The top end of the wine business is one of the most fought-over terrains in Irish retail.

If one business offers a wine lecture another responds by opening a quasi-college course. When one sets up a short en primeur service, the competition responds with en primeur Burgundy and Bordeaux, and a daily blog from its tastings at the annual Union De Grand Cru in France.

It has become increasingly evident over the last year that the wine trade’s ambition is no longer local and reactive, but of an international standard.

The best of the Irish wine trade - including wine merchants, sommeliers, importers, off-licences and wine shops across the country - now realise that their competition is not the shop next door but a Bordeaux specialist in London, a French online wine wholesaler or the Californian virtual wine school.

These are The Sunday Business Post’s heroes of Irish wine from the last 12 months. They are the best in the most competitive segments of a modern Irish wine market.

Wine Business of the Year 2007: www.winesdirect.ie
This award is for an individual or a business’s contribution to the Irish wine trade. This year’s honour is bestowed on Wines Direct owner Paddy Keogh for his staggering resilience after the company’s headquarters were badly damaged by fire last October.

This superb wine business imports a range of bespoke wines such as hand-crafted, iconic Burgundies and Australian garagiste wines.

However, fireworks set off at its headquarters on October 15 last destroyed its entire stock of specially-imported wines, its back catalogue of wines, records, assets and resources.

Yet Keogh had the 15-year-old business back up and running within a week, fast-tracking deliveries of wines across the country to restaurant and retail consumers.

Best Fine Wine Merchants (Dublin) 2007:
1. Berry Brothers & Rudd, Harry Street
2. Mitchell & Son, Kildare Street
3. Searsons Wine Merchants, Blackrock
4. Redmonds of Ranelagh, Ranelagh
5. Fallon & Byrne, Exchequer Street
6. McCabes, Mount Merrion, Blackrock
7. Jus De Vin, Portmarnock
8. Terroirs, Donnybrook
9. O’Briens Wine, Donnybrook
10. Gibney’s, Malahide

Claret could easily be spilt while debating Dublin’s finest wine merchants. Competition between wine businesses in the capital has grown so much in the past five years that I’m increasing my Top Five ranking to a Top Ten.

There are almost 20 more equally attractive wine shops deserving a mention, such as Louis Albrouze, Leeson Street; 69 in Glasthule, Sweeney’s Wine Merchants in Glasnevin; Bin 29 in Goatstown; the Corkscrew on Chatham Street and the Vintry in Terenure.

However, in terms of customer service, selection, ambience and engagement with the city’s cultural landscape, those in the top ten are in a league of their own.

Berry Brothers & Rudd tops the list for the third year in a row. Its operation possesses polished and knowledgeable staff, a superb educational programme, gorgeous premises, a comprehensive en primeur service and a vast selection of fine and aged wines from its enviable stock and cellar. It continues to set standards that others must reach.

Best Fine Wine Merchants (nationwide) 2007
1. Greenacres, Co Wexford
2. Wine Centre, Co Kilkenny
3. Le Caveau, Co Kilkenny
4. Wicklow Wine Company, Co Wicklow
5. World Wide Wines, Co Waterford
6. James Nicholson, Co Down
7. Joe Karwig Wines, Co Cork
8. Bubble Brothers, Co Cork
9. McCambridges, Co Galway
10. Mortons of Galway, Co Galway

Greenacres in Wexford has merged a tasteful Victorian red brick premises with a four-storey glass atrium, modernist tasting spaces and a fine art gallery. Fine wines are stored in the former vault and a beautiful oak-lined reserve collection room is awash in first class growths and Californian superstars.

Best Multiple Wine Chain 2007
1. O’Briens Wines, nationwide
2. Carry Out, Co Cork
3. O’Donovan’s Wine Stores, Co Cork
4. Molloy’s Liquor Stores, Dublin
5. The Wine Buff, nationwide

O’Briens Wines is the most outstanding multiple, homegrown wine operation. It excels at every aspect of the business: architecture, wine selection, sales and promotions, beer and spirits selection and staff and customer relations. It is simply the best in every category in which it competes.

Best Supermarket Wine Outlet 2007
1. Tesco Ireland
2. Dunnes Stores
3. Marks & Spencer
4. Supervalu/Centra/Londis
5. Superquinn

I said last year that this category needed a huge overhaul and this is now under way, with seismic changes across the sector.

Tesco Ireland has finally woken up and overhauled its wine selections, adding to its range a fine wine selection of some vigour and ambition.

Meanwhile, Dunnes remains supreme in the breadth of its mid-range offering, but it needs a top-end garland to balance the picture. Only Superquinn has failed to pick up the baton.

However, its new wine directors David Orr and John Wilson are slipping into the pivotal commercial and cultural role played previously by Michael Donlon. Their impact is beginning to be felt in the revitalisation of Superquinn’s French wine sale. This year will surely see the store back up where it belongs.

Best Irish Wine Shop 2007:
O’Briens Wine, Sandyford, Dublin 18
A modern cathedral of wine, this premises has almost 60 wines to taste by the glass, classed growths displayed as modern art installations and an in-house wine bar run in conjunction with Sheridans’ cheeses. It has one of the largest selections of large-format bottles in Ireland and tons of parking space.

Best Wine Importer of the Year 2007: Tyrell & Company
Peerless local knowledge, effortless charm and brilliant prices. Tyrell secures the finest wines from cult winemakers with which others cannot even get appointments, let alone cajole them out of a few cases of their iconic wines.

Best Specialist Drink Outlet 2007: Celtic Whiskey Shop, Dawson Street, Dublin 2
Better than anything you can find on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh, with stock that would make a Tokyo billionaire Islay Whisky collector envious.

Best Wine Website 2007
1. www.bbr.ie
2. www.winesdirect.ie
3. www.millisima.com
4. www.terroirs.ie
5. www.booze.ie

Best Wine Bar Style 2007
1. Ely, Ely Place, Dublin 2
2. Fallon & Byrne, Exchequer Street, Dublin 2
3. Ely CHQ, IFSC, Dublin 1
4. Ely HQ Hanover Quay, Dublin 2
5. The French Paradox, South Great Georges Street, Dublin 2
7. George’s Wine, South Fredrick Street, Dublin 2
8. La Cave, South Anne’s Street, Dublin 2
9. Bar Pintxo, Eustace Street, Dublin 2
10. Port House, South William Street, Dublin 2

Ely wins, but only just. If the panache of other newcomers could match their wine selections, Ely co-owner Erik Robson might break sweat. But with CHQ and HQ defending the flanks, I doubt it.

Best Restaurant Wine List and Wine Service (Dublin) 2007
1. L’Ecrivain, Merrion Row, Dublin 2
2. Restaurant Patrick Guilbaud, Upper Merrion St, Dublin 2
3. Mint Restaurant, Ranelagh, Dublin 6
4. Seasons, The Four Seasons Hotel, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4
5. Chapter One, Parnell Square, Dublin 1
6. Thornton’s, St Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2
7. The King Sitric, Howth, Co Dublin
8. Le Pearl Brasserie, Upper Merrion St, Dublin 2
9. Shanahan’s, St Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2
10. Harvey Nichols Restaurant, Dundrum, Co Dublin

Best Restaurant Wine List and Wine Service (nationwide) 2007
1. Sheen Falls Lodge, Kenmare, Co Kerry
2. Kelly’s Resort Hotel, Rosslare, Co Wexford
3. Restaurant Michael Deane, Belfast, Co Down
4. The Mill Restaurant at The Lyons Demense Village, Co Kildare
5. Jacobs On The Mall, Cork City, Co Cork
6. K Club, The Byerley Turk Restaurant, Straffan, Co Kildare
7. Wineport Lodge, Athlone, Co Westmeath
8. Ashford Castle, Cong, Co Mayo
9. Dromoland Castle, Newmaket-On-Fergus, Co Clare
10. Mount Juliet Conrad, Thomastown, Co Kilkenny

Best Wine Newcomer 2007: Pierre Paillot, sommelier, Mint Restaurant, Dublin
There has been considerable change in the Irish hotel and restaurant trade over the last year.The high point being the delightful makeover of Patrick Guilbaud’s restaurant at theMerrion; the low point being the hugely disappointing Shelbourne revamp.

Through all the noise and heat, quality has, as ever, risen to the top. L’Ecrivain’s Martina Delaney and Sheen Falls’s Damien Trinckquel take the top sommelier spots (Delaney for the third year in a row). But if these wine winners glance over their shoulder they will see a rising star in Rhone-trained Frenchman Pierre Paillot, whose wine list at Mint in Ranelagh is a vinous and aesthetic masterpiece.