A browse around two Dublin wine emporiums this week yielded some interesting results. One has been a byword in the trade for nearly 200 years; the other has been slipping more deeply into wine for just a few. One is headquartered south of the river, with a new satellite in Sandycove; the other, in fine old premises on the northside, has just spawned a fledgling in Fairview. What they have in common, besides a tempting selection of bottles, is the knack of giving customers useful information wrapped in a warm blanket of enthusiasm. That makes wine shopping fun.
First to Kildare Street. For decades, Mitchells has been the dowager duchess of wine shops - very well bred, very courteous, grandly housed and, depending on your point of view, either utterly charming in an old-world kind of way or slightly forbidding. In recent times, it seemed the old lady was growing feebler - out of step with the brash modern world and increasingly withdrawn. But now she's on the mend. No cosmetic surgery for the old girl, thank goodness, but a radical, energising overhaul.
"We knew we had to change, to become more accessible," says Jonathan Mitchell, great-greatgrandson of the founder, Robert, who established the business in Grafton Street in 1805. "A few years ago, people used to come into the shop and ask: `Do you sell to the public?' When I joined in the early 1960s, there weren't even any bottles on display. That would have been considered vulgar." Up to that time Mitchells had bottled their own wines - even classed growths such as Chateau Haut Brion and Chateau Margaux - from hogsheads in the cellar. The changes have come in a steady stream: Saturday morning opening first, then Saturday afternoon too (helped by the new Dawson Street car park); investment in a devastatingly handsome catalogue; the Irish agency for Riedel glasses (cheaper in Mitchells, please note, than in the UK); a web site attracting a huge international response; and, just before Christmas, a second shop - in Glasthule, a few doors from the renowned Caviston's delicatessen.
But the most significant development was the sale, a year ago, of Mitchells' wholesale business to importers Woodford Bourne. This has given the retail side freedom to pick and choose wines from a much broader range of sources. Already, more than 100 have been added to the list, while many disappointments have been dropped. There are more good-value bottles for everyday enjoyment than before and more New World treats, with top-quality Californian and Australian wines a special strength. (Some of these are brought in direct, in conjunction with Direct Wine Shipments, Belfast.)
"We love the fun of finding exciting new producers," says managing director Peter Dunne. Portugal is another strength "because it offers value and consistency, and those uniquely Portuguese flavours".
The profile of the customers is getting younger and more . . . well, plebeian. Increasingly, they are dropping in for a bottle to take home for dinner rather than treating Mitchells as the sort of place you'd only venture into for a special gift. Occasional shoppers such as Daniel Day Lewis, Mick Jagger, Elvis Costello and Liam Neeson add a bit of glitz to proceedings. Yet the company has retained its traditional clientele in quest of claret and white burgundy - the gentry ("they buy the same as everybody else but haggle more") and politicians from Leinster House across the way ("they don't buy all that much but make a fair bit of noise").
AS a Dublin institution - the last old wine shop that remains in the centre of the city - long may Mitchells continue to hone its survival skills and prosper. Its list will shortly be on CD, but that won't beat the pleasure of browsing in the two shops. "We have unlimited time to talk to people," says Peter Dunne. Time is the wine merchant's strength that supermarkets just can't match.
You'll find this precious commodity also in Dorset Street. Here's part of a letter from a Phibsborough reader, Geraldine Lardner, who describes herself as almost 40, with two young children: "Right now we don't have much of a social life so the Friday night bottle of wine has become very important to us . . . The reason I'm writing to you is that I discovered by chance an absolutely excellent off-licence called Sweeneys. I would love others to get as much pleasure as we do from it.
"The proprietor, Finian Sweeney, is extremely knowledgeable about the love of his life, wine. Going in at the end of the month with only £5£6 to spend will bring as much pleasure as Christmas, he advises so well. The northside doesn't get much of a look-in by food and drink writers, so it's important to let people know when a gem is found. I would like to state that I'm not in any way related to Sweeney's or any wine business. I have no vested interest in promoting it but I would be lost without it."
Well, that's some testimonial. Nothing for it but to breeze in (unannounced) to check it out. After extensive perusal of the shelves and a chat with Finian Sweeney (whose enthusiasm and friendliness are, indeed, outstanding), I can only concur. Sweeney's is a pleasure zone with a smashing range of wines at modest prices.
"It's absolutely amazing how many people travel here to buy wine," says the proprietor, going on to mention a former patient of the Mater Private Hospital across the road who escaped into the shop one evening for sustenance and has since come regularly from Delgany. PhibsboroughGlasnevin-Whitehall is, however, the main market - and now Fairview benefits from another Sweeney's opened a few weeks ago.
"I'm not interested in having a fleet of off-licences, mind you," says Finian Sweeney. "I'm not particularly ambitious. I just love people and I love wine, and the way things are at the moment with this whole area coming up, I can enjoy both."
Mitchell & Son, 21 Kildare Street, Dublin 2, tel 01-6360766, fax 01-6611509; 54 Glasthule Road, Sandycove, tel 01-2302301, fax 01-2302305; email winesmitchellandson.com; website http://mitchellandson.com. Speci- alities: rare bottles; half bottles and magnums; crystal and accessories; wine guild, wine tours.
Sweeneys Off-Licence, 20 Lr Dorset Street, Dublin 1, tel/fax 01 874 9808; 117 Philipsburg Avenue, Fairview, Dublin 3, tel/fax 01- 8372857.
Treats in storeWhite Chateau Pique-Segue Montravel 1996 (Sweeneys, Verlings, Kellys Clontarf, Londis Malahide, Cooneys Harold's Cross and other outlets, usually £6.99). A delicious white from southwest France - wonderfully fragrant and fruity with a long, firm finish. A real find. Shingle Peak Marlborough Riesling 1996 (Mitchells, £7.95). Hooray! A tongue-tingling, limefresh New Zealand Riesling at a decent price. Delightfully zesty. Joao Pires Vinho Regional, Terras do Sado, 1995 (Sweeneys, also Mitchells, Superquinn, Molloys and many other outlets, usually £7.99). "People are looking for different flavours, new things to try," says Finian Sweeney. This aromatic, slightly spicy Portuguese white is one he frequently suggests and it goes down a treat.
RED Correas Syrah-Sangiovese 1996 (Mitchells, Sweeneys, soon many other outlets, £5.99£6.99). An exciting, not to say unusual, new arrival from Argentina. See Bottle of the Week. Cosme Palacio y Hermanos Rioja 1995 (Sweeneys, Foleys, Higgins, SuperValus Killiney andMalahide, Octavius Sligo, Ardkeen Waterford, Dailys and Lynchs Cork, usually £7.99). Matured in French oak, this 1997 Red Wine of the Year is a big, flavoursome mouthful - a Rioja with a distinctive personality. For a winter roast.
Ravenswood Vintners' Blend Zinfandel 1995 (Mitchells, £10.95; also Verlings, McCabes, Deveneys and some other outlets). From a top Californian Zin producer, another characterful red made for gutsy food one of these chilly evenings. Aromas of leather and spice, plenty of juicy berry fruit and a nice, warming finish. Chatsfield Cabernet Franc 1996 (Mitchells, £11.95; also Direct Wine Shipments, Belfast). A dazzling, unwooded red from Western Australia: super-concentrated cherry and vanilla flavours leaping out of the glass combine smoothness with punch. Worth seeking out.