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FROM TIPP TO CLARE - AN EPIC WINE JOURNEY
From the Golden Vale of Tipperary to the Clare Valley of Australia has been a long and winding road for Donal O’Dwyer, who with his wife Judith, produces the prized ‘O’Dwyer’s Cabernet Sauvignon’ wines.
Born in a County famed for its dairy cows and its hurlers, Donal was educated in Clare- at a boarding school in Ennis. A varied business career followed during which he met and married Australian-born Judith and in the 1990s they lived in Brussels and Paris. They absorbed French culture and cuisine, travelled throughout the country and tasted the enormous range of wines, cheeses and other foods for which the country is justly renowned. A pivotal period was their visit to the ‘Irish Wine Geese’ chateaux in Bordeaux. They dined in the iconic restaurants of the Medoc and visited Lynch-Bages, Barton, Phelan Segur, Kirwan and other Chateaux with Irish connections.
Back in Paris they decided that they too would become ‘Wine Geese’ and one day produce their own wines.
Winemaking, they decided, would be similar to raising healthy and happy children – you would need a great deal of passion and patience and a very positive outlook to become a proud parent of fine products.
After eight years in France and Belgium appreciating the wines of France , Germany , Italy and Spain , the O’Dwyer clan moved to the USA . Here they developed a strong admiration for the great wines from the Napa and Sonoma regions.
It was with this background and the opportunity to tread in a similar path to the famous Wine Geese of the 17th and 18th centuries, that the O’Dwyer family, in 2004, put down roots in the beautiful Clare Valley in South Australia. Together with their four children they had set out on a ‘road trip’ through the bottom right-hand corner of Australia in search of their ideal wine-growing location. They happened on the Clare Valley- and the name immediately appealed to Donal, bringing back memories of his school days. They also noted its wine-making heritage, European influences and very recognisable charm. Donal and Judith scouted around individually and next day they independently happened across the Sweet Briar Vineyard, a mere six kilometres from the town of Clare. It was well developed, ideal in scale- and most significantly- it was for sale.
Within a week, the O’Dwyers had become owners of ‘Sweet Briar’- and now began the adventure of producing wines of the very highest quality.
The property consists of 26 acres (10.6 hectares), of which nearly 14 acres (six hectares) are under vine. For many decades, the vineyard had been producing Cabernet Sauvignon grapes, as well as Cabernet Franc and Shiraz , with its high-quality produce sold to local winemakers.
In the far southern corner of the vineyard, a parcel of very old Cabernet Sauvignon vines, aged more than 70 years, generates luscious flavourful grapes. When dry grown and hand- picked, the gnarled aged vines produce grapes for the O’Dwyer Limited Release Cabernet Sauvignon wine.
Realising that an enthusiasm for wine was not sufficient to achieve outstanding results, Donal and Judith teamed up with award-winning winemakers David O’Leary and Nick Walker of O’Leary Walker Wines, to make the flagship O’Dwyer Limited Release Cabernet Sauvignon. This collaboration has resulted in extraordinary outcomes, particularly the 2006 and 2008 vintages which are now available in Ireland through O’Dwyer Wines of Newbridge, Co. Kildare.
Further information from: John O’Dwyer at 087 -9810833/ john@odwyerwines.com