Last year this happened to four cases of ‘64 Krug Champagne which

Last year, this happened to four cases of ‘64 Krug Champagne, which had no records, sold to accounting firm KPMG for their 25th anniversary at £100 a bottle – a tidy profit for Fortnum’s; although the cellar staff (who feel bad about charging £3.50 a year in cellarage “when we should still be providing it for free”) can hardly be accused of being overwhelmingly profit-motivated. But there are no calls for reserves any more – these days, we have little patience waiting for young wines to mature, preferring them young, fresh and accessible.Some of the reclaimed reserves will probably end up in vast bonded warehouses, which provide air-conditioning and hi-tech surroundings. But most, hopes Taylor, will be drunk.I ask him every wine buyer’s dreaded question: what’s his favourite wine? “Everyone in the business will give you the same answer – it’s the wine you’re drinking in good company on a good day, and you’re happy.” He starts talking about a day in Bordeaux, sun shining, etc.Yes, I say But the Latour?”Oh yes,” he says, in a tone of infatuation “I’d like that, definitely A few thousand pounds’ worth, at least Gorgeous.”. This time last year I was lying in the salt marshes near Maldon in Essex.

It was 3am and I’d gone along with some wildfowling colleagues. I was unarmed and chilled to the bone, waiting for wild duck to give themselves up. A couple of hours later, with no wildfowl in our bags and still shivering, daylight revealed that we’d been lying among thousands of pounds’ worth of samphire. When I serve samphire as a vegetable or in a salad, people often assume it’s some sort of exotic or expensive vegetable. In fact, the succulent green stems and knobbly leaves grow like weeds along coastal salt marshes and muddy estuaries from around June to August. Picking samphire is a pretty tedious job and there’s no way I could collect enough.

Anyway, most of the land it grows on is protected so that foragers don’t damage the wildlife. That, along with the shortness of the English season, is why we pay so much for something that can be gathered for nothing. As far as I know, any samphire we buy is wild, not cultivated, but in hotel and restaurant kitchens we tend not to appreciate the value of wild produce because we order it by fax or phone and it just turns up. Some fishmongers sell it as a vegetable, as do a few specialist greengrocers. But, if it’s allowed – and you’re heading for the coast – it’s easiest just to pick the samphire yourself.In East Anglia, where it’s considered a delicacy, the locals eat samphire as a summery starter, simply steamed, roots and all, with melted butter. It can also be frozen or preserved the more traditional way – pickled in some white wine vinegar and a little sugar.Despite its appearance, samphire isn’t actually seaweed but a sea vegetable like sea kale and sea spinach.

It has a salty, natural marine flavour (equivalent in vegetarian terms to the oyster) and a crunchy texture, making it the perfect accompaniment for simply cooked fish or shellfish dishes.Samphire is also known as glasswort because it was once used in the manufacture of glassware. The plants were dried, then burnt, and it was the ash, with its high soda content, that went into glass-making. Remember: samphire can be extremely salty, so don’t add any salt when cooking.Depending on how tender the shoots and stems are, they need to be picked over to remove any woody stems and discoloured shoots, and then washed.Prawn risotto with samphire Serves 4 If you live on the coast you could theoretically get both main ingredients free, or at least buy them locally and cheaply. If, like me, you live inland in a city, you’ll need to get in the car and drive, or ask a fishmonger nicely for them. Frozen raw prawns will do the job and you can use the shells for the stock. Drain them, let them cool, remove the heads and peel the tails. Put the meat in the fridge until you serve the risotto and keep the shells for the stock.To make the stock, use a large saucepan and cook the prawn shells, onion, leek, carrot and garlic in the butter until lightly coloured.