Wine Club: French and Spanish gems from Honest Grapes

A week on the lash in Las Vegas with my 21-year-old son – the old soak and the young Turk – was not the best preparation for tasting wines for this offer with Honest Grapes.

Slinking home liverish and chastened, we agreed that what had happened in Vegas would stay there and that Mrs Ray would never know about Ludo’s first cigar (duck to water), his first stab at roulette (he lost, I won) and baccarat (he won, I lost), and especially not about my thrilling encounter with the bewitching Eureka O’Hara, drag queen extraordinaire. Thank goodness, our matching tattoos have thus far remained unseen. Such secrets will go to our graves.

Having horribly overcooked it on the cocktail front, we made a solemn vow at 4 a.m. on the last day never to drink again. But it’s strange how restorative a good night’s sleep in one’s own bed can be.