The Sunday Business Post annual wine awards 2008

While this year has been a testing one for businesses in general in Ireland, the wine trade has been weathering the unsettled times with some degree of aplomb.

Wine is now truly part of Irish culture. Large numbers of men downing pints of plain in pubs after a hard day’s labour are almost a thing of the past.

People in today’s Ireland have returned to the kitchen and, between conversations lamenting the price of houses and lauding Obama’s victory, many can be found sipping a well priced chardonnay from a well-regarded producer, while stirring a plainer supermarket wine into the cooking sauce.

Wine culture fits this new attentiveness to quality rather than our previous scattergun snatchings of excess. And the Irish wine business has responded with flair, ingenuity and realism. This following selection is evidence of this:

National fine wine merchants winner 2008

Berry Brothers & Rudd, Harry Street, Dublin 2

Best fine wine merchants (Dublin)

1. Berry Brothers & Rudd, Harry Street, Dublin 2
2. Redmonds of Ranelagh, Dublin 6; In joint second with Fallon & Byrne, Dublin 2
3. Terroirs, Donnybrook, Dublin
4. O’Briens Wine, Beacon Branch, Sandyford, Dublin 18
5. McCabes, Mount Merrion, Blackrock, Co Dublin
6. Searsons Wine Merchants, Blackrock, County Dublin
7. Jus de Vin, Portmarnock, Co Dublin
8. Gibneys of Malahide, Co Dublin
9. Mitchell & Son, Glasthule, Co Dublin
10. Sixty Four Wine, 64 Glasthule Road, Glasthule, Co Dublin


Berry Brothers & Rudd dedicated wine shop has been a fine addition to Irish retailing since it opened in 1999. It glories in wine and wine culture. The entrance is stocked with wooden cases filled to the brim with bargains and well priced best sellers, while its library-like interior spreads out its wines over several rooms. One of the best en primeur services in Europe is offered across its wooden counters, and upstairs a dedicated wine school hosts wine dinners, corporate dining and winemaker visits.

Its rare and fine wine service has wine lovers champing at the bit. For this, staff guide you into a dimly lit cellar stocked with magnums of old claret. With bottles of Petrus, Ornellaia 1997, half bottles of Chateau D’Yquem and a wall of every vintage port imaginable, this is one of the finest wine cellars in Ireland.

Redmonds of Ranelagh and Fallon & Byrne, meanwhile, are neck and neck in second place. The newly transformed Redmonds is a pleasure to visit as each region is clearly signposted, making accessible the older wine - of which there is a rewarding amount.

Fallon & Byrne, meanwhile, has a stunning wine shop with a warm, clubby atmosphere, which is apparent to customers sitting down for snacks and availing of its €1 corkage fee on a Monday night. Wine manager David Gallagher has made this a veritable Aladdin’s Cave for wine lovers.

Best fine wine merchants (Outside Dublin)

1. Le Caveau, Kilkenny
2. Wicklow Wine Company, Wicklow
3. Greenacres, Wexford
4. James Nicholson, Crossgar, Co Down
5. David Dennison Fine Wines, High Street, Waterford
6. Wine Centre, Kilkenny
7. Joe Karwig Wines, Carrigaline, Cork
8. World Wide Wines, Waterford
9. Bubble Brothers, English Market, Cork
10. Mortons of Galway, Salthill


Next month will mark the tenth anniversary of the opening of Le Caveau, the Kilkenny wine shop owned by Burgundy native Pascal Rossignol and his wife,Geraldine O’Rourke.

The couple perceived a coming trend when they set up this bespoke importation business. Le Caveau would fit in easily in any wine-growing region, especially Burgundy. Among a good selection of wines from around the world, there are wines which are not otherwise available outside Burgundy.

The only disappointment is that, after taking time to select a handmade Pommard, after admiring a bottle of a small, family-owned domain’sVieillesVignes, PulignyMontrachet, you emerge out of the shop into Ireland, not into the glare of the sun in Beaune.

Best multiple wine chain

1. O’Briens Wines, nationwide
2. Molloy’s Liquor Stores, Dublin
3. Carry Out, Cork
4. O’Donovan’s Wine Stores, Cork
5. Harvest Wine Stores, Galway


From time to time, Molloys, O’Donovans and the Carry Out group may give O’Briens Wines a scare, but by the close of the season each year, O’Briens pulls away into a commanding lead.

The intense quality of every aspect of the O’Briens business - wine selection, store fit-out, pristine beer displays, sales, clockwork monthly overhauls of every shop floor and promotions - is breathtaking. Their window displays have become a dazzling tableau, enlivening streetscapes in Sandymount, Athlone, Limerick and Drogheda.

Above all, O’Briens Wines wins because of the quality of its staff. The number of people I hear praising their local branch is astonishing. Premises have a marvellous collegiate atmosphere and staff talk about wine clubs, wine travel or a great winemaker’s visit with infectious enthusiasm.

The best branches now compete on an even plane with many independent off-licences and wine shops. A couple of stores have even earned a place in those award categories on their own merits.

Although Cork and Galway still await the arrival of O’Briens Wines, these cities are already home to much competition. Cork in particular has the strong O’Donovan and Carry Out groups, both of which have plenty of loyal supporters.

Best supermarket wine outlet

1. Dunnes Stores
2. Tesco
3. Superquinn
4. Supervalu/Centra/Londis
5. Marks & Spencer


All these supermarkets have upped their game in this heavyweight sector of the wine business. Dunnes Stores in particular has worked a veritable miracle this year, revitalising its lines, providing enticing promotions, extending the quality of its range across its branches and refreshing the look and atmosphere of its wine stores. The Cornelscourt’s wine shop is particularly noteworthy, but new stores have also exuded a new confidence in the wine sections.

Superquinn has employed expert consultation which has dragged it out of the slump it hit after the departure of its wine consultant, Michael Donlon, two and a half years ago.

Tesco’s selection of mid-level and premium wines on a broad scale should entice other supermarkets to follow suit. With so many wine buyers travelling cross-border for cheaper wine shopping, time will tell what the impact of Irish government’s steep levies on wine will be as the recession bites.

Best Wine importer of the year

Wicklow Wine Company
Ben Mason and Michael Anderson head one of the most elegant and effective wine operations in the Republic. Their shop is a warm, wooden box stuffed with well priced vinous treats. The shop and their import wine list reflects both their business savvy and their enthusiast devotion. It should be a point of pilgrimage for every wine lover and retailers hoping to reach the knowledgeable enthusiast wine market.

Best specialist drink outlet

Celtic Whiskey Shop, Dawson Street, Dublin 2
There is no finer spirits shop in Ireland.

Best wine website

1. www.winedirect.ie
2. www.booze.ie
3. www.bbr.ie
4. www.obriens.ie
5. www.terroirs.ie


Best wine bar (Dublin)

1. Ely, Ely Place, Dublin 2
2. Fallon & Byrne, Basement Wine Bar, Dublin 2
3. Ely at the IFSC, Dublin 1
4. Eno Wine, IFSC, Dublin 1
5. The French Paradox, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4
7. Ely, Grand Canal Basin, Dublin 2
8. George’s Wine Bar, South Frederick Street, Dublin 2
9. Le Cave, South Anne’s Street, Dublin 2
10. Ella Jazz and Wine, Main Street, Howth, Co Dublin
11. Port House, South William Street, Dublin 2


For some people, the food menu in a wine bar is as big a drawas a great tempranillo served by the glass in the finest stemware. But in Ely,the huge, leather-bound wine list does all the work to bring in customers to what is one of the most entertaining wine bars this side of Bogart’s bar in north Africa.

Best restaurant wine list and wine service (Dublin)

1. Restaurant Patrick Guilbaud, 21 Upper Merrion Street, Dublin 2
2. L’Ecrivain, 109a, Lower Baggot Street, Dublin 2
3. Mint Restaurant, 47 Ranelagh Village, Dublin 2
4. Seasons, The Four Seasons, Simmonscourt Road, Dublin 4 5. Thorntons, St Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2
6. Chapter One, Basement of Writers Museum, 18-19 Parnell Square, Dublin 1
7. Shanahans, St Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2
8. The King Sitric, East Pier, Howth, Co Dublin
9. Harvey Nichols Restaurant, Dundrum Shopping Centre, Dublin 14
10. Le Pearl Brasserie, 20 Merrion Street Upper, Dublin 2

While dining in each of these restaurants is a unique experience, it is the sommeliers’ wine service that brings them up to a world class level.

Restaurant Patrick Guilbaud set the wine benchmark this year, offering its clients a luxurious 29 pages of wines, including 11 separate Meursaults and 14 different examples of PulignyMontrachet. Be warned: adjust your wallet accordingly.

Best restaurant wine list and wine service (outside Dublin)

1. Ashford Castle, Co Galway
2. Sheen Falls Lodge, Kenmare, Co Kerry
3. Kelly’s Resort Hotel, Rosslare, Co Wexford
4. Ritz-Carlton, Powerscourt, Co Wicklow
5. Deanes, 36-40 Howard Street, Belfast, Co Antrim
6. K Club, The Byerley Turk Restaurant, Co Kildare
7. Wineport Lodge, Athlone, Co Westmeath
8. Dromoland Castle, Co Clare
9. Mount Juliet, Co Kilkenny
10. Jacobs on the Mall, South Mall, Cork city


Ashford Castle’s regular wine weekends are of the highest quality and its encyclopaedic wine list and sommelier service is pitch perfect.