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 DĂșn 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, February 23, 2010

Are you a Diposomaniac?

Or, I should ask, are you a Certified Dipso? The Certified Dipsos are a group of WSET Diploma graduates in Ireland who meet regularly meet for tastings and also organise wine trips. Tonight I attended an excellent tasting of Loire reds hosted by David Rorke and efficiently helped out, as always, by David's wife Joyce.

Alsatian gems

In the afternoon, it was off to Alsace and we had quite an interesting range of wines to taste. Again, Linda Jotham MW led the class on a very good tour through the regin and its various varietals and soil types. As always, stockists/suppliers in parentheses, details at the end.

Monday, February 22, 2010

Burgundy - the lovliest wine region in the world

Yes, there might be places with more extreme scenery (the Western Cape, for example) but nowhere can really produce wines like you get in Burgundy. They aren't all good but the best are fantastic and really can change the way you think about wine. Linda Jotham MW came over to give this lecture and presented a very good class with a great tasting. As always, stockists/suppliers in parentheses, details at the end.

The spirit world

No - Diploma hasn't gone all seances and stuff but rather moved to the Spirits lectures, given by the very friendly and knowledgeable Peter Morris-Wilson. Unfortunately I couldn't attend these lectures in full so I can't really comment. However, I always get good feedback from the students about Peter's lectures so he's always worth listening to. There is a huge range of spirits to taste on this course and Peter certainly provided an excellent range.

Fortify yourself and be of good spirit

Poncey title, huh? Well, Diploma started back in January with the Fortified wines lecture. Again, I think the range was good, although it's getting harder to get some styles of fortified wine so a few came out of the old Wine Development Board stock. As always, stockists/suppliers in parentheses, details at the end.

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Chianti Classico

A quickie - some longer posts in re Diploma will follow shortly - but Decanter has news about Chianti Classico finally separating itself completely from Chianti.