We Brits are the world’s sixth-biggest wine consumers. Considering that home-grown wine accounts for a minuscule 1 per cent of our winebibbing and that we have only relatively recently realised our proximity to the Continent in matters of food and drink, our standing in the ranking is more revolution than evolution. Fashion has been, as always, one of the drivers of this change. As the revolution got under way, certain wines became fashion icons of middle-class aspiration: in the 1960s, Blue Nun Liebfraumilch led the whites, Black Bull from Hungary the reds and Mateus Rosé the rest. In the 1970s, there was a tide of northern Italian wines, with Valpolicella the chief casualty as marketing trumped quality. Happily, Valpolicella’s reputation has been restored and all five