Lunch at the Troyeville Hotel today and as soon as mine host, Laurence Jones, saw our red, a Magno Megonio Rosso Val di Neto IGT 1999, he didn’t hesitate in recommending the rustic rabbit stew. Made from herbal Magliocco grapes grown in the Val di Neto in southern Italy, it made the braised rabbit taste sweet and gamey. Incredible power and structure from a 13% alcohol wine that bore its 11 years of age with nonchalance.

We’d started out with a Boschendal Chenin Blanc 2005 that was as yellow as a glass of Cal-C-Vita and sweet as ripe apricots. It went very well with the chili mussels in a curry sauce, the flavour of the Chenin an interesting counterpoint to the bite of the mussels. The 14.5% alcohol soon had us speculating.

I asked Laurence if he thought Tim Butcher, author of Chasing the Devil, was a spy along the lines of Graham Greene whose Liberian footsteps he was retracing in the book. “He’d like to be” was the response. “Most definitely” agreed artist Joachim Schönfeldt “MI6 is still recruiting B’s and Butcher is right after Burgess in the telephone directory.

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