I am such a wine NON-snob!

[Dawgluver]

It sounds as though the other chap was showing off either to his lady guest (I would doubt she was his wife) or the waiter or the other customers. Sadly for him most "lady guests" (and waiters) recognise a pretentious twit when they see one (and often decline a further outing). In reality he probably wouldn't distinguish a Grand Cru Burgundy from a 5 quid bottle of plonk from Sainsbury's if they got up and spat in his eye.

Mad Cook, you crack me up!

Years ago, I belonged to a wine club. The best we ever had from the club was an Italian lambrusco. It was fizzy, delicious, and basically tasted like excellent grape sodapop. Haven't been able to find it since.

Normally, we like dry reds and whites, though I'm partial to pino grigio and prosecco. At restaurants, I swirl, sniff, sip, and it's usually fine. DH used to sniff the cork when it was presented, took me awhile to get through to him that the cork was not for sniffing.

 

[Kayelle]

Full disclosure: I love wine. It's my drink of choice. I make my own, and I probably have somewhere in the neighborhood of 1200 bottles (mostly stuff I've made, but a few collector bottles, too). I also judge wine at competitions.

That being said, I'm in total agreement with you. What this idiot did goes beyond being a wine snob. He falls more into the category of wine buffoon. Unless you are judging a competition, where you are fully expected to swirl, sniff, and make pronouncements on the quality of a wine, this kind of behavior only makes you look like a complete doofus. I guarantee the waiter immediately went back to the kitchen and had a good laugh at this clown's expense.

Most of the people I know who are real wine lovers don't feel the need to put on this sort of act when dining out. A simple "This tastes great" or very occasional "I think there's something a little 'off' with this bottle" to the waiter is all the commentary that's needed.

You said that perfectly Steve! Snob is not the word for that guy. Doofus buffoon is a better fit.

 

[roadfix]

But aside from all this, I'm sure he's a pretty nice, normal guy.....

 

[The Rugged Dude]

Interesting... a lot of people here lined up with my view. Don't know why, but I figured I would be slammed for my wine non-snobbery. HA!


RD

 

[tenspeed]

Don't know why, but I figured I would be slammed for my wine non-snobbery.

Sorry that you are disappointed with us.

 

[Cooking Goddess]

You aren't pretentious, RD. It's just that a friend of a friend is no friend of yours. I guess most of us would rather eat and drink than be posers.


A few years back, Himself and I stopped at a winery south of Akron OH that had a good reputation. I found something I thought would go with the homemade spaghetti sauce I brought so we could have an old-fashioned family dinner with the kids while we were in visiting them. After the winery, I ran into Aldi's to pick up a few salad ingredients. The one near them sells beer and wine, so I found a bottle of red that didn't sound like swill. Uncorked them, wrapped each of them in hand towels, and we all tried a taste of each wine. Hmm, we all decided that the Aldi's bottle, at about 1/3 to 1/4 the price of the winery one, was the better of the two. When it comes to average wine, the fancy one isn't always the better flavored one. I suppose you will find a difference once you get into a certain price range, but that is beyond my price point.