But we have and it was several things which came together at just the right time that made it happen.

Winemaking in countries such as America and Australia, was introduced by the first European settlers. Broadly this means that they were making wine in a traditional way, but around the 1980s they began to reassess what they were doing. Tradition is a great way of passing techniques on generation to generation. However, if it has one major drawback, it is that things are slow to change, whereas ‘Young’ countries like America and Australia tend not to be afraid of change but rather to welcome it.

They realised that they were producing wine in a European way, developed for European vineyards to make European style wine. They didn’t fully understand the science of what was happening in their vineyards or in the winery so they applied a lot of research (and an awful lot of cash) to the problem.

The way they managed their vineyards changed, what was planted in the vineyards changed and the wineries had a scientific makeover. Suddenly they had control. It was a huge step forward in the consistency of quality winemaking and has affected the whole world of wine since.

Then they addressed a couple of other significant points.

They had sun and lots of it. They could produce really ripe grapes which could make wine which was very fruity and enjoyable to drink all on it’s own. So they did. Also they came up with the idea of putting the name of the grape on the label. Out went ‘Australian White Burgundy’ and in came Chardonnay. Suddenly wine was good to drink and easy to order.

And we were changing too. We spent the 80’s becoming European (and wearing shoulder pads and watching Dynasty). We started to adopt the habits of our new peer group…. And what is it, in that clichéd way, that all Europeans do? Well drink wine of course.

This is where it could all have gone wrong. If we had gone to the shelves of the supermarket and off license (it was the off trade which led this change) and had discovered the same old ‘doesn’t taste too good, can’t pronounce it’ wines, we would probably have said “oh well” and carried on as before. But we didn’t. The countries of the ‘New World’ had started to export their new style of wine, so what we discovered were fruity tasting, sun filled bottles of delight, called things like Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay.

We were hooked.