SASWein

Whoever brings a bottle brings it for the table. Whoever would rather keep one to themselves will find better places than this. The rule is the oldest, the shortest and the only one never to have been broken. It was attempted once. The attempt is in the record; the person is no longer on the list.

What a bottle cost is information about the buyer and none about the wine. Anyone who names the figure buys the next one. Anyone who names it twice buys the one after that as well, and does not get to choose it.

The rule has proved extraordinarily effective. It explains why new guests rarely end the evening sober, and equally why they no longer ask on their second visit. The circle takes this for learning. It may also be exhaustion.

Every sitting is minuted by hand, in a book that does not leave the room. To read it you must be present. Those who were present rarely recall the next day what it says. The record thus largely protects itself.

It is not poured, not divided and not discarded. It stands until the lights go out. The reason was asked for once. The answer took forty minutes, convinced nobody, and was minuted in full. Since then nobody asks, and everybody observes it.

It is nevertheless quoted regularly, usually towards midnight, usually by the same two people and never twice in the same words. The circle has voted on it twice. Both times the result was narrow, and both times in favour of a rule that does not exist.