Wine Bar Sector Booming in West Cork

Still on wine bars and, while I may have insinuated previously that Cork is a wine bar desert, that is less true now that a trio of good ones has recently opened. There is a decent geographical spread too (Kinsale-Clonakilty-Schull), though the Cork wine trail still has a decidedly ‘Western’ feel to it. This isn’t any great surprise given that Cork’s most urbane and refined denizens tend to hug the sunset coastline of the county.

Aperitif, Kinsale’s wine bar, comes courtesy of the Blue Haven company, which is responsible for an impressive proportion of the commerce in the town. Aperitif is just the latest addition to this fearsome conglomerate, which also boasts a hotel, guest house, bar, restaurant, burger bar, and a catering and wholesale business. If you find yourself in need of either a Bentley or an electric bike, the Blue Haven rents these too.

I forget exactly when Aperitif opened – early in the summer, I think – but it took me a good few weeks to visit it even though I live on the very same street. One of the reasons for the delay was that Catherine was initially prejudiced against it because it had laminated menus and she took that to be a sign that the bar wasn’t devoted to updating its wine list and keeping things fresh. After I’d stopped rolling my eyes, I explained to her that until such time as an alternative wine bar opened in Kinsale with non-laminated menus Aperitif would be our regular. A second reason for the stalling is that the universe’s most cumbersome buggy, the Quinny, can’t easily fit through Aperitif’s doors. The bar is actually within range of our baby monitor, though, so, theoretically, we could have enjoyed a wild night there with the monitor lovingly placed on the plush couches beside us and the reassuring cooing of the slumbering baby at home an accompaniment to our drinks. One to hide from the parenting Nazis, admittedly.

Anyway, I’ve been there a small handful of times now and I am generally impressed with the set up. It’s beautifully designed and the impeccably-dressed staff are smiley and competent. The list is in the process of being changed so I won’t dwell on its content except to say that the wines are reasonably priced and include one or two moderately interesting options (a VdlT Verdejo, for example). I am sorry they won’t be continuing with the Vinho Verde though, which is to be culled.

Next up is Schull’s Casa Diego (Schull harbour is pictured, right, from the summit of Mount Gabriel, which I climbed with my brother-in-law last Sunday. On our heroic ascent I saw a chough, which is a red-beaked crow that you don’t really see at ground level). One of the most striking things about this Spanish-run tapas bar is how phenomenonally well priced the wines are. Bottles that might easily have been priced close to the thirty euro mark (Gazur Ribera del Duero, Martin Codax Albarino) are instead priced in the low twenties. I complimented a staff member on the pricing and he explained that Casa Diego’s isn’t really trying to make profit on the wine – a bold strategy for any wine bar.

Unlike Boqueria tapas bar in Cork city – a place with one of the laziest, dullest winelists I’ve seen – all the wines are Spanish. Basa Rueda and A1 Muvedre are two excellent ones to try, as is the (La Mancha?) Syrah. Casa Diego’s is still waiting for its beer licence to be sorted and for the moment is graciously allowing patrons to buy pints in other bars and bring them in. I would like to see a couple of sherries listed too; nothing crazy, just a Fino or Manzanilla, possibly an Oloroso, and a PX. Maybe they’ll appear in due course.

After some deliberation, Casa Diego’s has bravely decided on a five-year lease for the premises. The winter is long down in far away West Cork though so, if you’re passing, be sure to drop in to support them – it is a great asset for the area. Tell them Grapes of Sloth sent you; they won’t know what you’re talking about but it’s still important to generate some buzz about my name.

The last of the triumvirate, then, is The Winery in Clonakilty. This is the newest of the three and I haven’t been yet. It has no website or – shock horror – Twitter account so I don’t know what to tell you about it. I’m hoping to get there one of these days and have placed “visit The Winery in Clon” on my To Do list, between ‘bring bottles to bottlebank’ and ‘get career’.