Days of Wine and Ruses

In a 1990 episode of The Simpsons, congenitally rumbustious young Bart is sent to France as an exchange student, on the face of it a pretty odd—and cushy—punishment for an incident involving a cherry bomb, a bathroom stall, and the wife of the school principal.

But as it turns out, Bart is billeted at a rundown vineyard and treated abominably by the owners, who force him to pick and crush grapes and taste-test wine laced with ethylene glycol (a toxic if sweet-on-the-tongue main ingredient in anti-freeze). The unscrupulous vintners’ goal was to add a certain je ne sais quoi to the vin (très) ordinaire.