As if “The Wizard of Oz” and “Wicked” had not already made enough money, and entwined themselves enough into our culture, here comes Wicked Wine. It is bottled by Grove Street Winery of Healdsburg, California. I have resisted the urge to see this play, but [...]
This Sparks label may well be the label that ignited a big controversy, coming to a boil eight years later. As near as we can tell, it is the first or one of the very first label approvals showing the direct addition of caffeine. [...]
Irish Times – John Wilson
Lustau Don Nuño Dry Oloroso, 20%, €12.99 – €13.50
I featured the medium-dry Apostoles Palo Cortado sherry as one of my top 50 wines of the year recently. However, I have also bought a half-bottle of this very tasty dry Oloroso. Lustau make some of the very [...]
Pale lemon coloured wine, with solid initial aromas. Touches of peach, some zesty citrus just nice clean flavours. This wine is classed a frizzante as opposed to an out and out sparkler which is a really good tip if you are looking for some [...]
Just in time for the holiday season, shower the ones you love with nothing less than … an “Adequate Gift.” This is from Woot Cellars. We especially like the functional back label, giving you the chance to tell your (significant other) about all the [...]
Wine Australia goes to the rugby – Ireland v’s Italy
Saturday 6th February.
After the huge success of our outing to the Australian match last month, we’re off to the rugby again.
Join us for a delicious lunch at The Exchequer on Exchequer Street served with some tasty Italian themed [...]
Controversy in a cup. This little shooter raises a lot of TTB issues. First of all, it’s a gel-shot and those can be controversial from time to time. Next, it is technically a wine but it has added spirits — in the form of citrus [...]
Australian Wine Course.
February/March, Fallon and Byrne, Exchequer Street, Dublin 2.
Wine Australia, in conjunction with Fallon and Byrne, is delighted to offer a 4 week Australian wine course. Want to
learn more about Australian wine, or wine in general, this could be just for you. The plan for the [...]
Christmas Presents from Wine Australia
Barossa Tasting and Dinner.
Tuesday 26th January 2010, Fallon and Byrne, Exchequer Street, Dublin 2.
Join us to celebrate Australia Day 2010 at our Evening in the Barossa.
With over 160 years of wine making history, and home to some of the great names of the [...]
I saw this label a few days ago and it screamed out to say there was drama lurking under the surface. Indeed there was.
Kevin Bloom, brewer at Manchester Brewing, explained:
The original label was for St. Paula’s Liquid Wisdom, which shows the Renaissance painting “The [...]
Tough video taking aim at the Virginia ABC. It is credited to Caleb Brown and Austin Bragg, but it would be nice to know more about the people and groups and motivations behind this hard-hitting video. It won the 2009 award for video of the year, from the [...]
This Bud label shows two million hours worked at the Houston brewery without a lost time accident.
[...]
Lang Creek Brewery bills billed itself as “America’s Most Remote Brewery” and is was 500 miles east of Seattle, in Marion, Montana.
Perhaps it was too remote. Sadly, it closed a few months ago. The above is one of the last of about 12 approvals over [...]
Here is Leblon Cachaca Ice Cubes. It is Brazilian rum (with flavor), in a 200 ml. pack designed to freeze.
This should be of interest to Camper English at Alcademics, as he is inclined to tinker with all manner of alcohol beverages and ice.
The label [...]
La Cuvée Wine Producer Dinner with the wines Of Chateau Fontareche
La Cuvee [Restaurant on top of Eno Wine] are hosting a wine producer dinner on Thursday, November 26th. Max has created a wonderful menu to compliment the extraordinary wines chosen by Richard McMahon. The wines chosen are from [...]
In the last post we discussed Braille wine labels. Today, Morse Code, as on this Australian wine label.
Morse Code was invented in the 1840s and is an early form of the digital encoding so widespread today. As with many of the Braille labels, [...]
Above is an example of a wine label embossed with Braille. Such labels were virtually unavailable before about 13 years ago. Then, in 1996, M. Chapoutier of France begain using Braille on all its labels. The British newspaper, The Independent explains:
The technique [...]
The Goodwineshow Cork 2009
Over the past couple of weeks/months you probably saw references to the Good wine show either here on my blog, other blogs in Ireland or the national press media.
I was fortunate enough to be able to attend the event on the Saturday. From what I could see [...]
August 28, 2009 was a bad day for Rum Jumbie. In a slew of “approvals,” TTB directed Varela Imports to make “rum” much, much, less conspicuous. TTB said:
When new labels are printed, the word “rum” in your trademark name Rum Jumbie cannot appear more prominent [...]
John Wilson’s Favourite Australians
Click here to view the embedded video.
John Mc Donnell has come up with yet another fantastic tasting !!
“During the summer I gave John (Wilson) the task of pulling together his selection of Favourite Australian wines.
The task wasn’t to draw up a list of Australia’s best wines, but [...]
Wine Fair by Thomas Woodberrys in the G Hotel
Details from Woodberrys are
“We are returning to the G Hotel, Wellpark
Sunday 22nd November , 2pm – 7pm
There will be over 100 wines for tasting, along with various hamper & gift ideas.
We have decided to reduce the Entrance fee [...]
For those of you who missed it check out the fantastic article by Tomas Clancy on Wine online in Ireland and the boys from Curiouswines.
With a nice mention for @karwigwines, @bubblebrothers, @smallsip [sourgrapes], myself and a few others. Great to see a writer [...]
As lawyers, we would never condone playing games on wine labels. But here are two examples where TTB was okay with it.
On the left, Puzzle Time wine has a word search game.
On the right, the Fetzer label features a “rebus.” That’s right, a rebus. [...]
Irish Times – John Wilson
WINES OF THE WEEK
Beaujolais 2007 Georges Duboeuf, 12%, €11.99
Nice light, juicy nose; very attractive light wine with a lovely strawberry edge and good, but not overdone acidity. Stockists: Super Valu/Centra; Kelly’s, Vernon Ave, Clontarf; ADM Londis, Yellow Walls; Martin’s, Fairview; Spar, Milltown and Leeson Street; Jus [...]
TTB classifies sake as a wine, for label purposes. Most wines have sulfites — but sake appears to be a notable exception. On the Shiga Sake label above, Village Wine reports that “Sakes do not contain sulfites.” TTB does not seem to disagree and has [...]
Click here to view the embedded video.
In the second of my wine series with Karwig Wines I taste the Carl Ehrhard Riesling Spatlese Trocken 2008.
This wine retails for €18-€19 approx. Please check instore for discounts. Lets see how it gets on.
Also check out the revently revamed [...]
Click here to view the embedded video.
Here at robertfranciswine.ie we are massive fans of John Mc Donnell and Lar from Sourgrapes.ie so it is a real treat to have them both in the one film. (Well technically lar does the production) Click here for lars tasting [...]
Every now and then, TTB approves another eau de vie. This leads to wondering if it’s the same as brandy. At long last, Tim Patterson has explained how they differ:
Unlike grape brandy, eau de vie puts the emphasis on freshness, liveliness, and capturing the intense [...]
Chewing the fat with Peter Hughes of O’Briens
Following on the recent wine series on a selection of wines from O’Briens. I put some questions to Peter Hughes the store manager at their recently opened shop at the Galway Shopping Centre. Here is what he had to say …. [Que dramatic [...]
Sunday Business Post – Tomas Clancy
TO TRY :Croix Milhas, Ambré, AOC Rivesaltes NV, €6 (down from €12)
for a half-bottle, until December 28 at Tesco (88) This example of one of the great dessert wines of France is from the Languedoc-Roussillon region, next to Spain. Rivesaltes is a fortified wine, [...]
