A profile of a great wine house this week. FE Trimbach in Alsace dates from 1626 and has passed fairly seamlessly through the generations, despite that region’s tumultuous history ping-ponging between France and Germany. Jean Trimbach from the 13th generation visited recently — the 14th generation is already in the business and the 15th is on the way.

Unilever agreed to buy a South Korean cosmetics maker for €2.27bn to gain a stronger foothold in the world’s fourth-largest skincare market, betting that the pop-culture-fuelled appeal of the country’s beauty products will outweigh concerns over regional tensions.

For some reason 2016 seems to have had a higher proportion of celebrity deaths than usual, and this month two well-known wine names could be added to the list — Louis Latour (aged 83) and Etienne Hugel (aged just 57).

VALENTINE’S DAY, next Thursday, is probably your first good excuse to splash out on a decent bottle of wine since Christmas.