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A Hawke’s Bay Syrah has won the New Zealand Wine of the Year™ Champion 2019 trophy, while a Hawke’s Bay winery has taken out the inaugural New Zealand Cellar Door of the Year Award. Trophies were announced at the New Zealand Wine Awards held in Blenheim.  

 The Villa Maria Cellar Selection Syrah Hawke’s Bay 2018 won the New Zealand Wine of the Year™ Champion trophy presented by O-I New Zealand, as well as taking out the winejobsonline.com Champion Syrah trophy. Villa Maria also scooped up the Champion Wine of Provenance 2019 trophy with their Reserve Gimblett Gravels Syrah, Hawke’s Bay 2006/2013/2018.  

Ireland has been named one of the safest countries in the world for LGBT tourists.

A new study of more than 150 countries ranked Norway as the safest country while Nigeria was rated the most dangerous.

Ireland was listed as the 15th safest country in the rankings.

 Using international data, the study carried out by travel website Asher & Lyric created an LGBT danger index.

Nursing home operator TLC is reported to have  struck a deal in the region of €55 million to acquire Michael Smurfit’s K Club, according to a report in the Sunday Business Post. Negotiations have been in train for several weeks over the five-star Kildare gold resort, placed on the market for €80 million.

 Smurfit’s desire to retain ownership of his home on the grounds was understood to be a sticking point in negotiations, the report said. A spokesman for Smurfit said: “There are a lot interested parties and a refined sales process, but nothing definitive yet.”

 

  Aer Lingus will  commence four new European routes and open up greater capacity on its transatlantic network from summer 2020. The airline announced its upcoming Dublin summer schedule with news that it will commence flying direct from Dublin to Italian cities Brindisi, Puglia and Alghero, Sardinia from next year. Last week, Aer Lingus also announced new direct routes from Shannon Airport to Paris and Barcelona, commencing March and May respectively.

  Aer Lingus will also connect Ireland direct to Sardinia for the first time as it commences flying to Alghero in summer 2020.

Summer 2020 will see Aer Lingus’ best ever capacity to North America with 1.9 million seats on sale to transatlantic destinations. Orlando, Florida will move from a four flights per week service to six flights per week, the Miami service will increase from two to three flights per week and the Dublin to Seattle route will move to a daily service in summer 2020, increasing from five flights per week.