Sweeney’s Wine Merchants in Glasnevin recently held a Wine Fair to celebrate 60 years of business, and 10 at their current home on Hart’s Corner after 50 years closer to town on Dorset Street.  Find them on the web, Facebook and Twitter.

As well as four tables of wines hosted by suppliers there were also Irish craft beers from Kinnegar Brewery plus Gin and  Vodka from Dingle Distillery.  While I enjoyed the sideshows I have chosen five of the best white wines from the main event:

5 Pato Frio DOC Alentejo 2013 (Grace Campbell Wines, €15.00)

Grape: Antão Vaz

As the saying goes, if it looks like a duck, talks like a duck, then it must be a dangerously drinkable Portuguese white wine. I might have made that last bit up. It’s a quacker!

OK, enough of the lame duck jokes now. This is several steps above almost anything you will find in your local Spar, Centra or petrol station (Peter!), but without costing much more. It’s crisp and refreshing with zingy citrus.  It would be delightfully fresh on its own – as an aperitif or sitting out in the sun – or with seafood in particular.

The 2012 vintage showed very well in a tasting of Alentejo wines hosted by Kevin O’Hara of Grace Campbell wines last year.

4 Wild Earth Central Otago Riesling 2011 (Liberty Wines, €22.00)

Grape: Erm Riesling

Central Otago, or “Central” as the locals call it (well two syllables is quicker to say than five), is being feted as possibly the best place for Pinot Noir in New Zealand – and therefore a contender for the world outside BurXXXdy. But it is also home to some magnificent Chardonnay and Riesling.

This is just off dry, but you don’t notice the sweetness unless you look for it. Instead, there’s a kiss of sugar enhancing the fruitiness. If it was a young bottle that would have been about it, and very nice it would be too. But this 2011 has close to four years bottle age, so has now developed considerable tertiary flavours and (in particular) aromas.

Aged Riesling is one of the “holy grails” that wine aficionados look for, and of all wines that deserve to be given a chance to age, it’s the big R. To the uninitiated, descriptions of petrol, diesel or even Jet A1 sound far from appealing, but they are enchanting.

The aromas coming off this Wild Earth Riesling were so beguiling that they would have kept me happy all afternoon…though I knew there were lots more wine to taste!

3 Coto de Gomariz DO Ribeiro 2012 (Distinctive Drinks, €20.00)

Grapes: Treixadura / Godello / Loureira / Albariño

This is damned interesting wine that hails from one of Spain’s less well known wine regions, Ribeiro, close to Rías Baixas in Galicia.  Ribeiro shares many grapes with its neighbours in Galicia and just over the border into Portugal

Coto de Gomariz is a grown up wine, fine to drink on its own but perhaps a little subtle in that role. I think it would really shine at the table, where its freshness and texture would be a great partner for seafood, light poultry dishes or even just nibbles.

2 Herdade do Rocim Branco VR Alentejano 2012 (Grace Campbell Wines, €16.50)

Grapes: Antão Vaz / Arinto / Roupeiro

You might never have heard of the grapes before, but don’t worry, this is a quality wine. One of the attractions of Portuguese wine is that indigenous grapes are still used in the vast majority of wines, so there are still new tastes and sensations to be discovered.  As winemaking has modernised dramatically over the past few decades there are some old vines whose fruit is finally … erm… bearing fruit in the shape of quality wine.

There’s a little fresh citrus but it’s stone fruit to the fore here, peach and apricot.  It is lovely now but I could see this evolving for several years.  The quality is such that I’d happily pay a tenner more than the actual price.

1 Louis Jadot “Bourgogne Blanc” AC Bourgogne 2013 (Findlater WSG, €18.50)

Grape: Chardonnay

It’s rare that I would countenance picking up a white Burgundy saying just that – and no more than that – on the label. It’s close to the bottom of the many rungs in Burgundy and so is often used for collecting dilute, unripe and characterless grapes together into a big vat and charging money for the B word.

Jadot take a different approach and are highly selective about the grapes that go into their Bourgogne Blanc. I suspect that some were grown in more prestigious appellations and declassified, as well as growers outside the posh areas who value quality as well as quantity.

Oak is apparent on the nose, though at the tasting this was emphasised by the ISO/INAO tasting glasses which don’t allow Chardonnay to shine (or many grapes, to be Frank). As well as citrus and a hint of stone fruit there’s a lovely creamy texture to this wine, most likely the result of lees stirring. The oak is soft and well integrated on the palate, it doesn’t overpower the fruit in any way.

Real fruit, real oak, and most importantly, the fruit to justify the oak.  This is a real bargain in my eyes and was my favourite white wine of the tasting.