Europe gets make-your-own wine shop

A Belgian man has opened what he claims is Europe’s first make-your-own wine shop in Ireland selling vino for as little as €4 (£3.14) a bottle.

Luc Heymans (Photo: Facebook)

Luc Heymans was so shocked by the price of wine in Ireland that he opened up Europe’s first craft wine-making shop in Kells, County Meath, reported the Irish Examiner.

Speaking to the Irish Examiner, Heymans explained his rationale: “When I lived in Europe, I used to enjoy a glass of wine with my dinner, but when I moved to Ireland I couldn’t believe the price of a bottle of wine. I started making my own wine and then I decided to open the shop. There are thousands of similar stores in Canada but this is the first in Europe,” Heymans said.

Since he opened the shop, Making Your Wine, less than a year ago, Heymans has been inundated with requests from couples looking to personalize wine for their weddings at a fraction of the cost elsewhere.

“One couple explained that they were quoted €2,300 (£1,807) for 150 bottles of wine from an off-licence for their wedding but I was able to give them 150 bottles for just €670 (£526),” said Heymans.

Customers can take the kits home or leave them in store during the process.

Unlike similar offerings in the UK, the wines are made with kits rather than on demand from a winery and customers can buy the kits and take them home to make the wine or leave them in the shop throughout the process.

Heymans said: “The wine takes between four and eight weeks to ferment, depending on the quality you choose and, when it’s ready, the customer comes back into the shop to bottle and cork it and add personalised labels.”

“They then take the wine home and leave it to rest for a few months and each kit makes between 28 and 30 bottles,” he said.

“If they don’t like the wine when they taste it they get their money back, but this hasn’t happened yet.”

Heymans stocks wine from all over the world and says the quality of the wine is comparable to a €10 supermarket bought bottle.

“I have been making my own wine since I was 18 years old and I can stand over the quality of these wines,” he said.

And Heymans claims there’s another benefit: “As there are no chemicals involved, it won’t give you a hangover.”