A Champion Morgon By Chamonard. Opening "always a precious moment"

Champion Morgon By Chamonard

Chamonard Morgon Le Clos de la Lys (AC) 2017, 13%, 

€27.95 Le Caveau, 64 Wine, Greenman Wines, Bradleys Cork 

Domaine Chamonard is a small winery located in the heart of Beaujolais. It produces organic and natural wines from the vineyards it cultivates in Villié-Morgon. I first came across this one at the Le Caveau Portfolio tasting in early 2020. If I had to pick one from the lot that day,  this would have been it!

It comes in the expected pale colour. Aromas are both floral and fruity (raspberry, plum) and a little earthy. It ambushes you on the palate, so rich and intense, the flavours of one of the most fruity of wines and the characteristic acidity going toe to toe and a pleasing balance emerges and the velvety wine heads to a refreshing and lasting finish.

Enjoyed it three years ago and happy to have it now. No dinner this evening (had a big lunch earlier) but the Chamonard is going down well with a simple (lazy!) supper of cheddar and sourdough (from Vinilo of Lismore).

Wine Folly says Gamay is often compared with Pinot Noir (they are related!). “Gamay wines are loved for their delicate floral aromas, subtle earthy notes, and surprising ability to pair with food (even fish!). The best part is, you can find high quality Gamay at a much better price than Pinot Noir.” In the book, they underline its versatility at the table with suggested pairings from “sweet and sour salmon to beef stroganoff or even sesame tempeh”.

Very Highly Recommended.

The Gamay grape, outlawed by Royal decree in 1395  for being “a very bad and disloyal plant”, is now one of the most respected, at least when grown in the Beaujolais region. Morgan is one of ten cru areas here and one of the better known ones. The full list is Chiroubles, Saint Amour, Fleurie, Régnié, Brouilly, Cote de Brouilly, Juliénas, Chénas, Morgon and Moulin-à-Vent.

Importers Le Caveau are big fans of Chamonard: “Opening a bottle of Morgon from Domaine Chamonard is always a precious moment…. From 4 hectares of vines averaging 60 years old, mainly from the best parcels ……..the grapes are hand-harvested in late - October to maximize ripeness and in order to make an intensive selection of only the best fruit. The results of all of this effort is in the bottle, you just need to pull the cork to see for yourself.”

Dungarvan's Cheerful Shamrock Restaurant

 Dungarvan's Cheerful Shamrock Restaurant

Where everybody knows your name

And they're always glad you came

You wanna go where people know

People are all the same

You wanna go where everybody knows your name

I was reminded of these words from the theme song of Cheers (the well-loved TV series) when listening to the conversations at the Shamrock Restaurant in Dungarvan on a recent evening. The restaurant is as well up in the popularity stakes as Cheers having been serving the good people of the town, and their visitors, for over 40 years.

Just to be clear. They didn't know my name. I was a blow-in and now could well blow-in again, such was the quality of the food, well-cooked well priced too, the buzz of conviviality. Incoming customers greeted by name by the staff, these customers greeting diners already at table as they passed in and passed out.

By the way, they also have rooms upstairs and these have been described as a great addition to Dungarvan by one of the town’s leading people (who is in the same business). I reckon it would be great to stay there, so central and no doubt friendly. Next time!

Steak

Anyhow, we were there for our evening meal. We knew the menu, more or less. Shamrock use social media but in a targeted way. Every day the menu goes up.You wonder why, as there seems no change, at first glance. But a more careful look reveals a few changes, always a few. After all, variety is the spice of life.

And I got a little spice, just a little in my starter, a delicious threesome of well packed Spring Rolls with accompanying salad. Notice that I said threesome; you usually get two but here it was three for just 8 euro.

Happy with the starter and very happy indeed with my mains: an 8 oz Striploin Steak Sandwich (€15) in a garlic ciabatta with caramelised onions, fresh rocket and chips. Meat was as tender and flavoursome as could be, cooked to medium as requested, and the garlic, the onions and salad all top notch as were the fries. Even better when washed down with a bottle of 9 White Deer Kolsch (6.00), a craft beer from the Ballyvourney brewer. Steak and beer both highly recommended.

Chicken

And good vibes too from the other side of the table where CL was tucking into her Roast stuffed breast of chicken (€12.00) served with broccoli and root vegetables (the veg well cooked, neither too hard nor too soft), mashed potatoes and a generous pour of gravy, this was very satisfactory plateful indeed.

We were so well fed, we declined desserts even though they were just a fiver each and included Triple Chocolate Fudge Cake, Bakewell Tart, Carrot Cake (gluten free), Sticky Toffee Pudding (qluten free), Chocolate & Orange Cake, Apple Tart, Rhubarb and Strawberry Crumble, Apple and Strawberry Crumble.

And more (including specials at weekends), and all served with cream, Ice-cream or custard.

On this trip

Mount Congreve, Kilmeaden

The Local, Dungarvan

The Baker's Table of Lismore

Vinilo, Lismore

Marvellous Sunny Morning On The Vee (Waterford/Tipperary)

360 Town Stay, Dungarvan

The Shamrock

Seafood Delights at Cliff House Hotel Festival Lunch

Marvellous Sunny Morning on The Vee

 Marvellous Sunny Morning on The Vee

The Vee has always been a "spin" for many in Cork City. I always head that way if I'm in the general area. Last week, we decided to make it again and rewarded ourselves with a lovely brunch at The Bakers Table of Lismore. Coming from our base in Dungarvan, we drove through Cappoquin and also passed Mount Melleray on the way up. Once there, we stopped at most of the viewing points, before heading down to Lismore for the grub! 

Bay Lough Lake at the Vee, a pretty easy walk down from the road above.

Mount Melleray

The Owenashad River nearing Lismore where it joins the Blackwater.

Mount Melleray

Is this Clogheen town in the middle distance? Anyone?

Sheep using a seat for a scratching session!

People use mountain as a bin

I would not have seen yellow fields of rape when I first came
up here many years ago.

On this trip

Mount Congreve, Kilmeaden

The Local, Dungarvan

The Baker's Table of Lismore

Vinilo, Lismore

Marvellous Sunny Morning On The Vee (Waterford/Tipperary)

360 Town Stay, Dungarvan

The Shamrock

Seafood Delights at Cliff House Hotel Festival Lunch

OFFBEAT REVEALS THE ULTIMATE CORK FLAVOURED DONUT

press release

OFFBEAT REVEALS THE ULTIMATE CORK FLAVOURED DONUT

Offbeat Donuts has created a new Tanora flavoured donut to mark six months in the Rebel City.  The leading bakery, which is proud to be 100% Irish, launched a competition asking the people of Cork to design a brand new donut for its popular store on French Church Street. 

The winning pure-Cork donut is the ‘Me Daza Donut’ - a term of approval in Cork slang. It’s filled with a tangerine cream, topped with a Tanora glaze and sprinkled with popping candy. The limited edition sweet treat is now on sale at Offbeat Donuts in Cork city. 

Tanora is a popular soft drink that was first introduced to Cork in the 1930s and remains a firm favourite today. 

Sandra O’Casey from Offbeat Donuts said, “We’ve had great fun with this competition and were blown away by the delicious suggestions from the people of Cork with fillings ranging from Jameson whiskey-flavoured cream and Rasa raspberry cordial, to savoury ones like Hillbillies chicken and black pudding. However, there could only be one winner and Tanora is such a uniquely Cork drink that we simply had to make it. ”

OffBeat is one of the largest fresh donut bakeries in Ireland and has eight stores in Dublin and Cork employing 120 people. Cork native Brian and his wife Sandra O’Casey began experimenting with flavours in a development kitchen located in their shed before they opened their first store in Pearse Station, Westland Row in May 2016. 

The donuts are freshly made from scratch on-site every day, with customers able to observe the entire baking process while in store.

LEADING IRISH BAKERY REVEALS HOW CORK vs DUBLIN TASTES DIFFER

Offbeat Donuts has made almost 18 million donuts fresh in store since 2016

Brian O'Casey, founder of Offbeat Donuts, pictured with team members Alanna Dolan and Chloe McCarthy. Picture: Michael O'Sullivan /OSM PHOTO

One of Ireland’s leading bakeries has revealed a surprising difference in the tastes of its customers in Dublin and Cork. Offbeat Donuts, which is proud to be 100% Irish, has found that customers in the capital seek out fruit flavours first. In Cork, it has emerged that consumers are in love with hazelnut, opting for kinder bueno and nutella flavours before any other. 

OffBeat is one of the largest fresh donut bakeries in Ireland and has eight stores in Dublin and Cork employing 120 people. Since 2016, Offbeat Donuts has made a whopping 17.65 million donuts. That’s enough donuts to line the route from Dublin to Cork more than five times over. 

In Cork, the most popular flavours are ‘Bueno Bueno’, ‘Happy Hippo’ and ‘Nutella’ all of which contain hazelnut and chocolate toppings or fillings. In contrast, customers in Dublin are drawn towards ‘Offbeat Jam’, ‘Apple Crumble’ and ‘Cookies and Creme’ first.

Plant based donuts are also increasingly popular in both locations, however, sales in Cork are increasing at a faster rate and now account for 15% of all sales in Cork and 7% of sales in Dublin. Offbeat Donuts now offers three vegan flavours including biscoff, chocolate cookie and chocolate ganache. 

Alanna Dolan and Chloe McCarthy

Husband and wife duo Brian and Sandra O’Casey began experimenting with flavours in a development kitchen located in their shed before they opened their first store in Pearse Station, Westland Row in May 2016. 

Sandra O’Casey said, “In September 2022 we opened our first store outside of the capital in French Church Street, in Cork City. It has been a huge success and we’ve produced around 400,000 donuts in store since then. We always wondered if there were any differences in the tastes between our customers in Cork and Dublin and now we know. What’s clear is that our customers in the Rebel County love hazelnuts and chocolate while in Dublin they prefer our classic Jam Donut or Apple Crumble.  It’s incredible to think that we’ve produced nearly 18 million donuts since 2016. We work with some incredible Irish suppliers who have been with us since day one, we continue to work with them as we develop new and exciting flavours to suit all tastes.”

The first donut flavour Brian and Sandra O’Casey created was ‘Glazed’ which was quickly followed by ‘Sprinkles’. It’s estimated that Offbeat Donuts has used more than 8 tonnes of 100s and 1000s over the last 7 years with approximately 4,400 sprinkles on each donut. 

OffBeat donuts are freshly made from scratch on-site every day, with customers able to observe the entire baking process while in store. In addition to its large selection of hand-crafted donuts, OffBeat serves loaded ice-cream cones, ethically sourced coffee, cookies and freshly made milkshakes. 

Kate and Denis have shown in six years that they've got what it takes to lead the revival of Mead in Ireland. An impressive palette of flavours from Kinsale.

Kate and Denis have shown in six years that they've got what it takes to lead the revival of Mead in Ireland. 

Already, an impressive palette of flavours from Kinsale.

Cleanliness. Temperature Control. Good Ingredients. These are vital if you are in the mead business (or in any any food or beverage business). Add in infinite patience and enthusiasm, the appropriate skills and hard work.

See the Wild Geese on this marvellous Barrel Aged mead

And these qualities were evident in abundance during our recent visit to the Kinsale Mead Company, officially opened on Friday the 13th October 2017 (following a period of unofficial trial and error).

Kate and Denis Dempsey are the couple behind the venture and, in 2016, they went to work to rediscover the ancient art of mead making and to create a world-class range of light and refreshing drinks. Much has been achieved since then. They have certainly opened many eyes (palates?), both here and abroad, to the flavours and possibilities of the ancient drink.

St Bridget

But they are not sitting back these days, far from it. If you have the good fortune to have had a tour  here, you’ll know of their enthusiasm. And you’ll also have heard of the history of the drink and the bees, the bees because honey is the main ingredient in mead.

Two of the bees from Gobnait's sculpture in Ballyvourney

They have some marvellous illustrated info-posters by local artist Fiona Boniwell on the walls of the reception and one in particular deals with the Bechbretha, the Brehon Bee Judgements. The Brehon system was quite revolutionary for the early medieval age and dealt with all kinds of situations involving those between humans but also including animals.

There was a full set of laws and judgements relating to cattle for instance and, yes, also for bees. A compensation was laid out for an injury (even as simple as a sting). There was a procedure in place to deal with swarms, even if a neighbour’s bees “invaded’ a person’s land to gather nectar. Not surprisingly, honey also featured as a compensation.

Denis. Waiting by the barrels!

Very very detailed stuff indeed - just Google it and see for yourself. Edited by Thomas Charles-Edwards, Bechbretha is available in Cork City Library.

Saint Gobnait features in the posters - many of you will have seen the rather large bees that sculptor Seamus Murphy included in his statue of her in Ballyvourney. In the meadery itself, there are a couple of murals and here a golden-haired St Bridget is seen urging a bunch of bees to go forth in search of the precious nectar so they can make more honey.

St Bridget is also regarded as the patron saint of brewers and,  just a few days back, I enjoyed a beer, a Honey Hefeweizen from Wicklow Wolf, that used honey from the locality and supplied to the brewery by @openhivehoney.

You can have all the stories and saints you want but your product still needs to have substance and Kate and Denis are strong on all counts. The meads are superb and vary a lot so there is something there for every taste as we found out in our tasting.

Kinsale Wild Red Mead (12% ABV) is a gorgeous melomel mead fermented off-dry with Irish blackcurrants, dark cherries and pure honey. Melomel mead has fruit as an ingredient and here it comes through here beautifully.

Kinsale Atlantic Dry Mead (12% ABV) is a delicious, off-dry traditional style mead (no fruit), beautifully crisp with a lovely citrus honey flavour

The third in their Signature series is Kinsale Hazy Summer Mead (11% ABV) a fabulous, fruity, off-dry berry mead with generous strawberry and raspberry aromas, a lovely burst of summer berries and a smooth, subtle honey finish. 

They also do a series of barrel aged meads. The Wild Red Mead – Merlot Barrel Aged (12% ABV) is a gorgeous 3 year-old berry mead fermented off dry and silky smooth and matured for the last 12 months in French Merlot wine barrels to add intriguing structure and depth. An exceptional, unique mead, a lively, attractive drink with a decadent richness. The beautiful label was inspired by the story of the “Wild Geese”.

Another is the Atlantic Dry Mead – Sauternes Barrel Aged (12% ABV) , a gorgeous 3-year-old traditional mead fermented from orange blossom honey, matured for the last 12 months in a French oak wine barrel to add intriguing structure and depth. The third is the same Atlantic Dry Mead – this time aged in White Port Barrel (12% ABV),  matured for the last 12 months in an oak port barrel to add spicy oak depth.

We were also privileged to taste the Kinsale Irish Wildflower Mead. This is a very special, limited edition mead made from 100% Irish summer wildflower honey from the  Chanting Bee Apiary. This honey is a lovely expression of the aromas and flavours of West Cork. Quite a few of the meads were seen on celebrity chef, John Torode’s Ireland on the Food Network.

John Torode wasn't the only TV chef to visit Kinsale Mead. Neven came too!

It may be the only Irish honey based mead that they produce - all their other honey comes from Spain as Irish honey is just not available in any quantity - but the Dempseys do use Irish as much as possible.

Their blackcurrants (from day 1) are supplied by Des Jeffares (Wexford), wild berries from John Howard of Rathcormac (John is also into wildflower seeds) and that Irish honey is by West Cork’s Paul Kelly (of Kelly Family fame). Local artists are supported like Fiona Boniwell who, in addition to the Bechbretha poster, also has done a splendid Mead Map of Ireland for them while the eye-catching counter was crafted in Carrignavar from timber between two and three hundred years old..

I mentioned patience at the start. Honey mead is slow to finish (though the fruit version is faster). You are talking about 6 to 18 months to mature and then another 12 are added with the barrel-aged trio.

A honey tasting.

They have some excellent technology on their side such as a US made Ozone-ator, their German tanks are very well made (no crevices inside where the nasties might hide) and they have a Ferrari bottle washer! Also a bit of luck in that Kinsale’s hard water is ideal for Mead.

They do all this themselves, on the road promoting far and wide, in the meadery when required, with the help of a small staff including daughter Grace who just loves the festivals and tastings.

We mentioned melomel mead (those with fruit) earlier. There are quite a few other types. How do serve them? Can you use them in cocktails. Besides, you’ll probably have quite a few questions on mead in general. And here too Kinsale Mead can help you. They have a long list of FAQ and much more info (including on those tours) on their excellent website here .