As the nights draw in, these winter warmers really come into their own

When the weather gets colder and wetter, and it starts getting dark earlier and earlier, I find myself involuntarily singing these words from Autumn Almanac by the Kinks: “Tea and toasted buttered currant buns / Can’t compensate for lack of sun / Because the summer’s all gone.”

As Ray Davies noted there, much of what we eat and drink is governed by the changing seasons. In the days before tanning salons and winter breaks in Lanzarote, the only way Britons could get a bit of sunshine in their lives when autumn arrived was by consuming something comforting. Wines such as port and sherry brought the warmth of the south to rainy northern Europe, combined with a good dose of alcohol to keep out the cold. Can it be a coincidence that both have declined in popularity as homes have become better heated? But they really do come into their own at this time of year.