Lord Brideshead's dislike of wine, and his explanation for it, is an economical stroke of characterisation which crystallises his profound obtuseness: "I like and think good the end to which wine is sometimes the means — the promotion of sympathy between man and man. But in my own case it does not achieve that end, so I neither like it nor think it good for me." 

Brideshead's misunderstanding about the purpose of wine is perhaps inbred, the recognisable offspring of his father Lord Marchmain's pathetic and misguided hope that he will be able to ward off death because he has always "drunk fine claret".

If the absence of, or an abstention from, wine in Brideshead is a sure sign that something is wrong, its presence is no infallible indication that all is well. When Jasper, Charles's pompous cousin, is instructing Charles on how to behave in Oxford, he touches on the topic of wine: "And drink — no one minds a man getting tight once or twice a term. In fact, he ought to, on certain occasions. But I hear you are constantly seen drunk in the middle of the afternoon."

Like Lord Brideshead, Jasper is in the grip of a mistaken understanding of the use and value of wine. So, too, is the unspeakable Rex Mottram. Rex's mistress, Mrs Champion, remonstrates with him when he opens a large-format bottle of champagne: 

"Why a Jeroboam, Rex?" she said peevishly. "You always want to have everything too big."

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