The Irish are renowned as a nation of imbibers, especially when they produce it themselves. Guinness accounts for around a quarter of all beers sold in Ireland, while the word “whiskey” derives from the Gaelic uisce beatha, a translation of the aqua vitae, or water of life. 

There is a secret history, however, in the story of Ireland’s alcoholic beverages, and it can be found in its relationship with wine. By the mid-eighteenth century, according to wine historian Charles Ludington, roughly four times as much Bordeaux wine was exported per year to Ireland than England, with the Irish paying approximately half as much per barrel compared to their neighbours across the Irish Sea. 

Those in the British Isles still paid much more than those in mainland Europe, partly because of increased expenses, but largely because they were buying the highest quality wines produced by the region. How Ireland ended up with such favourable terms can partly be explained by who was producing the top wines in Bordeaux; a significant number of Bordeaux wine châteaux were founded, like many other institutions throughout the world, by Irishmen fleeing from persecution in their own country.

During the late medieval and early modern periods in Galway, fourteen tribes dominated the political, commercial and social life of the city, prospering greatly from trade with continental Europe. These tribes were largely Anglo-Norman families and Normanised gaels, making them distinct from much of the local population. In 1641, a large-scale rebellion broke out across Ireland by Catholics who were protesting against religious persecution by the English who had confiscated large swathes of land from them. A failed coup d’état against the Protestant government led to the Eleven Years War — the Irish theatre in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms — and remains the most deadly conflict in Irish history.

After Cromwell reconquered Ireland, the English government sought to punish the tribes of Galway for supporting the Catholic coup in 1641. The city was sieged, and the tribes had their property seized. Many of these families migrated to continental Europe, especially France and Spain where Catholicism was the state religion, taking advantage of their trade network, wealth, and Norman roots to integrate effectively into their new societies. 

One of these tribes was the Lynch family, whose members permeated through much of European high society from the seventeenth century onwards. One family member, Patrick Lynch, would flee to Spain in the 1740s and from there onwards to Argentina, where he would become a major landowner in the country. His four-times-great-grandson, Che Guevara, is best remembered for other things. 

An Irish army officer, John Lynch, fled to Bordeaux and became naturalised in 1710, and the family quickly married into wealth, with his son Thomas Lynch acquiring the wine estate Domaine de Bages through marriage, after which it was named Château Lynch-Bages. Lynch-Bages has been regarded as one of the highest quality Bordeaux wines since its classification as a Fifth Growth estate in the 1855 Bordeaux Wine Classification, with recent vintages retailing at well over £100. Thomas Lynch’s son, Jean-Baptiste Lynch, would become a Count in Napoleonic France and the Mayor of Bordeaux, a status which would add to the respectability and appeal of the family wine, creating a second wine-producing château called Lynch-Moussas, which is also highly regarded today.

Another property, Château Kirwan, owes its success to a Galway tribe of the same name. Mark Kirwan inherited the chateau by marriage in the early 18th century, and built the chateau which is still in use today. Similarly to the Lynch wines, Kirwan was also commended in the 1855 Classification, this time more highly regarded as a Third Growth. Château Kirwan would be visited by Thomas Jefferson, then in his role as Ambassador to France, during his Bordeaux wine tour in 1787. Jefferson was shown around the property by the most renowned wine broker in Bordeaux at that time, one Abraham Lawton; Lawton was born in Skibbereen, West Cork.

Other top Bordeaux wines which were classified in 1855 and were founded by Irishmen include Châteaux Phélan Ségur; Boyd-Cantenac; Cantenac-Brown; Langoa-Barton; and Léoville Barton. The latter two châteaux are unique in that they are still owned by the original family, the Bartons, now in their tenth generation. Renowned as being exemplary winemakers, they are proud of their Irish heritage, with the late Anthony Barton, eighth-generation winemaker, taking pride in showing off his Irish passport to visitors at the château. 

Perhaps the most well-known Irish name in the world of wine is Richard Hennessy. Hennessy was born in County Cork in the early eighteenth century where he was faced with the growing reformation of the Catholic faith in Ireland and the persecution which succeeded the Glorious Revolution. Aged only nineteen, Hennessy fled to continental Europe joined the Irish Brigade of the French Army, seeing action at the Battle of Fontenoy under the army of Louis XV. 

… these instances in southwestern France form just one part of the rich tapestry that is Ireland’s wine history

Using the money he had gained during his military career, in later life Hennessy decided to become involved in the trade of cognac, eventually settling in the region of Charente with his wife Ellen Barrett, a fellow Irish native who was the aunt of Edmund Burke. He began distilling brandies at home, exporting them back to Ireland, Britain, and, later, the United States, taking advantage of the rum shortage as a result of the Seven Years War. Now, over 250 years later, Hennessy is the largest cognac producer in the world, with its sales accounting for 60% of the American cognac market.

While significant, these instances in southwestern France form just one part of the rich tapestry that is Ireland’s wine history. Similar stories exist in Spain, where the Irish are partly to credit with the introduction of Bordeaux wine grapes to regions such as Rioja. So the next time you’re being lectured in history by a drunk Irishman at the local watering hole, it might be worth taking that pint of stout from his hand and telling him to become a wino instead.