As I write this the weather has turned remarkably mild so I’ve abandoned my original topic of winter warming wines in favour of good value wines suitable for parties — parties can happen in good and bad weather after all. Christmas seems to start earlier and get more expensive every year so in the coming weeks I’ll try to keep value as much in mind as much as quality.

A damning internal audit of the Catholic Institute for Deaf People found numerous financial discrepancies as well as excessive spending on its credit cards, including a €155 bottle of whiskey.

I return to Bordeaux again this week after a fascinating recent vertical tasting and also because the wine world is full of talk of the potential of the 2016 vintage thanks to the recent en-primeur tastings.