WineSpark

WineSpark Your access to the world’s best w**es

Coming soon to Ireland

Seven years ago, I snuck two w**e glasses into my suitcase in Cape Town. Today, WineSpark is their exclusive Irish impor...
02/09/2026

Seven years ago, I snuck two w**e glasses into my suitcase in Cape Town.

Today, WineSpark is their exclusive Irish importer.

I’ve always believed that the right w**e glass makes a huge difference to how a w**e tastes and how much you enjoy it.

I first came across Gabriel-Glas in 2019, at the kitchen table of my w**emaker friend Johan Kruger on the outskirts of Cape Town.

I loved the shape, weight and feel of them - they just felt right.

And most importantly, the w**e tasted great.

So I brought a couple home with me, and ever since they’ve been my w**e glass of choice.

Whether I’m tasting w**e for WineSpark or having friends over for dinner, Gabriel-Glas always gets the nod.

And whenever anyone asks me what w**e glass they should buy (which happens surprisingly often!), I point them towards Gabriel-Glas.

Eventually I thought - why am I sending all this business somewhere else?

And so seven years on from that South African smuggling operation, I’m delighted to say we’re now the exclusive importer of Gabriel-Glas in Ireland.

Our members now have access to a range of Gold, StandArt and DrinkArt glasses that make our w**es taste even better.

It’s a small expansion of the WineSpark empire, but one I’m very happy about.

When everyone is selling the same thing, there’s only one way to win.Seventy years ago, a tiny village in the south of F...
27/08/2026

When everyone is selling the same thing, there’s only one way to win.

Seventy years ago, a tiny village in the south of France faced a problem.

France had just come out of the war, and agriculture was on its knees.

Food was scarce, and w**e was one of the few things in plentiful supply.

It was even considered nourishing by the authorities, and was given to kids!

By the mid-1950s however, food supplies had recovered, and there was now a massive oversupply of w**e.

The co-operative in the tiny village of Saint-Saturnin knew they had to do something different.

So they started bottling the w**e under the village name.

Which sounds completely normal now, but was unusual back then.

And it worked. Demand for Saint-Saturnin took off, reaching as far as the bars and restaurants of Paris.

Everyone else eventually caught up to the idea.

And Saint-Saturnin slipped back under the radar.

Which is a shame, because it’s a special place.

It sits in the heart of the Terrasses du Larzac, an elevated plateau at the foothills of the Massif Central, around 40 minutes from Montpellier.

The elevation, good rainfall and similar soils that you find in Châteauneuf-du-Pape are ideal for producing smooth, structured, long-lived reds.

And the word’s getting out - Terrasses du Larzac is now home to the Languedoc’s priciest w**es.

One of the people helping drive that renaissance is Virgile Joly.

He makes exactly the sort of w**es I love finding for our members.

The headlines are screaming that the w**e industry is back in crisis.

WineSpark is growing - by doing the opposite of chasing volume and offloading it with cheap deals.

We focus instead on quality w**es from brilliant small producers, and telling the stories that transport people to the places behind them.

The people of Saint-Saturnin were a forward-thinking bunch.

They figured that when there’s too much w**e, competing on volume isn’t always the answer.

You need to give people something worth remembering.

Seventy years later, I think the answer is much the same.

Nine months of winter, three months of hell. And some of the best red w**e in SpainI’m often asked about my favourite w*...
25/08/2026

Nine months of winter, three months of hell. And some of the best red w**e in Spain

I’m often asked about my favourite w**e region, and the answer has stayed pretty much the same over the years.

Ribera del Duero.

That old saying sums up the place, and why the w**es are so good.

Ribera sits on an elevated plain right beside Rioja in northern Spain.

At this altitude, the weather is brutal. Long, bitterly cold winters, and then three months of unbearable heat in the summer.

Tempranillo, known locally as Tinto Fino, loves this harsh climate.

It ends up more powerful than in Rioja, and also fresher. It’s a magic combination for creating ultra-premium and long-lived reds.

And Ribera has an equally interesting history.

In the Middle Ages, Spain was ruled from nearby Valladolid. The monarchy eventually moved back to Madrid, and took their wealth with them.

A long, 500-year siesta followed - when the main activity was peasant sheep farming.

It wasn’t until the 1990s that this forgotten corner of Spain finally woke up again, when the world discovered it could make pretty amazing w**es.

Thankfully the sheep pedigree survived too - Ribera is also famous as the lamb capital of Spain.

It’s a terrible place to be a grape (or a lamb). But a brilliant place to make w**e!

We were throwing away something perfectly good.And it turned out to have a very simple fix.Our box return scheme has bee...
24/08/2026

We were throwing away something perfectly good.

And it turned out to have a very simple fix.

Our box return scheme has been running for nearly 12 months now, and it’s really starting to work 📈

Every time I stick my head into the warehouse, I see piles of white mailer bags containing hundreds of WineSpark boxes ready to be used again.

This warms my heart (or maybe I need to get out more) 🤔

Since we started trialling the scheme, around one-third of all boxes have come back to us.

In fact I haven’t placed a new cardboard order this year - which is pretty good proof that it’s working!

The idea itself came from our members.

For years they told us it seemed like a waste to throw out a perfectly good box after one delivery.

And one of them suggested the solution too. ✅

The system is very simple: you save up five boxes and their inserts, flatten them into one of our return bags and send them back to us.

We credit €15 to the member’s account as a thank you, and the boxes go straight back into circulation.

This is the power of the community in action, and I love it - less cardboard unnecessarily produced, more old boxes being reused, and more great w**e being enjoyed (like Vinyes d'Olivardots) as a result!

Delighted with this glowing review of our Fleurie in The Irish Times this weekend…When I started WineSpark five years ag...
23/08/2026

Delighted with this glowing review of our Fleurie in The Irish Times this weekend…

When I started WineSpark five years ago I drew up a list of up-and-coming French producers I really wanted to work with.

Anne-Sophie Dubois was top of that list in Beaujolais.

It took a while, but we finally brought in her Les Alchimistes Fleurie last year.

So to see it getting this recognition in the paper is a nice moment!

Take it from John Wilson:

‘Proof that great Beaujolais doesn’t have to cost a fortune … a star’.

Last weekend, in Ireland’s most eyeballed w**e column, John Wilson shone a light on the w**es of Ventoux.It’s one of Fra...
20/08/2026

Last weekend, in Ireland’s most eyeballed w**e column, John Wilson shone a light on the w**es of Ventoux.

It’s one of France’s bigger w**e regions, but for years the w**es have lived very much in the shadow of the more famous Mont Ventoux towering above them.

That’s starting to change.

There are some seriously good producers emerging, but the region still doesn’t carry the fame, or prices, of its better-known Rhône neighbours.

And there’s brilliant value to be found there as a result.

If you’d like to try Ventoux, John recommended four w**es from various retailers around Ireland, ranging from €9 to €25.

One of them, our Martinelle Ventoux, was singled out in particular:

‘A seriously good w**e at a great price’.

Which is exactly the WineSpark promise in a nutshell.

Always nice for someone else to say it.

20/08/2026

I love places where the reputation hasn’t caught up with the reality yet.

Ventoux is a perfect example - here’s a short video on why.

**e **etasting **elover

First time in Valdeorras, and it did not disappoint! We’ve been working with Marta and the team at A Coroa for 3 years n...
01/07/2026

First time in Valdeorras, and it did not disappoint!

We’ve been working with Marta and the team at A Coroa for 3 years now, and their Godello is right up there in our top 3 w**es.

The Ancient Romans first came here looking for gold - Valdeorras literally means ‘Valley of Gold’.

But what they mostly found though was slate.

In fact the most of the slate for roofs (rooves? 🤔) and surfaces in Europe comes from this little corner of north-west Spain.

Thankfully they also brought vines, and it turns out the Godello grape absolutely thrives on slate soils.

Add the warm days and cool nights, and you get punchy white w**es packed with flavour, balance and freshness.

I’m told every I go in Spain that Godello is selling like crazy.

So move over Albariño, there’s a new kid in town!

When in Bierzo… Hostal Canada is the place to be 🇨🇦🕺
30/06/2026

When in Bierzo… Hostal Canada is the place to be 🇨🇦🕺

Bierzo with one of its very best - César Márquez.El Val ✨A masterclass in grafting from HenryThe view over ValtuilleHQBa...
29/06/2026

Bierzo with one of its very best - César Márquez.

El Val ✨

A masterclass in grafting from Henry

The view over Valtuille

HQ

Barrel tasting 😋

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