First, lockdown has had a profound impact on the people who would otherwise be frequenting the cities’ finest bars and cocktail haunts. Home consumption completely changed, increasing hugely in most cases, and bar goers turned their attention and interest to the wines and spirits that they consumed at home. Wines that ordinarily would have been confined to page 120 on a posh restaurant wine list became cut-price curiosities for those bored of drinking the same things, bought from wine merchants that depended on the same restaurants for their profits. Second, social communication became inseparable from social media and the very screens on which we watch our news, buy our shopping and conduct business meetings.

All these factors combined to make the affluent public more aware of world events, ecological issues, city pollution and consumer waste. Even our weekly applause to the frontline carers every Thursday evening appeared to make us much more open to helping those who needed it wherever they may be. Remember the giant explosion on August 4 last year that took so many innocent lives at the expense of a hugely corrupt government in Lebanon? Perhaps that was the moment you decided to try a Lebanese rosé or a claret-styled Lebanese red wine with your Sunday roast lamb for the first time. Perhaps this was also the moment that you discovered Lebanon makes damn fine rosés, as good as those from Provence, and that the red wines offer amazing value when compared to Bordeaux or even Argentinian wines.