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How should wines be sealed? This issue continues to fret the trade. Those who believe in screwcaps correctly argue that they make it far less likely that wine will go off. Up to 5 per cent of all bottles are ‘corked’, as oxidation and sourness result from air penetrating an inadequate cork. Sometimes the effect is almost undetectable; sometimes it’s gaggingly horrible. We don’t get many complaints here at the wine club, but when someone writes, ‘This wine you recommended so highly tasted like vinegar’, I know the bottle was corked. Incidentally, all our merchants will change any bottle that’s off, without quibble.

Supporters of cork say that the opening ritual is a traditional pleasure for the wine-drinker. They also point out that corks are helping to protect an ancient way of life. Detractors say the rest of the world should not have to drink bad wine just to protect a few cork-growers from the modern world.