Why wine?

There’s often a story in every good glass, whether you choose to read it or not is another matter. You may just want to drink it and that’s okay. This site is a bit of both.

Free wine, independence and expectations

By means of disclosure, many of the wines I recommend on this site and in The Sunday Tribune have been sent to me by importers or shops as a sample.

For the wines I like and which I think are genuinely good value, I’ll write about.

For shit wines, and there are still a few out there, I’m polite enough, most of the time, to remember my grandmother’s words “if you have nothing good to say, say nothing” in public. I’ll then email my opinions to the supplier or producer.

About Lar

I got into wine quite by accident. A few years ago my beautiful wife, girlfriend at the time, noticed I was becoming a little more civilised in an effort to woo her. I must have been floundering so she decided I needed professional help and enrolled me on my first of many WSET courses. I got caught by the bug and soon afterwards was “studying” for exams. “Look ma, I got an A in drinkin’”

I’ve travelled extensively around Italy, France, Australia and New Zealand which have given me a great perspective on the places, the people and the stories behind what goes into the glass.

In 2007 I started sourgrapes.ie, for a bit of an Irish perspective on the world of wine and in 2010 began writing for The Sunday Tribune, a national paper based in Ireland.

Get in touch

Drop me a line: or leave a comment on the blog.

Disclosure

By way of disclosure, I’ve also done some web work for The Corkscrew in 2010. I’m committed to keeping sourgrapes.ie and my writing for the Tribune secular, i.e. “church and state” are separate.