“Hopkins Communications is a well-established and respected advertising and public relations firm based in city. Both principals, Mary and Mark Hopkins, are well known in Cork business, sporting...
Jean-Charles Cazes, the youthful President of the prestigious Château Lynch-Bages wine empire, who has taken over from his father, Jean Michel, visited Dublin recently to re-introduce his eclectic range of wines to a select group of Ireland’s top wine writers and guests at The Herbert Park Hotel and introduce new joint venture wines from some of the world's top wineries.
Distributed in Ireland by Barry & Fitzwilliam, the wine-tasting included the chic re-branded Michel Lynch portfolio of popular wines and the elegant but powerful Château Villa Bel-Air wines from the Graves region. Jean-Charles also introduced wines from their recently acquired Languedoc winery - L'Ostal Cazes Minervois La Livinière (primarily produced from the syrah grape).
Committed to growing a network of cross-border relationships with other high-profile figures in the international winemaking community and developing new brands alongside Château Lynch-Bages, Jean-Charles also introduced two new collaborative offerings.
Suited to the independent and on-trade sector, Tapanappa is a new range of Australian fine wines and the result of a partnership between respected Australian winemaker Brian Croser, and the Cazes and Bollinger families of France.
The first wine to be released in the portfolio is the 2003 Whalebone vineyard Cabernet Shiraz, a seductive, smoothly fruited red of real poise, while other single-vineyard wines in the stable, including a Chardonnay will be released in due course.
The second joint-venture wine to be showcased was Xisto, a singular, new, limited production, ultra-premium red from Portugal, the fruit of a long-standing friendship between Cazes and Jorge Roquette, owner of the highly acclaimed Quinto do Crasto estate in Portugal’s Upper Douro Valley. Pronounced “SHEES-toe,” this new wine is named for the Portuguese word for “schist,” a reference to the nature of the soil in the steep, terraced vineyards that rise majestically above the banks of the Douro River.
Speaking at the event, Jean-Charles Cazes said: ‘ The Lynch family famously originated from one of Galway’s 12 tribes, arriving in Bordeaux in the aftermath of the Battle of the Boyne and becoming embedded in the wine trade eventually.
Earning a reputation as the most sought after and recognisable of the Irish ‘Wine Geese’ wines, Ireland has truly embraced the Lynch Bages brands. We expect that it is because they are wonderful wines and well priced at the upper end of the market and that our entry level wines - such as Michel Lynch – have been proven to be totally irresistible to Irish palates - they are best sellers here in Ireland.’
