Grand Vin de...

So many of the people who “know” wine really tick me off. You go to a wine shop or a restaurant with them, and they act superior by looking down on wines below a certain price and from “lesser” areas. This is particularly so in Hong Kong. “We drink only French!” “This is not even classified!” You hear them say. And then, they open a newly released first growth, mispronouncing every word on the label and drink the poor thing like nectar. While I am an advocate of drink what you like, this is a little beyond me even. A new bottle of great Bordeaux is about as good drinking as paint thinner. Its only advantage is that dense tannin only kills your taste buds and stomach lining while turpentine kills your entire body. My complaint is not even the waste of good wine while committing self-destruction, but how empty their “knowledge” is. Really, how difficult is it to pick a good wine from US$100 bottles? They had all better be damn good. And they will be, every one of them. So, what is the challenge? Where is the “knowledge”? Just because their bottle says “Grand Vin de Bordeaux” does not mean they know what they are drinking. The real challenge that shows me someone really knows his wine is when she can pick a bottle of US$10 wine that rivals the US$100 bottles! Now that requires a great deal of knowledge and exceptional sensory memory. Ignorance hidden behind money and pretensions is simply hypocrisy. I have no doubt that the mates of these “connoisseurs” of wine are those who mistake price and label for fashion style.