Though I found the beginning rather dry being a recounting of history, I was interested in Jefferson's encountering fine wines in France while ambassador there and his subsequent enthusiasm for it and for growing it here in the USA. His dream was not to be realized until after WWII however. Then the action came ahead to the auctioning at Christies of a bottle of 1787 Bordeaux with the initials ThJ inscribed on the bottle. Speculation was that the bottles had at least been ordered by Thomas Jefferson--the year and the area where Christies was told it was found were certainly right. The bottle bought 157,000 dollars and was bough by Forbes for display. From there the action becomes really interesting and sometimes seriously funny while watching the ultra rich people continue to buy rare wines at amazing prices and making fools of themselves. I greatly enjoyed the book.
I am about to start a Stephen R. Donaldson novella. I began to love this author with The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant which I read all 10 books of, then continued with a wonder six-book science fiction journey in The Gap series. This short book promises to be just a brief excursion, but I look forward to it.
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