About Us

Why The Allotment?

In a perfect world, an allotment is a place that you go to in order to get away from the humdrum of day-to-day existence, and enjoy peaceful time for yourself, surrounded by natural things that enhance the quality of life.

Our company celebrates this ideal in our name - our wines come from vineyards where the natural world is a really important part of the way in which they are made; and, by choosing our wines we think you will find some of that headspace and calm that another type of allotment could bring.

The Allotment Wine Company is an Irish-based wine company. We work with numerous wineries and other wholesalers to bring a wonderful world of carefully hand-selected wines to you.

How we select wines for sale

While we have a focus on wines that use the most excellent vineyard principles and the most healthy and careful wine-making techniques, we don't just do organic or natural wines, because, well, we're human and broadminded and appreciate that not all wines can be created equally, which is a relief.

Many of the great wines we know and love are from areas where the requirements for attaining one certificate or another are just not feasible or relevant to the other qualities that they possess. It's very similar in agriculture... and an allotment.

Ordering wine online

When you buy 12 or more bottles, we deliver for free to 32 counties in Ireland and can quote for deliver overseas on request.

Seeking out that wine? We'll help you find it

Lastly, in the spirit of an allotment, we're good neighbours - if you have any queries, want any advice, have any recommendations for us, want to find a wine you think you may have had in some far-flung corner of Portugal on a holiday once... then just let us know. We'd love to hear from you and we're pretty good at finding things that you may have thought were lost.

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The Allotment is run by Chris Gifford. He's in his third decade of working in the wine trade. Taking him through retail, wholesale, import, hospitality, wine education and even helping out at harvest time, his wealth of experience and knowledge informs his choosing of all of the wines for customers of The Allotment.

The list of wines is fairly fluid; while there's a good solid core, there are always new things to share, seasonal preferences that are perfect accompaniments to specific times of the year. There are also frequent offers that come across our path that you'd probably want to hear about.

You can be sure that Chris will guide you to make choices that will bring wines that you love, that will over-deliver in value for money and will make your own wine knowledge and curiosity grow.

If there's a wine question that you want answered, or if you are looking for anything in particular, then don't hesitate to ask. Chris has sourced countless wines from all round the world for his clients before: he's certainly not going to stop now...

Chris has won numerous awards and has far too many qualifications for anything other than communicating and talking about wine to anyone who will listen (and even those who won't). He has taught and written wine courses since 2009 and is a keen advocate for the accessibility of wine to as wide an audience as is possible.

Working mostly with wineries across Europe, he has a love for palate-engaging white wines and balanced, food-friendly reds, which has brought his clients into contact with a truly eclectic range of producers from the edge of Galicia in the west to the outskirts of Vienna in the east; from Rheinland Pfalz in the north to Sicily in the south.

Arguing that quality comes in all shapes and sizes, he riles against over-pricing and eschews unfairness, promoting a healthy respect for growers, winemakers and their wines alike.