About Me

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Dublin, Ireland
Hi, I'm Dermot Nolan, and I became a Master of Wine (MW) in 1997, and resigned from the Institute of Masters of Wine in 2023 after being an MW for exactly 26 years. I opened a wine shop in Dún Laoghaire, Ireland, called The Wine Library, which closed in 2018, and this is my personal wine blog. I will do my utmost to be fair and responsible in my posts – please read my Who Pays article in re the ethics of wine trips and writing. I have worked in wine education, retail, and consultancy since 1990. I was a Director of the Institute of Masters of Wine (IMW) from 2008 to 2014 and was also a member of the Events Committee, founder of the Trips Committee, and member of the Governance Committee. Having had problems with potentially libellous comments from unidentifiable posters, I now require that if you post a comment, you must identify yourself properly or it won't be published. Please note that I do not review products or services on request so kindly don't ask. I value my independence and I believe my readers (few that they may be) do so also.

Tuesday, March 22, 2022

Heaven on earth...


Well, it's been a long time since I attended a wine tasting so how nice that the first was the Pembroke Wine's showing of Hamilton Russell wines from Hemel-en-Aarde in South Africa (pictured above on the 2004 IMW trip). With both Anthony and Olive in attendance, this promised to be an excellent way to get back into the tasting game.

Friday, October 16, 2020

Let’s all bitch about wine, or is that whine about bitch?

This meme appeared on my Facebook newsfeed some time ago – If you’ve never had a Supreme Court case decide if you have the same rights as others, you have privilege. This is so true, and a very simple explanation of what privilege is. Recently, I saw a post on Tim Atkin’s site in relation to wine bitch, something of which I had never heard. This led to two other articles, by Vinka Danitza, (who I don’t know and have never met. Finally, I was sent the four so-called wine bitch articles and the whole thing is quite depressing. 

Thursday, November 1, 2018

Singing for your supper...

People like me often have to sing for our supper and recently I had a great time at a wine dinner hosted by The Royal Irish Yacht Club (RIYC) on 18th October, 2018. Many of my best customers in The Wine Library are RIYC members and I also have a few friends therein!