Bally good wines at Ballymaloe

Last weekend just outside Cork, Ireland, the inaugural Ballymaloe Literary Festival of Food & Wine was held and attracted luminaries from all over the world, including food writers Madhur Jaffrey and Claudia Roden, Stephanie Alexander from Australia and David Thompson from Bangkok. Alice Waters had been planning to come from California but was detained by the fall-out from the recent serious fire at Chez Panisse. It was all a huge success, organised by the Allen family and their wonderfully efficient but relaxed team at the world-famous Ballymaloe House hotel and Ballymaloe cookery school.

I was asked to present a wine...