My favourite folly was the one Lord Berners erected in the grounds of his country seat Faringdon House. A tower, Berners placed a sign “members of the public committing suicide from this tower do so at their own risk” outside. His lawyer probably insisted on it – something legal eagle Howard Bilton would know all about. Howard’s folly is of a liquid kind – an Alvarinho 2010 from Moncão in the Vinho Verde region of Portugal. Made by David Baverstock, whose day job is making wine at Esporão or for Cliff Richard in the Algarve, it is ripe and tropically fruited with a broad seam of minerality running through it like a Roman road, as they do in rural Portugal. Talk about linear flavours!

Freddie Grimbeek and a bottle of Howard's Folly

Every one should have a folly and my own would be a blend of Antão Vaz and Arinto. For starters, how exotic is Antão Vaz with more tropical notes than a Brazilian samba with Arinto to provide acidity and focus. You can get one made by a Portuguese count for €1.30 a bottle which is not half bad and the wine is great, too. Although Dom José probably doesn’t have Cliff as a tennis partner. Sir Cliff missed a shot when he called his wine Vida Nova instead of Cliffhanger.

David Baverstock