Everybody seemed to keep quiet over lunch. There was a perfect and eerie silence; the kind of silence that does not spring out of sheer boredom but rather out of shared tension and uneasiness. After the second course Mr. Wright said: "The time has come. I think I am ready to guess the vintage of this extraordinary red wine".

Everyone sat restlessly while Mr. Wright closed his eyes to concentrate. They knew he would not do his guessing for free. Before he could utter a single word the hostess, Mrs. Carrington asked: -"What do you expect to win Mr. Wright ? - you'd better tell us in advance" Mr. Wright opened his left eye only - which made him make a funny grimace. Everybody stared at him. He replied: -"I would like to marry your youngest daughter Laura, if my guess is right". Laura rose in anger. "Laura, please, sit down" - said Mrs. Carrington - "and don't be afraid; there is a little chance of that happening; this wine came from a very small vineyard in Spain".

Mr. Wright said:"It is a Rioja 1995". (...) There was silence in the room. "I'm afraid it is not" - said Mrs. Carrington. All the guests round the table gave a sigh of relief. Mrs. Carrington was wearing half a smile full of pride. Mr. Wright looked down in disappointment. All of a sudden he demanded a second chance: "I will give you my private estate in Surrey if you allow me to have a second go at the other bottle you served tonight".- "Go ahead. As I said you don't stand a chance against as difficult a guess as this one!"- answered Laura's mother.

Mr. Wright closed his eyes again and this time, Laura closed hers too. She was trembling with fear. -"It is a Somontiego 1997 from Aragon" - he said. Mrs. Carrington's face went pale. She pressed her lower lip with her upper teeth. - "I got a bull's eye !!"- Mr. Wright cried with joy. "I knew I could do it! I just knew it!"

Just then, from the far corner of the dinning-room a middle-aged butler stepped forward and said:"Mr. Wright I think you left your glasses in the larder when you were there to look at the label of that wine before the guests arrived, didn't you?"

Acknowledgement: retold from a story written by Roal Dahl called "Taste"