WineSpark, Dublin (2026)

19/10/2026

I have two simple rules when it comes to delivery.

1. It must be fast
2. It must be free

So how do you improve on perfection?

Well late last week, we did just that.

Our customers in Dublin and its surrounding counties can now order on Friday and get their w**es delivered over the weekend - at no extra charge.

Previously, these orders would arrive on Tuesday. So this is a huge improvement.

We already offer free next-day delivery, on all orders, across Ireland.

We offer free next-day delivery in the UK too - delivering a better service than most of our competitors many times our size (ahem - for now).

Thanks to for taking all that UK experience and pushing our standards even higher.

And to our members, judging by the photo of one of the pallets for Friday’s pickup, for very enthusiastically supporting this!

02/10/2026

From the outside, it looks like the dream.

Back in the summer, we travelled to the Languedoc to stay at Lidewij van Wilgen’s Terre des Dames w**ery.

It’s as idyllic as it sounds - an 18th-century farmhouse surrounded by vineyards, high up in the hills above Béziers.

Lidewij was away, so she rented the whole place to us. I even ended up giving a tour and tasting to a group of lovely Dutch tourists.

So much for switching off.

But staying there got me thinking.

Behind the beautiful house, the awards on the wall and the prestigious Michelin-starred restaurant listings - are 24 years of hard work, sacrifice and determination.

Leaving Amsterdam and starting over in a new country alone with three girls under five.

Going to w**emaking class with a baby in a sling.

Finding your place in a southern French village where outsiders aren’t easily accepted.

Battling nature and its increasing unpredictability.

And the bit that I can actually relate to: building a w**e business without compromising on what you believe in.

Lidewij and I both left corporate jobs to build a life around w**e.

One thing you quickly learn is how much of the industry revolves around price.

There’s always someone offering a cheaper bottle, and there’s always pressure to drop your standards to compete.

Quality alone in w**e does not keep you going.

You need the absolute conviction to stick to what you believe in. Especially when it would be easier not to.

Terre des Dames is what 24 years of that conviction looks like.

And I think it’s why we work so well together.

I came home with even more respect for what Lidewij has built.

And a strong reminder of why I started W**eSpark.

01/10/2026

Here are 5️⃣ simple ways to make your w**e taste better once autumn kicks in 🍁🍂

The days are shorter, the house is getting colder, and each week the kids brew up a new and exotic disease in school and release it into the home.

This time of year also calls for food with a bit more oomph.

Whether it’s hearty Sunday roasts, big bowls of pasta, or slow-cooked stews brimming with rich and comforting flavours - I love it all!

If this is also your idea of heaven, here are a few handy tips to make the w**e just as good:

1️⃣ Reach for richer reds

Look at any of Europe’s traditionally poorer regions - like the Languedoc, Portugal, or rural Spain - their dish of choice is always some sort of stew. The local reds tend to be powerful, and they’ll go great with whatever one-pot concoction you throw together this autumn.

2️⃣ And more comforting whites

Whites with a little oak and texture - like Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc and Viognier, will go perfectly with roasts and creamy dishes.

3️⃣ Give your reds a little chill

Serving red w**e at ‘room temperature’ is a complete myth, unless you live in a medieval castle (and my apologies if you do). Most modern houses are far too warm - pop your red in the fridge 20-30 mins before drinking and it will open up nicely in your glass.

4️⃣ Speaking of w**e glasses,

Try and invest in good ones. I reckon you get 30% more enjoyment out of your w**e in a quality glass. Gabriel-Glas are my favourites, and our members can reserve them now.

5️⃣ Storing your w**e

Once the heating comes back on, watch where you store your bottles. W**e likes cool and dark places - so keep it away from radiators and direct sunlight.

As for choosing the bottles, that’s where I come in.

I spend my time hunting down brilliant w**es from small, independent producers in places like Napa Valley, and our members at W**eSpark get access to them at our cost price + 10%.

So when it comes to dinner, picking the w**e to go with it is the easiest part.

29/09/2026

I’ve spent 15 years doing something that AI can’t.

AI is great for many things. Finding w**es that you’re going to love is not one of them.

Some of the biggest names in tech have tried to automate w**e discovery. To curate this, to recommend that. And they still haven’t cracked it.

This is because w**e is one of those uniquely and wonderful human products - where art, science and nature collide. Throw in a bit of mystery too.

Now surely AI is here to solve the problem.

But here’s the thing.

🤖 AI has never wandered the streets of Palermo, taking in the sights, smells and chaos to get a real sense of Sicily before exploring its vineyards.

🤖 AI has never driven the Route des Grand Crus in Burgundy in late January, casually passing signposts for Gevrey-Chambertin and Puligny-Montrachet, with the place hauntingly empty and still.

🤖 And I’m fairly sure an algorithm has never chased a UPS van around Cape Cod, to secure precious Californian w**e samples after a missed delivery attempt before a flight home.

There’s a better and more reliable way to discover great w**e.

And it’s already here.

Which is to count on a passionate human with over 15 years of experience travelling all over the w**e world, meeting w**emakers and making discoveries.

And countless years before that at the family dinner table, admiring his dad’s w**e choices.

That’s me.

And W**eSpark is how I bring those discoveries home and share them with you.

25/09/2026

Yesterday, I got to show a few friends a side of Spain they hadn’t seen before.

Rioja, Ribera del Duero and Albariño is all good stuff - but there’s so much more to Spain. So I make it my business to go looking for it.

Which is how, four years ago, I came across the w**es of Bodegas Arrayán, in the foothills of the Gredos mountains just west of Madrid.

The estate is run by Mariana Entrecanales Marsans, the second generation of the Entrecanales family, alongside their brilliant w**emaker, Maite Sánchez.

They work with local varieties, Garnacha and Albillo Real, making authentic, characterful w**es at unbelievably sensible prices.

Their El Bufón Albillo Real is a great example.

You barely see it outside Madrid, and not a chance in Ireland or the UK.

Albillo Real is the first grape to ripen in the vineyards around here. In the past, people would have eaten it while picking the other grapes - the small berries, freckled skin and sweet taste make it especially delicious. The birds tear into it too!

These characteristics however make it tricky to turn into great w**e.

But in the hands of Maite, she makes a beautifully distinctive style brimming with honeyed, fennel and citrus flavours.

It reminds me of my other heartstring w**e - South African Chenin Blanc.

Yesterday I brought a small group of friends to Arrayán’s beautiful family office in the centre of Madrid.

We tasted through the w**es and heard the stories behind them.

One of the group even ordered a case mid-tasting on our new WhatsApp service - it will be waiting for him when he’s back in London tomorrow. That was cool!

But the best bit was watching them discover a completely different side of Spain, outside of big regions and famous names.

They’re now on the inside too. And that’s why I do it.

You don’t need to explore every grape, village and w**emaker in Spain. You just need to know someone who does.

22/09/2026

I’ve been selling w**e for 15 years. Just when you think you know what you’re doing…

Our sales, by colour, for the past week:

✔️ Red 36.9%
✔️ White 24.0%
✔️ Rosé 38.0%
✔️ Fizz 1.1%

Rosé topped the charts. In September.

It used to be much more predictable.

Rosé would fly out of the traps in April - the excitement of those first hot (warm) days of the year, and suddenly rosé is all you want.

You’d sell very little else for two months.

I never quite understood what happened next, but no-one seemed interested in it when it was actually hot in the summer.

And by autumn it would fall off a cliff.

Which is a shame, because that’s exactly when good rosé tastes best.

I had a banger of an autumn case lined up in my head for last week.

Warming reds, richer whites… perfect for that nip in the evening air and sideways rain battering the window.

But then I looked out the window and changed my mind.

I’ve spent 15 years learning how people buy w**e. Apparently I’m still learning. Pass the rosé.

Pic of me in the kitchen just before launching the business, preparing for September 2026.

16/09/2026

If you love Burgundy, but hate Burgundy prices - there’s one village you should know.

The Gamay grape was famously banished from Burgundy in the 1400s by Philippe the Bold, who hated the stuff.

One place however escaped the chop.

As Dijon’s industrial age took off after the French Revolution, red w**e was needed to fuel this boom.

A sort of medieval flat white, you could say. ☕

Gamay, with its high yields and approachability in youth, became the tipple of choice.

And Marsannay, as the closest w**e-producing village to Dijon, became an outpost of this illicit grape.

I can only assume the French were too busy revolting to notice.

Fast forward to the early 1900s... Beaune replaces Dijon as the region’s commercial hub, and there’s no money in poor old Gamay.

So Marsannay’s vines are all ripped out and replaced with Pinot Noir - we’re back to square one.

Marsannay finally gets its first appellation contrôlée status in 1987 - making it one of the youngest Burgundy appellations today.

Basically you’ve got all the qualities of top Burgundy here - Gevrey Chambertin is just 10 minutes down the road.

But without the prestigious history, and the prices that come with it.

If you’re looking to try Marsannay, look no further than Laurent Fournier at W**eSpark.

It’s exactly the sort of thing I love finding for our members - a brilliant producer in a place that deserves more attention.

13/09/2026

We’ve just launched WhatsApp for W**e in the UK.

After successfully piloting the idea in Ireland last month, we rolled it out to our members in the UK this week.

Here’s the thinking behind this:

1. We want to help people discover brilliant small producers and hard-to-find w**es
2. People are busy. And yet another login/password can sometimes be as hard-to-find as the w**es themselves
3. We always want to meet customers where they’re at, not where we are
4. And give them the best possible service once they’re here.

From our end, the platform works a dream.

The conversation connects directly to the customer’s profile, so I can see what they’ve ordered before and make great recommendations based on what they enjoy.

And the stats show it’s working for customers too:

✔️ 21% of inbound traffic is already coming in through WhatsApp
✔️ Queries are resolved 44% quicker than email
✔️ Then there are comments like: ‘My first WhatsApp w**e order. Could be dangerous’ 😂

The tech here is smart, but the philosophy is decades old.

Which is to know your customers, and meet them where they’re at.

I spend years finding the w**es for W**eSpark. All you need to do now is send us a message.

08/09/2026

I had one simple job today. And I still managed to mess it up.

I was out delivering letters to spread the good word about W**eSpark.

It wasn’t planned - the help fell through, and I was nearby, so the CEO got the nod. Buckle up! 😬

The letters are a great way of bringing in new customers. So what’s more important than that?

In fact I love doing it.

It gets me away from the desk, gives me some fresh air (and fresh thoughts), and you end up having some lovely little interactions along the way.

Like the lady I met on Saturday morning, walking her dog in a Dryrobe, who seemed genuinely delighted to hear about the business at 7am.

Or my five year-old, who insisted on coming with me. She was furiously trying to shove a letter through one door when the owner opened it. A puzzled look, then a giant smile followed.

And then this morning, a man who followed me up the road to say thanks very much, but he was already a member.*

We ended up having a great conversation about a shared love of Beaujolais.

It all reminded me that however busy you get, there’s never a downside to going out and potentially meeting a current or future customer.

And something I’ve tried to stick to throughout my career - never be too big to do the small things that need to be done.

*I had one instruction: here’s a list of existing customers. Do not deliver to these houses. 🫡

05/09/2026

There’s already far too much w**e to choose from.

So why on earth did I start another w**e company?

Supermarkets, restaurants, w**e shops, online retailers… there’s no shortage of places to buy w**e.

There are 38,000 producers in France alone!

So choice isn’t the problem. Knowing what’s actually good is.

What you need is someone you trust to filter the really special stuff from the rest.

That’s where I come in.

I’ve spent the last 15 years building deep relationships with small w**emakers all over the world.

And I’ve spent those same 15 years selling w**e directly to people in Ireland and the UK - learning what they love and what they come back for.

Earlier this year, I tasted my way through recommendations at Europe’s biggest w**e fairs.

My hit rate is brutal. But that’s kind of the point.

- Montpellier - 289 w**es tasted. I bought six (2.1%)
- Barcelona - 172 w**es tasted. I bought four (2.3%)
- Paris - 205 w**es tasted. I bought eight (3.9%).

And that’s only the first filter.

Every week, more samples arrive at my desk - tip-offs from w**emakers and industry insiders I trust.

Most are perfectly decent.

Very few are good enough for the standards I’ve set for W**eSpark.

Which means by the time a bottle makes it in front of our members, there are hundreds of others that haven’t.

You don’t need more choice.

You need someone you trust to do the choosing for you.

WineSpark

19/10/2026

02/10/2026

01/10/2026

29/09/2026

25/09/2026

22/09/2026

16/09/2026

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08/09/2026

05/09/2026

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