JUMP back a couple of years and imagine this. You are the inheritor of, and winemaker at, one of Australia's most distinguished wine estates. You get a letter one day from an Irishman who says he admires your wines and would like to import them into Ireland. He is not based in Dublin but in Waterford, has no track record in the wine business and indeed has no wine business - merely a plan to launch one some time soon. Even so, you like the sound of him and strike a deal. In his half-restored wine vault, still knee-deep in builder's rubble, David Dennison becomes the first Irish importer of the superb wines of Adam Wynn.
Now imagine this. You are a maker of Bordeaux on the export trail. You meet this chap Dennison from Waterford in Ireland at Vinexpo, France's vast international wine fair, and later send him a few samples. He has the nerve to tell you he would like your Entre-Deux-Mers better if the grape mix were different - a bit more Sauvignon Blanc, a bit less Semillon. Says it would taste fresher with the seafood he serves in his restaurant. Against your better judgment you abandon your 50/50 blend and make a trial batch to his 80/20 spec. The results are outstanding. Next thing. he is asking you to try a new recipe for red, and this time you aren't arguing.
"It was quite a daring move, suppose. for somebody as new to the business as I was to start suggesting special blends." David Dennison says with a degree of diffidence unsuited to a trail-blazer. That is what he is. all the same. Waterford, the old centre of the Irish wine trade with as many as 250 registered wine merchants two centuries ago, had no serious wine shop at all in recent times until the Wine Vault opened in late 1993. Quickly Dennison began to sense the sort of thing his customers would like. Currently he has the agency for 10 wine producers of note - in Australia, New Zealand, California and South Africa as well as France - and soon there will be more.
For years he had clung, barnacle-like, to a complex dream. He would launch, simultaneously, a wine bar and bistro; an adjacent wine shop where satisfied restaurant customers could browse; and an importing business which would supply wines so far unavailable in Ireland to other restaurants and hotels. In High Street - Waterford's old Viking main street - he found the perfect premises in what had, for 200 years, been the bonded warehouse of Gallweys, Waterford's well-known sherry, port and champagne importers. At street level there was room for a cosy restaurant. Underneath was the original wine cellar: a tunnel of brick with arches off to one side - wonderfully characterful for a wine shop, and one of the few in the country that can guarantee to keep all its stock at the perfect temperature of 11-13C.
David Dennison had always worked in the restaurant trade and initially beefed up his knowledge of wine so that he could keep one step ahead of his ever-more wine-conscious customers. He progressed, step by step, up the ladder of Wine Development Board courses, emerging with two special prizes in the diploma exams one for tasting and the other for the best answer on Bordeaux.
At the same time he was fine tuning his palate in sommelier competitions, both national and international, representing the Irish Guild of Sommeliers at the world contest in Rio in 1990. where Ireland came third. He had begun to collect old wine books, devour the Wine Spectator and eat, drink and sleep wine - dreaming, in the process, of his own business.
Setting it up has not been easy, he says. It has threatened to swallow up his entire life - risky for a man with a wife and four young children. "The pressure has been phenomenal - the constant worry about making a success of it, balanced by the adrenalin that comes of doing something that you love and believe is worth doing." Now, however, with enthusiastic local support, solid corporate business and wine connoisseurs coming from as far away as Dublin, Galway Limerick and Cork, the Wine Vault is emerging from obscurity. One customer drives over from Shannon purely to buy the Australian Yarra Yerring.
"The thing I'm really thrilled about," David Dennison says, "is that people actually take the time to seek us out in a back street in Waterford. We've had nothing but encouragement from people who appreciate what we're doing. That helps to balance some of the other comments we've had." Such as? "Such as the fact that Waterford isn't ready for a serious wine shop and I must be out of my mind!"
Painstaking attention to detail shines through every aspect of the enterprise, from the bold sourcing of interesting, quality wines right down to the choice of gift wrappings. From the beginning, David Dennison has also run wine courses down in the cellar - eight-week sessions in the autumn and winter followed by a stimulating mix of shorter spring ventures: French wines and Irish cheeses, for instance, or an evening of total immersion in Pinot Noir.
And his hunch about the natural bond between restaurant and wine shop is paying off. About 20 wines (including champagne) are on sale by the glass at the bistro counter - inspired marketing for a wine shop if ever I saw it (and is there any chance we could see this simple strategy more often, please?). Most of the 300 wines own the restaurant wine list are also on sale downstairs. It may be an exhausting double act, but the audience loves it. Six gentlemen at a recent business dinner in the Wine Vault chose the lovely Californian Newtonian from the list - and later each one of them bought a case to take home.
Wine Vault winners
WHITES:
David Wynn Dry White 1995 (£6.95)
Made by Adam Wynn. the first winemaker of international renown to stake his faith in David Dennison, this fresh, fruity Australian white is an unusual blend of Semillon, Chardonnay and Riesling. Tropical fruit flavours initially, then zesty lemons and limes. Great value.
Gravina DOC 1993 (£6.95)
Another rare bargain. this time from Puglia on the heel of Italy. Peachy, slightly honeyed aromas and flavours but with a hint of almonds and unsuspected freshness on the palate. Perfect with any light chicken dish.
Paul Buecher Riesling Reserve Personnelle 1993 (£11.50).
From a small quality producer in Alsace, one of David Dennison's favourite wine regions, a classy Riesling packed with character and flavour. Big enough in body to carry a variety of foods.
REDS:
Chateau Grand Monteil Bordeaux Superieur 1993 (£7.95)
An easy-drinking claret from the producer who listened to David Dennison's suggestions about special blends. The custom-built red is still to come, but in the meantime this one is wonderfully appetising and very well priced. See Bottle of the Week.
Landskroon Shiraz 1992 (£8.95)
A rich South African which seems closer in style to the structured Syrahs of the Rhone than the sometimes over-the-top Shiraz of the New World. Made in Paarl by traditional methods, it has marvellous red fruit flavours, pepper, spice and an earthy quality, all coming together in a serious wine with a mature feel. Outstanding value.
Newtonian Merlot/Cabernet Sauvignon 1992 (£13.95)
This Californian red was recommended to David Dennison by a friend in New York who said: Get your hands on this wine. The advice is worth passing on, because the second wine of Newton is soft. beautifully balanced and absolutely luscious.
Martinborough Pinot Noir 1994 (£14.95)
The Wine Vault owner's quest for the best New World Pinot Noir took a huge leap forward with the discovery of this super New Zealand example, full of ripe strawberry fruit and that typical vegetal quality to just the right degree. Like Adam Wynn of Mountadam, Martinborough's winemaker has come to Ireland because of the Waterford connection, and presumably met plenty of satisfied customers. Simply brilliant.
In last week's column there was a reference. in error, to "the 1995 Gamay vintage". It should have read that the Beaujolais vintage is due to arrive in a few weeks' time.