'A Poser', 1866. 'Mr Brown remarks That Wine, Sir, Has been in my cellar Four-and-Twenty years come last Christmas! Four-and-Twenty years-Sir! Mr Green (desperately anxious to please) replies Has it really, Sir? What must it have been when it was New? The portly gentleman on the left stresses the vintage of the wine his younger companion is about to taste. The response is probably not quite all he was anticipating. Wine buffs determined to impress their less worldly and knowledgeable companions existed even in the mid-Victorian period. From Punch, or the London Charivari, January 27, 1866.
