Dermot Sugrue could have made a living as a professional cyclist in Ireland, but a post-university harvest job in Bordeaux led to a career making wine in England instead. After successful spells at Nyetimber and Wiston, he’s been entirely focused on his own still and sparkling wine project, Sugrue South Downs, since 2022. He’s a great storyteller as well as a gifted, intuitive oenologist, a man who loves words as much as he does chalk and bubbles.

To read more about Dermot have a look at the Sugrue South Downs website. You can also follow him on Instagram at @ermosug.

Don’t forget, Cork Talk is now available on Spotify as well as Apple Podcasts, where you can listen to this week’s episode, plus my back catalogue of interviews with some of the world’s most extraordinary wine figures.