It’s an exciting weekend for a handful of Irish producers. On Sunday night, the Great Taste Awards, the largest food and drink awards on the planet, will reveal its supreme champion 2021.
An awards ceremony will take place in the Yorkshire Event Centre in Harrogate, where just 14 products will receive a Great Taste Golden Fork Trophy.
This is out of 14,000 products that were entered this year.
Coveted prize
All will be vying for the most coveted prize of all, the Great Taste supreme champion 2021.
This is an accolade that has had much Irish success, with previous winners including the Smokin’ Butcher in Co Meath (2017); Hannan Meats from Co Down (2016); James Whelan Butcher from Tipperary (2015); and McCarthy’s, also from Co Down (2011).
We wish the best of luck to the following Irish and Northern Irish food producers:
It’s been a long pandemic of Zoom wine tastings, but as restrictions (hopefully) lift next week, ELY is back doing what it does best - wine tastings in person.
This autumn, ELY is hosting Wine Wednesdays at ELY Winebar in Ely Place, just off Stephen’s Green - a series of fun, informal and entertaining wine tastings.
Each evening will focus on a different theme, region, grape variety or style of wine, and will be paired with cheese and charcuterie.
Starting on 27 October, it costs €36pp and table bookings can be made through Open Table for groups of two to eight people.
The sessions will be co-hosted by the fantastic Ian Brosnan, who brings so much life and personality to each wine he serves.
Many of the wines ELY imports are directly from small family-run wineries in Europe, such as Adega Algueira in Ribera Sacra, Bodega Marañones in Madrid, Alta Alella’s Cava and Bodegas Tobia’s Riojas.
So it’s a great opportunity to try something new.