Mayo man's wine journey uncorked at luxury hotel

A Mayo man has risen through the ranks at Ashford Castle to become Head Sommelier at the prestigious hotel.

Kilmaine native Nicholas Heneghan joined Ashford Castle in 1998 and spent his first six years in food and beverage service as Chef de Rang, while also working across room and lounge service. 

He transitioned to the castle's renowned sommelier team 22 years ago, steadily progressing through the ranks. 

For more than 11 years he served as assistant head sommelier before taking on the role of head sommelier.

A key figure in the development of Ashford Castle's world-class wine programme, Nicholas led the move to the estate's new wine cellars in 2015, where he curated and organised the collection. Since then, he has overseen the management, purchasing and stocking of the cellar ensuring an outstanding selection of more than 600 wines for guests.

“It was far from fine dining I was reared!” Nicholas joked to the Western People.

He said family and friends never saw his wine journey coming.

“My father is 84 and he is a Pioneer all his life. He liked to simplify things so he would say to me, ‘So all you do is pour wine from a bottle into a glass? Well, if you can get away with it fair play to you?’ “ Nicholas laughed.

At the age of 19, Nicholas abandoned a prospective engineering career when he fell in love with the hospitality sector at Ashford Castle.

“When I finished school I was going to do engineering and at the last minute I decided to go against it. I had an older brother working in Ashford at the time and he said he could get me a job while I made up my mind. Once I was inside the door I just loved it,” said Nicholas.

“It was just totally different. My summer jobs used to be with McHale Engineering in Kilmaine and I was brought up in a farm so there was always jobs there as well. It felt like another world and you were working with people from all over the globe, both guests and staff,” he added.

While working in the restaurant, Nicholas fell into the world of wine almost by accident.

The late restaurant manager at Ashford Castle, Seamus Judge, overheard Nicholas answering questions about wine from guests and steered him towards a new field.

“I was interested in wine, but I had never really drank any good wines until I went to Ashford. I just fell in love with it. In my view, wine is like history and geography in a bottle and every bottle has a good story,” he said.

After extensive training, Nicholas built up an impressive breadth of knowledge and skill which he continues to fine tune.

“You have to be passionate first of all and then you have to be prepared to listen to your guest,” he commented.

Part of his role is demystifying the world of wine for the hotel’s guests.

“At Ashford we would have over 600 wines, and they can be multiple vintages which can be quite daunting. But my philosophy is to simplify everything and make the guest feel relaxed and not intimidated,” said Nicholas.

The South Mayo man is proud to buck the stereotype of the snooty sommelier with a French accent.

“Being local helps make people feel at ease straight away. Whether they are from Ireland or even the States, once they hear a good west of Ireland accent they relax and guests love to see ‘homegrown’ people working in the Castle.” 

He admits to being obsessed with wine while at work but enjoys a pint of the black stuff during his down time. 

“People ask me what wine I drink when I go out. If I go for a social drink, it’s always a pint of Guinness. I get to taste wine five or six days a week at work so a pint of Guinness is a novelty. Keep it country!” 

The wine expert advises people not to be always misled by the price of a bottle and be prepared to branch out from your usual tipple. 

“More expensive does not always mean better wine.

“Some people will always drink the same grape variety from the same brand and when they try something different they don’t like it. But then you have to ask the question, ‘Do you not like it because it’s not what you always drink?’ People should experiment and try different wines.” 

Ashford Castle’s 16th-century wine cellars, located in secret passageways, were only unearthed during renovations. Nicholas offers daily wine tastings in the renovated cellars.

“There are some wines in the cellar since I started. I like to think that I have matured with them!”