Spill seekers
September 11th 2010 22:55
To understand wine is to demonstrate sophistication. To pronounce wine varieties and French brand names smoothly and accurately, to converse knowledgeably with wine waiters, is to stamp oneself as an urbane citizen of the world.
So many aspire to it. So many have embarrassing falls along the way.
Making a mistake when speaking confidently and informatively about wine is to look like a pretender. But we all have to start somewhere, and we have sympathy for those who, while still negotiating the slippery learning curve of wine worldliness, find their desire to impress running a little ahead of their ability to do so.
The phenomenon of oenological over-reaching came to light this week with the publication of a British study which surveyed 3,000 wine drinkers and found three out of every 10 adults who had tried to demonstrate mastery of the finer points of wine had, in the process, experienced an epic fail.
The most common included:
- Complaining that the waiter hadn't poured enough, when the intention was for them to taste it
- Complaining about red wine being served warm
- Swilling the wine around in the glass, slopping it over the edge, staining the swiller's clean, white shirt
We'd like to help. Lesson one in wine appreciation: the correct pronunciation of pinot noir is: pea-not noi-argh.
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