Kingsley Amis had many wine and drinks quotes. Bloomsbury Books
I recently bought an ancient copy of Quaffing Quotes and Wine Facts, published by The Watermark Press. Here are a few of my favourites:
Kingsley Amis wrote in The Spectator in 1951:
“It rained most of the weekend in Paris but rain is less wet in France because the wine is cheaper. The temperature was not much above freezing-point, but it was not as cold as in England because the wine is cheaper. The food is nicer, if more expensive, than in England but one is not ruined by the cost of a good meal because the wine is cheaper. The cars are not more high-powered, nor the girls prettier, but the traffic goes faster and the girls are more attractive because the wine is cheaper.”
Victorian novelist and statesman, Benjamin Disraeli put these words into the mouth of a character in his novel Sybil:
“I rather like bad wine, “ said Mr Mountchesney, “one gets so bored with good wine.”
Mark Twain in A Tramp Abroad (1880):
“The Germans are exceedingly fond of Rhine wines: they are put up in slender bottles and are considered a pleasant beverage. One tells them from vinegar by the label.”
As the French proverb puts it:
There are more old drunkards than old doctors.
Australian wine writer Walter James on the importance of choosing wine from a good vintage:
“If anyone would like to give me a bottle of wine from my birth
This Article was originally published on The Real Review
