A GENERATION ago, wine was regarded as posh, the sort of thing you had with a meal out or to celebrate special occasions such as birthdays, weddings and christenings. Rich people drank wine regularly; some even knew a bit about what they were drinking.
Then, seemingly overnight, wine became popular, inexpensive and readily available, especially in the supermarkets where 75 per cent of all our wine purchases are still made.
TV programmes, too, began extolling the virtues of wine (remember with Oz Clarke and Jilly Goolden?) and colourfully illustrated wine books proliferated, making household names of Hugh Johnson and a little later
