Mullingar to become a centre of "wine tourism"?

It"s a town famous for Joe Dolan, James Joyce and its beautiful lakes, but if local wine guru Paddy Keogh has his way, Mullingar could also become a centre for 'wine tourism' in Ireland.With Paddy"s thriving wine business, Wines Direct located in Mullingar"s Lough Sheever Corporate Park, the town obviously has a headstart.But its potential as a hub for domestic wine tourism only struck the former army officer recently, when he played host to around 25 tipple-hunting tourists from a wine club in Tuam, Co. Galway.As the economy worsens, lateral thinking is good for business, and Paddy envisions that branching out into wine tourism could play a role in boosting the local coffers across the board, most notably for the town"s many restaurants, pubs and hotels.'At Wines Direct, we"re not gaining much from this, only notoriety,' Paddy told the Westmeath Examiner this week. 'This is about support for our local community, and we see great potential in it.'After plenty of organising, the 25 wine tourists arrived in Mullingar on Friday week last, and stayed in the Mullingar Park Hotel for two nights. On the first night, they enjoyed dinner and wine in Weir"s of Multyfarnham, hosted by Pat and Una Weir.'During the day some of the visitors played golf in Mullingar Golf Club, others went shopping, others enjoyed the spaand after lunch they came to Wines Direct for an eight wine tasting session, hosted by Trevor Fisher,' Paddy explained.The Tuam crew then travelled by bus to Middleton Park in Castletown-Geoghegan, where they enjoyed dinner and wine in style.They left on the Sunday morning, and Paddy said the feedback he received was excellent. 'They are going to recommend Mullingar to other wine clubs,' he remarked.What"s more, the weekend was a great benefit to local businesses and hostelries.Banking on the quality, price and type of his wines - all of which are produced by independent, family-owned vineyards - Paddy hopes to further boost local tourism, by attracting regular visits to Mullingar by other wine clubs on the island of Ireland.Although a wine club hasn"t yet been established in Mullingar, the scene is very popular in Cork, Dublin, Galway, Donegal and Wexford.'I"ve always hoped that Wines Direct would become a wine centre, not just a wine shop - somewhere that people could visit and learn about wine,' Paddy continued. 'I hope that people will see it as a kind of unique farmers" wine market.'Paddy also hopes that this will cultivate an interest in wine and wine tourism in Westmeath, perhaps leading to the creation of Mullingar"s very own wine club.'You get more people staying at home these days, and there"s a greater interest in wine than there once was.'So hopefully, before long Mullingar will become associated with wine.'To help this wine tourism culture along, Paddy would like to hear from people who are keen on wine, with the aim of setting up a wine club in Mullingar.'Wine clubs have become a big thing across Ireland, and I"d like to get feedback from anyone who may be interested, with a view to setting one up here in September,' Paddy concluded.