A Cork farmer and hotelier proves that it is possible to grow grapes and produce wine in Ireland.
Michael O'Callaghan farms 400 acres, runs his own hotel 'Longueville House' and has a 4 acre vineyard in Mallow, County Cork.
With the brilliant weather of this season, his grape crop is ahead of some of the best in Europe.
In a good year, this type and size of vineyard can produce up to five hundred gallons of wine.
In another ten weeks, this vineyard will resemble more the south of France than the south of Ireland.
Michael O'Callaghan has always had an interest in wine and found that it was a passion shared by many of his hotel guests. Each winter he would travel to Europe to buy wine for the summer season. On the back of his enthusiasm for wine, he decided to try growing his own grapes in Ireland. Having completed a wine course he started growing reichensteiner grapes and made his own wine making machinery. The white wine produced is sold in the hotel's restaurant under the name of Fion Cois Máire.
Fion Cois Máire is a dry white similar to German types.
Michael O'Callaghan has proved that it is possible to grow grapes in Ireland.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 26 July 1984. The reporter is Michael Lally.
