A wine enthusiast from Co Tyrone has realised his dream of opening a wine and food tasting room experience in his hometown of Stewartstown.
Michael Mulgrew owns The Wine Rack in the town, which began as a standard off licence before becoming a specialist wine shop which imports its own wines directly from producers.
Earlier this month The Tasting Room opened at The Wine Rack, allowing people from Mid Ulster and further afield to taste a variety of wines and foods.
A new restaurant space and machine which dispenses wine by the tap are some of the features of Michael’s vision that he has made reality.
“We used to run events in the past in different places and rented spaces for them, but then we decided to come here and do something different,” Michael told MyTyrone.
“We opened The Tasting Room there on Friday, there are two other places in Northern Ireland that do something similar, but this is a first for Tyrone and Mid Ulster.
“Myself and my wife and some friends would go to wine shows all over Europe and then get samples sent back, then we import it directly to the shop here.
“We are very unique that way, and we wanted to give people a reason to come here to Stewartstown.”
Michael added his passion for wine grew the more he started to learn about the different types of grapes and flavours in every bottle.
He first opened the off licence sixteen years ago and continued to develop into a specialist shop.
“People generally know very little about wine and they want to be told what to expect when they pick up a bottle," he said.
“We’ve done courses and qualifications, and you can’t really sell wine properly if you’re not interested in it.
“This is my sixteenth year, I took over this place in 2005 when I had just finished a management degree in Queen’s.
“As time goes on you develop a taste for these things, you go to events and then you develop your interest that way.
“The plan is now to get this place up and running first and then there are another few places I would like to open these up in as well, so we’ll see what the future holds.”
