Word has it that the cellars at Buckingham Palace hold some of the world's greatest wines from sublime vintages.
While it is most unlikely that Her Majesty ever pops downstairs to select something special for dinner, one suspects her highly knowledgeable cellar master knows every bottle by name, provenance, vintage and producer ... when its optimum drinking time is due, and whether it will go best with the freshly caught Balmoral salmon or the Argentinian grass-fed beef.
All wines would be decanted and one can only imagine the quality of the glassware into which the wine is poured - hand-cut crystal from either Germany or Austria, all polished to within an inch of its life.
As one has not been invited to any of Her Majesty's residences for dinner, one can only surmise as to what it must be like to choose between the Chateau Latour 1928 and the Chateau Cheval Blanc 1947.
No doubt a palace menu would indicate what wine would go with each course, and the appropriate varietal would be poured for you, at precisely the right moment, into the correct glass from a bewildering line-up of glassware.
