Wine-loving Peter shares his passion for the grape

Date Published: 07-Feb-2013

The only wine warehouse in Galway opened its doors over five years ago just days before the economy crashed. But instead of closing up again and giving up, Peter Boland ploughed ahead with no regrets.

It seemed like a good idea at the time and in hindsight it was, as Cases on the Tuam Road continues to attract the attention of wine critics around the country.

Peter is passionate about wine and is happy to talk to customers about the different grapes, labels, vintage and origin of the 700 different wines he stocks in the 3,500 sq ft premises.

Cases is what it says – a warehouse in the Riverside Commercial Estate, appropriately enough next door to Tommy Varden’s, the catering suppliers. In another era the same estate was dominated by furniture and carpet shops.

Peter, a native of Dundalk, started off his marketing career working for a premier drinks company. He also worked for C&C and Beamish & Crawford before joining Supermac’s here in Galway as its Marketing Director.

And though he loved his time with Supermac’s, he says his heart was always in the drinks trade. Peter started getting itchy feet and looked around for a commercial opportunity to go out on his own.

He was very excited at opening Cases. To this day it is still the only wine outlet of its kind in Galway.

The warehouse concept is a very popular one in the UK and in Europe and his love and appreciation of wine made Cases the obvious business for him. He nurtured the idea while the Celtic Tiger was still roaring.

“We opened in August 2007 and within days the crash happened. I remember we had a decent enough Christmas and we used to be open on Sundays in the beginning. In fact that was one of our busiest days, the day when families went leisure shopping.

“But then that stopped because people were afraid to spend money on things that weren’t absolutely necessary, so we are now closed on Sundays. I think though that we have bottomed out and I can’t see things getting any worse,” says a positive Peter.

Because of his marketing experience, Peter is all too aware of marketing polarisation where during recession, the top end and the lower ends of the market are usually unaffected. So it is with his wines.

Cases still stock expensive wines and these move at a steady pace while the sale of cheap vino in supermarkets continues to be equally steady. That leaves the drinks in the mid-price range but Peter’s enthusiasm, his marketing skills and a positivity, which is catching, help to keep stock moving.

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