Irish wine

Irish wine production takes place in a small number of vineyards and wine producers the majority of which lie in County Cork, Ireland, with Lusk, North County Dublin, also producing a wine named 'Lusca'.[1] Ireland is officially listed as a wine producing country by the European Commission,[2] and Ballydrehid House Estate (in Cahir, County Tipperary), Blackwater Valley Vineyard (Mallow), Longueville House[3] (Mallow), West Waterford Vineyard (Cappoquin, Co. Waterford) and Thomas Walk Vineyard (Kinsale)[4] all produce wine despite being well north of the area where the Vitis vinifera commonly occurs.

History

The facts surrounding Ireland's early wine production are unsettled. Bede wrote in his AD 731 Ecclesiastical History of the English People that there was not "any want of vines" in Ireland. However, Gerald of Wales wrote in the 12th century that Ireland did not have vines and Bede's claim was inaccurate. Modern wine writer Susan Boyle, meanwhile, argues that wine-stained pottery found at archaeological sites serves as evidence that the ancient Celts introduced wine to Ireland about 500 years before Christ was born.[5]

There are records of previous attempts to cultivate the vine for wine production, such as in the 5th century, when monks at the (later Cistercian) monastery in County Kilkenny planted a vineyard[6], with a number of other monastic communities following and also producing wine.

Berry wines

In addition to grapes, berries were also traditionally used to create wines in Ireland. Typically berries were harvested from hedgerows for this purpose. In recent years strawberry, blackberry and raspberry wines have been launched on the Irish market by Wicklow Way Wines.

See also

References
  1. Lusca Irish Wine Archived 2013-12-19 at the Wayback Machine
  2. The Wineries of Ireland Archived 2017-08-19 at the Wayback Machine Wine Intro.
  3. Longueville House
  4. Archived 2018-11-01 at the Wayback Machine Thomas Walk Vineyard
  5. Guedez, Gaby (2 July 2017). "The Past, Present and Future of Winemaking in Ireland". TheTaste.ie. Retrieved 29 July 2018.
  6. The Surprising Irish Contribution to Winemaking By Allan Lynch Meridian Writers’ Group, Culturelocker.com
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