Tuesday, March 19, 2024

The Winemaker, Bill Ireland

Latest from Bill

What did the Winemaker drink OS?

Just back from three weeks overseas ... I thought I would write a few lines about booze overseas: quality, range and distribution ... Our first stop was the US ... We used to drink wine on our visits to the US ... Spent the first day in London walking the “Monopoly board”, stopping for a reviver or two in beautiful pubs.

More from Bill

So what is the Winemaker drinking this summer?

Here we are in the middle of a La Nina summer. On the east coast where we live the nights are warm but mild, and the days are hot and humid. As I opened my first beer of the evening – make that afternoon – I was inspired to put fingers to keyboard and tell my half dozen or so readers what I’m drinking.

Articles from Bill

The Winemaker – Picking a winner

As a producer in our highly competitive industry it's important and difficult to keep up with the market. For over 20 years we tried to sell Rose. We made different styles, different grape varieties, fancy packaging. Our Rose wines won numerous show awards. We tried targeting various markets: women, young  people, the gay market. But we were pissing into the wind. So we gave up. Then Rose took off. Wrong place, wrong time.

The wine dynasties

In this issue of The Winemaker, Bill talks about some of the different ways family wine companies, from famous dynasties to smaller private companies, might handle adversity and succession.

The Winemaker – The regions, the vines

We select a wine, in a restaurant, a bottleshop, or - so as to not show my age – online. In making this choice one considers variety, region, vintage, style as well as reputation of the brand, price, medal stickers on the bottle and personal preferences – just to name a few ... Winemakers like to pick grapes at what they consider to be optimum ripeness, a balance of sugars, acid and flavour development which best suits the wine they wish to make.

The Winemaker – Many obstacles face the new producer

Many wine enthusiasts have dreamed of producing their own wine. They dream of walking among the vines, of family weekends at the vineyard, of the pride of serving one’s own label wine to friends, of winning show medals and accolades from the press. Tell them they’re dreaming.

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