Beginners and advanced students are catered for on two wine appreciation courses being run this autumn by Julie Verling.

The beginners course (level one) starts tonight at 7.30 p.m. in Oulton Road Tennis Club in Clontarf, Dublin, and it will run over five weeks on Tuesdays until November 4th. The level-two course starts tomorrow evening at the same venue and runs on Wednesdays for six weeks. The cost of the beginners course is £100; the advanced course costs £139.

The beginners course is designed to give those who enjoy wine some technical knowledge to back up their interest. Students will receive tasting notes and a wine course pack and there will be talks and tastings each evening.

The advanced course is for those interested in going into some depth with particular wines; its focus will be on classic Bordeaux and fine Burgundies, which will be compared with wines from the top New World producers.

The advanced group are taught about the history of fine wines as well as about the practice and theory of tasting and they get nibbles of cheese to accompany the selections. For information contact Julie Verling (tel: (01) 833 1653; fax: (01) 833 3954).

Applications are currently being accepted by the Public Relations Institute of Ireland for its two-year part-time diploma course in public relations, which begins this month. The diploma is open to applicants aged 20 or over (mature students welcome) and is aimed both at those wishing to pursue a career in PR and those already working in the area.

Subjects for the diploma include public-relations theory and practice, advertising, sales promotion, mass communications, presentation skills and public-relations writing. The course costs £850 per year. For application forms contact the institute (tel: (01) 661 8004; fax: (01) 676 4562; email: prii@iol.ie