A story about wine that might amuse (then again, it might not ):
I got interested in great wine in the early Sixties after becoming a fan of the James Bond novels. The wine-mayven Bond is a creature of the films; the Bond of the novels usually drank bourbon-and-soda or vodka martinis (shaken, not stirred--I tried this once, and the only difference was that shaking diluted the drink faster than stirring :rolleyes: ). The only great wines Bond drank were either served to him or ordered for him by others. But Fleming wrote with such panache that I couldn't help being impressed enough to try the few that he wrote about:

One of the best scenes in the novel "Moonraker" is set at Blades, M's exclusive private club. He and Bond are having dinner there before Bond gets set to expose the villain's card-cheating habits by beating him at his own game. They order dinner and the wine steward appears. Bond (wisely) suggests that the wine steward decide. Here's the passage from memory:

"The steward seemed pleased. 'If I may suggest it, sir: the Dom Perignon '46. France only sells it for dollars, so you don't often see it here in England. Ours is a gift of the Regency Club in New York. It's the Chairman's favorite--he always has some on ice."

So, of course, Bond and M order the Dom Perignon '46. But we never read about how good it was because Bond, oaf that he was, immediately pours some benzydrine into it to sharpen him up for the big card game.

Now, this passage whetted my interest. I took a wine book out of the library that had old vintage charts. Wines were rated on a scale of 20 (20=best). If Bond had ordered a Dom Perignon '45 it would have been 20/20. If he'd ordered a '47, it would have been 18/20. But the '46 that "France only sold for dollars" was rated a lowly 11! Not only that, the "11" was in italics, indicated that it would have been way over the hill by 1955, when the novel was written. So much for Fleming's panache. :p
I did buy a Dom Perignon--a '59. It was outstanding!