Fashionably Senseless

Taste is a subjective thing. I, for example, like Burgundy reds; but one of my best friends thinks drinking something with the characteristics of “barnyard” unfathomable. There is no right or wrong about it. It is what makes us human and individual. Unfortunately, people who sell things try to confuse our tastes with fashion. Our world is saturated with them, advertising people, reviewers, gurus, sells departments, retail outlets, “news” media, the list is endless. These people try to convince us that our taste buds are meaningless, our eyes are faulty and our noses are constantly stuffy. Consequently, we cannot rely on ourselves to choose what we like. Instead of suggesting things to us to try, they make us throw away all our senses, so we will buy whatever they are selling. More insidiously, they hollow out our memories so we do not even remember what they told us yesterday and buy whatever they are selling today. They call this fashion. So, now, syrah is undrinkable and pinot noir is just divine. Martini is so yesterday, and obscure jisake is the new in-drink. Truth be told, syrahs are the same today as yesterday, so are the Burgundies. The problem is, when syrah was in, fashionable people drink it with everything everyday. No wonder they get tired of it. All the “people who sells” saw a movie with a few losers who like pinots and move to sell pinots and sell things (like their empty words) with pinots. Good pinot still smells like a barnyard, and my friend still hates it. But all of a sudden it is fashionable to those without taste bud, without nose, without eyes and without memory. And now, when I go out with the senseless, out of politeness, I will have to drink bad pinots (and they have more potential to be bad than all other varietals combined) with the oddest food. I hope I can live through this. Maybe I wil drink only with my piont-hating friend, to weather the storm, so to speak.