Put Irish wine on your dinner table this year... even some made in Cork

GETTING the right tipple to accompany the Christmas feast can end up with the least Irish thing on our table.

That’s because when we think of wine, we think of France, Spain, and Italy for old world wines, and South Africa, Chile and Australia for a taste of the new world.

Wine and Ireland rarely come together in our heads, but I say it’s time it did!

While most commonly we think of wine as coming from grapes, there are also apple wines and fruit wines. Indeed, hedgerow wines too, made with foraged fruits and blossoms was a quintessential taste of the countryside and made in micro batches in homes across the country in glass demijohns.

Things have come a long way, however, and a few intrepid producers are working hard to establish apples, fruits and wild things as delicious alternatives made in the same way and with the same reverence as prominent winemakers from across the world.

What’s more, Cork is where you can find a concentration of these innovative wineries. 

These are some of my favourites that might inspire you to try them at Christmas instead this year, and put Irish wine on your table!

Nohoval Apple Wine - Elstar

Geraldine Javoy handmakes every single bottle of her single varietal Elstar wine in Nohoval. Made from apples grown on Cappoquin Estates in County Waterford, these are delivered to the winery in Nohoval, hand sorted, milled, pressed, and carefully monitored for a year before bottling. Only 100 cases a year are produced but is reasonably priced at around €16 per 750ml bottle. It’s a personal favourite, and a real hidden gem of an Irish wine.

Taste: “An enveloping mouthfeel with acidity to the fore, soft red berry fruit aromas on the nose and lean citrus character on the palate. An excellent accompaniment to seafood, charcuterie and poultry.” ABV 12%, €16.50

Móneir Wicklow Way Wines – Blackberry and Wild Elderberry Wine

Not produced in Cork, but these are Ireland’s foremost makers of premium, award-winning fruit wines. Made exclusively from Irish grown soft fruits, the wines come in three expressions: strawberry, raspberry and blackberry.

My favourite of all three is the Blackberry wine with wild elderberries foraged from the Wicklow mountains.

 It’s the closest thing we have to a full-bodied red wine, and a redolent taste of an Irish autumn. It’s also exceptionally versatile with food.

View this drink as a special occasion premium wine, designed for gentle sipping rather than enthusiastic gulping!

ABV 11%, €27.

Valentia Island Vermouth – Ór

Anna and Orla Snook O’Carroll are the makers of Ireland’s only vermouth and based in the wildly beautiful Valentia Island in neighbouring County Kerry.

Vermouth has become increasingly popular thanks to the growing interest in Ireland’s craft cocktail scene. But what is Vermouth exactly?

It is a fortified wine, and Valentia Island Vermouth has its base in a specially selected white wine from Spain.

A variety of distillates from 21 different foraged plants and herbs, including gorse, wormwood, nutmeg, yarrow, and orris root, are blended with the wine base and rich handmade caramel to produce a velvety, aromatic wine-spirit.

Perfect served as an aperitif simply with tonic or shaken and stirred into cocktails. It is particularly fantastic in a Negroni!

ABV 19%, €35.

Killahora Orchards – Rare Apple Ice Wine and Fine Perry

High above Glounthane is one of Ireland’s leading premium apple wine and cider makers. Uncovering a 200-year-old orchard was the catalyst for planting a huge array of apple and perry pear trees, from native Irish varieties to popular international varieties and a few obscure ones in the mix.

Cousins Barry Walsh and Dave Watson grow the apples and pears that go into their apple and pear wines. I’m a fan of pretty much everything they do, but their Ice Wine and Perry hits two very festive notes for me.

Firstly, the sparkling Perry made from their own pears has a light ABV at just 6% and a jubilant sparkle that makes for a very moreish sup, not too sweet and absolutely packed with glorious pear flavour. For this reason, Fine Perry is a wonderful way to pop the cork on proceedings, presented as it is in a champagne-style bottle.

The Rare Apple Ice Wine is a perfect digestif or dessert wine. By freezing the apple juice, flavours and sugars are concentrated. The caramel-coloured syrupy juice is then fermented for over a year until it is deemed perfect and ready for bottling. 

A richly luxurious special treat perfect for this time of year.

Fine Perry ABV 6%, €12.50. Rare Apple Ice Wine ABV 10.5%, €26.95.

Kinsale Mead – Merlot Barrel Aged Wild Red Mead

I adore this mead, which is based on their three-year-old berry mead and then matured for a year in French Merlot wine barrels. There are layers upon layers of flavour to this mead, and although it is made from fermented honey, it is not sweet, but rather delivers an off-dry finish that sings with Wexford blackcurrants and cherries, and caramel undertones from the oak ageing.

It’s an intriguing sup that stands up to any classic red wine and pairs amazingly with the kind of rich, fine food that is served up for a festive feast at Christmas.

ABV 12%. €31.75.