Have you ever realised how many everyday things are named after real people? You’ve probably heard of László Biro and Rudolf Diesel, maybe even Jules Léotard and Candido Jacuzzi. I never knew, though, that every time I sip a kir royale I’m honouring the Mayor of Dijon. That charming mix of crème de cassis and champagne gets its name from Félix Kir, a priest and Resistance hero who popularised the apéritif after World War II by serving it to everyone who visited the Burgundy capital during his many years of civic leadership.

This is one of those little—now impossible to forget—facts that you pick up while travelling through this wine-soaked part of France. Over the past few days I’ve learnt that there are vineyards here once so revered that French soldiers would salute them as they passed.

I have discovered that the Burgundy appellation system is about as easy to comprehend as a computer manual written in Armenian, and that Pouilly-Fumé is not —as any stranger might reasonably expect—just the next vineyard along from Pouilly-Fuissé . Considering I am travelling on a lazy luxury barge holiday where all I expected to do was snooze under a straw hat to the distant sound of popping corks, it has been highly educational.