The topics of conversation were posed in the sell-out "open conversation" in which the independent wine merchant posed a series of questions to the author and critic.

Key titbits included Hugh Johnson's opinion on wine scoring. "I can score wines out of three: thumbs up, thumbs down and somewhere in the middle," he said. He added it was a "very complicated system for something that is about enjoyment and feeling", and didn't think trying to "ascribe something numerical to something of such quality really works".

His views on wine trends veered from: "There are always those regions that are going to be ‘in fashion' at the time and then there are those that are often not given the attention that they deserve." He added that value for money tends to lie in the places that have been neglected, and/or fallen out of fashion, and cited sherry as "one of the greatest wines on earth, yet it's selling for £10 a bottle".

He added: "The same with Mosel, some of the most sublime Rieslings ever made. If only we could learn to love the things that are out of fashion."

On the future of Castillon, he said: "Tony [Laithwaite] is plugging away at re-establishing Castillon as one of the really good Bordeaux regions. And the [Laithwaite's] Presbytere is an example of the greatness of that region and it is somewhere that you are going to hear much more about."