This weekend, I’ll be revisiting an old favourite for the season: Au Bon Climat’s Pinot Noir powerhouse, 2010 Knox Alexander. Concentrated and complex with a lightness of touch, this classic New World pinot showcases fruit from the very best plots of the famed Bien Nacido vineyard.

The Knox Alexander cuvée, which is named after winemaker and self-professed wild boy Jim Clendenen’s son, never fails to impress – if only for the size of the bottle. This behemoth, weighing in around the same as a small child, is more deserving of a papoose than a carrier bag. (I can only assume that Jim Clarenden is an incurable optimist who always likes to feel that his vessel is at least half, if not completely, full.)

Provided that I do manage to get my bottle home without incident, I will be found this weekend on my balcony (rain or shine), drinking it with braised lamb shanks with spring vegetables… for I too am an optimist!