Wine: Domaine de la Chauvinière Muscadet Sèvre et Maine

IT isn’t so long since wine was only drunk in Ireland at Christmas.

In the house I grew up in, that wine was Liebfraumilch and it was purchased twice a year — at Christmas, and when my Auntie Dor visited from England in the summer, and you can probably guess the names (hint: it was usually either ‘black’ or ‘blue’).

The only quality wine I remember from the 1970s that you can still find is Faustino Rioja, which was brought to our house by my parent’s best friends when they came to play cards (25 or, occasionally, Whist).