On first appearances, an autobiography entitled Viking in the Vineyard may pique your curiosity. It has a memorable quality to it, but it’s unlikely to inspire you to take it off the bookshelf, less still open a copy and begin reading.

There may be millions of books which pass unnoticed for this — or many other — reasons. The difference here is that of most of my life in the wine industry the name of its author — Peter Vinding-Diers — has popped up in the most unlikely places...