Question from a Wine Consumer
I receive dozens of e-mails from my readship every week. Most of them are from people who want to "follow their passion" and leave lucrative careers to become glamorous wine importers with blogs like me. This morning, I received an interesting e-mail from a consumer dealing with wine shop etiquette. What do you think?
Dear Wine Importer,
The other day I was at shop where I am known, and a schnook of the middle tier came by. My friend at the shop invited me to taste with the schnook. We tried some fairly modern Italian wines, and the expensive ones made me make faces. I was polite, but frank with the poor schnook who was there to try to unload these horrors, which she hadn’t made, nor had she decided to import.
So, Wine Importer, I am worried. Should I have kept my mouth shut in the circs, speaking only when spoken to? Should I have let my friend know afterwards what I thought of the wines (the friend values my opinions about some wines from some regions, at least)?
OTOH, I think there might be some value to the schnooks knowing that having lots of Tre Bicchieri in your past is not in general something to be proud of, and that not everyone swoons to hear it. That this information might make its way back along the 3 tiers and make a difference somewhere, someday.
So, Wine Importer, was I a rude boy? What should I have done? Please advise.
Your Grateful Reader.
YGR:
Only a consumer can, in fact, make such comments and remain in the moral right. I am a ponytailed midtier schnook in a crunchily collegiate market, and I am forever biting my tongue when invited to taste along with my competitors, or asked for an opinion of another batch of mass-manufactured juice. Hell, I even screwed up the other day when a client asked me what I thought about Didier's visit to the area. I replied that, although the wines were soulful, profound, well-made taster's wines that inform us of what is possible in the Sancerrois, I could not imagine a situation in which I would actually want to drink a bottle of them, because, being Sauvignon, and full of phenols, they caught in my throat.
My client was pissed, and proceeded to give me a crappy order.
The market depends on you to tell these suppliers what's right and what's wrong. After all, did your friend at the shop bother to do it? Or did she tie up yet more inventory money on trophy wine?
You were not rude, just bashful. You should always speak your mind.
what is the difference between trophy wine and trophy wife?
about $250,000, give or take.
Hello. As an agent in the powerful, yet secretive goverment agency, RAW, I have been assigned this blog and some others that shall remain anonymous. My duty is to track down wine racism and put a stop to it. There have been reports of it here on this blog, so I'm here to put you all on notice: I'm here, and I'm watching, and if I think you're guilty of wine racism, I'll put a stop to you and your posts. What is wine racism, you ask? It's racism against wine, stupid. If you post something and I can take out the word "wine" and replace it with "black people" or "Canadians" and it sounds bad, then you are guilty of wine racism.
An example. The statement, "12% Loire Valley Malbec is really tasty, but Parkerized California wines are the spawn of Satan" That type of statement is used daily on this site. Go ahead, try and say"Parkerized California black people are the spawn of Satan," without feeling guilty. You may think this sounds silly, but I am not silly.
Now I don't want to come across as the bad guy here, I like Pineau d'Aunis as much as anybody, but there's a difference between praising wine and unfairly relegating it to second class status. And don't think this is the only site I patrol. Wine racism is everywhere. In fact there seem to be more prejudiced people in the wine world than anywhere else. I've never seen people so quick to judgement as they are with wine, and I've never seem them say such violent things about the groups they don't like.
Granted I spend all my waking hours reading wine blogs.
So, consider yourself warned. Especially that hippie who called Dageneau "trophy wine." You're treading on thin ice buster. Also, just what are you implying about the "crunchily collegiate market"? I don't know what in the world that and long hair have to do with anything. But I do know that you believe your competitors to carry lesser wines, and you are that close to moving to the top of my list.
My apologies to the sheriff, I don't mean to intrude on your jurisdiction, and I will try to stay clear of your day to day affairs.
I am finished writing my post now.
RAW Agent#214
I'm sorry I called you stupid.
I am finished writing my post now.
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