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.

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Eat, drink and be merry...

Odd post this because it is prompted by the death on Monday of my cousin Donal Broughan, who was only 55. It was a sudden death, utterly unexpected and leaves his wife, Karina, and sons Ruaidhri and Conall totally devastated at the worst time of year.

So, this is a short post with no real wine content other than this - with Christmas coming up, if you have any decent wine that you've been saving for an occasion then why not take this opportunity to drink them? After all, among the worst things that happens when you open an aged wine is that it is too old or faulty; in the latter case there was never a good tie to drink it but if the wine is too old then there was, at some point, a time to have consumed it!

My cousin's death was a shock, especially when it makes you realise that we will never know the day or the hour, so try to enjoy your life as best you can. If that means drinking a good or great wine a little too young, or with people who don't get it then so what? You will have tried a wine  which you will enjoy and will have shared your joy with others. Santayana said "There is no cure for birth and death save to enjoy the interval" so off you go and crack open some real goodies this year and spread the joy!

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Who pays?

For a variety of reasons I think it might be worthwhile to set out all the wine trips I've ever done in my life and to clearly indicate who paid for these trips. This is prompted by some recent articles on other blogs (Jancis Robinson MW recently posted an article about this, as did Tim Atkin MW, Jancis's post was triggered in part by Tyler Coleman's post in relation to the ethical policy of The Wine Advocate); it's worth pointing out that I rarely publish any wine reviews so I trust that my independence in that regard can be taken for granted.