Thursday, February 26, 2009

Wine course in Kilkenny


A couple of weeks ago, I braved the unusually snowy weather in Ireland to travel to Thomastown Kilkenny for a week-long course with The Wine Academy. This was the Advanced Certificate course, one of the WSET accredited courses, and it was delivered by Mary Gaynor, who runs the Wine Academy.

Well, I have to say that my bravery was amply rewarded, despite the freezing cold weather, which had me running into the Kilkenny Design Centre on the second morning to purchase some wooly socks!

We had a great week of it, learned a massive amount (although I am not sure if I remembered enough of it to pass the exam on the Friday afternoon - time will tell!), and were highly entertained into the bargain. Mary's hospitality was wonderful, her teaching talents and wide knowledge of the wine industry were only to be admired and each day flew by! Thomastown is one of those Kilkenny towns which will be transformed when it is bypassed, and even now it has a lot of charm despite all the large vehicles rumbling through on their way from Kilkenny City to Waterford City or Wexford. Mary can be contacted at www.thewineacademy.ie

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