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I confess, quaffing a Lynch-Bages or a snifter of Hennessy, I have wondered how it is that such fine upstanding Irish names come to be associated with cognac and claret. There my wonderings ended, until a recent visit to Ireland, where, in Cork and Kinsale, I found answers. Starting in the 17th century an intrepid band of Irish emigrants set out first for France, then the rest of Europe, and ultimately almost anywhere wines are made. And almost everywhere they went, the Irish diaspora had an impact on wine-making that belies the idea that the Irish know only about beers.
The story is a complex one, built on tarriff wars, free trade and political union, with a touch of religious persecution thrown in for good measure.
Sound familiar?
Notes
- Chad Ludington’s book is called The Politics of Wine in Britain. A paperback edition should be available soon.
- The Wine Museum is housed in Desmond Castle in Kinsale, a lovely local bus ride from Cork.
- Want to know more about Kinsale? While searching around, I came across a blog post all about Kinsale.
- The Chateau Montelena story may be worth exploring.
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Taste has never really been purely subjective, good taste has always come with the baggage of social status and moral superiority. Perhaps nowhere is this more apparent than in politics, where the extended meanings of taste — refinement, discernment, judgement — brought with them an assumption that these were also the qualities associated with the ability to govern well. If you could choose a superior wine, of course you could choose a superior policy for the nation.
Chad Ludington, Professor of History at North Carolina State University, has studied the politics of wine in Britain extensively. He told me how changes in the production of wine, against the background of changes in political relationships between England and France and in the social structure of England, combined to make one’s choice of wine an important statement about one’s self-image.
In America, beer plays the part of wine in Britain, but the story is practically identical.
Notes
Would you like a transcript?
Professor Ludington’s book is The Politics of Wine in Britain: A New Cultural History.
A few years ago we talked about How the Irish created the great wines of Bordeaux (and elsewhere).
Food Fights, the book that prompted this episode, is published by University of North Carolina Press.
Ale to the Chief (which is pretty clever) provides the background to Barack’s brews.
Official White House photo by Pete Souza. Bottles of port by F. Tronchin on Flickr. Portrait of Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford, by Jean-Baptiste van Loo.
Huffduff it
@nvalvo It’s a great story. He told me how the UK started a trade war with France, which promptly shipped the good wines through Ireland. Th
Far be it from me to ride on the coat-tails of a brave man, but as a historian of French wines, Charles Ludington was a knowledgeable and er
It’s a great story. He told me how the UK started a trade war with France, which promptly shipped the good wines through Ireland. The Irish helped create the great wines of France. https://www.eatthispodcast.com/how-the-irish-created-the-great-wines-of-bordeaux-and-elsewhere/