One of the largest wine distributors in the country has stopped supplying wine from a Louth-based vineyard over concerns about the accuracy of it being labelled as an “Irish” wine.
Neil Cassidy, managing director of Cassidy Wines, told The Irish Times it dropped Fairy Trees wines after a campaign that questioned the bona fides of those selling the wine as Irish.
A number of small Irish wine producers have challenged individual off-licences and chains, as well as Cassidy Wines, for stocking Fairy Trees red and white wines, which are labelled as “produced in Ireland”. Suspicions were raised because of the volume of bottles available, and its cheap price made other growers believe a significant proportion of the wine was French.
Based on eight hectares across two sites near Dunleer in Co Louth, Fairy Trees Winery is owned by Bertrand Lacile, who is originally from France and who is also involved in running a distillery business in Co Louth. Lacile told The Irish Times this week that 25 per cent of his blended wines are from French grapes, with 75 per cent Irish. He bought the site in 2020 and said he began growing vines in 2021.
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A number of off-licences sell Bán and Dearg, the names of Fairy Trees’ white and red wines, and describe them as “Irish wines” on their websites, including the Dublin Airport duty free site.
One Irish wine producer said tourists and Irish people were buying bottles of Fairy Trees wine in the belief that it was all Irish grown.
“If there was Irish beef being sold at the airport like this but it was actually Brazilian there would be protests and blockades,” said one Irish producer, who asked not to be named.
Neil Cassidy said his company “reluctantly” dropped Fairy Trees wines as he was impressed with the vineyard and the end product. He said Lacile had not done anything illegal but he thought it could be “better labelled” as containing Irish and non-Irish grapes.
“We took it on good faith,” said Cassidy. “It was dropped because of a failure to be forthright on labelling.”
Using the Internet Archive, it is possible to see how the description of the wine sold by Fairy Trees on its website evolved over the past year. At no time was it stated that a quarter of its wine was French.
In August 2025 the site stated: “Our wines are produced from grapes grown in the East of Ireland.” In November 2025 it stated: “Our wines are crafted from grapes grown on Ireland’s East Coast”.
The site currently states that “our wines are crafted and produced in Ireland”. It also states: “As we continue to develop and expand our vineyards, we also work with carefully selected fruit that meets our exacting standards.”
Challenged that consumers could not know that “carefully selected fruit” meant that French wine is added to the Irish product, Lacile said: “I feel like I am in a courtroom here.”
He was speaking to The Irish Times after giving a tour of his vineyard where grapes are growing ahead of harvest next month. He said the wine was made in Ireland and sent to France for bottling.
“Maybe we made a mistake,” he said. “Don’t get me wrong. It’s a new industry. It’s a blank page. We are right in the blank page. And when I ask questions to anybody, Irish Department of Agriculture or anybody, nobody knows. Nobody can give us answers, so we’re trying to make our own rules, and we’re trying also to adapt ourselves to the market. Honestly, if tomorrow there is no future here, at least we tried.”
Irish whiskey is made with French corn. It doesn’t say on the back label. It’s aged in a bourbon barrel which comes from America. The only thing Irish in Irish whiskey is the water
— Bertrand Lacile
Lacile said that before his winery, Irish wine was “bad” and expensive. He said some Irish wineries were charging up to €80 a bottle. His wine retails at between €15 and €20, and has won international awards.
He said it would be a shame if his winery had to strip out its vines and that would undermine the chances of Ireland creating a wine industry.
“If we don’t show anybody that in fact an Irish winery can be successful, nobody – I mean, nobody – will say, ‘Well, yeah, let’s plant some grapes in Ireland. Let’s try.’ Because so far it was a failure, pure failure. And Dublin Airport, why did it not take Irish wine before? Because what was tried before was bad.”
He put the winery up for sale in late May because of what he said was a campaign against him that included complaints to Louth County Council and the HSE. Lacile questioned if he was being targeted because he was French.
He said he has been defamed by those who campaigned against him online and those who made complaints to the authorities. He is planning to take legal action.
He wanted to sell the winery because he was “sick” of the complaints.
“I can’t take it any more,” he said. “It just seems like it’s permanent. When is it going to stop? We’re only trying to do something. Maybe sometimes you don’t do it right. I don’t even do that for the money. I don’t get any f***ing salary. I invested more than €1 million. It’s not for the fame. It’s because I believe in it. I believe there is a future for Irish wine.”
Lacile questioned why his product was challenged on its geographic labelling when others were not.
“Irish whiskey – it’s made with French corn,” he said. “It doesn’t say on the back label. It’s aged in a bourbon barrel which comes from America. The only thing Irish in Irish whiskey is the water.”
Fairy Trees Winery and Distillery Ltd reported accumulated losses of €155,304 at the end of 2024. Its holding company, Vinea Ventures, had capital and reserves of €721,325.
