Some months back on these pages, wine writer Mary Dowey expressed her disappointment at how few Dublin restaurants offer a good selection of wines by the glass and the half bottle. Well, any Dublin restaurateur who wants to know just how to write a model wine list which addresses those questions should head off to Ballyvaughan, Co Clare for a few days.
For there, in The Whitethorn Restaurant, they will encounter John McDonnell's list which is a painstaking example of just how to do it right. There are no fewer than a dozen white and 14 red wines in half bottles, and you can choose between four white wines and sherry, or five red and rose wines sold by the glass. The notes are only brilliant, and all told this is a model list.
But, of course, when it comes to the holidays, it's ordinary decent citizens and not only Dublin restaurateurs who will be interested in the Whitethorn list, and the holidaymakers will want to know that with the fine food and the stupendous views across the bay from the restaurant, the Whitethorn on the right night can feel like holiday heaven.
The Whitethorn Restaurant is in Ballyvaughan, Co Clare: phone 065 77044.