In company of some fine wine  It feels like arriving at one of
those country house parties that happen only in other people's
lives - every guest is a friend of the owner, and if there isn't
something you immediately want to talk to them about, you're
quite happy just to lounge back, gin martini in hand, and be
amused by their dashing eccentricity or sparkling repartee.
Except these aren't people, they are wines. I am at Green &
Blue, a wine shop-cum-tapas bar in East Dulwich, south London
(020-8693 9250, and there's no need to feel left out if you live
nowhere near - there's a website from which you can order:  Kate
Thal, the punchily determined South African and former sommelier
whose baby this is, is showing me round. "This is a real beast
of a Montepulciano," she says, fingering a bottle of Valle Reale
Montepulciano d'Abruzzo 2002 (£11.85). "Good if you like real
earthy, powerful wines." (Later we try it: she's right. The
moment it's uncorked, its sun-baked perfume bursts out of the
bottle like a genie a