Dining NOW Guide. This Week's Choices In Cork. Update 1a

 Dining NOW Guide. This Week's Choices In Cork

(Contact me before 1.00pm Wed with a sentence or two, a pic and a link to menu, plan to update regularly)

Click and Collect. At Home. Takeout. Takeaway.  Edition w/e 21032021 Version 1a

O'Mahony's Of Watergrasshill

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Go fishing with Goldie!

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Ballymaloe At Home

Our next #ballymaloeathome offering is a very special one.. our Friday night Hors D’Oeurve Buffet has long been a tradition @ballymaloe_house and for next weekend we have chosen a selection of our favourites from the buffet for you to enjoy at home.

@ballycottonire Lobster 🦞 vol au Vents, Organic Hot Smoked Salmon, @ballymaloefarm Glazed Loin of Bacon and Egg Mayonnaise, @walledgdn Salad leaves and more plus a Cheese Board and dessert of New Season Rhubarb and Almond Galette. See full menu.

It’s a full feast for two people and comes ready to enjoy. Serving instructions included.

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The Glass Curtain At Home

We hope you are all enjoying a lovely weekend, it was a busy few days here in The Glass Curtain. Thank you to everyone who ordered, it is a pleasure to see all your familiar faces week after week.

Menus for the coming weekend are here...

• Friday 40 for 2 people sharing

Fish Tacos Panko breaded haddock, pico de gallo, corn salsa, shredded cabbage, flour tortillas, bravas potatoes with lime chipotle aioli

Doughnuts, cinnamon sugar, rhubarb compote, vanilla custard

• Saturday 45 for 2 people sharing

Chargrilled lamb rump, parsnip and green apple puree, green peas with bacon and lettuce, lyonnaise potatoes

Chocolate chip cookies, caramel sauce

• Sunday 45 for 2 sharing

Skeaghanore Chicken and chorizo ballotine, celeriac, baby leeks, smoked potatoes and confit chicken, chicken jus

Caramelized apple tarte tatin, vanilla crème anglaise

• Veggie option all weekend - 35 for 2 people sharing

Veggie tacos: Panko breaded halloumi and sweet potatoes, pico de gallo, corn salsa, shredded cabbage, flour tortillas, bravas potatoes with lime chipotle aioli

Served with the dessert of the evening

Orders are live from 12pm tomorrow Monday - you may order here -

The Glass Curtain At Home

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Things are looking up...   Da Mirco

Days are getting longer and if you think about 12 months ago, we can all be positive that we will be out soon again. This Week from Wednesday at 3pm we are offering a Saint Patrick' week Special Feast for 2 people @ 50€. Da Mirco Click & Collect

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This weekend, L'Atitude 51 take you off to Barcelona!!

This week our virtual wine travels take us to Penedès and Barcelona. Barcelona is the gastronomic centre of Catalonia and Penedès is the most important wine region in the area, perhaps best known for its Cava production. But there’s way more to Catalan wines than just Cava.

So this week we have chosen Vora la Mar “Xarel-lo”, a grape which is more often found as a blend in Cava than as a standalone variety. But in the right hands, this grape can offer something quite special as a single varietal white wine. Tastes will include some of our Catalan favourites. Email info@latitude51.ie by midday Thursday if you’d like to join our adventure. €50 box for 2 people. Collection Friday 19 Mar from 5 -6.30pm.

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Very Enjoyable Wines of the World Online Tasting With Kate Barry

Wines of the World Online Tasting

With Kate Barry

Very much enjoyed my virtual visit to the weekend’s Wines of the World Tasting with our host Kate Barry. She had three wines to go through but each was anonymous, wrapped in a brown bag, for the time being. Kate made us work (fun!) to determine what we were tasting.

But she did it so well, step by step, in simple English. No online technical hiccups here, every word from Kate was loud and clear. And there were smiles, slurps, and a few laughs, easygoing all the way, a very pleasant way indeed to learn about wine - see below for next Virtual Tasting. 

Bag No. 1, a white, was first. “We will use our senses: eyes, nose, palate.” Normally, one of the first checks is to see if the wine is corked. If there’s a “damp cardboard” sensation, you’re in trouble. But no need to worry in this case as the closure is a DIAM cork that comes with a guarantee against cork taint.

Kate holds up the first of the wine: “It is lovely and bright with a medium pale colour. Hold your glass at an angle against a sheet of white paper and you can see it’s of medium intensity, lemon with a hint of gold.” Would the nose be medium or pronounced? “Just about medium,” said Kate. Now cover your glass with a hand, swirl, smell. “Woohoo..Absolutely beautiful.” Smell now for fruit, citrus perhaps. “Lemon, lime, here.” Try now for apple and pear. Stone fruit, melon perhaps. Move on to tropical. “A hint of pineapple”. “And I think there’s a tiny bit of white pepper.”

Now we move to the palate. “Get the wine into your mouth and slurp. You’ll notice the difference!” She smiled. “The tip of the tongue will tell us whether it’s dry or not..” Are we salivating? “I think there’s a medium salivation going on, so a medium plus acidity.” Alcohol? Check the glass for legs or tears, the more tears, the more alcohol. Is there a burn at the back of the throat? “I think this is medium.”  The body? Take a sip of water (light bodied) and compare. “This is a bit more than water, so light to medium bodied.”

Now to check the flavour intensity. Medium was Kate’s verdict. Flavours include lime, lemon, green apple, a little spice, minerality (more on palate than nose) plus some stone fruit. Measure the length of the finish, how long does the flavour last? Up to five seconds is short, 5-10 medium, above 10 long.  “Eight seconds, really refreshing”. Nothing jarring here. “I think it has a loverly balance, a lovely wine. Not complex, simple and easy drinking”

So now for the reveal. Old or new world? Alcohol content? Vintage? Variety or blend? What have we been drinking? It was a Michel Lynch “Nature” Bordeaux (AOC) 2017, 12%, a blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon, a typical blend of the region. 

Michel Lynch “Nature” Bordeaux (AOC) 2017, 12%, €16.50 Wines of the World

A lovely pale colour and silver tints, this vintage has an intense bouquet with notes of white flowers and citrus fruit. The palate fresh and harmonious, underpinned by fine intensity and noteworthy mineral tones. Grown from 100% organically grown grapes  in the Bordeaux region of France.

The wine pays tribute to Michel Lynch, one of the great names of Bordeaux wine (Irish, of course). Made from a careful selection of organically grown grapes, it contains as little sulphur as possible and has environmentally friendly packaging.

Fat Bastard Malbec Vin de France 2019, 13%, €11.50 Wines of the World

One difference between red and white wines is that red has tannins. “No tannins in white wine. Full stop!”, says Kate. “Tannins is a dry gritty sensation. Some love it, some hate it. The paler the colour, the lighter the tannin. This one is medium grippy, all integrated.”

The label says a lot here: remarkably full bodied (fat bastard), round and generous. The Fat Bastard Malbec is sourced from southern vineyards, between the Languedoc and the Gers regions. Kate took us through each of the reds in the same way as she tasted the white.

This Malbec has an intense colour with a vibrant purple hue. Elegant with aromas of black cherry and hints of vanilla and chocolate. Generous and unctuous with a delicate spicy finish. Kate: “ It’s a simple easy-drinking food wine. Lovely with a meal. Love it with a steak or Spaghetti Bolognese. Cheese too.”

A French wine created by Thierry Boudinaud, a renowned winemaker who has crafted wines from California to Chile to South Africa. It is named after a British expression describing a particularly rich and full wine.

Graham Norton’s Own Shiraz, South Australia 2017, 14.5%, €14.00 Wines of the World

The Graham Norton Shiraz is from South Australia and is a mix of fruit from different regions offering a reasonably complex, concentrated wine with a deep ruby colour. It’s a bold in aroma and on the palate, juicy wine full of character, just like the man himself! Perhaps that’s why they called it Shiraz rather than Syrah (the French name for the grape denotes, mostly, a gentler wine). 

Quite a good wine for a tasting actually. The flavours alone, mostly primary, could fill half a page of your notebook! As is often the case in Australia, the fruit comes from different areas, three in this case: “The Barossa, McLaren Vale and Langhorne Creek; each brings something different.”

Kate enjoyed tasting this one. “A dry wine with medium plus acidity.” She expected a high alcohol count, judging mainly by the burn at the back of throat, and she was spot on. Lots of primary fruit flavours plus some spice. Excellent finish too and well balanced. “I’m a lover of this wine and I hope you enjoyed it too.” We did, enjoyed the whole session.

Casa Silva - Live Zoom Virtual Tasting March 26th

The next live interactive virtual tasting will feature wine expert Kate Barry and Stephen Ludlam from Casa Silva. Casa Silva is Chile’s most awarded winery of the 21st Century – outstanding wines of great quality and fantastic value. It has the oldest wine cellar in the Colchagua Valley. Beneath its traditional and historic facade, however, is one of Chile’s most modern wine facilities. Should be a superb evening.  More details, including booking, here.

Kate will hold another recorded (non Zoom) tasting in mid-April. Keep an eye on the website for details. By the way, Wines of the World also do private tastings for firms and other groups.

 

Cork ETB and the Irish Hotels Federation team up to launch Leadership programmes for Hospitality and Tourism employees

press release

 Cork ETB and the Irish Hotels Federation team up to launch Leadership programmes for Hospitality and Tourism employees

The Cork Training Centre operating under the remit of the Cork Education and Training Board (Cork ETB) has teamed up with The Irish Hotels Federation (IHF) to launch two new upskilling programmes for employees in the hospitality and tourism sector to help support recovery and growth.

As a major employer in Ireland, the hospitality and tourism sector has identified the need to retain key talent, develop leadership capability to rejuvenate businesses for recovery and growth and upskill and reskill to develop agile skills for employment.

With that, Cork IHF members were recently invited to partake in the Developing Leadership Programme available through Cork ETB’s Training Centre, with state funding provided by SOLAS through the Skills to Advance Initiative. Commencing this month, and designed with a flexible, modular approach in recognition of current challenges the sector is facing, the programme is subsidised and those continuing to work are eligible for participation in the programmes.

 

Launched by Minister for Higher Education Simon Harris, The Developing Leaders for Hospitality and Tourism programme will upskill team leads and supervisory staff in critical areas including operations, finance, systems, and people management.  This programme is part of the National Skills to Advance Further Education and Training Initiative, which supports employers to develop their workforce and employees to avail of upskilling and reskilling opportunities.

 

The programmes were developed by SOLAS and the ETBs in partnership with the IHF, Fáilte Ireland and the Regional Skills Fora and offer hotels in Cork the opportunity to develop their team and help to entice new people into the industry. 

 

Fionna Sneddon Cork ETB

The focus is on developing skills to future proof the workforce in vulnerable occupations, businesses and sectors is central to the strategic mission of the Skills to Advance Initiative. Flexibility is assured both in programme content and delivery schedules to meet the sector’s requirements.

 

Cork ETB have created a dedicated team for the programme in order for employers to have a single point of contact.  Fiona Sneddon is the Further Education and Training Centre Manager for Cork ETB and as her background is in Hotel Management she is ideally placed to understand the challenges hotels face and provide practical training supports to help get them back up and running. 

 

Speaking in relation to the launch of the programme, Ms. Sneddon said:

 

“We understand the challenges the hotel industry is facing and know there will be even more pressures on hotels when they reopen, so we have designed this programme with a flexible modular approach.  The modules we have selected to start with are timely and we have already collaborated with industry on these. We also have numerous training facilities available at our hospitality campus and our team can assist with analysing training needs across each hotel.”

 

Commenting on the collaboration, Tim Fenn, Chief Executive of the IHF said:

“Our members remain committed to providing opportunities for career advancement and supporting continued professional training and development for their teams. With our global reputation for hospitality and proven quality product, Irish tourism will recover from the pandemic. Hotel teams will play a critical part in this and so it is important to facilitate them with flexible ways to enhance their skills and achieve recognition for their qualifications. We encourage full support for this important and timely Skills to Advance Initiative.”

Cork ETB, SOLAS and their enterprise partners encourage employers across the Hospitality and Tourism sector to avail of this opportunity to up-skill team leads and supervisory staff at this critical time for business recovery. Employers across the county and country will benefit by having access to local high-quality training to deal with the new business environment, its challenges, and opportunities.

Further information is available at corketb.ie, at Gov.ie/therightcourse and skillstoadvance.ie or by contacting Cork Education and Training Board’s Cork Training Centre directly on 021 4856200 or  valerie.cowman@corktrainingcentre.ie

 

Kerry entrepreneur launches Licensed Premises of Ireland creating 10 jobs

press release

Kerry entrepreneur launches Licensed Premises of Ireland creating 10 jobs

Sean O'Mahony

Kerry publican Sean O’Mahony has launched a new start-up company, Licensed Premises of Ireland, which will significantly reduce overheads for publicans as they prepare to re-open after lockdown. The company will create 10 new jobs across Ireland.

Licensed Premises of Ireland (LPOI) will provide services designed to reduce the cost of mainstream utilities for customers. The initiative will start by targeting everyday expenses that weigh heavily on licensed premises, including merchant services, cash handling, gas and electricity. 

Licensed Premises of Ireland works with individual owners of pubs, restaurants, hotels and nightclubs to analyse their day to day running costs, and use new partnerships to see those costs reduced.

Licensed Premises of Ireland worked with a number of pilot premises during lockdown to identify where value could be achieved, with surprising results.

Sean O’Mahony of Licensed Premises of Ireland says, “It is quite fitting that the company chose to launch a year to the day that public houses and Licensed Premises throughout the country were first closed. The bitter pill to swallow during this crisis, is that I was still paying for services even though my business was closed. Once I reviewed the expenditure for my own bar, I was shocked at some of the costs I was paying to be honest. It costs between €250 and €300 per day for a small pub just to open its doors. Unfortunately, I think I became somewhat complacent over the years and stayed with the same providers and suppliers out of pure convenience. We are excited for the future of Licensed Premises of Ireland and know that we can make a positive difference to the future of the licensed trade”.

A number of exclusive partnership deals have been secured with service providers, most notably with Brink’s Ireland.

Denise McCarthy, Head of Sales at Brink’s Cash Services Ireland said “We are excited to be working with Licensed Premises of Ireland in relation to the cash handling aspect of their business. The exclusive offer arranged for LPOI customers offers significantly lower cash processing and coin/note supply rates than what financial institutions are offering. This coupled with the fact that owners will no longer need to travel to the bank will ensure that not only will customers save money but also valuable time and resources.”

Negotiations are at an advanced stage with a number of other service providers and further industry partners will be announced shortly. 

This is not the first time that Sean will have innovated to support the licensed trade in Ireland. He previously launched “Social Spin” in 2019 in conjunction with Diageo and the Vintners Federation of Ireland. 

The Head Office of Licensed Premises of Ireland will be based in Faha, Killarney, Co. Kerry, with sales teams operating across the 26 counties. Owners of licensed premises looking to reduce their costs prior to re-opening are advised to visit www.lpoi.ie or call 064 66 86001.

Goldie Weekend with Bosca na Farraige

Goldie Weekend with Bosca na Farraige

Delicious Catch From Cork’s Fish Restaurant 

Top right: Brandade, crackers, pickles.

Bottom Right: mussels

Bottom Left: Mullet

Top left: Crisps, cream.

We’ve been doing really well with our Click & Collect or At Home meals over the past few lockdown months with local city restaurants serving up innovative and often top quality meals and in such huge variety. 

We were lucky to get another beauty last weekend, from the folks at Goldie who have been making quite a reputation for themselves as the little restaurant in the heart of Cork City serving fantastic fish with a whole catch approach, an approach that has already earned them a Michelin Bib Gourmand.

Co-owners of Goldie, Aishling Moore (Head Chef)  and Stephen Kehoe, care about what they do and it shows, not just on their fantastic plates. The containers and packaging from last week’s Click & Collect were all compostable.

Quite a few containers here as you can see from the picture. So where would we start? We decided to follow the line of the menu and begin with containers 1,2, and 3 which respectively contained Salt Fish Brandade, seaweed crackers and Goldie House pickles. We were on a winner immediately. Their brandade (an emulsion of sea fish, potato and olive oil )was smooth and quietly though insistently flavoursome. The crackers too were tasty, and practical as a tool for scooping up the brandade, while the pickles added a tart contrast. 

By the way, they even supplied their recipe for Goldie House pickles at the back of the instructions. And, just to mention, there is no cooking, virtually no preparation at all involved here. You just can’t go wrong,. Even I can’t go wrong!

After a few sips of the Izadi Rioja Blanco (DOC) 2019, we moved on to the second stage: Prawn Cocktail Crisps with cultured cream. Those crisps were delightful - I reckon they could sell them in bags - and the cultured cream added a nice little tang! Those crisps “are one of our favourite snacks to serve at the restaurant. We use all the shells and heads of langoustines to make a flavourful seasoning..”

More Rioja Blanco as we progressed to Box No 6: The Roaring Water Bay Mussels, with Fish Shop XO Sauce. These are cooked and picked West Cork mussels dressed in the sauce, a deep and spicy Southern Chinese style sauce. Well, put them together and we had quite the treat and here we began to tuck into the Buckwheat & Sea Salt Pretzel Buns, just the job to mop up the remaining sauce from the plate. 

There was a suggestion on the leaflet that these mussels could be gently warmed in a pot and served with some egg fried rice for lunch, a good suggestion I’m sure, but they never got that far, all polished off on the night.

Could Aishling beat that delicious dish? Beat is hardly the word I suppose but she and her team certainly came up with an other delightful fish course: Confit of Vindaloo Red Mullet with Kachumber salad (her take on an Indian salad usually of chopped tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, etc). Quite a substantial dish, again full of flavour, beautiful fleshy fish and hints of spice. This little place is doing so much for fish in Ireland and I’m sure there’s more to come from the brains trust here!

Do Goldie do dessert? Of course they do, more often than not with a touch of the sea. And our delight with the coffee was a couple each of their Wisdom Ale & Achill Island Sea Salt Fudge. The ale comes from across the street, from the Elbow Lane micro-brewery (part of the Market Lane group, just like Goldie). 

They keep it local here, support local, including  the day-boat fishermen. Goldie is a shining example of sustainability and ethical sourcing demonstrating time and again, in-house and via takeout, that they have the skill and commitment to bring a whole new level to the consumption of fish in Ireland.

And, by the way, that multi-pot dinner cost us just 30 euro, not each but for the two of us! Great food, great value. Check out the box for the coming weekend!

The Menu

– Salt fish brandade, seaweed crackers, Goldie house pickles.

– Prawn Cocktail crisps, cultured cream.

– Roaring Water Bay Mussels, Fish Shop XO sauce.

– Buckwheat & Sea Salt pretzels.

- Confit of Vindaloo Red Mullet, Kachumber salad

– Wisdom Ale & Achill Island sea salt fudge.

All items are cold and ready to eat, best on the day but can be enjoyed throughout the weekend as part of lunch, dinner and everywhere in between. Perfect for two people sharing.

BLACKS GETTING INTO THE ‘SPIRIT’ OF ST. PATRICK’S DAY WITH LIMITED EDITION SHAMROCK GIN

press release 

BLACKS GETTING INTO ‘SPIRIT’ OF ST. PATRICK’S DAY

-Blacks Brewery & Distillery Release Limited Edition Shamrock Gin-

 

 

Forget gold, this St. Patrick’s Day there is Blacks at the end of the rainbow! As we once again face a St. Patrick’s Day in lockdown, Blacks, Ireland's first co-located brewery & distillery, are not letting this dampen their spirits.

 

With a reputation for pushing the boundaries of flavour when crafting their range of award-winning spirits, and escaping the mundane of the mass market by producing craft beers with passion, personality and lots of hops, Blacks launch a limited-edition Shamrock Gin.

 

This Blacks Shamrock Gin is a small batch distillery exclusive as part of their Blacks Experimental Series, which also includes a Peach Moonshine. This Paddy’s Day must-have is infused with Shamrock & Mint to give this gin a mouth-watering Irish twist.

 

To ensure the perfect serve, this limited-edition St. Patrick’s Day spirit comes with the essentials to make a Blacks Shamrock Shake - Blacks Shamrock Gin (70cl) and a bottle of Monin Frosted Mint Syrup (70cl). All you have to do is add ice, fresh lemon and Sláinte! (see below for full recipe)

 

This special offer is available exclusively through the Blacks online store and retails at €47. Order yours today at www.blacksbrewery.com/shop/. To stay up to date on new exclusives and offers follow Blacks on Facebook\BlacksBrewery&Distillery, Instagram\blacksbrewery and Twitter @BlacksBrewery

 

Blacks Shamrock Shake

 

Ingredients

60 ml Blacks Shamrock Gin

3 Wedges of Lemon

10ml Frosted Mint Syrup

10 ml Sugar Syrup ( 1:1 ratio of water: sugar)

Garnish

Fresh Shamrock

Instructions

1.    Muddle lemon wedges, mint syrup and sugar syrup in a long glass

2.    Add Blacks Shamrock Gin and top up with ice

3.    Stir the contents of the glass until chilled and diluted

4.    Top up with more ice and garnish with a lemon wedge and fresh shamrock

Iberian Aces From Mary Pawle. One Spanish Tinto. One Portuguese Branco.

Iberian Aces From Mary Pawle. 

One Spanish Tinto. One Portuguese Branco. 

Bodegas Pinuaga Tinto, Vino de la Tierra Castilla 2019, 13%, €13.15, Mary Pawle.

Pinuaga Tinto Stockists include:

 

Taste, Castletownbere

Olive Branch, Clonakilty

Mortons of Galway

Little Green Grocer, Kilkenny

The Grainey, Scarriff

Colour of this Spanish red is a mid ruby. The aromas are full of red and darker fruit. Very promising and that promise is fulfilled on the palate. Vibrant, with  fruit galore, expressive with a touch of spice, good acidity to balance. Young, yet with character, the blend is very approachable, all the way through to the finish. Your lips will tell you the tannins are still a factor. Nice touch of smoothness though in the mouthfeel. Very quaffable and should have no problem pairing with the suggested salads, tapas, pintos and bbq (serve at 12 degrees). Good idea to have a few of these bottles in the cellar or in your usual cool dark spot! Highly Recommended. Very well priced too by the way.

This wine comes from a single vineyard of 5 Hectare of Grenache and 3 Ha of old, Tempranillo bush vines. The Tempranillo clone is called Cencibel and it produces smaller grapes with very soft and silky skin and has a much longer ripening period. Hand harvested in early September, the wine is fermented with indigenous yeasts in stainless steel tanks.

In 1960, the first generation of Pinuaga winemakers established the winery in the village of Corral de Almaguer, province of Toledo.

Today, the second and third generation of the Pinuaga family, Valentin and Esther, maintain the old vines with much care and pride, following a minimal intervention philosophy, using natural and artisanal winemaking processes and recovering indigenous clones. The quality of the wines is driven by the characteristic of the soils, age of vines, grape variety and organic farming practices; all of these parameters are present in every wine, making them singular and unique.

Altitude is a key factor here, as it is in much of Spain. According to the World Atlas of Wine, “a good 90% of all Spanish vineyards lie at altitudes higher than any major French wine region” and this, especially in Castilla y Leon, helps maintain acidity enough to keep the wines relatively fresh. The altitude benefit means “growers can depend on cool nights to ‘fix’ colour and flavour in the grapes ripened during the torrid summer days”.  

Casa De Mouraz Encruzado Vinho Branco DãO (DOC) 2016, 13%, €21.00 Mary Pawle Wines

Little Green Grocer, Kilkenny

+ selected Restaurants  

Leading Portuguese winemaker Antonio Braga admits to falling in love with the  Encruzado grape variety, the noblest white variety of the Dão: “It grows in complexity as it ages, is great for oak ageing. It has a wonderful gastronomic ability to cut through fatty foods. It is an autumn wine, a fireplace wine. It may not be in fashion but it is a wonderful variety, wonderful to work with.”

In 1997, Casa de Mouraz became the first biodynamic winery in the Dao. Portuguese grapes aren't that well known individually in this country. Encruzado, the grape here, is “potentially the best white grape of the DAO” according to Grapes and Wine. Barrel fermentation and lees stirring help bring out the character. It is indigenous and regarded as the most important white grape in the region and this particular wine has had eight months on fine lees with batonage.

Colour ion this 2016 vintage is a mid-straw. Aromas of medium intensity recall white fruits and citrus, floral notes too, and I noticed a slight whiff of a Riesling-like diesel. Fresh fruit flavours (apricot, peach), excellent mouthfeel, acidity enough to nudge it towards crisp and a decent citrus-y finish too. Mineral and  floral, fresh and structured, it is quite harmonious and Highly Recommended.

Food pairings include: Oven baked fish (such as codfish, salmon or tuna). Also very good with white meat and some vegetarian dishes like pasta with pesto or cheese sauces. Aside from handling full flavoured fish dishes (also the Portuguese favourite bacalao), it is excellent on its own. very versatile indeed. Serve at a temperature of 11-12ºC

The first thing you’ll note is that the cork is covered with a wax. Just remove that with the blade on your corkscrew. It is fairly soft but be careful! Alternatively, warm the top by rubbing it with the palm of your hand. Then plunge in the corkscrew as usual and it should all come away. If you get it right, just a little disc of the wax will come  away with the cork. Video demo here.