cases

I caught up with Peter Boland, the brains and the brawn behind recently launched cases.ie, the online arm of Galway-based Cases Wine Warehouse.

Why the wine world – was there a seminal wine moment?

I was working for C&C International around Mannheim in Germany, selling wines and spirits for their distributor over there when I discovered that Germany offered so much more than Black Tower. Drinking super whites on sunny afternoons overlooking the Rhine did it for me.

And your favourite wine from the Cases warehouse and why?

Réserve du Château Mansenoble, Corbières AC 2004.

Made by Guido Jansegers, an ex-insurance broker from Belgium, not a background that would inspire hope, but over the last 16 years, Guido and his wife Marie-Annick have turned a vineyard supplying grapes to the local Co-op into a world class producer of Corbières; rated by Robert Parker, Oz Clarke, and both Hugh Johnson and Jancis Robinson in their World Atlas of Wine among others.

The Réserve is a Syrah, Grenache and Carignan blend that is dark purple in colour, with Syrah spiciness and sweet vanilla on the nose. Redcurrants, blackcurrants and spice on the palate, this wine manages to be powerful and elegant at the same time.

What did you do before Cases?

I worked in sales and marketing in wines, beers and spirits for 10 years before moving to Galway where I was Marketing Director for Supermac’s for some time.

But I always wanted to get back into the booze business and looked at many options before I saw the opportunity offered to independent wine retailers by the warehouse type outlet in the USA and the UK.

How was the Cases concept born?

After several very enjoyable visits to wine warehouses such as Majestic in the UK and Zachy’s in upstate New York.

Tell me about your customers. What breakdown is there between wine connoisseurs and wine rookies. And does it even matter?

They tend to be 25-plus and are all wildly enthusiastic about wines. Behind that enthusiasm, there is a good split between connoisseurs and rookies but I am continually impressed by the general level of knowledge in Galway and my only adversary is a closed mind.

How is that the Irish have come to love wine?

Our palates have moved on in so many ways in the last 20 years thanks to money and travel.

For example, who would have thought 20 years ago that we would have an Indian restaurant in every town?

The monochrome world of Irish beers and spirits had to change and wine was the obvious way to add colour. Now the same is happening with beers (and spirits to a lesser extent).

You’ve just gone live with a new website, cases.ie, how will the website enable the business?

By offering our range nationally. Since we opened in 2007 we have had a steady stream of visitors to Galway telling me they wished we had a warehouse in their town!

With the size of the wine market in Ireland, is there still room for new players offline and online?

There is always room for an excellent, innovative new operator. But there is less and less room in either domain for mediocrity.

The standard of wine retailing in Ireland has improved no end in the last few years.

Apart from cases.ie, who’s selling wine well online and how do you differentiate yourself?

Majestic.co.uk.
We differentiate ourselves using the range we offer, the level of information we provide and the ease of navigation to make the purchase decision as simple as possible.

What wines are selling well at the moment at Cases?

Any predictions on NEW wines to look out for over the next 6 months to a year?

Well made Torrontés – try Andeluna Torrontés (being listed next week), more Sicilian reds if they can control the urge to jack up prices. And finally, decent Riesling? Maybe this is the time with so much being consumed with food.

Anything else you’d ask or like to add?

Why is there not an ingredient listing on wine or beer bottles yet?! What a way to encourage responsible and thoughtful wine and beer-making.