DESMOND CASTLE & INTERNATIONAL MUSEUM OF WINE

Desmond Castle dates from the 16th century and was used as a guardhouse and customs house. It was used by the Spanish during the siege of 1601. During the 18th century, it was used as a prison for the French and later for the Americans during the Revolutionary War.

It is surprising that today it also houses a wine museum within its walls, since Ireland has no vineyards! But at the time when the port of Kinsale was one of the most important for Ireland's trade with Europe, the Earls of Desmond, to whom the town belonged, set up a merchant tax system which included the right to a barrel of wine for each ship arriving at the quay! Documents attest to a significant wine trade with the city of Bordeaux. The museum is therefore naturally twinned today with the Bordeaux museum, quai des Chartrons.

In the 17th century, following the defeat of the Franco-Irish army by the armies of William of Orange, entire regiments emigrated to France and renewed themselves in the wine trade by becoming owners of vineyards around Nantes, Cognac, Bordeaux, or even Jerez in Spain. The officer Richard Hennessy is probably the most famous figure of this exodus, to whom we owe the creation of the famous cognac Hennessy. This story is told in this interesting museum in the town of Kinsale, through documents, maps and explanatory panels.