Viking Irish Drinks: Organic Craft Cider, Wine and Liqueurs from East Waterford
Viking Irish Drinks is one of Ireland's most distinctive small-batch producers - an organic vineyard, cidery and liqueur maker rooted in the rolling farmland of the Barony of Gaultier, East Waterford. Founded by sommelier David Dennison in 2017 at the family-run Dennison's Farm, the brand crafts ciders, wines, natural sparkling Pét-Nats and liqueurs from fruit grown a short stone's-throw from the estuary of the Three Sisters - the rivers Barrow, Nore and Suir - once sailed by the Vikings whose name the company carries.
Today the working estate covers 3.5 hectares of apple orchards planted with fourteen different cider apple varieties, one hectare of outdoor vines for winemaking, and a third of a hectare of blackcurrants that go into the celebrated Blackcurrant Liqueur and Harvest Blush Cider. Every bottle is produced, bottled and labelled in-house at the Ballinaboola House cidery, on the R683 Passage East Road, just a few kilometres from Waterford city.
About Viking Irish Drinks and Dennison's Farm
The story of Viking Irish Drinks began in 2014 with the planting of the first apple trees at Dennison's Farm. The brand itself was formally established in 2017, with the first cider released in 2019. The farm's maritime climate, free-draining soils and long summer daylight hours provide an unusual terroir for cool-climate viticulture and traditional cider apple growing, and David Dennison - a Sommelier with more than 35 years' experience in the food and drinks trade, a WSET Diploma holder and former Irish representative at World and European Sommelier competitions - has used that terroir to develop an entirely in-house, organic production line.
Sustainability sits at the heart of the operation. All production is organically based, and wastewater from the cidery is fed through a constructed reed-bed system that doubles as a wildlife and pollinator hub. Native beehives on the farm, kept by Michelle Mulvaney of Farming for Nature-recognised Ballinaboola Honey, deliver continuous pollination across the orchard. All packaging is environmentally friendly and fully recyclable.
The hard work has been noticed. In 2022, Viking Irish Drinks was honoured as a Farming for Nature Ambassador; in 2024 the company earned gold, silver and bronze awards across multiple products at the Blas na hÉireann awards and took the prestigious Best in Waterford title. The brand was also a participant in SuperValu's Food Academy Programme in 2021. Since 2019, the team has hosted an annual All-Night Charity Walk through the Orchard and Vineyard, a now-inaugural event.
Location and how to find the estate
The cellar door and vineyards sit at Ballinaboola House, clearly marked on the wall, on the R683 Passage East Road. The postcode (Eircode) is X91 R1W6. The house is 3.5 km from the Waterford city boundary, 7 km from the city centre and 3 km from the Passage East car ferry, making it an easy half-day trip from Waterford city, Dunmore East or Tramore.
The region itself is steeped in history. The orchards lie close to where the Three Sisters - the Barrow, Nore and Suir rivers - meet the sea, on ground once travelled by Viking longships. It's a landscape that inspires both the brand name and the bold Nordic names on the labels, from Caora Fíniúna (the red and white wines) to Vedrafjordr (the méthode traditionnelle cider) and Nádúrtha (the natural Pét-Nats).
The wines of Viking Irish Drinks
Wine is at the centre of Viking Irish Drinks' growing reputation as one of Ireland's most ambitious small producers. Three still wines and a natural sparkling Pét-Nat currently make up the range, all made from estate-grown fruit and bottled at the cidery.
Caora Fíniúna Waterford Red Wine, Reserve - €46
The flagship red is a Rondo and Regent blend harvested in mid-October. The winemaking combines two techniques: part of the fruit is fermented on the skins in open vats for 12 days, while the rest undergoes carbonic maceration. Free-run juice is held in 150-litre tanks; the gently pressed juice in 100-litre tanks. The result is a medium-full, true-terroir red with hints of wild blackberry and bay leaf, soft fruit and well-structured tannins throughout. It earned silver at the 2024 Blas na hÉireann Awards.
Pair it with traditional roast meats (red meat or poultry), grilled salmon or sea trout, or an Irish farmhouse cheese board. David recommends opening and decanting the wine two hours before serving and pouring at 18 - 19 °C into wide Burgundy-style glasses. The wine is unfiltered and sealed with a 45 mm Portuguese cork, suitable for vegans and coeliacs, with an aging potential through 2026. 12.5% ABV. Buy Caora Fíniúna Red.
Caora Fíniúna Waterford White Wine, Cuvée - €40
The estate's distinctive white is a blend of Solaris and Seyval Blanc grapes, naturally fermented in stainless steel tanks. It shows a dry, steely profile layered with tropical fruit, hints of lychee and red grapefruit, finishing with a soft, clean linger. Bottled on its secondary lees, the wine gains texture and mouthfeel without losing freshness. Bottled in October 2023 and ready to drink now, with aging potential through 2029. Pair with shellfish and seafood, pork, roasted white meats, mild Asian cuisine, vegetarian dishes or farmhouse cheeses. Decant one hour before serving and enjoy at 11 °C. Vegan and coeliac friendly. 11.5% ABV. Buy Caora Fíniúna White.
Caora Fíniúna Waterford Ruby Red Wine, Goût de Terroir - €38
The lighter, more playful red in the range. Rondo red grapes are gently crushed and only the free-run juice is used, fermented with natural yeasts before racking in January and a six-month rest in stainless steel tanks. Bottling takes place in late November or December. The result is an elegant, light-bodied red with soft tannins - excellent on its own, with grilled meats or pizza. Serve at 12 - 15 °C. Made from organically grown grapes, it is a true expression of Goût de Terroir: the natural interplay of soil, climate and environment shaping the wine's flavour. Buy Ruby Red.
Nádúrtha Pét-Nats - €27.95
Truly a first for Ireland - a natural (Nádúrtha) Pét-Nat, Brut, crafted from Solaris grapes and Vicky bittersweet cider apples. The fermentation is run with blackberry, mulberry, tayberry and Ballinaboola wildflower honey, finishing in sturdy Champagne bottles where it matures on the lees for 12 months. The resulting wine is delicate and berry-scented with hints of yeasty bread and a medium-dry finish. Nádúrtha No. 3 won bronze at the 2024 Blas na hÉireann Awards.
It is perfect with canapés and light bites, fresh salmon or trout, white roasts, desserts or Irish cheese. Serve chilled at 8 - 9 °C in flutes that have been in the fridge for 30 minutes. Pour slowly - there's a touch of natural sediment that lifts the wine's character and is equally good stirred into gravy. Buy Nádúrtha Pét-Nats.
The craft ciders
Cider is the original heart of the brand. All Viking Irish ciders are fermented slowly on their naturally occurring yeasts for up to six months, are gluten-free and coeliac-friendly, and where applicable vegan. Most are available in both six- and twelve-bottle packs.
Medium Dry Orchard Cuvée Cider - from €30 (6 or 12 pack)
Viking Irish Drinks' first-ever cider and still a house staple. The blend draws on Dabinett, Michelin, Yarlington Mill, Foxwhelps, Kingston Black, Harry Masters and Bramley (for acidity). Harvest time is mid-October - except Foxwhelps, which is brought in earlier and blended back. The cider is fermented slowly on its natural yeasts for up to six months. Tasting note: mild-flavoured, off-dry to medium, with sweet apple notes finishing on a soft, easy palate. 5.5% ABV.
Food pairings include roast chicken or pork and light game, cider-gravy-trimmed roasts, grilled salmon with parsley butter, steamed mussels in their shell and Irish farmhouse cheeses such as Durrus. Serve at 6 - 8 °C and use any leftover bottle to reduce into sauces, stocks and gravies. Buy Medium Dry Orchard Cuvée.
Harvest Blush Cider - from €30 (6 or 12 pack)
Built around Katy and James Grieve dessert apples, harvested in late August, then blended after fermentation with house-made soft-fruit juice - blackberry, mulberry, tayberry and Loch Ness blackberry - to add colour and fruit. The result is a naturally sparkling, light blush cider that drinks brilliantly as a lower-alcohol alternative to Prosecco at receptions, weddings and parties. 5.5% ABV.
It is one of the most food-versatile ciders on the list: seafood and shellfish, pork loin, roast chicken, fresh strawberries and raspberries, fruit pavlova - even desserts. Serve chilled at 6 - 8 °C. For a house cocktail, pour three parts Harvest Blush to one part Viking Irish Blackcurrant Liqueur over ice, add a slice of orange and stir. Champagne-style bottles are available for events by pre-order. Buy Harvest Blush.
Orchard Gold Dry Cider - from €30 (6 or 12 pack)
Handcrafted in the Barony of Gaultier using a fractional blending process inspired by the Solera system for Sherry, Orchard Gold is a dry, rounded cider with subtle caramel notes, lightly carbonated and aged for a minimum of two years before bottling. Made from 100% natural ingredients with no added colours, water, flavourings or sugars, it's an excellent food-pairing all-rounder best served chilled at 10 °C. Suitable for vegans and coeliacs; contains natural sulphites. Buy Orchard Gold.
Hop-It Cider - from €30 (6 or 12 pack)
One of Ireland's first hop-flavoured craft ciders. The blend combines Katy dessert apple with the early bittersweet cider variety Vicky, balanced against Cascade, Amarillo and Citra hops to deliver tropical-fruit aromatics. 5.5% ABV. A favourite with hop-loving beer drinkers who want a gluten-free option, Hop-It is best served well chilled in summer and a touch warmer in winter. Pair with BBQ food, smoked fish, Asian dishes, pizza or Irish farmhouse cheeses. Buy Hop-It.
Vedrafjordr Cider, Méthode Traditionnelle - €21.95
A bottle-fermented méthode traditionnelle cider produced from organically grown late-harvest Keeve cider apples (picked in November) and fermented slowly on its own yeast. Created in late 2023, Vedrafjordr has a very soft mouth and is ideal as an aperitif or with food. 75 cl bottle. Buy Vedrafjordr.
Viking Irish Cider Mixed Case - from €30 (6 or 12 pack)
An easy way to explore the cider range: the mixed case includes two or four bottles each of Medium Dry Orchard Cuvée, Harvest Blush and Hop-It. Buy the Mixed Case.
Special batch liqueurs
Viking Irish Blackcurrant Liqueur - €19.95
An award-winning liqueur (Gold at Blas na hÉireann) based on an original family recipe from David's late mother May Dennison. Ben Cannon blackcurrants are blended with the estate's own Rondo red wine and Ballinaboola honey for six days, then gently cold-pressed and finished with grape spirit. The current 2023 batch is less viscous than 2020, with added blackberry and black mulberry. 12.6% ABV.
Drink it as a Kir or Kir Royale, use it to mix with gin or vodka, sip neat over ice as an after-dinner digestive, or drizzle it over ice-cream, pavlova, meringue or apple-and-blackcurrant strudel. Because the liqueur is unfiltered, shake gently before use and store upright in a cool place once opened. Limited stock - fresh late-2023 batch. Buy Blackcurrant Liqueur.
Viking Irish White Wine Liqueur - €26.95
A first for Ireland: a liqueur made with organically grown Irish unfermented Solaris grapes and grape spirit, kept at 13% ABV to retain its sweet grape character. Gold at the Blas na hÉireann awards in Dingle. Try it as a pre-dinner drink over a single ice cube with a dash of Angostura bitters, pair with charcuterie, foie gras or pâté, or build a cocktail with three parts white wine liqueur to one part cognac, chilled and served in a brandy glass with a slice of orange. Contains sulphites. Buy White Wine Liqueur.
Vineyard and orchard tours and tastings
Viking Irish Drinks runs guided tours of its organic smallholding throughout the growing season, capturing the seasons from early spring through to harvest time.
The 2026 tour programme
Each tour is a two-hour walk through the vineyard, orchards, soft fruit and nut orchard, with three tastings of Pét-Nats, cider and wine. Cost is €40 per person, which includes a Waterford cheese board and local breads. Children are welcome when accompanied by adults; outdoor boots or wellies are advised, and there is a boot room and toilets on site. All tours meet at Ballinaboola House (X91 R1W6).
- Saturday 15 August 2026, 1 pm - Grapes Before Harvest. See the vines at their most beautiful, just before the Solaris vendange begins. Book August Tour.
- Saturday 5 September 2026, 1 pm - Harvest Festival, Day One. Katy apples are typically picked and the Solaris grape vendange is underway. An early harvest is expected this year. Book 5 September Tour.
- Saturday 12 September 2026, 1 pm - Harvest Festival, Day Two. The white grape vendange is in full swing and visitors can take part in elements of the harvest process. Book 12 September Tour.
Tours are kept deliberately small, with only a handful of spaces released for each date. Tickets can be booked online or by email at info@vikingirishdrinks.ie.
Biodiversity, bees and sustainability
Walking the estate in summer you cannot miss the Ballinaboola Honey hives. The bees, kept by Michelle Mulvaney, are the unsung heroes of the operation: each apple tree receives enough cross-pollination from the foraging bees to produce a higher-quality fruit yield. It takes twelve honey bees an entire working lifetime to make one teaspoon of honey, and the colony visits up to 225,000 unique flowers every day across the farm.
Michelle harvests no more than 30% of the hive's food stores each season, leaving the rest for the colony. Ballinaboola Honey is 100% raw, unblended and organic, with no heat treatment - and the same values of restraint and respect run straight through the cider and wine side of the business. As Farming for Nature 2022 Ambassadors, the team treats the whole estate as a single living system.
The harvest, year by year
Each autumn the estate runs a careful, multi-stage harvest timed to the ripening of each variety. The 2023 harvest, for example, began in late August with the picking of Katy, Vicky, early Bittersweet, Greensleeves and early Bramley for the Harvest Blush. Mid-season brought in Kingston Black, Jersey Foxwhelp, late Vicky, Green Boskoop and Brandey apples for the Orchard Gold solera-style blend. In the first week of September the Solaris and Seyval Blanc grape vendange began - Solaris having narrowly escaped the May frosts - and the Rondo red grape vendange ran through mid- to late October to produce a full-bodied red, a medium red and a delightful super-rosé. November then sees the late cider apple harvest, with Dabinett, Yarlington Mill, Browns, Sweet Alfred, Tremblett's Bitter, Harry Masters, Camelot, Bramley and crab apples all coming in for the keeve cider and Orchard Cuvée.
Visitors on the August and September tours will see each of these stages at first hand, walk through the orchards and vineyard with David, and taste ciders, wines and Pét-Nats drawn directly from the year's vintage.
Stockists across the south-east of Ireland
Viking Irish Drinks is stocked at independent off-licences, supermarkets, bars and restaurants across Waterford, Wexford and Carlow. Confirmed stockists include:
Trade enquiries and new stockist requests should be directed to David at info@vikingirishdrinks.ie. Direct online orders are shipped from the Viking Irish Drinks shop, with full ranges available across cider, wine and liqueur.
Press and media coverage
The Viking Irish Drinks story has been told across an impressive spread of international titles in recent years. Jancis Robinson featured the estate in a Financial Times article spotlighting Ireland's emerging wine scene, drawn from a tasting at the Ballymaloe Festival of Food in Cork. Jean Smullen profiled the brand in Chef & Restaurant Magazine (March 2026), a publication distributed to Michelin-starred restaurants across the UK and Ireland, and the Irish Independent ran a feature on David Dennison and his ancient methods of growing grapes and making wine. The Sunday World also ran a profile on the wider Irish winemaking community, and the brand was recently featured in VertdeVin Wine Magazine in France.
Merchandise
A small but growing range of branded merchandise is also available. The Viking Irish Drinks Beanie Hat (€18) is made by Waterford company Kustom Workwear and is a popular add-on for tour visitors and Mixed Case buyers. Shop merchandise.
Plan your visit
Viking Irish Drinks is a working organic farm with seasonal opening for tours and tastings rather than a permanent cellar-door bar. Private group bookings, trade enquiries and stockist opportunities can be arranged by email at info@vikingirishdrinks.ie or by calling 353 (0) 87 251 5346. Visitors should bring wellies or outdoor boots, especially during harvest tours in August and September, and allow at least two hours for the standard tour and tasting.
Whether you arrive for a Saturday-afternoon vineyard walk in August, a Harvest Festival weekend in September, or simply to pick up a mixed case of cider and a bottle of Nádúrtha from the online shop, Viking Irish Drinks offers a remarkably complete taste of contemporary Irish craft drinks - rooted in the soil of East Waterford, shaped by the estuary of the Three Sisters, and bottled by hand at Ballinaboola House.