESLING
Delicate, fragrant, occasionally a whiff of petrol. Originally from Germany. Australian Rieslings, usually very dry, are modern classics.
TRY: Specially Selected Clare Valley Riesling, Australia. (€9.99, Aldi)
SANGIOVESE
Makes herby, floral, cherryish reds. The grand old classic of Tuscany and backbone of Chianti. kat OMN9, dreece. (€O8.5M, winesdirect.ieF n
Some very cheap sparklers are made by injecting carbon dioxide into still wines but we don’t want to go there!
FORTIFYING FOR STRENGTH
Finally, there are fortified wines, the best known of which are port, sherry and Madeira. What they all have in common is fermentation followed by the addition of grape spirit, which pushes the alcohol level up to somewhere between 16% and 22.5%. All sherry starts as a dry wine and some are sweetened after fermentation. Port is sweet because the fermentation is stopped well before all the sugar is converted to alcohol. n qry this for dry sherryW Palo Cortado, ppain. (€NO, OT.5cl, jarks C ppencerF n qry this for portW qesco cinest NM Year Old qawny Port, Portugal. (€N8.5M, qescoF
qry this for dry jadeiraW Barbeito ary jadeira, Portugal (€N8.99, Celtic thiskey phopF
TRY: Chianti Rieserva, Italy. (€9.99, Lidl)
SAUVIGNON BLANC
Grass, blackcurrant leaves, passionfruit, grapefruit, nettles, green peppers, gooseberry. So, yes, very aromatic.
TRY: Graham Norton’s Own Sauvignon Blanc, New Zealand. (€12, SuperValu, Tesco)
SÉMILLON
Citrus richness. Key component in Bordeaux’s sweet wines. Makes stunning whites in the Hunter Valley.
TRY: Tyrell’s Vat 1 Hunter Valley Semillon 2014, Australia.
(€49, whelehanswines.ie)
SYRAH/SHIRAZ
Well-travelled grape but its home is the Rhône. One of the first grapes planted in Australia. Pepper, chocolate.
TRY: Specially Selected South Australian Shiraz (€7.99, Aldi)
TORRONTES
Unique to South America and big in Argentina. Highly aromatic grape. TRY: Crios Torrontes, Argentina. (€16.50, winesdirect.ie)
VIOGNIER
Ripe peaches. When it ripens fully, it makes lush white wines.
TRY: Solas Viognier Reserve Pays d’Oc, France. (€12.50, Dunnes Stores)
ZINFANDEL/ PRIMITIVO
Sweet, dark berries. Huge, in every sense, in California as Zinfandel and also in Southern Italy as Primitivo.
TRY: Intrigo Primitivo, Italy. (€11.99, SuperValu)