“Oh, wow! You brought a bottle of the Tohu ‘One’ Pinot Noir, I love that wine!” said my host.

“Actually, it’s not pronounced ‘One’,” I replied, “it’s pronounced ‘Oh-Neh’, as in the Maori word for soil or earth, as the vineyards sit on soils carried down from Mount Tapuae-o-Uenuku.”

“I see. Why don’t you sit next to Graham, he collects 19th century horse brasses, I’m sure you’ll get along well.”

This was our favourite Pinot Noir at the annual New Zealand trade tasting in London and, happily, it was far from the most expensive. It’s a really fabulous, single-vineyard Marlborough Pinot, but it feels more like a Central Otago expression, with its fuller body and its deep cherry and red plum fruit with gorgeous high tones of kola, sandalwood, blackcurrant pastilles, pomegranate molasses and candied orange rind. I can’t wait to drink it with slow-cooked beef brisket, especially the barbecued burnt ends. 12.5% alc. Drink now-2032.