Tell us about the moment you first became interested in wine
I grew up working in my family’s bar and restaurant in Tipperary during holidays from school. I loved hospitality. But in rural Ireland, wine meant Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Grigio, Merlot. It wasn’t until I moved to Dublin in my early twenties and landed a job at Chapter One that I even knew ‘sommelier’ existed as a job.
Describe your wine list at Hawksmoor
It’s very much a reflection of the food. We’re a steak restaurant, so there’s a lot of range in the reds and we lean into generous, full-bodied, iconic styles. Across our locations, each wine manager puts their own stamp on the list and shapes it around the personality of their city and their guests. But there are some anchors that run through all of them. Our own-label blends are a big part of what we do: a Malbec, a Douro red and a Ribera del Duero are all incredibly popular.
Over the course of your career, have you had any wine-related disasters?
One of the best things about Hawksmoor is Monday corkage, £5 across all sites, and guests bring in the most extraordinary bottles. It’s genuinely one of the best education tools we have for the wine team. One Monday, a table brought in a Graham Norton Sauvignon Blanc with a purple cap. It went into the fridge and ended up next to a bottle also with a purple cap. A very different bottle. A Bâtard-Montrachet from Domaine de la Vougeraie, as it turned out. A waiter grabbed the Bâtard-Montrachet and served it to the table. The table didn’t notice. I only found out weeks later during a stocktake.
Name your top three restaurant wine lists
Mountain in Soho, London. I have a real thing for typography and print, and the way that list is put together as a physical object is something I genuinely aspire to: beautifully bound, considered from cover to cover, and the content matches the craft completely. Monty’s of Kathmandu in Dublin has one of the most remarkable collections I’ve ever encountered. And Dede in Baltimore, County Cork. I’ve been lucky enough to go many times over the years and watched that list develop into something really special.
Who do you most respect in the wine world?
The easy answer would be someone with a long and decorated career, and of course there are giants in this industry whose work I admire enormously. But honestly? My respect right now sits with the younger people who are quietly grafting through one of the toughest periods our industry has seen. Laure Kwaczewski is a perfect example. She’s head sommelier at Chapter One in Dublin, the restaurant where I started, having taken over the role from my partner Paul. She’s studying for her Diploma while simultaneously running one of the most demanding and prestigious wine lists in Ireland.
What’s the most interesting wine you’ve come across recently?
Dafní by Lyrarakis, from Crete. The Dafní grape was rescued from near-extinction by the Lyrarakis family in the early 1990s, and its name means laurel, or bay leaf, in Greek. The wine smells exactly like bay. There’s something almost magical about the fact that a grape variety can reliably produce the same aromatic compound as a completely different plant. It’s those moments that remind you how extraordinary Vitis Vinifera is and what fermentation can do.
What are the three most overused tasting notes?
I’m definitely guilty of using ‘approachable’ too much, probably because I’m always subconsciously trying to make wine more accessible to everyone. ‘Fresh’ and ‘bright’ get a lot of use in my vocab too.
What’s the best value wine on your list at the moment?
Our collaboration with Quinta da Rosa from the Douro, a red blend we’ve worked on with them for many years now. Winemaker Jorge Moreira has a remarkable understanding of what works in our restaurants: generous and open, with real typicity of the region, consistent vintage after vintage. It sits at £52 and genuinely overdelivers.
What is your ultimate food and drink match?
Cornas with prime rib and pepper sauce. There’s a compound called rotundone that gives Syrah that peppery quality – especially in cooler vintages – and it mirrors the sauce in the most satisfying way.
Old World or New World?
I find that binary a bit limiting, honestly. I tend to think of it as wines from places with a lot of rules versus wines from places with more freedom to experiment. And since finishing my Diploma, it’s the latter that’s been getting me excited.
What is your pet hate when it comes to wine service in other restaurants?
Removing the entire foil like a sleeve so the bottle is left completely naked. I still see it regularly. It’s a small thing but it speaks to a broader attitude.
Who is your favourite producer right now?
Altos Las Hormigas in Mendoza. Working in a steak restaurant, I taste a lot of Malbec, and the demand for the big, traditional style is absolutely still there. But Altos Las Hormigas are doing something different: terroir-driven, site-specific, genuinely elegant.
Which wine producing region or country is underrated at the moment?
Poland. The area under vine has grown enormously in the last two decades and producers there are doing remarkable things in an extreme continental climate. What’s fascinating is the trajectory: from almost entirely hybrid varieties like Rondo and Solaris towards genuinely exciting Vitis vinifera wines. I follow one producer in particular, Kamil Barczentewicz, who is making really compelling Pinot Blanc, Riesling and even Pinot Noir. As someone from Ireland, where our own wine industry is still in its infancy and confined to hybrid varieties, I find the Polish story deeply inspiring.
It’s your last meal and you can have a bottle of any wine in the world. What is it and why?
A 2016 Barolo, Rinaldi or Aldo Conterno – both would make it a very good last evening. Or a Rabajà from Bruno Rocca in Barbaresco. The complexity of those wines almost defies logic. I’ll be honest: most of the Barolo I’ve drunk has been young, because that’s what I could afford and access, and in a way that’s become part of how I love it. There’s something really joyful about a wine that’s still figuring itself out, all that potential just sitting there in the glass.