Getting a flavour of business

NEW LIFE:Despite a background in engineering and architecture, Stewart Mansfield changed direction to launch an online wine shop

SOMETIMES YOU come across people whose lives spiral perpetually in new directions, and Stewart Mansfield is certainly one of them. Originally from England, Mansfield moved to Ireland when he met and married novelist Clare Dowling, then gave up his job as an architectural technician when it was more beneficial – financially and parentally – to be at home minding the children, and in recent years become a GAA mentor despite never playing the game.

And, now, after years studying oenology, he’s starting a new career in the wine business.

Going back to the beginning, Mansfield was born in Saffron Walden near Cambridge in Essex and educated at London’s South Bank University after which he got a job with a civil engineering and architectural company in London, specialising in onshore and offshore projects like accommodation modules for oilrigs.

After a few stints abroad on projects from Paris to Newfoundland, and realising that he didn’t want to be an engineer, he fell into architecture and computers. He then became a bit of an expert in AutoCAD (Computer Aided Design) software applications for 2D and 3D design and drafting, preferring architecture to engineering, for “its artistic flair and the satisfaction of getting things done and seeing things progress on site from start to finish”.

In 1997, Mansfield met Dowling in Ireland when visiting friends, and fell in love. “I had been working in London and noticed the offshore trade was dipping. So, out-of-contract we decided that I would come across to Ireland for six months, and I haven’t been back since.

“That was 1998, and after we got married, I got a job with Scott Tallon Walker Architects in Dublin. They were very good to me and I worked for them for five years during which time we had our children, Seán and Ella.

“It was also around this time Clare gave me a present of a Wine Spirit Education Trust [WSET] beginner’s wine course for my birthday. I thought ‘this is good fun’, and I got a distinction and went on to study the advanced course, where I got a further distinction.

“I thought ‘wow, this is really good’. So, I then decided to do the diploma in wine, again from the WSET, and that, however, was a different kettle of fish. It was like going back to university.”

During this time Mansfield also realised the benefits of his career as a senior architectural technician were being offset by the rising cost of childcare. “A huge percentage of my wage was going on childcare. So, I gave up my job primarily to cut childcare fees but also to pass the diploma.

“We decided that Clare, the major bread-winner, and successful novelist and scriptwriter on Fair City, would work mornings when I would look after the children. And then in the afternoons, I would work on my studies when she would look after the children. That worked out okay – I passed my diploma and decided I wanted to open a specialised wine shop.

“So, having no idea what it was like to work in a shop I got some experience working for Baily Wines in Howth for two years.” After an initial setback of unsuccessfully opening a wine shop in Dublin’s Castleknock, Mansfield decided to go the internet route instead.

“We started the web business – www.thewineshop.ie and www.thehampershop.ie, as well, as the two complement each other – around my wine knowledge and a belief in offering good affordable, accessible wines.

“Studying for my diploma I was aware wine writers were always recommending wines I couldn’t find. And, going to many trade wine tastings I had problems finding these wines as well. So, the thewineshop.ie has everything on the site that is fantastic at a number of price points with everything readily available. And, every wine on the site has been tasted and marked highly by me and only gets there on merit.

“Do I have a favourite wine? No, although I do have favourite regions, particularly, the Rhone Valley and Rioja in Spain. If I had to name one favourite at the moment, I’d say Luigi Bosca Pinot Noir 2007 from Argentina [priced at €14.50], it tastes like a €50 bottle of Burgundy, it’s just amazing.”

As if all this is not enough, Mansfield is also now mentoring St Brigid’s GAA Under 10’s Gaelic football and helping out on the hurling teams, despite never having played either games.

He does, however, remember watching the odd 10 minutes on Grandstandor World of Sport, back in the days when Frank Bough and Dickie Davies were the resident anchors.

At the time he thought it was amusing, little knowing that many years later he would be teaching the game in Ireland, having initially gone along to enrol his four-year-old son Seán, in St Brigid’s GAA nursery.

“It started with the parents on the sideline throwing the balls to the children so they could learn how to catch or kick the ball. And, I just got sucked in, doing more and more and enjoying it. And, when Séan left the nursery to go to under-eights I took the team – a group of about 45 children. We’re now up to under-10s and I have 37 on the panel. I also help out at the hurling. However, Ella has no inclination to play either.

“Overall, since giving up my job in 2003, I’ve had a great time with the children and they’ve benefited from having me around. Previously, I was leaving home in the morning when the kids were only getting up and coming home when they were getting ready for bed. I didn’t really see them until the weekend.

“So, once I gave up work, I had a great opportunity to do an awful lot with them and help out with their education and obviously my quality of life is much better. However, as much as I love England and Ireland, I miss English beer, and English bitter, in particular, from the small producers like Adnams and Greene King, and also the social aspect of the country pub and, of course, my friends I left behind.

“And, as for my new life in the wine trade, although we’re only open a few weeks, business is already going well and picking up. Looking ahead, the next six to nine months after Christmas into 2010 is going to be relatively tough although we’re keeping costs down to a minimum, hoping to build the company up as much as we can.

“And, we’re relatively optimistic we can do that. We don’t want to be millionaires, we just want to be successful.”