On Friday 10th April 1663, Samuel Pepys – an administrator in the Royal Navy – noted in his diary a visit “to the Royall Oak Tavern, in Lumbard Street… and here drank a sort of French wine, called Ho Bryan, that hath a good and most particular taste that I never met with.”

“Ho Bryan” was seven shillings a bottle. Spanish or Portuguese wine was only two shillings.

Over 360 years later, Château Haut-Brion – written phonetically by Pepys as “Ho Bryan” – is still a highly-regarded drink in London taverns.

After the difficult 1970s, when poor Bordeaux vintages coincided with economic depression, the 1980s reversed this: A succession of fine vintages and plenty of money available to buy them.

The 1989s (including the exceptional Haut-Brion ’89) were sold at the highest-ever prices for newly-released Bordeaux wines.

The 1990s were offered at lower prices – the best-value for a quality year since 1982.

It was a good investment because the next three vintages were poor.

(Samuel Pepys would have agreed.)