For St. Patrick's Day, wine with Irish spirit

Long-established roots
The Irish exodus to the southern hemisphere was sizable, which is why you’ll find wineries with Celtic ties in New Zealand, South Africa and, most extensively, Australia. Jim Barry, whose ancestors settled in the Clare Valley, has gained fame with his award-winning Armagh shiraz. The Margaret River region, in far southwestern Australia, is home to Leeuwin Estate, perhaps one of the world’s most remote wineries. Founder Denis Horgan not only got a winemaking hand from Robert Mondavi, but his great-grandfather, who fled County Cork after the potato famine, went on to become the first premier of Western Australia in the 1880s.

All this might have something to do with some very old roots for wine in Ireland, which stretch back two millennia or more. Descriptions of ancient Celtic feats — including, Murphy notes, writings of St. Patrick himself from 433 A.D. — include ample mention of wine.

The fascination has been rekindled of late. Irish businessman Tony Ryan, founder of Ryanair, purchased part of Bordeaux second-growth Chateau Lascombes in 2001, the same year businessman Lochlann Quinn bought Chateau Fieuzal in the Graves region. A year earlier, Belfast exporter Terry Cross bought Chateau de la Ligne.

And wine is again gaining favor across the Emerald Isle. According to the Wine Development Board of Ireland, sales of table wine leapt from 1.5 million cases in 1990 to 7 million in 2004, with Australian wines accounting for nearly one-quarter, while beer consumption has fallen off.

So the journey of the Wine Geese has come full circle: The diaspora of loyal Irishmen scattered across the continents provides drinking pleasure to residents of their ancestral homeland.

“We realized that obviously the Irish had an appreciation of the finer things in life,” says Denis Horgan, “and in particular the fruits of the vine.”

TASTING NOTES
It's not hard to find wine with Irish roots. Look through the family names listed at winegeese.ie and you'll find plenty of options.  Here are five selections you might consider as a St. Patrick's Day alternative to all that watery, silly green beer.

O'Reilly's 2005 pinot gris Oregon ($13): David O'Reilly's family hails from County Cavan, and with the Irish wolfhound gracing the labels of his eponymous wines, it's hard to miss the Celtic ties. His latest vintage is quintessential Oregon pinot gris, rounded and fresh, with ripe white fruit flavors offset by a brightness in its core. O'Reilly's value-priced line also includes a chardonnay and pinot noir, and is consistently one of the best deals out of Oregon.

Abbey Vale 2004 “Vat 351” chardonnay Margaret River ($12, Aussie Imports): Margaret River seems to be a magnet for Irish-affiliated winemakers. Irish-educated Bill McKay and his wife Pam started this property in 1975 before selling it to its current Swedish owners. This unoaked style is crisp and straightforward, with grapefruit peel and a marked minerality. Its lines are clean and pleasing, though it finishes a bit hot.

Flora Springs 2004 chardonnay Napa Valley ($25): The Garvey family co-owns this well-known Napa winery. Its flagship chardonnay is a well-crafted example of the hefty, creamy California style, with scents of lemon meringue and melon, and a silky, soft finish.

Leeuwin Estate 2001 “Siblings” shiraz ($20, Old Bridge Cellars): Leeuwin founder Denis Horgan, a CPA by training, has family ties in County Cork. This shiraz, which the Horgans deserve credit for not rushing to market, is filled with intricate notes of salty game meat and brambly fruit. It's balanced and actually rather light on the tongue, despite weighing in at 14.5 percent alcohol. Not at all a typical jammy Aussie style, even if Horgan refers to himself as “an old Australian.” The Horgans offer an impressive range of wines, including a 2004 riesling filled with mineral and diesel notes that's amazingly crisp.

Chateau Phélan-Ségur 2001 St.-Estephe ($31, Diageo Chateau & Estate): Irishman Frank Phelan acquired this cru bourgeois estate in the 1800s, but former Champagne exec Xavier Gardinier purchased it in 1985. This standout from an underrated vintage, primarily Cabernet sauvignon with 30 percent merlot and 10 percent Cabernet franc, is filled with deep notes of dried cedar and herb, with hints of leather and soft cassis in the back. It's rounded and aromatic, though the tannins take hold at the end and leave the final impression. Stick to the '01 over the '02.

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