Wine and Cider Making with Phil Wheal, The Organic Centre

What to Expect

Wine and Cider Making is a one-day course at The Organic Centre in Rossinver on Saturday 12 September 2026, taught by Phil Wheal. The fee is €120. Phil Wheal also teaches the centre’s Winter Fruit and Pruning course later in the year, so the two sit at opposite ends of the same annual cycle: one on what to do with the crop, the other on how to manage the trees that produce it.

Mid September is the right point in the calendar for it. The apple harvest is coming in across the north west and a home wine or cider batch started now has the autumn to work through fermentation. The course covers the practical side of turning fruit into a finished drink at home, which is largely a matter of understanding fermentation, hygiene and patience rather than equipment. The Organic Centre teaches on a nineteen-acre working site with its own growing areas, and its courses are run hands-on rather than as lectures. Places are booked in advance through the centre’s online shop and numbers are limited. Reduced rates are available for students and people on income supports, arranged by contacting the centre directly rather than through the website.

Good to Know

• Date: Saturday 12 September 2026, a single-day course
• Tutor: Phil Wheal
• Venue: The Organic Centre, Rossinver, Co. Leitrim, F91 H978
• Price: €120, booked online in advance
• Reduced rates for students and those on income supports, by contacting the centre
• Contact: 071 9854338 or info@theorganiccentre.ie
• The centre is open daily from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM
• Phil Wheal also teaches Winter Fruit and Pruning at the centre on 14 November 2026

Getting There

The Organic Centre is signposted off the R281 near Rossinver in north Leitrim, on the road that runs between Manorhamilton and Kinlough along the southern shore of Lough Melvin. Manorhamilton is roughly 20 minutes away by car, Kinlough and Bundoran 20 to 25 minutes, Enniskillen about 45 minutes and Sligo town around 50 minutes. There is free parking on site. Public transport into Rossinver is very limited, so nearly everyone attending drives or car shares, and the last stretch is on narrow rural roads where extra travel time is worth allowing.