Pictured: Ernie
& Ann Whalley
The wine trade in Ireland are enormously saddened to hear of the death of Ernie Whalley on Sunday 31st May, 2026.
Mancunian Ernie started his writing career working for newspapers in the north of England in the 1970’s before relocating to Ireland in 1987. It was here that he made his mark as a highly-respected wine, food, and travel writer. He wrote wine and food columns for a number of major publications including the Sunday Independent and Evening Herald, The Sunday Times (Irish Edition) and was also the editor of the original Food & Wine magazine, when it was published by Norah Casey. Ernie was also a digital pioneer and was one of the first food and wine journalist to launch a personal blog, Fork n' Cork which he created in 2002 to archive his published works.
In Autumn 2025 he was awarded the Outstanding Achievement in Food Writing Award at the Irish Food Writing Awards.
Ernie was a stalwart of the wine writing scene in Ireland for many years. He was personally responsible for launching the careers of a number of well know wine and food writers including Leslie William (The Examiner & Newstalk), Corinna Hardgrave, Irish Times Food Critic, Aoife Carrigy, who worked with him at Food & Wine magazine and is now the wine correspondent with the Irish Independent. Thanks to Ernie’s intervention, a wine column was created by the Sunday Times (Irish Edition), which was written for many years by Martin Moran MW.
Ernie was an erudite polymath, his wide range of interests included music, sailing as well as sport and he was a life-long supporter of Manchester City. He had an encyclopedic knowledge about wine and food and was always direct and vocal in terms of his opinions.
I travelled to Chile for a week-long press trip with Ernie in December 2006. Our Itinerary was packed and we visited Aconcagua, Maipo, Colchagua and San Antonio which involved a lot of travelling. Ernie’s good humour and storytelling made the long distances bearable, he was always great company.
The Irish wine world will be smaller place with the passing of this gregarious, larger than life man, who lived an enormous life to the very best of his ability, on his own terms.
Our sincere condolences go to his wife Ann, his daughters Rachael and Sian and his grandchildren
"Ar dheist Dé go raibh a anam dílis"