We were cooking sherry-braised pork cheeks from black Iberian pigs known as Cerdo Ibérico, with roasted garlic mashed potatoes. Rich, nutty and intense on the palate – like venison steak in a full-bodied red wine and bitter chocolate sauce and for good measure, a few Reese-s Pieces peanut butter candy in a crunchy shell.

Water added mince pies and brandy butter served with German bread dumplings and to taste, we enjoyed a glass of chilled Lambrusco Italian wine, jam-packed with dark fruit flavours and pleasing tannins. After 11 years in an ex-Oloroso American oak butt, we transferred this whisky into a 1st fill Spanish oak Pedro Ximenez sherry butt.