I first met Joe and his wife at their Napa Valley home back in 1978, when my new bride and I sat around their kitchen table, tasted his wines, and found out why this valley was destined for glory.

Some years later they were in Bermuda and, as I carefully poured one of his Cabernet Sauvignons, I stooped over and had my eyes at the level of the wine in the glass.

“What is Michael doing?” Joe asked. “He is practising evensies,” my wife replied.

In other words, no one can get even a precious drop more or less than anyone else when such precious liquid is being shared.

Many years later we again found ourselves sitting around a table with this family and this time Joe had been asked to present one of his wines in Paris as one of our world’s top 30 winemakers.

As we sipped, and all present suggested which wine should go, he asked: “Are you two still practising evensies?”

Alas, as Dylan Thomas would say, “Joe is no longer winning with us”. It was an honour to know him.

This Saturday evening past was an occasion to explain to our dinner guests exactly how I was going to pour. You see, a couple of times a year we try to do something very special and we had asked a friend of ours, whose wine we sell, to invite two other couples and we would do the same.

Served first was a plate with smoked salmon and the usual condiments, and also a salmon cake made from wild, organic salmon cut into tiny chunks. The discussion was which went best with which as we poured Drouhin Puligny Montrachet 2012 ($68.80) and Kumeu River “Hunting Hill Vineyard” Chardonnay 2011 from New Zealand ($38.80).

The chief chef preferred the great finesse, white peaches and fresh silkiness of the Puligny with the salmon cake, but I felt that the Kumeu River had the edge in this match. It does, of course, have the advantage of a couple of more seasons in the bottle and this helps with such a classic Chardonnay.

One guest arrived with a 1984 Beaulieu Cabernet Sauvignon from Napa that was bravely holding on even though it appeared to be the least costly of three that they made at that time (we stock their lovely BV Napa blend called “Tapestry” 2009 for $69.85) and another bought Australia’s red benchmark.

But now it was time for lamb from France (lamb sausages, racks of lamb and roast leg of lamb) and the main wines. Un-evensies could not be contemplated.

A friend bought the Premier Grand Cru Classé Chateau Latour 2010. I had read one London merchant’s comments of “how could it leave me so totally speechless? How could it be flawless? A hushed awe fell over our merry band of tasters as this legend drew us into its profound depths”. We stock the 2004 for $1,088 which is probably $400 or so less than the 2010 perfect vintage if we stocked it. The 2004 rates 95 to 97 depending on the publication.

I had chosen to pour, beside the Latour 2010, a magnum of our St Emilion Grand Cru Virginie de Valandraud 1999. This was done because at a gathering for my birthday 18 months ago, this particular magnum took on a who’s who of “the nectar of the Gods” and in my humble opinion bested them all, although it was close. Even though Parker gives the Latour 2010 100/100 it really is a baby and will reveal so much more on its 21st birthday and beyond.

I will take the liberty of repeating what I wrote in this column in November of 2013 about the 1999 Virginie de Valandraud.

“When Jean-Luc Thunevin and his wife Murielle moved from Algeria to France in the 1980s, they literally made their first wine in their garage on a back street in the town of St Emilion.

“He became known as the first ‘Garagiste’ as he shot to fame and had his wines compared with the historic greatest of Bordeaux.

“One review talks of attractive liquorice, floral, blackberry jam, coffee, scented perfume, chocolate and charm.”

I find difficulty with the words to describe it, but at this time in its life it is still glorious and really shows what many quiet years in the bottle can do. We have bottles for $91.50 and magnums for $185.50; you see I went rather berserk and bought a fair proportion of his total production when I first tasted it many years ago. Not much left though.

• This column is a paid for advertorial for Burrows Lightbourn Ltd. Michael Robinson is Director of Wine at Burrows Lightbourn Ltd. He can be contacted at mrobinson@bll.bm or 295-0176. Burrows Lightbourn have stores in Hamilton (Front Street East, 295-1554), Paget (Harbour Road, 236-0355) and St George’s (York Street, 297-0409). A selection of their wines, beers and spirits are available online at www.wineonline.bm.