The Pursuit of Happiness

"Jefferson might have added that those who become passionate about drinking wine are often left the poorer for it. For in Paris, Jefferson was to begin his long habit of collecting and cellaring hundreds, at times thousands, of bottles. It was a practice that helped keep the notoriously improvident Founding Father in debt much of his life. Even before Jefferson returned to Paris from his wine tour, bottles and casks that he had ordered on the trip starting arriving at his door, adding to the nearly 600 bottles that he had already accumulated. In just four months, Jefferson’s cellar swelled with 124 bottles from Montrachet (which produces some of the world’s best white Burgundies), 124 bottles from Meursault (another great Burgundy town), 250 bottles of Muscadet from Frontignan, and 180 bottles of Chateau Margaux, to name just a few of the additions."

Steven Malanga reviews John Hailman's Thomas Jefferson on Wine in City Journal.