Just to follow up - I eventually came across this fabulous book - 'How to choose wine - Vincent Gastnier' which provided a great starting point and more. It's a wonderful introductory book that I would wholeheartedly recommend for anyone wanting to know more about wine.
It's a hands on book giving you ideas on how to taste various wines in one setting to show what things such as 'tannins', fruitiness, full-bodied, complexity etc etc.
Also had a wine-tasting evening at home with 6 different wines provided by our local wine merchant - 2 different Cab Sauv, 2 Syrah/Shiraz and 2 Pinot Noir. A very enjoyable learning experience!
One more question - are there any wine chat sites (Irish or not) that you would recommend.
Of course the only problem with getting to know more about wine is that the taste buds now search for more than just the everyday wine!
PN - I'll definitely get myself into one of the wine board courses at some stage. They do sound great.