Wilde Irish Chocolates  Artisan Chocolate Makers

Dreams of Chocolate
Patricia Farrell went in search of a sweet life  11 years ago and landed on the shores of Lough Derg in East Clare making  what some people have called ‘the last good drug’:  CHOCOLATE.  Inspired by an iconic Oscar Wilde quote ‘I  can resist anything but temptation’ and because she herself could ‘resist anything but temptation’  she followed her childhood dream  to make (really eat) all things chocolate. She originally thought of owning a chocolate shop but realised that this didn’t give enough of the hands on, or it should really be said, ‘hands in’ experience  that would satisfy. She managed to recruit her husband and a small but similarly dedicated team of women (AKA the Wilde Bunch) into this chocolate crusade to make real ‘honest to goodnes chocolate’.

Business of Chocolate
 Wilde Irish handmake, decorate and package all our chocolates  on the shores of  Lough Derg in County Clare. With four full-time staff, and a number of part-time workers, the business is still truly artisan in every sense with everyone sharing the production, product development, and most of all the tasting. We are never short of volunteers for that job! Our production unit in the small village of Tuamgraney now has a dedicated shop are and here visitors can  experience the aromas first hand, hear the clanking and noise in the background, and taste the latest products in development.
 

We make a range of 17 different chocolate bar blends, all handmade and therefore uniquely different from each other. Our  range of ‘Wilde Irish Organic Fairtrade’ bars  is currently available in five blends and is the only Irish made organic fairtrade chocolate.  New to the retail market is our handmade and decorated range of  ‘Wilde Irish Artisan’ bars with flavours which  range from intensely dark 80% chocolate with raw cocoa bean nibs, to zingy bittersweet Cranberry white chocolate. Our 'Moments' handmade chocolate gifts selctions contain 12 different individual confections and are available in 12, 24 and 48 choc handwrapped and ribboned presentation boxes. We also make 18 varieties of fudge and many more chocolate treats which you can taste at our Farmers Markets stalls in Limerick's Milk MArket, Killaloe and the University of Limerick and from our own factory outlet shopin Tuamgraney and our Doolin Chocolate Shop near the Cliffs of Moher. We also attend many many Summer and Winter events with  details available in our latest News page.

Since we  started to handmake chocolates on the shores of Lough Derg in 1997 we have dedicated ourselves to the pursuit of pure chocolate decadence and achieved  the distinction of 5 ‘Great Taste’ Awards in our first 5 years. We achieved Great Taste Gold in 2007 for our Fairtrade Organic Latte & Cinnamon bar and our latest  Great Taste Gold in 2008for our Artisan Toasted Almond and Orange Dark Chocolate bar. Our Artisan bars also won a Commendation in the Confectionery Product of the Show Competition during the  SHOP 2008 exhibition, Ireland's premier retail trade event. We have also been recommended by the Bridgestone Guide, Irish Food & Wine magazine and the Guardian Good Food Guide and are members of Good Food Ireland.

Chocolate is life
 Our mission is to make  the finest quality chocolates that we can  and to do this while respecting our customers, workers and our debt to Mother Nature.