Ridley Scott: ‘People say Napoleon was a monster. But he probably wasn’t.’

While he is amusingly blunt about the financial side, you sense Mas des Infermières will be more than breaking even soon. The wines are already available in several London restaurants (Akoko, Fallow, Straker’s) and are all, quite honestly, outrageously good. Spanning from lively, floral whites all the way to hearty, gastronomic reds via some more-ish rosés, the range has already picked up gold at prestigious Paris wine fairs. Scott designs the labels himself (‘I doodle while I’m on the phone’), and one in particular catches his eye as he sits down: a sketch of French general Baron Robert, who owned this estate in the 19th century. ‘He looks a bit of an oik, doesn’t he?’ says Scott, squinting at his own illustration on the bottle. ‘I’ve been wandering around the house hoping to meet his ghost. I’d like to meet a ghost. It would be an honour.’