My Favourite…Barry Galvin
To try and pick out a favourite wine is very difficult considering there are so many to choose from and especially as I have yet to try them all, despite my best efforts.
One of the benefits of the Carry Out franchise is that we have a lot of wines that you get nowhere else, which gives my store a unique selling point and I try to focus my staff and customers on these wines. They give me an edge over my competition as they are good wines, at the right price points and they deliver me margin along with a point of difference.
In particular we have a good range of Chilean wines called Yali. Yali, part of Vina Ventisquera is a very young wine brand only about 10 years old but they make some exceptional wines. The winery is carbon neutral, which is apparently a good thing. They have also undertaken an environmental campaign recently to preserve the wetland habitats around their vineyards. Being environmentally friendly makes it easier to support this brand and it helps that the wines are top class.
When it comes to my favourite wines, I am more of a red wine fan and in particular I love Cabernet Sauvignon, the greatest of all the red grapes. The Yali Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon is my usual tipple and a wine I bring to parties etc. It is very well balanced and with typical bramble and blackcurrant fruits, not overly oaked just enough to add spice and some vanilla character.
However it is the Yali Gran Reserve Cabernet which I enjoy the most. This is a big wine but has a subtlety which is common in fine Bordeaux wine but is often lacking in top end Chilean wine. There are layers of soft ripe fruits with a warm earthy savoury character all balanced with fine oak and ripe chewy tannins. I usually have it with roast beef or a big steak. At less than €15 it is as good as anything in the €25 bracket from Bordeaux or elsewhere.
