Veenwouden burst onto the local wine scene 25 years ago with a Merlot that tasted of chocolate when everyone else tasted of weeds and mentholated toothpaste. Shannon Vineyards have also made waves with a Merlot called Mount Bullet that doesn’t taste like other local examples. The 2011 is a case in point: a massive wine that is light on the tongue. Light like a feather, heavy as lead as Bob Marley sang it in Misty Morning which summons up those Lord of the Rings vineyards of Elgin which are full of elves and faerie folk, a bit like Shannon in Ireland.

A serious wine deserves a serious steak so we popped on over to il leone in De Waterkant for a T-bone that would have kept the whole of Somalia fed for a week. The wine and medium rare steak were well suited as the spicy red supplied liquid seasoning to the meat which had a little sea salt and lots of roasted garlic.

This is real gourmet stuff without the frills and flounces that fusses up fusion food. If Miles had Mount Bullet on the menu in Sideways he’d never have exclaimed “I’m not drinking any fucking Merlot!”