On 20th September, our monthly tasting celebrated NIWSI’s 40+ years association with Direct Wines. Peter and Neal McAlindon presented a selection of their wines, including Creu Celta from their own vineyard in DOC Priorat, Catalunya. The key words were ‘value’ and ‘quality’. They aimed to be, they told us, ‘traditional wine merchants with a modern edge’, and are justly proud Direct Wines has been voted the best wine merchant in the UK. Besides tasting 10 great, affordable, wines, we were informed and entertained by anecdotes about the wine trade in Belfast going back to the off-licence their grandfather opened in Belfast in 1954. The origin of the present award-winning business linked to wine producers all over the world, and with its own vineyard in Spain.