IN RECENT weeks I have featured a lot of supermarket wines because that’s often where the bargains are to be found. However this is not always the case as I found out when I walked around two of the larger O’Donovan outlets in Cork with Gary O’Donovan.

THERE was a time when the wine business was almost exclusively male but thankfully those days are long gone.

NEW ZEALAND wine producers held their annual wine fair in Dublin earlier this month and it seems Ireland is now their fifth largest export market with sales having increased by around 12% in 2012.

THE recent public tasting in Cork organised by the Spanish Embassy was, as expected, both a great way to survey what’s on the market in Ireland today, and a thrilling immersion in total sensory pleasure.