The Friday Club

Finishing work on a Friday afternoon - what a great feeling. Celebrate it with The Friday Club at Brennan's Cookery School, Oliver Plunkett Street, Cork City.

 Not a cookery class as you know it but a relaxed Friday Afternoon celebration with a glass of wine and some tapas style food to get you in the mood for the weekend. 

Meet your friends, relax before heading home or simply have fun. While you are sipping on a well deserved glass of wine or non-alcoholic drink, tapas and fingerfood will be prepared in front of you and all that is asked of you is to enjoy the Friday Afternoon Feeling. 

€20 per person and includes Drink on arrival, food and recipes. For bookings please call 021/427 82 83 

Become a wine critic for the night....

L'Atitude 51 is bringing the Wine Geese Home

The charming Colm McCann & Maurice O'Mahony

As part of The Gathering, L'Atitude 51 is hosting and organising several events throughout the year to introduce winemakers with an Irish heritage. The series kicked off last night with the official launch and Tom Lynch of El Comandante Wines, Argentina introduced his wines and talked about how it came that his father started his career as a winemaker in Argentina. His Chardonnay was crisp and his Malbec rich and I have both on my shopping list. You can read more about Tom Lynch here . Emma & Beverly of L'Atitude got support from Maurice O'Mahony of the Wine Alliance and Colm McCann of Ballymaloe Grainstore - with these creative people, we can be sure to be in for a treat at each event.

The Wine Geese is a term used for Irish Immigrants during the 17th, 18th century who became involved in the wine industry of their chosen country - just a tiny history lesson.

Having seen the list of events, I am sure I will be busy during the year. The below list is only a short extract from the whole program - you can find the whole program here

13th Feb - Wine tasting in L'Atitude51 with Jane Boyce
10th Mar - Jean-Charles Cavez will bring his wines to Ballymaloe Grainstore
16th May - Fleur McCree will retrace her family steps from Cork to New Zealand in L'Atitude51
18th May - Winefair organised by Gary O'Donovan in Rochestown Park Hotel followed by a dinner in Flemings
28th May - Emma Cullen of Cullen Wines is inviting to a tasting in Cafe Paradiso

and the list goes on and on and on. A complete list of events can be found in L'Atitude or The Gathering website. I am also in talks with Emma & Beverly to organise a tasting with them for our panel of tasters - watch this space for the announcement.

This is a great opportunity to meet winemakers in a relaxed surrounding, tasting the wonderful wines made by Irish winemakers and learn more about the trade.

Chardonnay & Malbec

Mezzo soprano Amanda Neary who sang O Sole Mio

Mr T's name sake :-)

Lovely Icewine - delicious

Tuscany in Ballymaloe

The Crowd

Have you ever noticed that all the olive oils in supermarkets taste the same, have hardly colour and are still called Extra Virgin Olive oil?? Don't get me wrong, they are ok for cooking but in a dressing wouldn't we all like more from an oil?

Tuscany is famous for their wine, food, landscape and their olive oil. Last night 2 producers came to the Grainstore in Ballymaloe and introduced us to the most amazing oils and wines from their region. The event was very well organised and the quality of the oils and wines were outstanding. The colour of the oils were such an intense green that one might think food colouring has been added. But no - that's how good olive oil should look like.

Apparently, 2012 has yielded the best harvest in some years and the quality of the oils is even better than usual. I learned that the lower the acidity in olive oil, the better the oil. Tuscany had a very dry summer (she had to rub it in) so the olives were quite small during their main growing season but when the rain finally came in late August, the rain plumped up the olives and created the low acidity which resulted in some amazing oils.

Beautiful oils

Liberty Wines are the importers of the wines and oils and provided a lovely booklet with information on each oil and wine. We tasted 3 amazing oils:

Capezzana - not filtered, bright green colour, slightly spicy - deep overall flavour. Comes from an estate with 26,000 olive trees (yes, this is not a typo).

Fontodi - filtered & certified organic - rich dark green, grassy notes with a little kick in the back but very elegant.

Selvapiana - slightly filtered, not clear - very rich peppery flavour with a strong kick in the back of spice. This was a bit too peppery for me but gosh - it had a punch to it.

The producers were at hand with information of each oil and it made it so much easier to identify some of the flavour notes. The oils don't come cheap but you wouldn't use it in cooking but for dipping, drizzling or dressings in salad, so it would last you quite a bit. And just imagine - everytime you use it, you will taste Tuscany. The oils can be found at Ballymaloe Farm Shop, Ballymaloe School Shop and Bradley's in North Main Street (have to place my order today). They are expecting delivery in late November - would make a lovely Christmas gift for the foodie in your life :-)

The Wines

The wines - oh my God the wines..... There were some amazing ones but the one that stood out mostly for me was a 100% Sauvignon Blanc..... I know, I don't like it normally but Fontodi 'Meriggio' 2011 has converted me totally. It is smooth with a touch of cream, simply elegant European style over New World Mass Production. Gentle but impressive. This wine is on my list - with a retail price of €21.99 not for everyday consumption but for a treat definitely.

Vin Santo

We were also treated to some amazing dessert wines - rich, sweet - perfect partner for blue cheese. 

For more information on the wines tasted on the night, please contact Liberty Wines, gerry.gunnigan@libertywines.ie - he will also be able to provide you with stockist for the wines.

Jacobs Creek & Pop Up Restaurants

Cork City Goal

I saw the other day a notice that Jacobs Creek were hosting a Dine & Wine Experience in Cork City Goal and applied for tickets. The City Goal is a brilliant location for Pop Up Restaurants and I was delighted to have gotten the tickets.

Michael Ryan & David Whelehan

So far I didn't have much experience with Jacobs Creek - always a bit suspicious of large vineyards with all types of grapes but David Whelehan who hosted the night, convinced me that there is more to Jacobs Creek than meet the eye. Most of you might know David from TV3 where he is IrelandAMs wine correspondent - he is a talented speaker and his passion for wine came through in each word. He was not only entertaining but educational.

We were welcomed by friendly staff who offered Sparkling Rose - I love a glass of bubbly as much as the next girl and didn't say no when offered top-ups. The sparkling went surprisingly well with the canapes. The food was provided by Isaacs Restaurant, Michael Ryan and Canice Sharkey. We were treated to canapes which included McCarthy's Black Pudding in pastry, salmon ceviche on a spoon, chicken croquettes and prawn skewers. Each mouthful was tasty, well prepared and absolutely delicious.

The dining tables were impressive with their flower arrangements. Each setting had little cards with wine trivia (how many bubbles are in a average bottle of Champagne? 49 million - I learn something new every day). Mr T and I shared the table with Sheila Kiely (author of 'Gimme the Recipe') and her charming husband Denis (Mr T and Denis enjoyed the evening talking about GAA) and Cully & Sully with Cully's lovely wife - so you can imagine how entertaining our table was.

Chardonnay & Reserva

Wine Trivia

We were given blindfolds and had to guess the grapes of wines - amazing how different you taste the wine when blindfolded. But yours truly (me) guessed correctly that the first wine was a Chardonnay and the second one was a Shiraz (with a bit of Grenache) - so Mr T was impressed with me.

The starter was a warm crab salad - one word - yummylicious. It was served in a ramekin and topped with a crumble. Have to try to re-create this dish.

Roast Lamb

Chocolate Mousse

Our main course was Roast Rack & Shoulder of Lamb with mint Bearnaise sauce and rosemary potatoes - the Bearnaise was to die for. The vegetarian option was a selection of curries (a nice change to the usual stir fry). The lamb was succulent and went down a treat.

The cheese board offered the best of Irish - Cashel Blue, Gubbeen, Coolea & Ardsallagh served with crackers and Arbutus Medieval Walnut Bread - I was in heaven (have to ask Declan Ryan for the recipe of the walnut bread - although mine isn't bad at all). A selection of desserts included chocolate mousse and cardamon panna cotta.

Blind Smelling

Shiraz with a little mix

A game in between the courses entertained us but also showed us how difficult it is to smell, taste and guess flavours. One person per table was asked on stage (Sheila was our ambassador) and were blindfolded. A little bottle of aroma was held under their nose and they had to guess the flavour. Everyone got lemon but after that it all went wrong - no one got prune (which I guess is really difficult) or strawberry (which I thought would have been easy). No one had blackcurrant - one woman guessed Cassis and only one man got pineapple right (we cheered when the first one guessed it right - so all others followed)...difficult difficult.

Cully & Sully Black Glass Tasting

Velvety Choc Truffles

Cully & Sully were then asked on stage, 3 glasses of wine were offered to each - but in a black glass. You can't see the colour of the wine in a black glass. It was all the same wine - Chardonnay - but one glass had it chilled, another glass was warmed and only one was the correct temperature. Both thought they were drinking different wines - shows how important the correct temperature is to wine.

I had a ball at the event and have learned a lot. It was great to meet Sheila in a more private environment and to see Cully & Sully up close (serious funny guys by the way).

Congratulations to Jacobs Creek for an amazing event......and now I am off checking my wine cabinet....

L'Atitude 51

Emmanuelle and Beverly opened L'Atitude51 to great acclaim last night and I was lucky enough to receive an invite for the official opening. L'Atitude 51 is located on Union Quay - formerly An Cruibin and has gotten a gentle make-over. They kept the atmosphere and just freshened the interior where it needed.

I know Emmanuelle from Bubble Brothers where she not only shared her knowledge about wine but was also a great contact for customers. She also started the Wine Cert Course again. Beverley & Emmanuelle met when they both studied wine and rightfully thought that Cork needs a proper Wine Bar & Cafe. They both created a wonderful wine list and what I love most about it is that it is not divided into Red & White but into taste. 'A Hint of Spice' or 'For Meditation' 'Something Sweet' are just a few options. I saw some lovely Portuguese wines on the list - can't wait to go back to try them (I was told by a Portuguese girl that Portugal is keeping their good wines to themselves). You want to know which wines???? - Go and check it out. You won't be disappointed.
 
They will also offer light meals and based on the food we were served last night - you will be in for a treat. I loved the fact that the wine is the main attraction and that the food is complemented the wine rather than the other way around.

The staff on duty last night was excellent. Smiling, informative and attentive - that's a recipe for success. I will write a bit more about L'Atitude when I go back for a proper visit and I am sure I will be in for a treat.

L'Atitude 51 is not only a wine bar but also a 'Wine-University'. You can attend workshops and learn all there is to learn about wine. Can't wait for their program to come out and see what they have planned.

Do we need another bar???? Not sure - but we DO need L'Atitude 51. I wish Emmanuelle & Beverly all the best for the future