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.

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

More minimum pricing news

An article in Decanter states that the Bulgarian Government intends to object to the European Commission (EC) over Scotland's plans to introduce minimum pricing at £0.50 per unit of alcohol. Now, the Scots defence will be that minimum pricing can be demonstrated to have proven positive effects on alcohol-related harms and they believe that will be a sufficient defence.

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

A surprising wine

Just back from an interesting tasting at O'Brien's, organised by Lynne Coyle who is the excellent buyer for the group. She had arranged for Eric Getten, Commercial Director of Domaines Baron Rothschild (owners of Lafite) to run a number of tastings of their wines.
Today, the tasting was of eight wines, mainly from Chile and Argentina. All in all, a good range, although I found the wines a little too "French" for my taste! However, there was a blind tasting of one vintage of Lafite, and that was the surprising wine.