The world of wine falls into two very distinct categories — the big brands making easy drinking accessible wines to please as many as possible, and the smaller producers that make wines in their own way and as best they can but with little or no thought to what the market wants — if they like it, why shouldn’t others?

The Kerrygold Ballymaloe Literary Festival of Food and Wine is next weekend and there are lots of drinks-related events. 

Greece is in all the news bulletins as I write this and I suspect most Irish people have sympathy for the difficulties this ancient democracy finds itself in these days.