Westmalle Dubbel (7%) is a dark red-brown beer with a rich, complex taste thanks to re-fermentation in the bottle. You pick up touches of caramel, malt and fruity esters reminiscent of ripe banana. The beer pearls beneath a covering of dense, cream-coloured froth. A lovely lace pattern forms on the inside of the glass once emptied. The long, dry finish of this balanced, mild Trappist beer will stay with you.

Kendall-Jackson from the Sonoma County, just north of San Francisco, make a delicious Pinot Noir that has iIntense strawberry/black cherry/smoky/herb garden aromas and flavours with soft fleshy textures and underlying savoury/toasty oak.