IF MICHAEL Houlihan had followed the advice of his Irish-born grandparents he would have settled for a secure, pensionable job and a fairly
comfortable lifestyle – and there’s a chance we would not be sipping the near nine million cases of wine sold in Ireland each year.
Luckily, for him and our taste buds, he broke ranks and with lifelong partner Bonnie Harvey took the plunge and stepped in to the unknown world of wine-making.
The couple – who founded California’s award-winning Barefoot Wines almost 30 years ago – pride themselves in developing a product and brand that took the snobbery out of wine and turned it into a fun everyday item in our shopping trolleys.
While tight-lipped about the profit made when Barefoot was sold to E&J Gallo in 2005, the pair are still living off that success by penning a business bestseller and passing their wisdom on to students and entrepreneurs worldwide – including at the ICSB World Entrepreneurship Conference in Dublin this week.
