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Where to find French wine

The top end of the wine business is one of the most fought-over terrains in Irish retail.

If one business offers a wine lecture another responds by opening a college course. When one sets up a short en primeur service, the competition responds with en primeur Burgundy and Bordeaux, and a daily blog from its tastings at the annual Union De Grand Cru in France. Wine has now become a powerful business in Ireland.

It has become increasingly evident over the last years that the wine trade’s ambition is no longer local and reactive, but of an international standard. More and more people want to acquire knowledge in wine. Wine represent at the same time luxury and everyday consumption.

Here is a list of some of the Best Wine Merchants in Dublin...

Deveneys Dundrum
Mc Cabes
Gibney’s of Malahide
Slainté Stillorgan
Cellars, the Big wine Warehouse
O’Briens Wine
Berry Brothers & Rudd
Mitchell & Son
Fallon & Byrne
Jus De Vin

… and here nationwide

Greenacres, Co Wexford
Wine Centre, Co Kilkenny
Le Caveau, Co Kilkenny
Wicklow Wine Company, Co Wicklow
World Wide Wines, Co Waterford
Joe Karwig Wines, Co Cork
Bubble Brothers, Co Cork
McCambridges, Co Galway
Mortons of Galway, Co Galway

O’Briens Wines is the most outstanding multiple, homegrown wine operation. It excels at every aspect of the business: architecture, wine selection, sales and promotions, beer and spirits selection and staff and customer relations. It is simply the best in every category in which it competes.

The wine consumption has significantly increased in the last decade.

According to the wine board of Ireland, 57% of wine drinkers are female and red wine is the most popular wine with 51% of volume against 44% of white and only 5% for rosé. A question that every one wonders is why the wine is so expensive in Ireland. Well this is mostly due to very high Excise Duty. Ireland has the highest duty rate on wine in Europe and probably in the world. The tax for a bottle of vin tranquille (under 15% of alcohol content) is 2, 45€. Add the price of the transport and the distribution cost including the margin of the importer and the retailer.

Is the wine market saturated in Ireland?

Yes and no. As a very lucrative market, wine has now taken its place in people’s life alongside beers. Ireland is a small country with a population of less than 5 millions. But Ireland is one big market when it comes to drinks.

Gilbeys of Ireland was the pioneer of wine importing in Ireland. Then Irish distillers, Febvre, Mackenway, Searsons, Woodford Bourne, Findlater Grant…. arrived. We count now more than 200 wine importers in Ireland and at least 2/3 of them are based in the Dublin area.

They all supply restaurant, off licences, big chains (tesco, centra…) and now have come to supply directly private individuals (small ones). It is very difficult to penetrate the market when a small and new company arrives as competitor.

A new competitor, a new concept

Fair Wind Wine, a new company has created an original concept to attract its clients to buy from them and not from anyone else. Fair Wind Wine is specialized in wine from the Languedoc area and transports its wine by Sailing tall ship. The company is building modern ships dedicated to the maritime transport under sail.

Using the wind as energy, Fair Wind Wine offers a new alternative to consumers who wants to contribute to improving air quality and therefore a healthier environment.

Fair Wind Wine offer its wine to restaurant, off licenses, Wine Cellars but also to Private Individuals.

A ship is coming every two months from March and the company welcomes whoever is interested in wine or boat can joins for a visit or a wine tasting.

You can order your wine directly from them and collect it when the boat is moored on river Liffey.

In tough economic time, people are still willing to spend their money but wiser than before. We are now looking for good price; good quality and Fair Wind Wine can bring us the peace of mind by contributing on the safety of our planet.

Wine is it good value?

Wine is used to be a very profitable business. Due the recession period, consumers have become less enthusiastic in spending their money in wine. They are now looking for good value wine.

Good value wines are usually coming from Australia or Chilie. French wine having difficulties to get out of people’s mind that its wine is too expensive for the majority of us.

That’s not true. Producers from all around France have decided to penetrate new markets by lowering their prices. Decreasing prices does not necessarily mean bad quality.

In fact in France, you cannot do whatever you want to do with your vines as it is regulated by the AOC (Appellation d’Origine Controlée) which is an organism that controls the quality of the wine made and cannot be called AOC or VDP (Vin de Pays) if it does not complete certain rules.

The Languedoc region is one very efficient in this kind of wine. It is the largest wine area in the world (more than 5000 ha of vines)

Now you are able to find almost everywhere a VDP d’Oc from 9.99€ and a good AOC form Languedoc- Roussillon at 12.99€.

You can also find a good Bordeaux or Chablis for not more than 12.99€.

Fair Wind Wine price list.pdf 

So what about Vin de Table.

Vin de Table has a bad reputation but is for most of the time the same wine than AOC or VDP, but the producers being limited of their productivity declassified some hectoliters in Vin de table.

Of course Wine makers have to sell them at a cheaper price but the quality remains the same.

Of course, it is still much more expensive than in France. But with a high duty that is increasing (In April, the duty on wine will take 5% more bringing it to 2,57€ per bottle). Fair Wind Wine intends to ask to reduce this duty on wines carried by sailing ship as they save 77% of carbon emissions.

Will the Irish government break ?