Even for a Virginian, Thomas Jefferson was a pretty impressive fellow. In addition to drafting the Declaration of Independence (yes, I know he stole all the ideas from Locke) and more than doubling the size of this nation as president, he played a mean fiddle and was a dab hand at Palladian architecture. He founded the magnificent University of Virginia, which counts among its distinguished alumni Edgar Allan Poe, Taki, and myself. He invented Jeffersonian democracy, the dumb-waiter, the frisbee, and raspberry syrup, I think. It seems the only thing he lacked was a sense of humour.

The Sage of Monticello was also quite a connoisseur of wine. While ambassador to France he toured Bordeaux (where he preferred the white wines to the red) and Burgundy, annoying the natives with his vinicultural queries. Back in Virginia he laid down a respectable wine cellar (a vestigial bottle from