30 Years @ Corporation Square

30 for 30 Walkabout Wine Tasting

Friday 12th June 2009 4.30pm – 7.30pm

 

     

30 years at Corporation Square - who would believe it!

To celebrate 30 years, Direct Wine Shipments hosted a very special tasting of 30 wines, one for every year at Corporation Square! 

This sold out event was a great success, with customers appreciating the opportunity to taste a wide range of new releases and new vintages in an informal setting.  DWS personnel were on hand to give their usual enthusiastic information and advice on the wines available.

The McAlindon family has had more than 80 years experience in the drinks trade with over a third of this time centred in Corporation Square.  Built in the early eighteen hundreds, and with a much varied and exotic history (complete with its own ghosts), it is the perfect atmospheric space for one of the UK and Ireland’s most award winning wine merchants.

Wine has been the passion and obsession. The thirst for knowledge motivated them to be the first local wine company to study the Wine and Spirit Education Trust exams. They currently have 5 members of the team (out of 9) who have the WSET Diploma (degree standard) - the highest staff/diploma ratio of any wine company in Ireland. A number of personnel have worked vintages in wineries.  Some ex staff members are on the path to being winemakers with one on the cusp of attaining the prestigious Master of Wine qualification.

Over the years they have been privileged to work with some of the great wine personalities and producers including Jancis Robinson, Johnny Hugel, Miguel Torres, John & Ross Brown (Brown Brothers), Jane Hunter, Michel Laroche amongst others.  In the last couple of years they have introduced some of the greats of the future from including the Grangeon family of Domaine de Cristia, Sylvia Puig, Jean Pierre Auvigue, Ciaran Rooney of Domaine des Anges etc.

The purchase of a Priorat vineyard in 2003 was a momentous decision for the company. Their wine Creu Celta has received many plaudits, Oz Clarke earlier this year said “Congratulations on your Priorat venture.  I'm particularly pleased to see you're using Samso (Carignan).  I really liked the way you'd held the ripeness in check yet maximised the Priorat character.  Good old Ulster restraint mixed with Celt indulgence.  Keep up the good work."

At the anniversary tasting, wines were tasted from all over the world.  The “stand out” wines of the evening were Siegel Riesling 2007 from Germany, Henri Bourgeois Terre de Fumée from Loire, France, Terrano Montepulciano 2007 from Abruzzo, Italy and Campbells Shiraz Durif 2005 from Rutherglen, Australia.  Finally the new 2006 vintage of Creu Celta, created a stir.  On its first public tasting many thought it is probably the finest of the three vintages so far released.

With the successful development of the trade company McAlindon Wines in the last 18 months, the wines from Direct Wine Shipments will once again be widely available.  All this augurs well for the future and hopefully at least another 30 flourishing years at Corporation Square.