Ah go on, pass the wine!

Amy Huberman, beloved Irish writer, actress and comedian has dipped her toe into the world of wine with a new range entitled Ah,. Using her initials as a brand name, she has launched a Cava and a Sauvignon Blanc to the Irish off-trade market. She sat down with Fionnuala Carolan to talk about her first foray into the world of wine and discussed demystifying the sometimes intimidating task of choosing wine and having the confidence to just “like what you like”

This all started because I love bubbles,” explains an exuberant Amy Huberman. She is not shy in declaring that she loves a glass of champers but is realistic that a life drinking champagne is “not that attainable!” “I love the sense of occasion around champagne because it’s not an everyday thing,” she begins. “Sometimes prosecco can be a little sweet so cava is a dry alternative and the best of both worlds, in my opinion. It’s dry and it’s light but you’ve still got the same ceremony as champagne with popping the cork. So we thought it would be interesting to bring more cava to Ireland as it’s a market that hasn’t been as explored as maybe prosecco has been. It brought us to this vineyard in the Requena region of Valencia. And because we were out there doing a cava, we looked at also doing a sauvignon blanc,” she explains.
Indeed, there has been a distinct lack of new brands entering the cava market in Ireland in recent years so a new brand backed by one of Ireland’s most famous faces is surely going to pique people’s interest.
Ah, Cava Brut Rosé is crafted from garnacha and is crisp and lively, with bright red berry flavours, and a dry finish. It pairs well with smoked salmon, crispy pork belly, or charcuterie boards with cured meats. Then the Ah, Sauvignon Blanc has notes of citrus fruits like lime, grapefruit and green apple and has a refreshing acidity that leads to a clean, lingering finish. It complements spicy Asian dishes, grilled prawns, and lighter desserts like fruit tarts. That’s the science bit but more important for the success of this brand, is probably the persona behind it all.

Relatable

Known for her quick wit and relatability, Amy could probably sell almost anything. Despite her far-from-ordinary life as an actress, novelist and marriage to Ireland’s rugby legend Brian O’Driscoll, she is adept at finding the comedy in the mundane everyday elements of life that being a 46-year old mother-of-three living in Dublin brings, which makes her relatable to so many. That relatability and likeability strikes a chord with women in the age cohort of 30-50, who are likely to be her core audience because they see a bit of themselves or maybe what they aspire to be, in her.
Speaking about the demographic for the wine she admits that it will probably be bought by more women but says it was created to be enjoyed by anybody. “I think the label is ‘grown up girly’. I didn’t want people thinking it’s a very feminine drink. Who knows, maybe blokes will buy it for each other on a Friday night!” And they may well do but the more likely scenario is that men will buy it for their other halves and women will buy it for other women when visiting one another’s houses.

 

Developing the brand

With a host of celebrity-endorsed wines on the market, namely Kylie, SJP and Graham Norton (all also distributed by Barry & Fitzwilliam) an obvious question is how much input do these celebrities have into the brand and taste profile of their wines? According to Amy, this project has taken approximately three years to come to fruition and she has been involved in every aspect and has been the creative director of the project from day dot. “Even before we got to the wine itself, we were developing the brand,” she says. “I’ve never done that before; I have worked with companies that are already established but I loved the creative side of creating the brand. The name is obviously a subtle nod to my initials because it’s a lowercase h. When I was looking at labels on bottles of wine, there are plenty of old traditional labels out there. I love old antiques and old houses and when you lean into the love of that and the pencil sketch drawings of a chateau and a vineyard, it instils the sense of tradition and trust. So we took an element of that and modernised it slightly. The sketch on the bottle of the winking lady about to send off a paper aeroplane was drawn by the artist Jill Deering of Jill & Gill fame.”
A unique element to the bottle design is that you can write on the label, whether that’s a date or a little message to the person you are buying the wine for and it all reverts back to the fact that Amy as a writer is starting the story but you can finish it. “We want the consumer to fill in their own story. I really love this added special element of our brand and our bottle. It’s in a way leaning back to times when we used to write notes and letters to each other. And the font is quite old and even the texture of the label is like an old book print and as a writer, we thought this would be a good idea to give a little nod to that fact,” she explains.

Uncomplicating wine

Working alongside her on this project is Hugh Murray, who established Classic Drinks and has over 30 years’ experience in the business. He has been a great source of knowledge during the wine-tasting process and has also encouraged Amy to trust her instincts and her own palette. “Hugh is a purist so he would say to turn off your other senses when tasting wine. And he emphasises the importance of the glassware and of course, letting the wine breathe. There is so much love and tradition that goes into winemaking that you feel, god how can I catch up? I’ve talked about this with Hugh and he says it’s good to trust your own palette while being willing to explore new tastes. Our whole thing was to demystify it slightly so it’s more inclusive and doesn’t have to be intimidating as I always found wine quite intimidating and it was like a bit of a club that I wasn’t a member of,” she frankly states. “It really comes down to what you like because maybe wine doesn’t need to be so complicated?”
Also involved in this project is Shane Davey, formerly of Diageo and Pernod Ricard, who is managing the project and on the finance side there is Brian Fagan, who’s had involvement with numerous alcohol businesses including Glendalough Distillery. And with Barry & Fitzwilliam as its distributor, it’s a small but perfectly formed team.

Beautiful Valencia

The vineyard where Ah, is produced lies on the Valencian high plateau, 70 kilometres west of Valencia, at 650 meters above sea level. This location benefits from a unique climate, offering abundant sunshine and dramatic temperature shifts between day and night. Ah, has partnered with local cooperative farmers in Valencia – families who have tended these vineyards for generations and are committed to sustainable practices to ensure the preservation of their land for future generations, which was of great importance to Amy and the team behind Ah,.
As part of the process Amy visited the vineyard and met the family who own the land and this was a really fascinating experience for her. “It was brilliant to see it all come together and watch all the bottles coming down the chain and to see how lovingly these wines are made down through the generations.”

New direction

Amy has worn many hats over the years as a writer, actor, comedian and has been employed as a brand ambassador for a range of products but wine is a whole new direction for her. Has she enjoyed the process, we wondered? “Yes, it’s been really empowering being involved with this from the ground up and even though my day job is acting and writing, and I love it, there’s a certain amount of uncertainty and something like this runs along on an even keel. It’s been a real joy and I’ve learned a lot about myself and about business and it feels really exciting. I’ve done other things that were with established businesses but this is us running the show and it is exciting. I mean I’m not crushing the grapes with my bare feet but maybe I could do it for a few weeks in the summer,” she jokes.

For the photoshoot to accompany the launch, Amy wears a coat that was designed by her Dad, Harold Huberman. Sadly he passed away nearly three years ago but it’s clear that his spirit of entrepreneurship and joie de vivre is alive and well in Amy. “Dad was always saying why not try this or that. He was not afraid to go for things. I think he would get such a kick out of this,” she says with a smile.
There are further plans for additional wine varieties once they get Ah, Wines established in the market. Ah, was officially launched on 26 March and is currently available from Dunnes, Tesco and online at www.winesoftheworld.ie