Celebrating St. Patrick’s Day at an Irish Bar fueled by copious amounts of beer is commonplace today. What most people generally don’t realize is the relationship between the people of Eire and wine. In one of the most fanciful legends, the writer James Joyce one claimed that St. Patrick was the mythical “hermit” for whom the Hermitage region of the French Rhône wine valley was named.
A much more documented fact is the influence of Irish émigrés on a different French wine region. The defeat of James II in 1691 led to a large number of Irish patriots or rebels depending on perspective fleeing their homeland bound for France. This group led by Patrick Sarsfield, Earl of Lucan left Ireland en masse on December 22, 1691 with estimates of 14,000 former soldiers and 10,000 members of their families embarking together. The immigrants collectively have come to be called “The Wild Geese” for their migration far away from home with subsequent flocks heading even further across the Atlantic and some to Australia. It is interesting to note that these “Jacobite” supporters who went to France would rise yet again in rebellion a half century later in Scotland which became the backdrop for the recently popular Outlander cable series.
One place many of these Irish landed was in the Bordeaux wine valley where they set down roots. Many of these people arrived with pockets full of cash and made investments in local vineyards and wineries recognizing how important wine was for their countrymen back home as well as the much less loved English. In fact, before the 19th century, Ireland imported about four times more Bordeaux wine annually than England. When Thomas Jefferson made his famous tour of wine regions, he specifically noted the number of Irish wine merchants that dominated the export docks of Bordeaux.
One of the most influential Irish vineyard owners and vintners in Bordeaux was the Lynch family from county Galway who controlled Chateaux Lynch-Bages. A second key family was the Bartons who owned Chateaux Leoville-Barton as well as Chateaux Latour. A couple of the most notable Bordelaise wineries, Chateau d’Yquem and Chateaux Margaux are reported to have Irish connections in their past. Along with these were other notable Chateaux including Clarke, Kirwan, Phelan-Segur, and Dillon. These Irish in Bordeaux have subsequently been renamed “The Wine Geese”. Even today there are fourteen Chateaux in Bordeaux that have clearly Irish names.
Therefore, in the midst of hoisting an Irish brew or shot of Irish whisky to honor St. Patrick and the wearing of the green, consider a glass of red Bordeaux to celebrate those countrymen who found refuge in a different form of fermentation.