People in Business – Peter Boland

Peter Boland is passionate about wine…and craft beer, and his family, and vinyl records and lots of other things. But he’s really passionate about wine.

‘It’s great to work in a business where you can meet people every day who have a deep interest in what you’re selling,’ he muses.

‘I can share the passion with customers who call to the warehouse or when visiting restaurants to discuss what wines go best with their menus.

Tucked away on the Tuam Road, behind an electrical store, Cases Wine Warehouse is a busy spot even on a cold Monday morning in November.

Callers interrupt to ask about craft beers; shipments are being prepared to send to restaurants around Galway; and the first Christmas Hampers are being assembled.

Peter started his career in the mid 1980’s with Grants of Ireland in Clonmel having completed a two year graduate programme with Coras Trachtala.

‘It was in the middle of the last great recession,’ he recalls.

‘Any job opportunities were very hard to find and I was lucky to land the graduate placement which led to the position with Grants where I had responsibility for marketing Irish Mist and Carolan’s, mainly in Germany.

He stayed in Clonmel, with C&C, for a total of nine years marketing such brands as Snowball, Cidona, Madison, Stag and Ballygowan.

‘As I developed, the size of the brands I dealt with increased, so I learned a lot there working with a marvellous MD and Marketing Director, both of whom placed a lot of trust in their staff.

In 1995 he moved to Dublin and to Beamish and Crawford which had just come out of receivership.

‘It was a tough environment, where you needed to justify yourself every day,’ says Peter.

‘We had some great brands including Miller and Miller Genuine Draft which I launched into the Irish market.

Three years later Peter relocated to Galway to work as Marketing Manager in Supermac’s where he remained for nine years.

‘This was a huge learning curve,’ he says.

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.