You might be more inclined to drink whiskey or stout to celebrate St Patrick’s Day, but if you fancy a wine, it’s not that difficult to find one with some kind of Irish connection. True, they don’t make much wine in Ireland, but there are a few small producers, such as Lusca, whose wines you can find in the Celtic Whiskey Shop in Dublin. But the quantities it’s made in are tiny and the prices correspondingly high. Ireland’s climate doesn’t lend itself to large-scale winemaking.
Irish-born winemakers are making wine elsewhere, however, including, interestingly, one of the best producers of sparkling wine in the UK, Dermot Sugrue, who until relatively recently was winemaker at Wiston and is now making top-notch fizz under his own label, Sugrue South Downs (see today’s pick below). Having written about burgundy recently, I haven’t included Roísín Curley in this round-up, but she has a great backstory (she’s a Master of Wine who’s also a pharmacist) and is well rated by my colleagues across the Irish Sea.
Most Irish winemakers, in fact, seem also to have some kind of day job to help pay the bills. Liam and Sinéad Cabot, for example, who make a delicious blaufränkisch under the Roka label in Slovenia, are also wine importers, while Gerard Maguire of Les Deux Cols owns the shop and bar 64Wine in Dublin.
And while Laurent Miquel might sound quintessentially French, the marketing of his Languedoc wine is masterminded by his Irish wife Neasa with more than a nod to her home country. As well as the rosé below, which is named after their daughter, she and her husband have created a range called Solas, which is Irish for “light” and which in old French means “joy”, “pleasure” and “enjoyment”. I particularly like the rich, spicy Solas Syrah (14%), which you can buy for £12.95 from The Fine Wine Co.
There are also wines with a historical Irish connection, the most famous of which are the bordeaux producers known as the “Irish wine geese” – a reference to the families who emigrated to the region in the 17th century and established some of its most famous chateaux, including Léoville Barton, Lynch-Bages and Phélan Ségur.
More modestly, there is, of course, the widely available McGuigan Wines, which for perhaps understandable reasons is the best-selling Australian wine in Ireland and traces its history back to Owen Patrick McGuigan, a grower in the Hunter Valley.
Even so, it’s hard to see why there shouldn’t be more homegrown wine in Ireland. True, it’s wet, but so is Wales and they manage it there. And with the continued trend towards lower-alcohol and low-intervention wines, it should be possible.
Five wines with an Irish connection
Alaina Rosé 2022 £9.69 (on offer down from £12.99) Waitrose, 12.5%. Has all the elegance and pale prettiness of a Provence rosé, but costs less because it comes from Languedoc.
Yalumba Galway Vintage Shiraz 2021 £8.99 (on offer down from £12.99) Waitrose, 14.5%. Rich, deep, lipsmacking shiraz first bottled in 1943.
The Trouble with Dreams Sugrue South Downs £49, 12%. Spectacular, champagne-quality English fizz by one of the country’s best winemakers.
McGuigan Gold Label Sauvignon Blanc 2022 £8 (on offer down from £10) Sainsbury’s, £9 Morrisons, 12.5%. A soft, citrussy sauvignon for those who find the upfront gooseberry and passionfruit character of New Zealand versions a bit OTT. Would be good with grilled fish.
Roka Kog Blaufränkisch 2021 €32 64 Wine, Dublin, 13.5%. An excitingly wild, brambly natural red wine. Unfined and unfiltered, pure and intense. Would be great with lamb.
Nouveau MMXXIII Vin de France €30 per litre bottle blackrockcellar.com, 12.5%. Gloriously bright, beaujolais-ish blend of syrah, cinsault and clairette. Organic, unfined and unfiltered. Drink chilled with pals, advises winemaker Killian Horan.
For more by Fiona Beckett, go to fionabeckett.substack.com
