5 days ago
- Business
- Irish Independent
Quaint cottage in Wicklow village is transformed into a high-end wine store
The latter inspired the name for the former tea rooms, the Cherry Orchard Tea Rooms, which existed there for as long as anyone can care to remember – or maybe not care. Because exact historical details of the tea rooms, housed in what would have been a long house some 300 years ago, are a bit scant. Next door was a cottage, which inspired the name for another business, Cottage Flowers, which also closed some years ago.
Sticking with the naming convention is Josh Fitzpatrick-Cousy who took over the cottage and, noticing a gap in the market for the fruit of the vine, transformed the building into what is now the Delgany Wine Cottage.
His business partner, Balasz Rakamazi, who has been importing wine from his native Hungary, spotted the premises and the pair spent months themselves on the renovations, having agreed it was the perfect spot to house quality wines.
Josh, who worked in Blackrock Cellar for some 12 years and knows all about quality wine, said they made 'a pretty big investment' to get the business up and running with the aim being to offer wines ranging in price from €15 at the lower end to €125 at the upper end.
Balazs has been importing wines from countries that may not be as well known for their produce here, and stepping into the cool of the cottage is an experience in itself. What they've done with the building is amazing, having retained its charm so it is in keeping with the village, yet offering something very new.
"They've got really super, super wines in Slovakia,' Josh said, pointing to his 'wine wall', which he is very proud of. 'We really have a good selection here of Slovakian, Hungarian, Greek wine, Georgian wine, Armenian, and then from Austria and Germany, which are a bit more well known.
'A lot of these countries deserve more recognition. Like Slovakia, they deserve way more recognition, and they're starting to get that now, which is great. But some of the winemakers in these areas are amazing, and they're doing stuff in a newer way, and some of it's very technical winemaking.'
The wine store – and it's not yet a wine bar – is well-positioned between the burgeoning towns of Delgany and Greystones, with several booming housing estates in betwee,n and Josh said that for them, the quality needs to be there. And it's the same with the coffee and the food offerings.
'For us even it's quite important, if you're spending close to that 15-14-euro mark to have slightly smaller producers where everyone's treated well in the vineyards and whatnot, so that's quite important. It's the same with our coffee, if you're buying good coffee it's going to be more expensive, but then again people that are doing lots of labour are going to be treated generally a little bit better.
"For a new business it can be a little bit tricky, but I think we're doing pretty well. The customers coming in have been great and it's nice now to see so many familiar faces coming back in over and over again."
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For those who like their plates with their wine, you can pick up a confection of offerings at store, from handmade chocolate from Eastern Europe, to quality locally sourced meats and cheeses.
"Lots of care goes into finding the ingredients,' Josh said. 'Just say they're almonds, they would be sourced in Sicily, or they're hazelnuts in Piedmont. So high-end chocolates.
"We do some really great Irish produce, so some great cheeses. We've got some from Galway, Cork, and then some amazing, amazing cheddar from Wicklow, like one of the best cheddars I've had called Mount Leinster. And we do some other kind of olive oils, balsamic vinegars, tomato sauces, good quality crisps and mustards.'
There are plans to expand the offering in the future for it to become a wine bar, but at the moment, it's "baby steps".
