Tasty turnout for Australia Day
“Lots of key buyers were there including Lynne Coyle MW from O’Briens and Richard Ecock from Dunnes Stores,” she said, adding, “The on-trade were especially well-represented with many of the top young Sommeliers making the effort to come along to the Masterclass as well as the tasting.
“There was a great buzz in the room and the new venue was really good, especially the layout and its position in central Dublin.”
Overall hosts Wine Australia were very pleased by the broad reach of trade who attended including many importers interested in the wineries seeking representation and the off-licence owners.
With European prices skyrocketing these days Australia is now of enormous interest to the independent off-trade, especially at mid-price and premium level, believe off-licensees such as Jimmy Redmond.
“Some of the increases we’d seen coming out of the devastation of the crop in Northern Europe” he told Drinks Industry Ireland, “where sizeable increases had emerged across those wines which we’d be very biased in relation to as European consumers. That was one of the reasons I decided to go to the Australia Day Tasting to see if there was anything outside of what I’d know in terms of value and quality and I was pleasantly surprised by what I found.
“There wasn’t a lot of Pinot Noir there but there were certainly interesting blends, Semillons, Rieslings and other whites as well as Shiraz and Cabernets…. A lot under the €20-mark was to be had at good quality/price ratios which I felt had not been the case of late…”.
