Wine dinners — where importer and restaurant collaborate to showcase a particular range of wines — are often great fun and very good value too.

I once heard one of Chile’s most illustrious winemakers, Aurelio Montes, affectionately refer to the pinot noir grape as being like his teenage offspring: full of potential for a great future — but a royal pain to deal with right now.

THE Cork Wine Fair hosted by O’Donovans off-licences last week provided some new discoveries and interesting new themes for the attentive wine fan.