MONITOR:THE ROOM WAS not exactly full, but for a Friday lunchtime there was a fair smattering of tables. We were trying to decide whether to drink red or white wine and, after the decision to go with the former, from which country and region. France it was, the south, something meaty to go with duck and roast cod and chickpeas. Domaine Aonghusa Laval 2005 from Corbières. Decision made, I cast an eye around the room to see what others had gone for.
Not one table was drinking wine. Indeed, not one table was drinking anything other than water. Not a beer, juice or Coca-Cola. Kilkenny is trying hard – and succeeding, I am told – to shrug off the awful label of being the stag and hen capital of Ireland. But here I am being faced with binge-drinking of an altogether different kind: on water.
Are we swinging from one extreme to the other? From a Guinness-swigging, pub-loving nation making its way to nowhere in particular to a focused, restaurant-going, water-keen nation hell-bent on heading . . . where exactly? I’m tucking into the most sublime pig’s trotter and ham boudin with horseradish and apple marmalade, which is just crying out for a sip of something robust to cut through the richness.
Garrett Byrne, the chef/proprietor of Campagne, fears the swing is firmly established. They sell few bottles of wine at lunchtime, and rarely any wines by the glass, even at Christmas. I am as aware as anyone of the dangers of drinking and driving, and I am not suggesting everyone eating food this good has to have wine. For Italians, food and wine are an instinctive part of their daily lives. That is why they have such respect for it.
In visits to Italy this year, and in France and Spain, the norm is for wine and water. Almost every table has wine on it, certainly in establishments serving food as good as Byrne’s. Sure, there is a cost to consider, something I am reminded of every time I see a group of Italians rising from a table, leaving half a bottle behind.
They drink, as we should, in moderation: grape and food in partnership. Something to be cherished. Do we view wine and alcohol as we do in part because it is expensive? A sin to be paid for through the nose, so to speak? Could we not consider an innovative way of taxing wine that would encourage its moderate consumption with food and give a badly needed boost to good restaurateurs? Abolish tax on wine drunk on the premises, for example.
The fillet of cod, stuffed piquillos pepper, tomato and chickpeas was a winner, as was the selection of cheese, both French and Irish. With the latter we were offered a glass of port, which we gratefully accepted. But then, we were heading home on the train.
Campagne, The Arches, 5 Gashouse Lane, Kilkenny, 056-7772858, www.campagne.ie