Is it naff to take a bottle of wine to a dinner party? Are red wine and cheese really a match? Should you stick to the house plonk in restaurants? What's so funny about wine? Is it the fact that we take it so seriously?

Ned Halley's affectionately irreverent wine jaunt unearths some of the quaint histories and dark secrets of many of the world's most famous wines. Instead of lordly suggestions for the cellar, here is vulgar advice on investing in wine for profit.

Wine and health also comes under the spotlight: is it good for us or bad for us? And then there's wine criticism: are writers who tell you what to drink, and what not to drink, simply insane? There's a look, too, at wine marketing: are the biggest-selling brands as good as the hype?