What the Press Are Saying About Wines Direct

Not every wine shop gets written about in the national press. Most come and go without so much as a mention in a Sunday supplement. So when coverage does appear — and keeps appearing — it tends to mean something.

Over the past couple of years, Wines Direct has been featured across some of Ireland's most respected food and drink publications. The picture that emerges is consistent: an independent wine merchant doing things properly.

A Full Feature in the Sunday Business Post

In February 2026, the Sunday Business Post ran a full feature on Wines Direct as one of Ireland's leading independent wine merchants. It's the kind of coverage that doesn't come from a press release — it comes from a track record. The piece reflected what many customers already know: that finding a wine shop with real range, real knowledge, and a genuine point of view is rarer than it should be.

For a business rooted in Mullingar but serving customers across the country, it was a moment of national recognition that felt earned rather than engineered.

Cathal McBride, Food & Wine Magazine

Cathal McBride is one of Ireland's most widely-read wine columnists, writing for the Business Post's Food & Wine Magazine. His recommendations carry weight with readers who take their wine seriously. Over the past year, he has mentioned Wines Direct selections positively across three separate columns — not once, not as a one-off, but as a recurring reference point for wines worth seeking out.

That kind of repeat mention from a trusted critic isn't something you can manufacture. It reflects a buying team that's consistently finding bottles worth writing about.

Food & Wine Magazine

Food & Wine Magazine, published by the Business Post group, has also featured Wines Direct selections — placing the shop in the broader conversation around Irish food culture, not just specialist wine circles. The best independent wine shops shouldn't only appeal to enthusiasts; they should be where a good cook reaches when they want something that fits the food and the occasion.

The Wider Food and Wine Writing Community

Across Irish food blogs and wine writing more broadly, Wines Direct has become a consistent reference — the kind of shop that gets recommended when someone asks where to find something more interesting than the supermarket shelf. Writers who care about provenance, about growers, about wines that actually have something to say, tend to find their way here.

That consistency — across different voices, different formats, different audiences — is its own form of endorsement.

Why It Matters

For anyone discovering Wines Direct for the first time, this coverage offers a useful shortcut: other people, whose job it is to seek out the best, have already done some of the work for you. The Sunday Business Post doesn't run features on wine shops for the sake of it. Cathal McBride doesn't mention the same merchant three times by accident.

What the coverage reflects is a shop with a clear identity — one that knows what it's doing, sources with care, and has built a reputation among Irish wine lovers that holds up to scrutiny.

The best way to find out if it holds up for you? Browse the range at winesdirect.ie and form your own opinion.