I’m a lover of wines. Red, white or rose, give me them all. I like to keep my finger on the pulse of the Irish wine scene and to try new ones as often as I can. While just doing some research, I came across Wicklow Way Wines and their wine Móinéir (Irish for Meadow). I hadn’t seen or heard of a winery in Ireland so it really tickled my intrigue.
After a quick google search, I then proceeded to learn that not only was there a winery in Ireland but also the wine is made using berries rather than grapes. They really had grabbed my attention then. I reached out to the guys and was actually lucky enough to be permitted to go out to the winery and interview its head winemaker, Brett Stephenson.
Brett kindly took me around his winery and showed me how they operate. Brett looks after everything. From the making of the wine to the handwritten numbering of each bottle. The winery is very much a family ran establishment. Brett, his wife and co-founder Pamela, his son Shane, and his daughter Celina all have their own role to play in running the business.
Brett insists that all his wines are made with local Irish produce. All the berries used for the wine are all picked in Ireland and supplied by an Irish vendor.
Tasting
Brett kindly opened his strawberry, raspberry and blackberry wines for me and my camera crew to try.
The first we tried was the strawberry, Blas na hEireann and Great Taste Award Winner. This wine ended up being my favourite out of the three. The colour of the wine is like a golden red. It has quite an intense aromas of strawberry as you can imagine. I was expecting the wine to be very sweet, to my surprise though it came across as a lot drier as I was expecting. The strawberry is perfect chilled for a summer evening.
Next, we had the blackberry. The blackberry was quite dark in colour. It has a sharp taste at the beginning but then mellows into a sweet berry flavour with a smooth finish. I was quite impressed with this wine. Also a Blas na hEireann and Great Taste Award Winner.
Last we had the raspberry. The raspberry was the darkest in colour. This flavour was quite unique. Intensely fruity with a sharp taste acidic taste which then smoothens out into tangy jammy flavour.
Where Can You Try?
Wicklow Way Wines run tours in their winery where you are brought through each phase of how the wine is made and bottled. You will also be treated to a tasting prior to the tour with Brett himself running you through the stunning flavours of the berry wines. Brett has provided our readers with a 10% off discount for his tours which you can access here.
You can buy Móinéir yourself on the Wicklow Way Wines website or you can pick up a bottle in any of the shops and restaurants on their stocklist.