Green Man Wines is one of the best examples of a new breed of hybrid wine-bar-shops to develop around Ireland and its capital city in particular.
Owners David Gallagher and Claire O’Boyle Gallagher are two of the nicest people you could meet in Ireland’s world of wine. Claire works for pioneering Kilkenny-based wine importers, Le Caveau, who are well-known and respected for their sourcing of organic, biodynamic and natural wines.
David ran the wonderful wine cellar in Fallon & Byrne for many years before making the move to open his own ‘Aladdin’s cave’ of wine. The couple have created, in David’s words, “a good wine shop that serves tasty bites in a casual, relaxed, friendly, unstuffy atmosphere”, somewhere he himself would like to hang out.
David has recruited right-hand-man Peter Conway O’Neill – another former Fallon&Byrne employee, this time from the cheese counter – and both share an infectious passion for the eclectic wines that David has surrounded them with, as well as the evolving selection of food that they’re serving with them.
The menu might include small bites like juicy crab meat on lightly toasted sourdough (€3) from Terenure’s Corner Bakery, small plates like smoked Magret duck (€8) dusted with paprika, and hot plates like sweet-spiced morcilla (Spanish black pudding) cooked whole on the barbecue and served with barbie-baked potatoes and fresh salad leaves in a punchy dressing.
There are plans to extend the food offer and cooking facilities, but we can expect excellent sourcing of ingredients to remain at the heart of what they serve.
As good as the food is, in truth it is there in a supporting role to their lovingly selected range of wines. There’s a whole page of orange wines available by the glass, in amongst several more pages of reds, whites, fizz and rosé. If you’d rather stick with the familiar, there’s some great choices on the ever-changing list by the glass – not to mention several walls of wine to drink by the bottle. Each of these is adorned with a handwritten label describing the joys within, in what amounts to a library of wine, and each is available to drink in-house for just €8 corkage per bottle.
Look out too for their regular tastings and wine-focused events and collaborations.
All in all, a wonderful addition to Terenure – and superb value, given that you could get yourself an interesting glass of wine with some acorn-fed blackfoot jamon on sourdough toast for less than a tenner.
