About Me

My photo
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.

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Cost of wine follow-ups

I saw a recent post in Harpers Online about the BBC Watchdog programme in which the redoubtable Oz Clarke attacked the so-called bargain prices available in many supermarkets. So I decided to look back at some of my posts on this topic, including one from January 3rd, 2011, where I highlighted certain "bargains" available in Tesco. It's worth noting that Elizabeth seems to be on half-price even now, nearly 2 years later!

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

The downslide...

Yesterday's Budgetary increase in duty on wine made me pause for thought. This is a summary what I thought: over the past year the wine retail sector has seen a reduction in gross profit of 28% and yesterday's duty increase could make that 42% in 2 years. How? Read on...

Thursday, October 10, 2013

Sad news...

Sad news today that Nick Baile MW died yesterday. Nick founded Oddbins a long time ago and was one of the old guard of the IMW, having passed in 1961. I met Nick a few times and always found him a good person to be sitting beside at dinner.
This brings our number back down to 312. By the way, the number of "Irish" MWs grows - this year we have two from Northern Ireland, Barry Dick MW and Ann McHale MW.
So far the "Irish" are:
Robin Kinahan (N.I.), Alan Crowley (R.O.I.), Martin Moran (U.K.), Dermot Nolan (R.O.I.), Jane Boyce (N.I.), Carmel Kilcline (R.O.I.), Fergal Tynan (R.O.I.), Mary Gorman-McAdams (R.O.I.), Barry Dick (N.I.) and Ann McHale (N.I.): 10 in total with 6 men and 4 women.