Despite all the words this page has expended on a myriad of wines, the reason we are interested is because they all have one thing in common — “the power to banish care”.

I have written in the past about the difficulties faced by small wine importers given our draconian wine taxes. We are around 650% higher than the EU average and more expensive for wine than countries such as Sweden and Finland.

IT’LL always pay you to be aware of what’s going on at Karwig’s. The importer, distributor and wine shop has won many awards and is widely acknowledged as one of the best places to buy good wine — in the shop between Crosshaven and Carrigaline, Co Cork, or online at www.karwigwines.ie.