It is really important to get to know your butcher, however it's also crucial to cultivate a special relationship with your local independent wine merchant.
This way, you'll be notified when interesting wines arrive in the shop, or when the latest batch of tastings are announced. Oh yes, wine merchants are good people to know.
They can also recommend what will work with your dinner, and when beef is on the menu I like to open a good tannic red. The proteins in the meat will soften the effect of the tannins on the palate, making both the food and the wine taste better.
Another great idea is to decant your bottle in advance to allow a bit of oxygen into the wine, thus bringing it to its peak condition. You don't have to do anything too fancy, just open the bottle, have a quick taste to make sure it isn't corked, and pour it carefully into a decanter. If you don't have a decanter handy, a measuring jug will do the same job, and then you can pour the wine back into the bottle before serving. This back and forth motion gets the air around the wine and speeds up the decanting process, making the wine ready sooner. There's little point in just removing the cork to "let the wine breathe"; you really have to decant to make a difference.
One to decant this weekend is the Vasse Felix Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot 2012 (Majestic, £15.99). Hailing from Margaret River in Western Australia, this has many similarities to a top-quality Bordeaux. The climate is Mediterranean (cooler than most regions in Australia) with gentle breezes coming in off the sea dropping the vineyard temperature by a degree or two. This means that the grapes ripen more gradually and the wine tastes better as a result.
Pete Stewart is Glasgow director of Inverarity One to One, 185a Bath Street, Glasgow www.inverarity121.com
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