Pens out, folks, and tasting glasses polished: it's time to sign up for wine appreciation courses - now the favourite leisure pastime of the tippling classes. In the fastest growing wine market in Europe, consumers crave knowledge as never before. And who can resist sampling about six wines an evening in the name of education?
The courses listed here are but a drop in the ocean - a dribble from the great vat of wine education, formal and informal, that's currently on offer. So, if there's nothing here to suit you, please enquire further - starting with your local wine shop.
Over to the right are wines that typify half a dozen of the most important grape varieties. Whether you join a class or not, you could do worse than sniff and slurp through some of them at home.
Countrywide
Wine Development Board - phone 01 2804666, fax 01 2807566, email winedbiol.ie An ambitious programme of 50 courses, in five centres in Dublin and 26 around the country: new venues include Finglas, Sutton, Maynooth, Arklow, Carrickon-Suir and Tuam. Included are courses of the Wine and Spirit Education Trust (WSET), leading to internationally recognised qualifications, and others aimed more at casual enthusiasts - on wine appreciation, wine varietals, wine and food. All tutors are WSET diploma holders. Prices from £110 upwards - starting dates from early September to late October.
Dublin
DIT Mountjoy Square - phone 01 4024145, fax 4024143. This wide-ranging 10-week course on Tuesday evenings, tutored by highly qualified lecturer Mary O'Callaghan, is open to all. The bonus, for those with restaurant trade aspirations, is that students earn an Irish Guild of Sommeliers Class I certificate. Limited to 20 people, it's fairly intensive: expect about an hour-and-a-half of theory and an hour of tasting with a short break. Price £120. Starting date October 5th; enrolment at DIT 6 - September 9th, 6.308 p.m. Contact Andrew O'Gorman.
Mitchells, Glasthule - phone 01 6760766, fax 6611509, email mailMitchellAndSon.com
With building work in Kildare St, classes will be in the Glasthule shop only this autumn. Aimed at beginners, the six-week session on Wednesday evenings aims "to pass on a fair bit of information, but in a relaxed and informal atmosphere," according to tutor Peter Roycroft. Class maximum 18. £100 fee includes cheeses; discounts offered on wines tasted. Starting date September 8th.
Terroirs, Donnybrook - phone 01 667 1311, fax 6671312, email seanterroirs.ie Details not available at time of going to press, but past Terroirs courses given by wine lecturer Tom Franks in the Coq Hardi restaurant (with celebratory dinner and topnotch wines at the end) have been highly acclaimed. Phone for an update.
La Cave, South Anne St - phone 01 6794409. Dublin's longest-established wine bar is holding a series of tutored tastings, running from Monday, October 4th, for eight weeks. Each evening will have a regional theme - Italy, the Rhone, Alsace and so on, with a wine merchant specialising in the relevant area presenting some good bottles. The final tasting, Champagne on November 22nd, should stir millennial interest. Fee, including light meal of cheese, salami, pate and French bread, £11 for all tastings except Bordeaux, Burgundy and Champagne, which cost £15.
McCabes, Mount Merrion - phone 01 2882037, fax 2883447, email valuemccabeswines.ie, www.mccabeswines.ie
In truth a wine club, but one so well structured that it's almost like a course. The theme for 1999 is
Into the Millennium - looking at future developments in various regions, especially in relation to newer grape varieties. Meetings once a month, usually on Thursdays. Membership fee for the rest of the year: £7.50; charge per tasting from £8 up, depending on theme; non-members welcome for small surcharge. Advance booking recommended: many tastings are booked out. Next meeting: September 9th.
Vintry, Rathgar - phone/fax 01 4905477. Many Dublin 6 winos take Evelyn Jones's introductory course before moving on to her monthly tasting group. The next course, on Thursday evenings for six weeks, starts September 30th - price £65. The tasting group, also kicking into action late September, is open to all at £8 per session.
Tony Cauldwell Wine Courses - phone/fax 01 2985236.
Now eight years a-lecturing, Tony Cauldwell continues his popular introductory course in the Mount Merrion Community Centre. On Wednesdays for eight weeks, starting September 22nd. Price £80.
DeVine Wine Shop, Castleknock - phone 01 8209027, fax 8209030.
Jean Gowing runs her beginner's course twice a year. The focus each week is on one or two of the main grape varieties, except towards the end when one evening is devoted to champagne, sherry, port and dessert wines and another to unusual grapes. Food matching is mentioned throughout. Price for eight classes, £125. Next course starts September 6th.
Gibneys, Cheers Malahide - phone 01 8450606, fax 8451572.
Dynamic wine enthusiast Siobhan Gibney starts her next appreciation course on Tuesday, September 14th, in Gibneys' Video Bar, next door to Cheers. Guest speakers scheduled. The £75 for six classes includes a set of six ISO tasting glasses to use throughout the course and keep afterwards - a nice touch.
Jus De Vine, Portmarnock - phone 01 8461192.
Paul Dempsey has been running his introductory classes to packed houses for years. The emphasis is on unravelling why different wines taste the way they do: six to 15 wines tasted per night, in the revamped, extended shop. Next course starts Monday, September 6th. Price for six weeks, £60.
Belfast
Direct Wine Shipments, Corporation Square - phone (08) 01232 243 906, fax 240 202, email enquirydirectwine.co.uk.
Northern Ireland's course veterans draw in huge crowds: the DWS approach is thorough (recent arrivals from far-flung wine regions are often pulled in to give up-to-date reports), but also great fun. Courses are now divided into two segments, covering different regions - A in spring, B in autumn. Normally run on Thursday evenings for six weeks, price £95 stg. Next Course B starts September 23rd. Places limited.
Cork
Mary Harley Wine Courses - phone (021) 542528, email wFHARLEYtinet.ie
WSET diploma-holder Mary Harley gives two courses a year - on classic regions in autumn and the warm south in spring. Wines tasted are all from good local sources, and mainly in the £9£18 bracket. Maximum group size about 20. The next course, for five weeks on Tuesday evenings, starts on September 21st.
Galway
Vineyard, Mainguard St - phone (091) 561 816, fax 561844. No classes at present but a flourishing wine club.
Limerick
Fine Wines Limerick - phone (061) 417784, fax 417276. Details not finalised at time of going to press; contact John Blake for information.
Waterford
The Wine Vault, High St - phone (051) 853444, fax 853777. David Dennison continues his crusade to demystify wine with The Wine Vault Guide to Wine Bluffing - a series of independent one-night talk-and-tasting sessions through autumn and winter: handy if you don't feel like signing up for a complete course. Starting Monday, September 6th; other dates to be fixed soon. Fee £7 per evening.
Maynooth
Mill Wine Cellar, Mill St - phone/fax (01) 6291022.
Berna Hatton is running two sets of classes for beginners this autumn - "both educational and social," she says - on Monday evenings in the Orange Tree Restaurant behind the wine shop. The five-week course starting on September 20th is £70; the four-week course, starting on October 25th, £60; prices include a set of six ISO tasting glasses to keep, and finger food from the restaurant.
Navan
The Noble Rot, Kennedy Rd - phone (046) 73489
No formal classes, but a lively tasting club with guest speakers on the second Tuesday of every month springs back to life in September. Subscription £10 per year; fee of £12 per night covers six wines and finger food.