"I think it is a great error to consider a heavy tax on wines as a tax on luxury. On the contrary, it is a tax on the health of our citizens."
Thomas Jefferson is generally regarded as America’s first fine wine connoisseur. The third president of the United States had a distinct penchant for wine, French wines in particular. Historical documents reveal that in his first term as President he spent $7,500, (approximately $120,000 in today's currency), on wine...mainly Lafite, Margaux and Chateau d'Yquem. It is said that most of the founding fathers were partial to quaffing a good claret or Madeira, but none were as fervent or methodical in their appreciation of oenology as old Tom. A truer case of Vinsanity I have never heard of. He surely would have been saddened to see his fabled wine collection as the target of one of the biggest, if not the biggest, wine scams ever. His prescient observations on the dangers of over taxation and the health benefits of drinking wine, (more than 200 years before anyone had ever heard of resveratrol), should be heeded by us all.
