Let the thrills and spills begin

The 2017 wine and spirits adventure begins with an array of exhibitions, tastings, courses and festivals

Pearse Lyons: the founder of Alltech is completing the building of a new distillery on the site of the former Saint James’s Church on James Street near Guinness in Dublin 8 Pic: Fergal PhiLlips

Humanity has been making, teaching, consuming and exploring wine and spirits for more than 8,000 years now. Wine is inextricably linked to our civilisation, culture, art and religion, from the centrality of bread and wine in Christianity to the Greek, Roman, Egyptian and Phoenician embrace of wine, beer and latterly spirits into every aspect of their civilisation, from Bacchus and Dionysus to science and art.

The United Nations, through Unesco World Heritage sites ...