Málaga has quietly become the most useful big-yacht stop on the Costa del Sol. IGY Málaga Marina puts large vessels alongside in a real city with an international airport a few minutes away, which makes it the practical guest-change and crew-change port for a coast whose prettier harbours are short of both space and flights.

For provisioning, a city berth with proper road access is worth a great deal. A full season stock can be landed here in one delivery and handled sensibly, rather than threaded down a resort quay in August. Orders travel from our French cellar on EU logistics — no customs frontier, paperwork handled — typically two to three working days from confirmation.

Málaga is also the natural last stop before the Strait. Yachts heading for Gibraltar, the Canaries and the Atlantic crossing tend to make their final European decisions here, and a transatlantic passage is the worst possible moment to find the cellar thin. We plan crossing stocks properly — crew wine for the passage, guest wine for the arrival season, and packing that survives three weeks at sea.

The city has one of the great forgotten wine traditions. Sweet Málaga wines from sun-dried Pedro Ximénez and Moscatel were famous across Europe for centuries, the Axarquía hills behind the city are making fine dry Moscatel again, and the sherry triangle is an easy drive west. It makes for a genuinely distinctive after-dinner list.