The clothes you wear to a tasting are important – you want something that you don’t mind staining with red wine; hence there is a prevalence of scruffiness and flamboyance in the wine-writing fraternity. So imagine the consternation caused by being required to wear a suit and tie to a tasting! I only own one suit … and it’s cream – definitely not safe in the presence of large quantities of red wine.

However, the invitation was from Sarah Abbott of Swirl Wine Events to a tasting featuring almost all the wine-making members of the Lurton family and held in the RAC Club on London’s Pall Mall. I mean … who could resist?