Are you a Wine Connoisseur?

[Kevinthewineman]

What makes up a wine connoisseur and who should be awarded that accolade?

In my lifetime in restaurants and hotels I have met many people who have claimed to be an expert on wines but often they just drink a lot and have a loud voice that drowns out others who then award them with the accolade of a wine connoisseur!

In my opinion it is someone who has product knowledge, region and country knowledge and doesn't waffle all day about the whooshes of holly hocks and what the winemaker is trying to say with their wine!

So which are you and why?

 

[GHT]

Kevin, welcome to the Lounge, now go away, it is lent old boy. I and my missus, abstain from alcohol until Easter. you wouldn't believe how many tempting images you see when you are on the wagon.
OK, I don't profess to be a wine buff, so what I like others might take umbrage with. For what it's worth, I have never tasted a wine that comes from a French vine, grown anywhere but France, that tastes anywhere near as good as the original. For that reason I only drink French wine. There are other national classics like the Italian chianti or the Spanish rioja, but in the main I prefer French wines.
In pubs, bars and restaurants I get that 'look' when I ask where the Merlot comes from. "Can I see the bottle please," usually lets them know that I would rather drink a beer than a glass of Merlot that wasn't from Merlot. Is that wine snobbery? Not that I care, I'm as fussy with coffee. I like a Kenyan bean known as Peaberry, but it has to be Kenyan peaberry, I really can taste the difference.
It frustrates me that Champagne can only come from that region, Scotch whisky can only come from Scotland but all the popular French classics come from all over the world, and a poor imitation they are too.

 

[emigran]

Oh yes, sure that's me. I grew up drinking jug Burgundy and never knew the taste of anything else till my twenties... used to drink it in demi-tasse glasses with a clove of garlic and a cigar... we were tough back in the day, eh...

 

[Kevinthewineman]

I still get people in the UK who say they will never drink a French wine because they stopped buying our beef! What a load of tosh. If that was par for the course we would never drink anyones wines as there would be some sort of argument in the past about it.

I did meet a superb wine bore this week who proceeded to tell me all about this amazing wine and then revealed it was from Lidl at £3.99. I nearly died laughing

 

[MisterCairo]

I had a commanding officer who insisted that the only good white wine was from Germany and the only good reds were from France.

Wine snob, absolutely. Connoisseur in his mind, no doubt!

Fawlty - "You're obviously an expert (in wine)"
Customer - "I'm not an expert".

Fawlty - "Most people around here wouldn't know a Bordeaux from a claret">
Customer - "A Bordeaux is a claret".

Fawlty - "Ah, yes, but most people wouldn't know that"!

 

[Kevinthewineman]

I had a commanding officer who insisted that the only good white wine was from Germany and the only good reds were from France.

Wine snob, absolutely. Connoisseur in his mind, no doubt!

Fawlty - "You're obviously an expert (in wine)"
Customer - "I'm not an expert".

Fawlty - "Most people around here wouldn't know a Bordeaux from a claret">
Customer - "A Bordeaux is a claret".

Fawlty - "Ah, yes, but most people wouldn't know that"!

Love that!
I get similar where people say they hate Chardonnay and yet insist that Chablis is a grape and not made with Chardonnay

 

[HudsonHawk]

I am far from a connoisseur, though I do enjoy wine. Mrs. Hawk and I have taken a few "classes" on wine while traveling, but we didn't receive a badge or learn a secret handshake for our troubles. It was just a way to giggle away a few hours, meet some people and maybe try a few new wines. I tend to especially like Italian wines, but that's just me. I know what I like, and don't worry about trying to rate or judge them, the wine world already has its share of pretentious blowhards. It's like an old Cuban gentleman I once knew used to say about cigars. Quit trying to figure out if you're tasting "roasted coffee flavors", "aged vanilla" or if your cigar is "spicy with leathery notes and a strong finish of toasted nutmeg". Just relax and enjoy the damn cigar.

All of that said, I'm not a fan of "jug" wines. Mrs. Hawk drinks what I call her "Tuesday Night" wines, but I usually pass.

 

[Bolero]

I grew up with and it is still stuck in my memory...

"What's the Price, 44 Twice, Thunderbird"....

 

[Tiki Tom]

It seems these days that almost everyone considers themselves a wine expert. It is a crowded field, usually dominated by the biggest ego. Am happy to quietly sip my wine without feeling the necessity to jump into the fray.

 

[scottyrocks]

I drink the least expensive Cab I can find that doesn't taste like turpentine.

 

[MisterCairo]

My wife and I love trying out new wines. In North America we're used to identifying wines by the variety(yes) of grape, vice region, but we're trying to educate ourselves on appellations.

We tend to focus on Canadian wines (no laughing - I have a Month Python record with an Australian wine review skit by Eric Idle, NOT a flattering reputation in 1980) as our industry is relatively young but improving leaps and bounds.

Other than focussing on our domestic wines, we don't only drink this or that, or avoid this or that. There are crappy wines from France, Australia and California, as there are great wines from those countries and elsewhere.

I am also trying out available Portuguese wines as I spent several port visits in Porto, Lisbon and Funchal on my last deployment.

We hope to visit some local wine areas, and our one regret from our time in British Columbia is not spending time in the Okanagan Valley wine region.

It's a fun adventure, and glad to know others enjoy it too. Wine is for all, not just the snobs.


From an episode of Red Dwarf:

• Kryten: You sold out? Hmm.
• Lister: Look, this is between me and you, OK, Kryten? Once, many years ago, I went into a wine bar.
  
• Kryten: That's it? You went into a wine bar? - OK.
  
• Lister: Keep it down! - I don't want the whole world to know.
  
• Kryten: What's so bad about going into a - a "WB"?
  
• Lister: It means I was a class traitor. I could have been on that slippery slope - hankering after pine kitchens, sleeping on futons, eating tapas. Who knows? I could have started having "relationships" instead of "going out", got married, got on the property ladder. Who knows where it could have ended? Next thing you know, I'm playing squash every Tuesday night with a bloke called Gerald. A lucky escape, man.
  
• Kryten: I want to be a mechanoid again.

 

[redlinerobert]

I've been a wine enthusiast for many years. Whether it's a $9 bottle or $90 bottle. Some of my favorites include Meiomi, Pisoni, Silver Oak, Palmeyer, ZD, Justin, and Cask 23. Not much for French wines, as we have some fantastic wines that are made here in CA.

 

[belfastboy]

I used to collect and cellar wines until about the year 2000, used to run a wine importing and tasting club in the 1980's when the selection locally was so sad. But now I cannot be bothered. The other night my wife and I were at the dinner table eating a really good home cooked meal and I remarked, "If we had all the money we desired would we be doing anything differently?" After a pause I thought well yes I would probably be drinking a better wine. To that my wife replied "I wouldn't, I like this wine and the anti snob in me would buy it as my personal f**k you." Our wine of choice these days is the Argentinian Conor Sur La bycicleta ay $9-10 a bottle is great value.

 

[1961MJS]

Hi
A guy I used to work with claimed to be a wine connoisseur. He said he always sniffed the cardboard to be sure it was fresh when he bought the box wine.

I'm not much on wine, I like a cheap Chianti with Pasta, but that's about it.

Later

 

[belfastboy]

I have travelled and sampled through much of the wine world save for South America so I consider myself knowledgeable. I am a connoisseur......ask me anything about Kirkland box wine and I will give you a considered reply.

 

[AbbaDatDeHat]

I was a wine connoisseur with zero snobbery nor haughty pretenses.
I was forced into early retirement 16 years ago when.....
The wine connoisseured me.
B

 

[Harp]

I started drinking Domestica in Greece, then Lancers Portuguese in college; now I usually stop
at the LaSalle Street Station stand for a Sutter Home Chardonnay for the Rock Island ride home.
After a day at the office that first sip is like leaving the desert.

 

[52Styleline]

I have never liked wine.

 

[Tiki Tom]

Wine is not just wine. Wine is the whole experience that goes with it: it’s the perfectly matched dish; it’s the mellow blending of taste and scent and mood; its discovering a dusty label steeped in history; it’s a carafe of local table wine available on almost any budget; It’s romantic cafe’s with friends on a perfect summer evening; it’s ancient ruins and Renaissance architecture; it’s ceremoniously pulling out that long cork; it’s a winter meal by candlelight with that certain someone; its old friends and new friends; it’s travel and romantic adventures and new languages and exciting books and falling in love. It’s great music in front of a fireplace. It’s not about snobbery, or it shouldn’t be. Am I over-selling it? Not necessarily.

 

[Harp]

Wine is not just wine.

Beer is the wine of life. Schofield Barracks, Oahu dictum