If you’re a wine lover, and a chardonnay enthusiast in particular, you might have watched the hit movie Bottle Shock? Without giving the game away, Chateau Montelena, a winery in Napa Valley, California, is as much of a star in the movie as lead actor Alan Rickman.

The vineyard is world famous, and owner and wine maker Bo Barrett is returning to his roots (he has Irish ancestry on both sides of his family), when he visits Dublin later this month. On Sunday, February 19th, he is hosting the latest in a series of Winemaker Dinners at The Westbury hotel in Dublin, along with the Doyle Collection Group Sommelier, Philip Dunne, in partnership with Tindal Wines.

The five-course dinner with wine pairings, and a Champagne reception, is almost sold out, but a very small number of tickets have been put aside for subscribers to the Irish Times Food & Drink Club, who may be interested in attending, and they can be purchased here. I’ve already bought my tickets, and am very much looking forward to it.

However, we have also arranged for Irish Times wine writer John Wilson to interview Bo Barrett, in a very small gathering exclusively for subscribers, in the Trinity Suite at The Westbury. If you would like to win an opportunity to raise a glass of Chateau Montelena and join in the conversation with John and Bo, you can enter here.

Winner and more winners

In addition to the Chateau Montelena event, this month we also have a competition to win a hamper of handmade chocolates from Grá Chocolates in Galway, including a box of their new caramel selection as well as one of each of their giant filled love hearts, and one of each of their chocolate collections, plus hot chocolate too.

Congratulations to Paul Mathews, who has won a stay at the luxury Faithlegg hotel in Co Waterford and to Terence Tobin who has won a Fercullen Falls whiskey experience and cocktails hamper from Powerscourt Distillery, in our January newsletter.

Read all about it

In this weekend’s Irish Times Magazine, chef Beth O’Brien is back with her forensic, deep dive baking column, and this time she is making and comparing chocolate cakes, using recipes from some well known food writers, before coming up with her own Beth’s Best Chocolate Cake. Grainne O’Keefe has recipes for a three-course Valentine’s dinner (plus a hilarious tale about a restaurant Valentine’s date that didn’t go quite as expected). Lilly Higgins is cooking cheese fondue. Corinna Hardgrave has found a fantastic new restaurant in Co Kildare, and John Wilson tests four gins from different parts of Ireland.

Check in with us regularly at irishtimes.com/food for all the latest food and drink news, features and great dishes to cook. If you would like to invite family and friends to join The Irish Times Food & Drink Club, they can do so here. You can also follow us on Facebook here, and on Twitter here.

Thanks for reading.

Marie-Claire Digby