Pingo Gringo, Chardollay and Riohjar

Or "Wine Snobbery - The Bane of The Wine World".

I've been selling wine, in one way or another, for coming on 5 years now; its been an interesting time to say the least, not just in learning about the myriad of wines out there, but more intriguingly to the way that we as a people approach wine, and the glories that it entails.
First and foremost, wine is an alcoholic drink: a source of pleasure, hopefully, a great accompaniment to social times and relaxation; but given there are so many different styles its amazing what limited selections people submit themselves to.

I started my career in wine, as many have, serving it to others, and whilst most were quite happy to go for a nice Chilean Merlot or Australian Shiraz on the reds, the requests for white wines always astounded me. From "Yeah I wanna nice medium-dry Pingo-Gringo" to "Oh no I don't drink Chenin its too sweet" I was always intrigued as to how these people had formed such steadfast opinions based upon so little. (Wine Informative Aside: nearly all white wine in this country sold and consumed is dry; medium-dry, medium-sweet do not refer to the flavour profile but to the level of residual sugar, the actual grams per litre. Wines can taste fruity whilst still being dry.)

This kind of Flavour-Arrogance is all well and fine, you like what you know, but it's made despicable when you have someone who thinks their opinion is well informed when they're plainly pig-ignorant. I'll cite two examples: the first is the "I can't stand Chardollay", mispronouncing aside, this statement is then usually followed by "but have you got any chablis?". Casually damning an entire varietal just because it's deemed unfashionable (a point I'll address in a later missive).
The second example concerns Rosé. I'll let you in on a little secret, the style of a Rosé has nothing whatsoever to do with the colour; (EJG have done no one any favours with their innocuous blushes) nor whether it'll give you a raging hangover or not. And yet, many people are convinced that they know what colour to go for to find a wine they enjoy.

The point I'm labouring to make is about wine information and misinformation. As with any subjective pleasure there are as many intellectual-studies as there are old-wives' tales; the key thing to realise is that being ignorant of something is fine, you can always learn more. What is far far worse is to arrogantly claim knowledge, make some sweeping generalisation and have it being at best, make you look like an idiot, or at worse being detrimental to your enjoyment and others. of such a great human creation.

"In vino veritas et praevalebit. Agreeing with the author, there is truth in wine and it will prevail...in a bit."
Stevie Smith

Suggested wine-style to try this week: Italian Pinot Grigio - yes there are some very good ones out there, suprisingly.

(Nice to see Red wine coming out on top of the poll, no one voted for Rosé, even given the weather we've been having.)