The vineyards of Bordeaux have been green since the 1690s

Irish names have been prominent in Bordeaux long before today’s match in the Nouveau Stade de Bordeaux (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2016)

Patrick Comerford

Irish fans arrived in their thousands in Bordeaux for today’s match with Belgium in the European championships. The Nouveau Stade de Bordeaux has a capacity of only 42,000, so I wonder how many Irish fans left outside are going to take the opportunity to reconnect with the centuries-old links between Ireland and the capital of French wine?

An Irish College was founded in Bordeaux in 1603, and students there included the historian Geoffrey Keating, and Patrick Comerford who became Bishop of Waterford and Lismore. The college was in the rue du Hâ, a short distance from the Cathedral of Saint André.

But the greatest influx of Irish people in Bordeaux came after the Battle of the Boyne and the Treaty of Limerick. It is said 24,000 men, women and children left Ireland with the ‘Wild Geese’ for France in the 1690s. Many of them made their new homes in Bordeaux, with the Loire Valley and Cognac close behind.

As William Butler Yeats wrote in his poem ‘September 1913’ of how

… the Wild Geese
Spread a grey wing upon every tide.

Barton and MacCarthy were among the leading Irish names in the châteaux of Bordeaux (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2016)

The Irish immigrants quickly immersed themselves in the wine trade, and soon they were exporting wine back to Ireland. The Wild Geese of Bordeaux were among the most innovative wine-making pioneers of the 18th century and in time became known as the Wine Geese.

A century later, when Thomas Jefferson was the first US Ambassador in France, he visited Bordeaux in the 1787. There he noted that the leading wine merchants on the Quai des Chartrons were Irish families with names that included Gernon, Barton, Johnston, Foster, Skinner, Coppinger and MacCarthy.

The most powerful man in the city was the wine-broker Abraham Lawton, whose family came from Skibbereen in West Cork. Other well-known ‘Irish Wine Geese’ families include Kirwan, Clarke, Dillon, Phelan, Hennessy and Lynch.

These Irish families came to own important properties too. Perhaps the two most important Irish families in Bordeaux are descended from John Lynch from Galway, who founded Château Lynch-Bages, and Thomas Barton, who first prospered as a négociant before founding Château Langua-Barton and Château Léoville-Barton.

Other notable Bordeaux châteaux of Irish origin include Château Clarke, Boyd-Cantenac (Boyd), Château Siran and Château Pichon-Lalande (Burke), Château Kirwan (Kirwan), Château Phelan-Ségur (Phelan), Château Dillon (Dillon), Château Margaux and Château Yquem.

John (or Jean) Lynch was one of the original Wild Geese who fled Ireland in 1691. His family prospered and became one of the leading families of Bordeaux. His son, Thomas Lynch, who took possession of the Château Lynch-Bages when he married into the Drouillard family in 1750.

Michel Lynch, who was born in 1754, devoted his life to improving the wines on the Lynch-Bages estate. A shrewd wine producer, he was one of the prime movers in advances in viticultural in the end of the 18th century, in particular with the early trials of de-stemming or separating the stalk and pips before fermentation.

In the mid-18th century, claret was the popular tipple of the day. England was importing 1,000 tons of claret, Scotland 2,500 and Ireland 4,000. So, in the early 18th century, Dublin was importing more casks from Bordeaux then the whole of England and Scotland combined. Nathaniel Johnston from Armagh had cellars in Bordeaux that that held the equivalent of six million bottles.

Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield, who was Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland in 1745-1746, observed: ‘One gentleman in ten in Ireland are impoverished by the great quantity of claret which, for mistaken notions of hospitality and dignity, they think it necessary should be drunk in their houses.’ He added: ‘The affectation of drinking wine has got into the middle and lower ranks of people.’

Château Lynch-Bages was for many years the favoured tipple of businessmen, property moguls and diplomats, who could remember and pronounce the name with ease.

Basil Fawlty (John Cleese) once said in Fawlty Towers: ‘Most of the guests who stay here wouldn’t know the difference between Bordeaux and Claret.’

But those who know their Bordeaux know the name of Michel Lynch of Château Lynch-Bages, who was the Mayor of Pauillac during the French Revolution. The Lynch family connection with Château Lynch-Bages died in 1824 with the sale of the property, but in the late 1980s, the owner of Lynch-Bages, Jean-Michel Cazes, named a new range of wines after Michel Lynch.

In all, there are 14 châteaux, 10 streets, one wine commune and a public monument in Bordeaux with Irish names. The monument commemorates the Irish-French President of France, Patrice MacMahon (1873-1879), whose family came to Bordeaux from Co Limerick. While the proud home of claret is turning green for today’s second Euro 2016 fixture against Belgium, the vineyards of Bordeaux are proudly proclaiming their Irish roots.

Michel Lynch wines – available in red, white and rosé – constitute the best of the Bordeaux wines for every vintage (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2016)

Reflecting on the reality of political violence in Bray this afternoon

Reflections in the wet sand in Bray, Co Wicklow, this afternoon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2016)

Patrick Comerford

Standing on the beach in Bray today, watching the waves swell up and beat against the pebbles on the shore and the wet patches of sand, I kept on thinking how much we have forgotten about the plight of refugees in the Mediterranean and how still keep on being washed up in large numbers on the shores of Greece.

They have only come to the fore once again in Britain in recent days because of the commitment of the murdered MP Jo Cox to the fighting for justice for Syria and Syrians.

In some ways the discussions about her attacker and his psychiatric ill-health is a put-down for the many people who need psychiatric care. They live in the community but surely they are no more prone to murderous attacks on politicians than those of us who have physical ailments.

The blame for his action must rest squarely on the people who have vile political ideologies and who are happy to use and abuse anyone, whether they are ill or not, to spread their vile. Mental illness does not cause people to commit murder, but a toxic political debate such as this EU referendum can push an unstable person over the edge.

Britain First was formed in 2011 by former members of the British National Party (BNP), and has grown rapidly to become the most prominent far-right group in Britain.

It campaigns on an anti-immigration platform, calling for the return of “traditional British values” and the end of “Islamisation.” One of its slogans is: “Britain is full up.”

Britain First builds its online presence by using social media to campaign issues such as animal cruelty, wearing a poppy on Remembrance Day, or showing support for the royal family, and asking people to “like” its messages. So successful has it been that it now has more than 1.4 million “likes” on Facebook, more than any other British political party.

The group has carried out mosque invasions and so-called “Christian patrols.” In a march in January in Dewsbury, near Jo Cox’s Batley and Spen constituency, 120 Britain First members carried crucifixes and Union Jacks through the town.

At the time, Jo Cox said on Twitter: “Very proud of the people of Dewsbury and Batley today - who faced down the racism and fascism of the extreme right with calm unity.”

Britain First’s leader, Paul Golding, stood against Sadiq Khan in the London mayoral election. When the result was being announced, Golding turned his back in show of contempt for democracy, the electoral process and elected Muslim politicians such as Sadiq Khan. Later, the group announced that it would take up “militant direct action” against elected Muslim officials, including “their day-to-day lives and official functions, including where they live, work, pray and so on.”

What is the difference between Britain First and UKIP? Their policies are the same, their bombastic rhetoric is the same, and they appeal to the same group of voters.

In an interview with the BBC last month, Nigel Farage said: “I think it’s legitimate to say, that if people feel they’ve lost control completely – and we have lost control of our borders completely as members of the European Union – and if people feel that voting doesn’t change anything, then violence is the next step.”

Does that mean violence is already the next step in Farage’s campaign? What if he loses the referendum next week? Trying to separate the politics and actions of UKIP and Britain First seems to be as facile as trying to separate the IRA and Sinn Fein.

Nigel Farage exploiting the plight of refugees … but notice the lone protester to the right of the photograph

An anti-migrant poster unveiled this week by the UKIP leader Nigel Farage has been reported to the police with a complaint that it incites racial hatred and breaches British race laws.

The poster shows a queue of migrants and refugees with the slogan “Breaking point: the EU has failed us all.”

So Britain First campaigns on the slogan “Britain is full up,” and UKIP campaigns on the slogan “Breaking point.” An MP is dead, more hatred is generated, while this discussed the “Leave” campaign generates support on the backs of suffering refugees and migrants. Last week, Boris Johnson was happy to share a platform with UKIP’s only MP, Douglas Carswell.

Twitter users have pointed out the poster’s similarity to Nazi propaganda footage of migrants shown in a BBC documentary from 2005.

The photograph Farage used this week is one of migrants – mainly Syrian refugees – crossing the Croatia-Slovenia border last year, and was taken in Slovenia by a Getty Images staff photographer Jeff Mitchell. The only prominent white person in the photograph obscured by a box of text.



The rising, sickening attitude to refugees and migrants is seen in the disgusting way some England and Wales fans mocked and jeered refugee children in French streets this week, chanting and throwing small coins at them.

These men see nothing contradictory in the fact that they are supporting their countries in a European competition. In France, they are as much foreigners as the children they are jeering. Yet, when they come home, presumably these men will vote as UKIP directs them or join in Britain First marches.

Last month, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, said Nigel Farage is guilty of “inexcusable pandering to people’s worries and prejudices, that is, giving legitimisation to racism.” This needs to be repeated over and over again.

If there was one light note in the launch of this disgusting poster this week, it is provided by the woman who managed to jump in behind Farage, unnoticed as she photo-bombed herself holding up a poster saying: “Britain Stronger in Europe.”

A glimmer of hope and new life in a garden in Bray, Co Wicklow, this afternoon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2016)