Kevin Ecock's WinePod

Kevin Ecock talks wine, explores wine, and tastes wine with experts from across the world of wine. This is the Wine Pod.

Bodega Tandem: Brilliance in Navarra 10/15/2021

WineOnline.ie : A podcast with Will Mullin 09/29/2021

PradoRey: Ribero del Duero Excellence 08/20/2021

Nicolò and Matteo Luxardo: 200 Years of Excellence 08/09/2021

Matthew Nugan of Nugan Estates: a Great Australian Success Story 07/28/2021

The Allotment Wine Co : New Shoots for Our Wine Trade 07/14/2021

Alison Flemming MW: Reh Kendermann and the Wines of Germany 07/01/2021

Virginia Willcox at Vasse Felix: A podcast from the Heart of the Margaret River. 06/10/2021

Gerard Bertrand: Peace, Love, Harmony and Exceptional Wine 05/21/2021

Wine Intelligence - a podcast chat with Richard Halstead 05/19/2021

Ehrmanns and Sherry : a podcast with Peter Dauthieu jr 05/06/2021

Lanzarote Wine Tours and Wine Shop: A Fabulous Experience 04/27/2021

Lanzarote Wine Tours and Wine Shop: A Fabulous Experience I took part in a Virtual Wine Tour of Lanzarote recently. It was brilliant. What an extraordinary landscape! This image is from Turismo Lanzarote. Watch the video before you listen to this podcast with Ollie Horton of . It brings it all alive! was set up by Ollie Horton, an English man from the Channel Islands. (He does, intriguingly, mention that there was an Irishman involved also ...) The business seemed like a great idea for someone with a background in - surfing and finance! Well, it was. Why? Because Ollie knew the island backwards, had taken a genuine interest in its unique wines and craft beers. He could see there was a gap in the market. His potential customer base would be found hidden amongst the hundreds of thousands of sun seeking tourists who flocked in from the UK and Ireland every year. Bingo. It worked. And why not - Lanzarote has some of the most extraordinary vineyards in the world built into its slopes of ancient lava flows. Then Covid hit. Tourism ceased and the Lanzarote Wine Tours business crashed. Not to be deterred Ollie set up Lanzarote Virtual Wine Tours along with an online wine shop - . They work hand in hand as when you buy a virtual tour you are also sent a bottle of wine from the Island. The wine shop is top class. It gathers the best products from a number of the island's best wineries and allows you to mix and match. Delivery was initially a UK and Ireland only service but has since expanded across the rest of Europe. This podcast has a slight echo feel to Ollie's voice - but, then, he was speaking to us from an island! Enjoy. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- While all restaurants in Ireland were closed until Christmas 2020 many reopened. That was great news - Open Again. Then we heard that they had to close once more - on Christmas Eve. Tough times, Tough times indeed. Here's hoping for a more successful business environment in 2021. Hopefully after Easter? was the Hope. Now it's likely mid June - outdoor dining only.... We should remember that many of these, including the wonderful Monty's of Kathmandu, are family businesses. They are often small and brilliant and need our support more than ever. Keep Safe and Keep well. Kevin Ecock's WinePod is brought to us with the assistance of the - an excellent place to host your next event or celebration. Contact Shiva at 01 -6704911 or at the Santa Rita Wine Room web page. /episode/index/show/winepod/id/18880289

Roka: The Cabots - from Westport to Slovenia 04/14/2021

Roka: The Cabots - from Westport to Slovenia Sinead and Liam Cabot run an excellent wine distribution business, ., in Westport, Co. Mayo They also run an excellent vineyard and wine production business, () in Slovenia. At one time they also operated an excellent wine store in the IFSC in Dublin. Clearly, while they are defined by excellence they can also be defined as a couple who are willing to travel the long mile to find it. The recording for this podcast caught up with the Cabots just after they had driven 2,500kms to their vineyard. It is in Kog in the Stajerska region of eastern Slovenia. We began with the obvious! How do you do it? Why? This quickly moved on to the history of their venture and finally the wines. What a great story. True passion. Genuine emotion. 'Roka' means 'Hand' and the three wines that I have recently tasted are excellent, memorable and unique to their origin and production. The Cabot website has a fabulous piece on the vineyard and its wines written by Tamlyn Curran. Read it . Roka is on sale in Ireland across many select wine stores. It sells out every year. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- While all restaurants in Ireland were closed until Christmas 2020 many reopened. That was great news - Open Again. Then we heard that they had to close once more - on Christmas Eve. Tough times, Tough times indeed. Here's hoping for a more successful business environment in 2021. Hopefully after Easter? was the Hope. Now it's likely mid June - outdoor dining only.... We should remember that many of these, including the wonderful Monty's of Kathmandu, are family businesses. They are often small and brilliant and need our support more than ever. Keep Safe and Keep well. Kevin Ecock's WinePod is brought to us with the assistance of the - an excellent place to host your next event or celebration. Contact Shiva at 01 -6704911 or at the Santa Rita Wine Room web page. /episode/index/show/winepod/id/18720848

Kanonkop Pinotage: Deidre Taylor on the Jewel from South Africa 04/01/2021

Clive Weston of Nautilus Wines: Among the Very Best from New Zealand. 03/23/2021

Clive Weston of Nautilus Wines: Among the Very Best from New Zealand. Our Podcast was with Clive Weston of of New Zealand. That was recorded at their Ireland agents' office, , in Dublin. It was this week all the way back in 2019! How everything has changed since then. What has not changed is that Nautilus Wine Estate of Marlborough in New Zealand continues to make some of the finest wine available. Their website says it all: The Striking Nautilus Shell - it's shape expressing natural beauty and mathematical perfection is our inspiration to create a collection of expressive, textural precisely crafted wines. We are very pleased here to present a new podcast with Clive Weston. This was recorded last week via Zoom during the grape harvest in New Zealand - Vintage 2021. During our discussion we touched on this years harvest, new developments at Nautilus and New Zealand wines in general. We also tasted a few wines! Follow each of these wines in the podcast. Note that, while my photography skills are not the best, the very clear and youthful colour of the 2015 Pinot Gris is noticeable. Both the Chardonnay and Pinot Noir were supplied for the podcast by Nautilus while the Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Gris By Cassidy Wines. Nautilus Pinot Gris 2015 Nautilus Sauvignon Blanc 2019 Nautilus Southern Valleys Pinot Noir 2017 GOLD at the NZ Royal Easter Show Nautilus Chardonnay 2019 GOLD at the NZ Royal Easter Show Each wine is spectacular with the Chardonnay taking the honours for me. It is bright, alert and simply packed in much the way a good apple tart might be - layers on layers of adventures in fruit and texture! Nautilus is a proud member of the - Twelve Exceptional New Zealand Wineries. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ While all restaurants in Ireland were closed until recently many reopened. That was great news - Open Again. Then we heard that they had to close once more - on Christmas Eve. Tough times, Tough times indeed. Here's hoping for a more succesful business environment in 2021. Hopefully after Easter? We should remember that many of these, including the wonderful Monty's of Kathmandu, are family businesses. They are often small and brilliant and need our support more than ever. Keep Safe and Keep well. Kevin Ecock's WinePod is brought to us with the assistance of the - an excellent place to host your next event or celebration. Contact Shiva at 01 -6704911 or at the Santa Rita Wine Room web page. /episode/index/show/winepod/id/18435044

Gaia Wines of Santorini and Nemea: Leon Karatsalos tells us his story. 03/19/2021

Gaia Wines of Santorini and Nemea: Leon Karatsalos tells us his story. always means top notch and unforgettable Assyrtiko from the volcanic Greek island of Santorini. These are Greek wines that sit at the top table of quality wines. Of course, there's a lot more to Gaia Wines! In this podcast, owner and founding partner, Leon Karatsalos guides us through the wines that he produces at Santorini and also at Nemea. Santorini for Gaia is exclusively the white Assyrtiko grape. These are ungrafted vines grown on young volcanic soils. Quite how these vines achieve full ripeness under magnificent Greek sunshine and yet retain such sparkling acidity is a constant mystery to me! But they do, and in turn, bring us some of the most interesting white wines on the market today. Nemea for Gaia is all about the red Agiorgitiko grape. We need to see more of these red wines on our shelves. They make such a unique and satisfying style of wine with soft delicious fruits to the fore. (Wikipedia tells us that, 'In Nemea, the Agiorgitiko wine of the region is nicknamed the "Blood of Hercules" based on the legend of the Greek hero slaying the Nemean lion'. Now, we're talking!!) The wines of Gaia are imported to Ireland by . ------------------------------------------------------------------------ While all restaurants in Ireland were closed until recently many reopened. That was great news - Open Again. Then we heard that they had to close once more - on Christmas Eve. Tough times, Tough times indeed. Here's hoping for a more succesful business environment in 2021. We should remember that many of these, including the wonderful Monty's of Kathmandu, are family businesses. They are often small and brilliant and need our support more than ever. Keep Safe and Keep well. Kevin Ecock's WinePod is brought to us with the assistance of the - an excellent place to host your next event or celebration. Contact Shiva at 01 -6704911 or at the Santa Rita Wine Room web page. /episode/index/show/winepod/id/18390176

Federica Boffa of Pio Cesare: 140 years of Barolo Barbaresco excellence 03/09/2021

Wine in China and Chinese Wine: A podcast with Janet Wang 02/23/2021

Veronique Drouhin: Making Magic in Burgundy and Oregon 02/16/2021

The Catena Zapata Adrianna Vineyard: one of the Finest in the World 02/11/2021

The Catena Zapata Adrianna Vineyard: one of the Finest in the World Soil, Location and Vine. Over the millenia farmers have understood that chance is best left at the door when choosing 'what to grow' and 'where to grow'. Experience is a better bed fellow. Sometimes, though, a grower will make a decision based on a soil analysis along with a great deal of knowledge and experience but because no-one had ever attempted to venture into this territory before then chance is their inevitable traveling companion. In 1992 planted a vineyard 5,000 feet above sea level in the Uco Valley of Mendoza in Argentina. Noone had attempted this before. It would be ten years before they knew whether folly or reputation would benefit. This is the In this episode Pedro San Martin of brings us closer to the stones and vines that now produce 100 Point wines. This was a terroir that local viticulturists said could never ripen grapes at all. In 2018 Laura Catena brought out her second book. It was titled 'GOLD in the vineyards'. (Her first was the brilliant 'Vino Argentina' in 2011). Gold in this case was the potential wine quality hidden away in special and rare terroirs across the world. The Adrianna vineyard held onto its gold for quite a few years. Then, after an inticate mapping of every detail relating to every vine - it released its treasure. Bodega Catena Zapata is represented in Ireland by . Enjoy ----------------------------------------------------------------------- While all restaurants in Ireland were closed until recently many reopened. That was great news - Open Again. Then we heard that they had to close once more - on Chrstmas Eve. Tough times, Tough times indeed. Here's hoping for a more succesful business environment in 2021. We should remember that many of these, including the wonderful Monty's of Kathmandu, are family businesses. They are often small and brilliant and need our support more than ever. Keep Safe and Keep well. Kevin Ecock's WinePod is brought to us with the assistance of the - an excellent place to host your next event or celebration. Contact Shiva at 01 -6704911 or at the Santa Rita Wine Room web page. /episode/index/show/winepod/id/17910404

Martin Codax; Rias Baixas, Monterrei and Bierzo Wines 02/01/2021

Martin Codax; Rias Baixas, Monterrei and Bierzo Wines is a superb story of co-operation, innovation and independence. When its grower members came together back in 1986 the world, for the most part, had never heard of wine from Galicia, tasted Albarino or could pronounce Rias Baixas. Today, white wine from the region has captivated the world of wine to the extent that Albarino from Rias Baixas is considered the Finest of Spanish white wines. In this episode Celina Rodriguez guides us through the region, its subzones and, of course, the wines of Martin Codax. Martin Codax also produces Mencia based wines from Bierzo () and Godello based wines from Monterrei (Mara Martin). All three regions and their wines are represented in Ireland by . The story behind how the Cantabrian Brown Bear conservation programme is supported by Martin Codax is fabulous. Read it . will feature in the forthcoming SuperValu Spanish Wine Sale. More about that on WineIreland.blog closer to the middle of February. In anticipation of that I attended a SuperValu webinar for the press acouple of weeks ago and listened once more to the Martin Codax story. It is so good I just had to bring it to our Podcast! In this episode I am guilty of telling two of my own stories from a visit I made to Galicia as far back as 2002. Apologies for my indulgence as the Martin Codax story is told to us here so brilliantly by Celina Rodriguez. Enjoy. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- While all restaurants in Ireland were closed until recently many reopened. That was great news - Open Again. Then we heard that they had to close once more - on Chrstmas Eve. Tough times, Tough times indeed. Here's hoping for a more succesful business environment in 2021. We should remember that many of these, including the wonderful Monty's of Kathmandu, are family businesses. They are often small and brilliant and need our support more than ever. Keep Safe and Keep well. Kevin Ecock's WinePod is brought to us with the assistance of the - an excellent place to host your next event or celebration. Contact Shiva at 01 -6704911 or at the Santa Rita Wine Room web page. /episode/index/show/winepod/id/17768783

Astrolabe in New Zealand: Simon Waghorn' s Extraordinary Wine. 01/22/2021

Astrolabe in New Zealand: Simon Waghorn' s Extraordinary Wine. is one of those wineries. You know the kind! Memorable. Exceptional. In this podcast we chat with owner/winemaker Simon Waghorn. It's quite the chat! Astrolabe is situated in the Marlborough region on the South Island of New Zealand. The Waghorn family produce wines that reflect their specific origin to an incredable and specific detail. It is just fabulous to taste high quality wines where climate, soils and winemaking are all reflected completely accurately. New Zealand produces fabulous Sauvignon Blanc wines from Marlborough. But they are not all alike. Indeed, the Astrolabe portfolio shows this to perfection. When I first tasted the Astrolabe Kekerengu Coast Sauvignon Blanc I was quite simply there - with the windy coastline, up on a hillside sitting in a stony vineyard. It's briny background and extreme mineral driven foretaste are as I say, Memorable, Exceptional. O'Briens Wines carry the wine in Ireland. Wo, I'm getting carried away. This is Simon Waghorn's story, not mine! Let him tell you why soils matter and how the shape of his Island affects rainfall. This is family and this is very good wine. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ While all restaurants in Ireland were closed until recently many reopened. That was great news - Open Again. Then we heard that they had to close once more - on Chrstmas Eve. Tough times, Tough times indeed. Here's hoping for a more succesful business environment in 2021. We should remember that many of these, including the wonderful Monty's of Kathmandu, are family businesses. They are often small and brilliant and need our support more than ever. Keep Safe and Keep well. Kevin Ecock's WinePod is brought to us with the assistance of the - an excellent place to host your next event or celebration. Contact Shiva at 01 -6704911 or at the Santa Rita Wine Room web page. /episode/index/show/winepod/id/17646983

Bodega 695 Wineshop: A Podcast with Ed Jolliffe 01/18/2021

Happy 2021: a Champagne Pannier Podcast to Welcome a New Year 12/30/2020

Highbank Orchards Part 2: Irish Apple Wine in time for Christmas! 12/23/2020

Highbank Orchards Part 2: Irish Apple Wine in time for Christmas! Celebrate Christmas with the best of Irish. Ireland is blessed with the finest artisanal and craft produce. We focus in this and last weeks' podcast on one superb story. Highbank. This is Part 2 of the story. To begin the tale listen to . Indeed, you can also read all about it on the ! in Cuffesgrange Kilkenny makes a bewildering array of multiple award winning products - all based on their organic cider apples. This year Highbank released an Irish Apple Wine. While it's obviously an organic product the manner in which it is made is unique. In this podcast Rod Calder Potts explains all. In particular Rod focuses on his aplliance of organic techniques and what terroir mans to his family. From the apples that the Calder Potts grow they make everything from Drivers Cider to Organic Apple Jelly and on to finest Apple Syrups available to Treacle to Vinegars and to Highbank Proper and also Medieval Ciders. Then there's the still! This brings us Organic Kilkenny Apple Gin, Pink Flamingo Gin, Organic Apple Brandey, Highbank Orchard Spirit Single Estate and Organic Apple Vodka. Impressive. Enjoy. This is podcast 2 of 2 from Highbank. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ While all restaurants in Ireland were closed until recently many have now reopened. This is great news - Open Again! Then we heard that they will close again at 3pm this Chrstmas Eve. Tough times, Tough times indeed. We should remember that many of these, including the wonderful Monty's of Kathmandu, are family businesses. They are often small and brilliant and need our support more than ever. Keep Safe and Keep well. Kevin Ecock's WinePod is brought to us with the assistance of the - an excellent place to host your next event or celebration. Contact Shiva at 01 -6704911 or at the Santa Rita Wine Room web page. /episode/index/show/winepod/id/17306336

Highbank Orchards: Irish Apple Wine in time for Christmas! 12/17/2020

Emma Symington MW of Wine Australia 12/01/2020

Chateau de la Ligne at Dunnes Stores: An Irish story of 20 successful years in Bordeaux 11/18/2020

Chateau de la Ligne at Dunnes Stores: An Irish story of 20 successful years in Bordeaux The story is well told. Irish business man Terry Cross falls in love with in Bordeaux. The property has not seen a vine on its land since the great freezing fogs of 1956. Terry buys de la Ligne on St Patricks Day 2000 and proceeds to renovate the Chateau back to its glory days. In addition, he employs some of the greatest talent in France to plant new vineyards around the Chateau and then to bring winemaking back to its cellars. Today both the Chateau and its vineyards are magnificent. As are the wines! Chateau de la Ligne Bordeaux Superieur is distributed across the island of Ireland by Dunnes Stores. In this podacst we are very fortunate to chat with, one of the finest consultant winemakers working today. Stephane's company has been with the Chateau de la Ligne project from the beginning. His insight to why he considers de la Ligne to be both an excellent property and a fabulous wine is fascinating. Of course as with all my chats we expand our horizons beyond de la Ligne and find oursleves touching on Bordeaux, France and even into the vineyards of China! Apologies to Michael Morris of in Lisburn, the North of Ireland. I left him sitting in the Zoom Waiting Room by mistake! Embarrassing. Funny (sort of?) when I finally 'let him in'! The new, and very impressive, Hinch Distillery is also a Terry Cross venture. Watch out for some fabulous cross merchandising with Bordeaux from Chateau de la Ligne and Irish Whiskey from Hinch. Another great example of The Wine Geese at their modern best. -------------------------------------------------------------------- While all restaurants in Ireland were closed until recently many reopened only to have to close again! We should remember that many of these, including the wonderful Monty's of Kathmandu, are family businesses. They are often small and brilliant and need our support more than ever. This is a very, very difficult time for restaurants across Ireland. Keep Safe and Keep well. Kevin Ecock's WinePod is brought to us with the assistance of the - an excellent place to host events and celebrations. One day, hopefully soon, this will once again be available to us all. Contact Shiva at 01 -6704911 or at the Santa Rita Wine Room web page. /episode/index/show/winepod/id/16857221

Dermot Nolan MW: A Master of Wine Podcast Chat 11/05/2020

Dermot Nolan MW: A Master of Wine Podcast Chat What is a Master of Wine? In this podcast we chat with Dermot Nolan MW to find out. Masters of Wine (commonly referred to as MW's) have passed a rigorous set of blind tasting and theory exams. In addition, they have completed a written and original research paper on a wine related subject, usually technical. Make no mistake, passing the MW examination is an extraordinary achievement! So, pass an exam and become an MW. Is that it? Not quite. The Master of Wine title is awarded by the (IMW) based in London. Successful candidates are required to sign a and among many expectations are expected,'to abstain from any behaviour which may discredit the IMW' and 'to use every opportunity to share their understanding of wine with others'. A rigourous and broad brief! When Dermot passed the exam back in 1997 the trade here referred to him as 'Ireland's First Master of Wine'. What we really meant was that someone working in the Irish trade had (finally) managed to pass the damn thing! That meant a lot. It gave us a sense of developing maturity and brought with it a great deal of confidence. Dermot is very keen to remind us, though, that other Irish people preceeded him. It's true they may not have ever worked in Ireland, or they may have moved here after becoming an MW, but they were/are still Irish! I still can't get it out of my head that Dermot was our first. Anyhow, Dermot has kindly sent us the following list. Lucky us. We have a stack of fine MW's working in Ireland now. Or perhaps the collective term might be a Cellar of MW's or maybe a Case of .... date = Passed the MW examination Worked or is working in The Republic: Worked or is working in the North of Ireland: Worked or is working in the UK or elsewhere: Aileen Trew RIP 1979 Robin Kinahan 1990 Carmel Kilcline 2005 Fergal Tynan 2005 Rod Smith 2006 Mary Gorman-McAdams 2011 Anne McHale 2013 Barry Dick 2013 Ray O'Connor 2020 /episode/index/show/winepod/id/16693742

Springfield Estate in South Africa: Jeanette Bruwer on why it is So Special. 10/27/2020

Springfield Estate in South Africa: Jeanette Bruwer on why it is So Special. has been one of my favourite 'go to' places for a long time now. Why? Because it makes fabulous wines that have shown a profound respect for the land long before 'Sustainability', 'Organic', and other trending monikers were in use across the wine trade at all. The Bruwer family has farmed at Springfield since 1898. They are ninth generation Huguenot settlers many of whom brought wine making to this part of South Africa way back in the 1700's. Today Abrie Bruwer with his sister Jeanette and daughter Jenna run the farm and the business. In this podcast Jeanette brings us on a journey through the Robertson wine growing region of South Africa and into its where the Bruwers practice a very traditional way of making wine. This is natural wine making at its best where wild yeast and whole bunch fermentations take on a whole new meaning! The wines speak for themselves and pay homage to the family motto: Made on Honour Many of the Springfield labels have a dedicated following with 'Life from Stone Sauvignon Blanc', 'Whole Berry Cabernet Sauvignon' and 'Work of Time' exciting wine collectors the world over. I am a complete devotee to the 'Wild Yeast Chardonnay' from Springfield - an unoaked exceptional! Classic Drinks bring us the wines of Springfield and introduce the range through the fabulously well made blends of 'Miss Lucy' (Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon and Pinot Gris) and 'Thunderchild' (Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon) a wine whose profits go to support a local orphanage. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- While all restaurants in Ireland were closed until recently many reopened only to have to close again! We should remember that many of these, including the wonderful Monty's of Kathmandu, are family businesses. They are often small and brilliant and need our support more than ever. This is a very, very difficult time for restaurants across Ireland. Keep Safe and Keep well. Kevin Ecock's WinePod is brought to us with the assistance of the - an excellent place to host events and celebrations. One day, hopefully soon, this will once again be available to us all. Contact Shiva at 01 -6704911 or at the Santa Rita Wine Room web page. /episode/index/show/winepod/id/16563896

Kevin Ecock's WinePod

TOPICS