Ever since that Benedictine monk Dom Perignon perfected his method of making sparkling wine in the 17th century it has been a source of special happiness to men and women. It can be more enjoyable still if you have made it yourself!

To burn off the calories in just that one sandwich, the average 150-pound person would have to do moderate-intensity aerobics for an hour.

The wine should be moved to a cool place; around 10C (50F) seems ideal but cannot always be achieved.

Nobody knows when man first made wine for himself and his family, but it must have been at least 10,000 years ago. For Western Civilisation it probably started in the land between the Tigris and Euphrates, those two great rivers that flow from the mountains in Eastern Turkey to the Persian Gulf.

The world, as we know it, is continued by a process of creation and decay. Without decay the accumulation of dead organic matter of all kinds, would so clutter the earth that life itself would be stifled.

Since acid is an essential ingredient in the making of wine, it is wise to check how much natural acid is already present in the must.

Certain activities are the same in the making of every kind of wine. They include such matters as hygiene, the keeping of records, checking the acid and sugar contents, racking, fining and filtering.

Bulgarian food has distinctive characteristics for each of the three ethnical groups that have formed the Bulgarian nationality.