Malcolm Rogers goes to the Midlands to check out the fine wines of
Westmeath at the Wineport Lodge Hotel.
I once asked for a red wine in a hotel in Ireland and was told by a very
helpful barman that they had none in stock.
“But would ye like a white wine with a spot of blackcurrant in it instead?”,
he asked.
Thankfully, nowadays you can buy the finest wines from both the Old World
and the New World in most parts of Ireland — and you don’t even need to
be posh!
But there can surely be nowhere better to sample a fine tipple than in
the luxurious comfort of the Wineport Lodge Hotel on the shores of Lough
Ree, just north of Athlone.
The ethos of the Wineport Lodge Hotel is quite simple — four of Ireland’s
biggest wine importers — Gilbey’s, Irish Distillers, Woodford Bourne and
Febvre — sponsor the bedrooms (there are only 10) — so that the accommodation,
which is of top-notch luxury standard, is considerably cheaper than it otherwise
might be.
The money you’ve saved can thus be splashed out on the extensive wine
list — you can take your pick from crisp South African white wines to the
very best Spanish red — fancy an Enate Cabernet Sauvignon Reserva de Somontano
1997?
This is the sort of wine which greets you by your first name, so smooth
is it. And there’s plenty more where that came from.
Another unique feature of this Westmeath hostelry is the individual room
themes, chosen to reflect some of the great wines from around the world.
Check in and try out the Tattinger Bubble Lounge, or bedrooms like Fonseca
Port, Torres, Mommessin, Tuscany, Loire, Santa Rita, Jameson 1780, or Champagne
Bollinger.
Before we go any further, I should point out that despite all those fancy
names, this is not a prohibitively expensive place to stay.
Rooms are from E95 per person sharing, but this includes breakfast, a
complementary drink — and a sensational view across Lough Ree.
All rooms come with the view — best appreciated from the private balcony
which comes with every room.
Once you’ve drunk in the view of the sun setting over Lough Ree, you
can make yourself comfortable on the bespoke walnut furniture while contemplating
the goose down pillows, duvets and marble floors with underfloor heating!
Because of the hotel’s situation on the lake shores, there’s plenty of
gentle, rolling countryside through which to stroll before dinner.
This will give you time to reflect on the hotel’s name. Wineport isn’t
the creation of the owners Ray Byrne and Jane English.
It may sound like a clever, if somewhat twee marketing label — but it’s
not. The name comes from the townland and stretches right back to ancient
Irish history when wine was imported into the area by the monks in nearby
St. Ciaran’s Monastery.
In the mid-sixth century wines from Gaul (France) arrived across the
sea and were transported by boat from Limerick up the Shannon, finally reaching
Wineport, and were distributed to the sophisticated monks from a local monastery.
The one thing that the old monks may not have benefited from (one would
imagine) would have been a first class cook.
The Wineport Lodge can boast the services of Chef Feargal O’Donnell who
specialises in cooking local produce simply, but also allows space on the
menu for the latest culinary trends — so you can go either traditional or
trendy.
It probably wouldn’t have occurred to you that a hotel in the Irish Midlands
was an ideal place for a sybaritic weekend quaffing fine wine and luxuriating
by a lakeside.
Tuscany yes, Rioja maybe — Westmeath no.
But let me tell you, even if you’re not a wine expert the Wineport Lodge
Hotel will guarantee you a weekend (and possibly headache) from which long-term
memories are made.
