Wine Club: a pitch-perfect selection from the great Corney & Barrow

I think it’s fair to say that I overshot the runway at The Griffin the other day. So excited was I to be out and about, large glass in hand, mixing with much-missed mates on the East Sussex gastropub’s fabled ‘Serengeti’ terrace, that I foolishly didn’t keep as close an eye on the speedometer as I should have done. Bottle followed bottle and by the time the patron’s postprandial limoncello appeared, I was completely undone. Happy, but undone.

I slept through most of Mrs Ray’s finger-wagging in the cab on the way home but got the gist — ‘undignified’ and ‘at your age’ being the constant refrains.

The trouble is — as I pointed out before dropping off — I love the taste of wine. I love the effect and I love the way a fine bottle breeds bonhomie, fuels friendship and spawns tall tales, all of which have been sorely lacking during these dark days.