One of the things that can put your restaurant on the map is serving your own in-house wine. Perhaps with some skill, you can compete with a name label. But even if your wine-making skills don't put you in ranks with the top French vineyards, the point is that you make your own house wine!

So you want to pen a bar? That's pretty cool but unless you have attended a bartending school or have previous experience in setting up and running a bar, you will need to learn the business basics as well as some inside tips for running a successful bar.

If you want to make wine there is no excuse for not doing so: you need neither license nor cellar and the utensils may already be in your house, flat or caravan -for wine may be made in the smallest of places.

Vegetable wine, fruit wine, flower wine - there are hundreds of recipes, all different yet all basically the same; and if you like to experiment there is a vast field in which to do so.

I think it quite safe to say that more has been written about the cultivation of grapes than has - or ever will be - written about any other fruit. This is not surprising, considering that the grape is probably the oldest of known fruits.

Over the last twenty years, Australia has become the world's fourth largest wine producer with exports to over a hundred countries and is known for its uniqueness and quality. Australian wine exports mainly comprise the products of large commercial vineyards which competed with other wines on quality for price.

Absinthe is a drink that has caused much controversy of the years for being a "wild" and "sinful" drink. These stereotypes fit in well with those that have followed New Orleans, which is where this potent drink first hit American soil.

The most popular alcoholic beverage in the world today is that high-powered mixture known as the cocktail.

The word julep is an old and honored one and can be traced as far back as A. D. 1400 - long before we ever heard of the Southern States of these United States, where the julep is popularly supposed to be indigenous.

No dinner is complete without wine, which brings joy and drives away depression, and makes the old feel young and the young still more youthful. Taken in moderation, it is undoubtedly an excellent stimulant.