If you grew up in Ireland and you like wine, you’ve probably heard the words, ’Tis far from wine you were reared’.
It’s a saying with a strange mix of “fair play to you” and “don’t get notions now”. I love it because it reminds me how far we’ve come over the last few decades in Ireland.
This may give away my age but 32 years ago, I worked in a SuperValu supermarket in the midlands.
We stocked beer and spirits but no wine. Following a request from a customer, I asked the owner if I could order a dozen bottles of Blue Nun for Christmas. He told me if it wasn’t gone by the 23rd of December, I would be.
The same supermarket today gives over most of its off-license space to wine.
If you’re a similar vintage to me, you might remember that Blue Nun and Black Tower were pretty much the only two wines that you would see in those days.
While I can’t say that they are wonderful ambassadors for the art of winemaking (sorry, I might be getting notions here), I am very happy they started the ball rolling in Ireland.
So, what changed?
The prevalence of international travel for one thing. Since the 1990s, flights and holiday packages have become more affordable.
Suddenly Irish people were eating out in places like Spain, France and Italy where you are more likely to be served a glass of wine with your dinner than a pint of the black stuff.
In more recent times, the pub scene in Ireland has changed. Entertaining at home is common and staying in is the new going out.
Maybe I’m biased because I love it, but wine just seems to be made for dinners with friends or the ‘cosy night in’.
After all, wine growing nations around the world have been doing it for years and looking well on it, including the long-living Mediterranean people. Why wouldn’t we want a little piece of that?
The big difference is that we didn’t grow grapes in Ireland. In some countries, families grow their own grapes and make their own wine, or at least can pop down the road to their local vineyard.
There was no wine on the dinner table when I was growing up. We had lettuce and scallions, turnips and potatoes because that’s what came out of the ground.
That may be about to change though. Due to climate change, there are now grapes growing in Ireland.
There are even some people trying to make wine commercially. We just need to look at the success in the South of England to see what’s coming.
Pretty soon, we won’t be able to say “’tis far from wine…” because we’ll have it on our own shores.
I say bring it on.
