A red sky at night in Verona spells amarone delight but it's not just the sky that's amarone-infused. Pastissada, the city's famous horse stew, Monte Veronese cheese and risotto all' amarone are all gastronomic testament to this north-Italian speciality. You might even just drink it on its own because amarone was born as a vino da meditazione, a powerful red designed for thought and conversation. It's been all change in the past 10 years, though, as popular demand has soared and production quadrupled. Amarone today has become a food-friendly wine.

The arrival of group of Japanese winemakers in London last month was the culmination of three years work aimed at convincing them, and latterly us , that there just might be a future for Japanese wine beyond their island nation. Sake , beer and even schochu we expect, but wine? Most of what has until now passed for wine in Japan has either been imported or grape concentrate fermented in Japan, the latter bearing no more resemblance to the real article than Armani made in Taiwan. Most, but not all.

It’s That Day tomorrow, in case you hadn’t already been browbeaten with more nudge, nudge, wink, wink messages than the flood of spam I receive for erectile disfunction. I normally enjoy the cheesy annual press releases exhorting me to recommend this or that booze as an aid to seduction, but they’ve been disappointingly thin on the ground. So I can’t tickle your fancy with more than notice of a Valentine’s Day Gourmet Food and Wine Masterclass at Vinopolis tomorrow.

As I don't have a piece in this week's Saturday's magazine, which is devoted to a bumper travel issue, it seems timely in the light of Invictus to look back at the South African wine scene before Mandela became President of South Africa. So here, in an occasional series, From the Archive, is my report in the Independent nearly 20 years ago.

According to Greenpeace, the wines of Burgundy are so badly threatened by rising temperatures that Meursault, Montrachet and Volnay could disappear forever. Only an ostrich would deny the reality of climate change, but in the case of the 2008 vintage appearing on the market this month, Burgundy’s growers must have wished for once that the climate had changed sooner rather than later. By and large, it was such a miserably cool, wet growing season that by as late as mid-September, even its most ardent admirers were writing the vintage off.

As the human face of wine, it’s hard to underestimate the value of family when so much of today’s wine is in the hands of the faceless global corporation. It can also be a powerful brand in its own right. ‘Family ownership guarantees a patient and long-term outlook, much needed in the wine industry’, says Spain’s Miguel Torrres. With Antinori and Mouton Rothschild, Torres is a member of Primum Familiae Vini, a high-powered family association sharing their vision of wine.

In case you were abducted by aliens and have only just returned to Planet Earth, it may have escaped your attention that we are currently basking in a wine heaven of unprecedented variety. Thanks to warmer weather, better winemaking, greater care in the vineyard and the New World revolution of the past two decades, everyday wine has become more consistent and fine wine finer than ever before. And prices, thanks latterly to tough economic times, have remained relatively stable.

Stargazers and pundits of the crystal ball are two a penny at this time of year, but predicting this year’s wine trends need not be a total mug’s game. To look forward in wine, reculer pour mieux sauter, as the French would have it, is the way. One of the big events this year for instance is likely to be the sale of Bordeaux 2009 vintage this spring. Bordeaux siren voices should always be taken with a larger than usual pinch of salt, but after three average years since the great 2005 vintage, reliable noises coming out of the region suggest that 2009 could rank alongside 2005.

Boxing Day means that it's time to stir the grey matter with a glass of something suitably refreshing and rise to the challenge of our 2009 Wine Trivia Quiz. Test your knowledge of the great and trifling wine events of the past year and you stand a chance of winning a magnificent six-bottle case of James Bond's champagne of choice, Bollinger Special Cuvée. We're also offering the runner-up a superb bottle of Hidalgo's rare Palo Cortado Viejo VORS (delivery to UK mainland addresses only), worth £65.

Independent 50 Best 19 December 2009

Under £6

2008 Carta Vieja Sauvignon Blanc, Maule Valley, Chile.

This aromatic little number from Chile’s lesser-know Maule Valley is an attractively pure sauvignon blanc with undertones of blackcurrant leaf and gooseberry and a refreshing dry finish. Does what it says on the tin, which, at two for £8, adds up to a good festive quaffer. £4.99, Oddbins.

2008 Hilltop Tradition Czerszegi Füszeres