A friend of mine’s father has the right idea about wine. He labels every bottle in his cellar with one of three tags to direct his children towards certain wines: ‘You can drink this’, ‘I’d rather you didn’t drink this’ and ‘This is your inheritance.’ In the absence of a relative like that, how do you know when a wine is at its peak?The best way to find out is to pull the cork. That’s why I’d advise you to buy at least six bottles of a chosen wine, so that you can see how a wine develops (for better or worse) over time. It’s then a question of trial and error – and personal taste.

Don’t be too much of an anorak about this, but keep a record of what you drink and when you drink it, possibly in a bespoke cellar book. One famous American collector has installed a $10,000 state-of-the-art computer system in his cellar. He attaches a bar code to every bottle he buys so that, at the touch of a button, he can find out where it is located underground. As he leaves the cellar, he scans the bottle and his collection is updated by the computer. You could achieve the same thing with a pen and notebook, although it might take you a bit longer to find a particular bottle if your wine room is as haphazard as mine.