Tuesday was spent recovering from jetlag and getting our bearings around Dublin, which was especially beautiful with the festive Christmas decorations around the city. Mum and Dad had a Astrolabe dinner meeting, so us girls took advantage of Marks and Spencer’s ridiculously massive selection of pre-made meals for tea. 

On Wednesday evening, after a full day of sightseeing, we were lucky enough to attend a fantastic tasting put on by Astrolabe and Durvillea’s Irish distributor, O’Briens, for around 100 of their best customers, held at the swanky Westbury Hotel in downtown Dublin. While Dad talked the group through the wines, we got a chance to meet several of the O’Briens team, including marketing manager Cora-Jane (who, with her lovely red hair, fit right in with us Durvillea girls!), wine buyer Lynne and co-owner and founder Kevin. It was great to see the strong support in both the customers and the staff at O’Briens for the Astrolabe brand, and we felt very lucky to have such a good team now looking after Durvillea in Ireland as well.

On Thursday we took a train to Limerick. Unfortunately, Ireland has been caught in something of a national disaster, with major flooding in the midlands area, which has caused a lot of damage and closed a lot of roads in and out of Limerick. Luckily, however, the train lines were still operating, so we made it there safely. Our first stop when we arrived in the city was the fantastic new Limerick O’Briens store, managed by Mike Curran who we had met at the tasting in Dublin. Astrolabe is a big seller in the store, and Mike had a big Astrolabe Marlborough Sav display taking pride of place in the middle of the shop, which was great to see! As well as managing the store, Mike is also in charge of the new wholesale venture by O’Briens, which will directly supply restaurants with a range of exclusive wines sourced by O’Briens from around the world. We are excited that our Durvillea wines are part of this new project.

After lunch we joined with Mike, Lynne and Kevin to see and taste the full range of wines that will be launched through the wholesale venture. It was a great opportunity for us not only to discuss Durvillea with the O’Briens team but also to take advantage of Lynne’s wonderful wine knowledge when tasting the other wines, including some from Bordeaux, Côte du Rhone, Chile and Spain. So, despite being in Limerick in the midst of a bit of a civic disaster, we still had a lovely day enjoying some great wines and great company, and feel confident that Mike will be a great ambassador for the Durvillea brand in the Limerick area.

Durvillea girls in Limerick

On Friday, our last day in Ireland, we got in some last minute sight-seeing, including a great walking tour of Dublin’s History. Mum and Dad were again busy with Astrolabe business, so we had a nice quiet evening on our last night, since we had an (unreasonably!) early start in the morning to head to Paris… but more on that later!

Sláinte chugat (Good health to you!)

- Libby