Last week I went to a wine tasting at my good friend Chris Didden's house. A delightful affair with great hosts and great guests and lots of great wine to try. The deal was that everyone had to bring a wrapped up bottle and then you had to rate it. About 30 bottles in all. Well, it turns out that the wine I brought over won.

It was a most good-natured wine. A touch sardonic, perhaps, but not cynical. A most civilized wine, one indeed after my own heart.