Can you grow wine in Ireland?

Whenever I talk with someone about my little life goal of owning a plot of land and having a few grapevines on it, I’m always met with skepticism. I sort of understand where they are coming from. Ireland isn’t exactly the most hospitable of climates for one to raise grapes. That’s why having vineyards, wineries and producing wines under your own name hasn’t really taken off in Ireland. But I think that times are changing.

Can you grow wine in Ireland

For those who don’t know, in a lot of the western world, especially in the US, there are a lot of small time family owned wineries that are producing unique blends of wine. France, Spain, Italy and even Germany have this tradition as well. In Ireland we have a couple of larger vineyards, or should I say wineries, and that’s about it.

Small time wineries have never really gained much traction. Climate is one major factor that kept smaller wineries from happening. Ireland is too far north for grapes to succeed on a regular basis. However in recent years something really bad has been happening. Climate change, for better or worse, brings warmer weather to Ireland. To help those who want to grow grapes in Ireland even more, Germany has been producing grapevines that are capable of withstanding colder climates. All of this combined makes me very hopeful for the production of wines on small scale in Ireland. What do you think?