that have been well stored in cellars such as Octavian (an old silver mine in Gloucestershire) fetch a premium price not only because the storage conditions are just about perfect but also because they can't have been tampered with and are undoubtedly the real thing.

The top chateaux will now examine older vintages and confirm their authenticity for customers for a modest fee – quite an important service when you consider that a case of Cheval Blanc 1947, for instance, is worth in the region of £75,000 and may have changed hands a dozen times.

A few years ago, a lorry was hijacked on a motorway in France. The hijackers were expecting to find 1000 cases of whiskey. Instead, the lorry contained 1000 cases of top class wine. They left, empty-handed, in disgust. It just goes to show, there's no accounting for taste.