My Favourite… by Aga Niemiec
In our monthly column featuring the favourite products of NOffLA staff members across the country, this month, Aga Niemiec, of Baggot Street Wines, Dublin, tells us about her favourite wine.
Print12 March 2015
To be given a task of choosing my favourite drink did seem like a bit of a challenge, considering the vast selection of treats available here at Baggot Street Wines. Our boutique shop at Upper Baggot Street, Dublin 4, has been recently compared by one of the customers to Aladdin’s Cave and that’s for a reason. Since the reopening as a local, independent, family owned off-licence in July 2011, we now stock around 600 unique wines, over 500 international and Irish craft beers and almost 200 spirits with particular focus on Irish whiskey.
So, which of them is my favourite? With all due respect to our extensively growing Irish craft beer selection, I have decided to devote this article to one special bottle of red wine from Spain. Exceptionally good weather conditions for a few seasons in a row, combined with an innovative and incredibly creative approach of Spanish winemakers, make Spain really stand out among its European and New World competitors in recent years. The wine of my choice fits in perfectly within this context. 2011 vintage of La Bruja Averia (The Breakdown Witch) Old Vines Garnacha, has been named after one of the main characters in the iconic TV show from 1980s Spain – La Bola de Cristal (supposedly addressed to children). While it’s unique, colourful label brings an instant smile on the face of every Spanish customer, the rest of us remain positively intrigued at first. What’s actually hidden in the bottle with the label that seems like a joke? La Bruja Averia is a premium quality red with real personality, showing lots of freshness and purity of fruit (think freshly picked raspberries and cherries) with just enough tannins to contribute to its full bodied character. This 100% old vine Garnacha grown in Sierra de Gredos (an area between Avila and Madrid), was made by a team of three passionate, young wine makers, who met while studying oenology in 2005.
They called themselves Comando G (G for Garnacha) while realizing the dream of their youth and taking on the mission to produce this incredible single varietal red, in a part of the country that seemed overlooked and to a certain extent abandoned. The outcome of their hard work exceeded all expectations!
Delivering such a superb quality, it comes as no surprise that Spanish wine is also the most popular choice among our customers and will remain at the core of the offer at the Cavern at Baggot Street – brand new wine / tapas bar, which is due to be opened soon underneath our existing shop. So watch this space – as the owner and head manager of BSW, Garret Connolly rightly points out.
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