A CLEARER UNDERSTANDING OF WINE
 This is a wine column with a difference. The objective in writing this is to give you a clearer understanding of wine, to enhance both your wine drinking and your wine purchasing.
There is a tremendous amount of waffle surrounding the whole wine scene in Ireland these days, much more so than in France for example. Here in Ireland we can be made to feel incompetent if we fail to identify six or seven different fruits in a wine, or, wax lyrically about it for five to ten minutes. Why is this? You might well ask. Well, my theory is the following; to create and promote snobbery within the industry, certain people believe it is good to “Baffle the (common) people with Bullshit”.
Wine can be a very interesting and very complex subject when one is truly interested. However, as most people just want to drink it and not research it, there is an opening for certain individuals, namely remunerated wine critics, to tell you what to like and drink or dislike and snub. The role of these critics is to give you an “unbiased” and informed decision on what wines to drink and where these wines can be purchased. To “sell” you on their choice of wines, the critics tend to describe them in extravagant detail in an attempt to be interesting and knowledgeable. They need a very impressive wine vocabulary to do this; otherwise, they will sound repetitive and boring. This vocabulary can be very confusing to anybody outside of the wine industry and sometimes very confusing to people within. One phrase used by a critic that stands out for me is, “this wine is like hot milk on a burnt cats tongue”. Come on, leave the poor cat alone!
To make informed wine buying decisions you need to have an understanding of wines and the wine industry. To appreciate wines you just need to understand the basics, which really are quite simple. In December 2000 when we created the first “Wine Buff” outlet in Limerick I had no real interest in the game of rugby. In Ballyhea we played hurling, and from time to time attempted to play football; rugby we believed was for the Ivy League guys. Limerick rugby changed all of that for me. In Limerick, rugby was accessible to everyone, and everyone seemed to understand the game. It no longer appeared too complicated or out of reach and I began to take an interest. Once I understood the basics of the game I was hooked and it is now my favourite sport. Wine is just like rugby, you need to understand the basics before you can really appreciate it. When you do appreciate it you can very quickly tell a good wine from bad, and know when you are getting value for money.
Over the next few issues we will master the basics of wine and also discover the wine industry together. There will be a profile on an 80 year old wine maker by the name of Jean Olivet, or Jeano as he is affectionately known. Jeano still makes a fabulous St. Emilion organic wine that has obviously been very good for him as he looks and acts 65. We will talk with him about the wine making process and how it has changed over the years. Jeano currently owns 20 hectares in St. Emilion valued at roughly 450,000€ a hectare, however, he is still out there everyday himself working his vineyards. All of Jeanos’ wines are sold directly by himself to his loyal following of customers.
As wine drinking is totally subjective we will not be telling you what wines to purchase and drink. It is more important for you to understand what wines YOU like and then you can go and experiment. Also, as I am involved in the industry, it would be very difficult for me to recommend any wines other than my own.
In our next column we will get straight into the correct manner to taste a wine. For example, did you know that you cannot taste a wine by drinking it as you would a beer, stout or water?
Cheers,
Other online articles from the Wine Buff:
Paddy O' Flynn, founder of the Wine Buff , has been resident in St. Emilion, the heart of the Bordeaux wine-producing region, for the last fifteen years. A former manager of 'La Tour des Vins', one of the premier wine-shops in St. Emilion, he is perfectly located to report direct from the vineyards.
Rene Baylet, Paddy's father-in-law, is a former recipient of the prestigious award, best wine-producer in France regarding quality/price. Rene's son, and Paddy’s brother-in-law, Richard, is the proprietor of five mobile wine-bottling plants, keeping him in daily contact with the lesser known, smaller producers who manage to produce some of Frances’ top wines.
With their active co-operation, and the help of his many contacts, Paddy finds the best quality wines within the different price ranges in the wine growing regions of Europe, guaranteeing the consumer real value for money.
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