Just call me Goldilocks

In the last half-century or so, technology has developed so rapidly, it's easy to lose perspective. Luckily there is a tried and tested way to sum up this exponential progress. It takes the form 'my x contains a more powerful computer than Apollo y', where x is a mundane household appliance, and y is a number from 11 to 17. It's reassuring to know that, whatever's wrong with the modern world, at least my toaster could checkmate NASA's guidance system any day of the week.

Winemaking technology might not be changing at the dizzying pace of computers (there's no...