Food for thought

THE Little black book of great places to eat, compiled by Lucinda O’Sullivan, Ireland’s most widely-read Food Critic, has selected the Fairways, to feature in her newest edition of the guide. Limerick business woman, Joan McGowan and her husband Geoff Jones are hitting the headlines again as their pub/restaurant near Nenagh Golf Club features in the coveted guide. Lucinda boasts of being the longest-standing Food Critic with any one newspaper and her Little Black Book features hotels and restaurants that Lucinda personally chooses to recommend.
Chef/Owner Geoff Jones has only very recently secured the BIM Seafood Circle Award and since he bought the former “Lucky Bags” in 2006, the pub/restaurant has been included in the Georgina Campbell Good Food Guide.
Geoff emphasises that the reason for this latest award for The Fairways is the consistency in the quality of the food.  His lunch menu changes daily, with specials created to excite the palate. Regular visits to the fish mongers ensure that only the freshest of produce is used. “Any fresher and it’s still swimming”, Geoff jokes.
According to owner and business woman, Joan McGowan, “The Fairways Bar and Orchard Restaurant has built a strong reputation in providing an excellent ambience for parties and functions. The Sunday lunch trade has grown from strength to strength, with high quality food and excellent value for money.”
Visit their website on www.thefairwaysbar.ie for more information.

A CALIFORNIAN law firm is to take legal action against E&J Gallo and the two main culprits in the ‘fake Pinot’ case on the grounds of unfair competition, fraud and false advertising.
Decanter reports that Kingsley & Kingsley has brought a class action suit on behalf of all California consumers against Gallo, as well as its suppliers Sieur d’Arques and the negociant Ducasse. The suit alleges unfair competition, fraud and false advertising.
A French court recently determined that Gallo itself was a victim of fraud at the hands of 12 Languedoc-Roussillon-based defendants, including the above mentioned, who perpetrated a large-scale scam to sell Merlot and Syrah wine labelled as Pinot Noir.
Several defendants were sentenced to a range of penalties including fines and prison terms.
The lawsuit charges Gallo and its French supplier with failing to take reasonable care and that “this fraud was only revealed by happenstance and the hard work of the French authorities.”

Pinot noir fraud could land 13 winemakers in jail
FRENCH wine makers could face up to 12 months in jail following the unfolding of what Decanter noted as the world’s biggest wine con. E&J Gallo are at the centre of the con as being the recipient of what they believed to be over 3.5 million gallons of pinot noir, but in fact, according to wine experts and a French court, was in fact phoney pinot noir.
With enough to fill 16 million bottles, Gallo, the American wine producer, bought the wine under the label of being from the Languedoc-Roussillon area. But authorities were alerted after suspicions were raised as to the amount of pinot noir being exported from the region was thought to far exceed historic levels.
Thirteen people have been charged with selling the wine labelled as something in fact it wasn’t. It is believed that Gallo paid in the region of €4 million for the wine over a two year period.