Speaking of food and wine, Port is, of course, the most versatile wine of all. Sharing a cheeseboard while sipping a glass of Port is one of life’s great pleasures. And we should never forget how perfectly Port can pair with many desserts. There are few matches as delicious as a rich and smooth Taylor’s 10 Year Old with a slice of apple pie or almond tart. Or a Taylor’s Late Bottled Vintage with a plate of chocolate brownies. But it is in that magical moment when the coffee cups have been cleared away and the conversation begins to flow that Port really comes into its own.

The great French writer Alexandre Dumas once wrote that dinner is not just about food. It is also about good conversation, which “should sparkle with the rubies of the wine between courses, be deliciously suave with the sweetness of the dessert and acquire true profundity with the coffee”. And, he might have added, reach sublime heights with the Port. For there is nothing quite like Port to inspire the art of good conversation.