When I tell people that I write about wine they immediately ask “how do I get a job like that?” The answer I generally give is that I have no specialist skills but I do think about the wines I taste and drink a lot more than most people.

Fallon and Byrne is opening a new shop and restaurant on Dublin's quays.

The Menu is very honoured to be joining the renowned food writer Lilly Higgins, Bakestone chef/proprietor Ali Honour and Iyer’s Café chef/proprietor, Gautham Iyer, to deliver an exclusive multi-course cooking demo, one course apiece (June 27), in the Brennan’s Cookery School, in Cork, with a healthy sample of each dish for all in the audience.

THE Dublin restaurant and café scene is really humming once again.

WHAT are the biggest influences on the flavour of a glass of wine?

WINE enthusiasts sometimes tie themselves into knots worrying about the complexities to be found in the drink, fussing about which flower or fruit a wine smells like, or worse still focusing on soil structure and hectolitres per hectare.

APRIL is Real Wine Month which focuses on minimal intervention “natural” wines and also low intervention organic and biodynamic wines.

Harte’s Bar & Grill,

This is award season in the wine trade as much as in the movie business.

Perfect stocking filler to put you in picture

IN CASE you haven’t heard the rumour there is talk of duty being increased on wine in the budget once again this year so I, for one, am beginning to stock up.

IRISH wine consumers like familiarity and consistency in their wines and it is largely for this reason that over 50% of the wine we drink is from Australia or Chile and almost all of that is from grapes such as Merlot and Sauvignon Blanc.

It’s too late now, the cake is eaten, the wine is drunk and Christmas is over for another year. It is safe to say that everyone puts on a few pounds over the Christmas season, if for no other reason than that we are rarely as active and are not eating at regular times.

Bright clean cherries and strawberries on the nose with lovely fresh clean red fruit flavours on the palate.

The Bord Bia-organised Ireland stand will feature some of our utterly splendid raw milk cheeses.

Former Kerry Gaelic football player Tommy Doyle has joined the Blue Haven Food Company in Kinsale, Co Cork, as general manager.

The future of awardwinning food business Fallon & Byrne was secured yesterday after the High Court approved a rescue plan for the firm.

Fallon & Byrne, the restaurateur and gourmet food supplies business that entered into examinership last year, was today granted a new drinks license by the Circuit Civil Court for its Exchequer Street, Dublin, restaurant.

Microsoft is joining forces with one of the country's leading publishers in a plan which aims to cut the cost to parents of school books.

THE High Court has confirmed the appointment of an examiner to award-winning iconic food business Fallon & Byrne.

AWARD-winning food business Fallon & Byrne, which runs a restaurant and gourmet food hall in Dublin’s Exchequer Street, is insolvent and unable to pay a €1.4 million tax bill, the High Court heard yesterday.

IN the final run-in to Christmas, business is booming at the Blue Haven Food Company as last-minute orders are readied for supermarket shelves around the country.

LUXURY restaurant, food hall and wine cellar Fallon & Byrne saw profits increase significantly last year.

KIEREN FALLON has been urged to play it cool in the Investec Derby — by the man who knows Recital as well as anyone.

Dublin restaurant Fallon & Byrne was today named and shamed on the tax defaulters list.

PRE-TAX profits at up-market eatery, Fallon & Byrne plunged 96% to €8,791 last year.

IN my humble opinion, the health professions admission test (HPAT) for entry to medical school is completely inappropriate.

Six time champion jockey Kieren Fallon won on more horses than he normally would when he was alleged to be part of a plot to lose races, the UK's Old Bailey was told today.

FLIP television channels in Brazil and Ronaldinho can be seen advertising anything from body spray to a bank.