My one-day wine course – in Ireland

I am regularly asked on the forum whether I give wine courses or classes. The answer is no since I really don’t have the time between tasting and writing for this site, writing and researching my regular Financial Times column, ditto my syndicated column and keeping my books updated.
 
However, Darina Allen of Ballymaloe, the well known and award winning hotel and cookery school near Cork in Ireland, has cunningly managed to persuade me to conduct a one-day World of Wine course there on Saturday, 4 Oct later this year. (I’m doing it because we have wanted to revisit Ballymaloe, pictured below, for so long and this is a great excuse.)  

We have yet to decide on the exact detail of the day but it will be designed for those who know a little rather than a lot about wine and I can guarantee that everyone who participates will know a lot more at the end of the day than the beginning. The food and wine will be well above average but the purpose is to explore the wonderful world of wine together rather than poring over very rare vintages.
 
The cost is 250 euros for a day of wine, food and wine lore and you can book here. It is being held in aid of Wine Relief 2009, the wine-related fundraising arm of Comic Relief. So you can improve your wine knowledge at the same time as improving other people’s lives.
 
Above all, I intend the day to be fun. Wine bores not welcome.
 
PS Oddly enough I wrote that last paragraph just before looking up the web address of the cookery school. It’s www.CookingIsFun.ie Strange, eh?
 
When: Sat 4 Oct 2008, 9.30-4.30
 
Where: Ballymaloe Cookery School, Shanagarry, County Cork, Ireland
 
How much: 250 euros
 
How to book: Click here  (for some reason it is listed with the 1.5 day courses but it is just one day)