Like falling in love . . . that's how Mary Gaynor describes her first wine course. It was back in the early Eighties and Gaynor, a long-time bank official, had taken a sabbatical to pursue a cordon bleu cookery course. Included in the programme was a short wine course. It completely changed her life.

"It was all I had ever wanted," she recalls. "Before that I had felt that there was a mystique about wine and that it was a men-only affair. The lecturer showed me that there was nothing to be intimidated about and I too could learn about wine."

The love affair begun, Gaynor set about reading all she could on the subject and was directed to a wine course run by the late George O'Malley of the Wine Development Board. She progressed through the board's certificate, higher certificate and diploma courses, resigned from the bank and took a job lecturing on wine.

Gaynor is now a senior lecturer with the Wine and Spirit Association of Ireland. "That first wine course," she recalls, "was the best thing that ever happened to me. It changed my life totally and has given me a very satisfying career."

Wine for Gaynor - and there are many like her - has become a lifelong love affair. "I love every aspect of it," she says enthusiastically, "the sheer variety of tastes, the fact that it comes from so many different countries and the people involved in the business."

Taking a wine course may not bring you a new career, but it can change your life in other ways. "Wine courses are extremely sociable," says Gaynor. "If you're interested in wine, you will meet like-minded people. It's something you can do as a single person and even a basic course will give you great confidence when buying or ordering wine."

A basic wine appreciation course is designed to give you an overview of the world of wine and will include tasting, which is an important part of any course. However, on a basic course you're likely to be tasting quite basic wines. But Gaynor points out that identifying the tastes of simple wines prepares you to appreciate the better wines later on. As you progress, you taste a greater variety and are encouraged to experiment.

Although Ireland's annual wine consumption remains the lowest in Europe, wine drinking here has almost doubled in the past 15 years. Nearly 40 per cent of all adults now drink wine.

Our high excise duty means that it makes sense to buy better quality wines. Tax accounts for over half the cost of a bottle of wine costing £4.50, but for only a little over a third of a bottle retailing at £15.

If wine consumption has increased in Ireland, so too has the number of wine appreciation courses. It's now possible to study wine in most regions of the country. The Wine Development Board, which was established by the Wine and Spirit Association, is the biggest provider of courses in Ireland. It offers programmes in south, central, north and west Dublin and in 16 other centres throughout the country, including Cork, Galway, Limerick and Waterford.

A number of wine merchants also offer appreciation courses as do some VEC centres and other providers of adult education. It's worth checking around to find a course which suits you.

Once you've completed your course you'll be ready for blind wine tastings. This, say the experts, is the best way to improve your knowledge and memory of wines. You could also join one of the 30 or so wine tasting clubs around the country. The Grapes of Rath and the Rath Winers, for example, meet monthly in the Vintage Wine Shop, Rathmines, Dublin.

"Once you get invited to tastings your social life really takes off," notes Gaynor.

When you step out on the road of wine appreciation, a whole lifetime of visits to vineyards around the world opens up to you. You can go under your own steam to Bordeaux or Burgundy and the like, but you may prefer to take an organised tour, travelling with experts.

Dublin wine merchants Mitchell and Son are offering wine tours to California, Austria, Bordeaux and Spain during 1998. Wine consultant Monica Murphy is the the Irishbased representative of Arblaster and Clarke Wine Tours, which organises trips to leading vineyards in France, Spain, Italy, Hungary, Australia, California, New Zealand and South Africa. "We cater for all levels of knowledge," says Murphy. "We even suggest alternative activities for partners who aren't interested in visiting vineyards. The trips are actionpacked and you learn a lot. People find the experience completely absorbing and return home totally relaxed."