The Wine Snob’s Top 5 Rules to Not Being a Wine Snob…

The world of wine is vast and exciting, and I honestly hope I never tire of exploring and drinking it.  Besides frankly, that’s what I like most about wine - drinking it! So do most of my friends, especially the ones who don’t know a damn thing about it.

Which is why I wanted to make this list… for them.

1.     Wine is delicious and fun… it doesn’t HAVE to be scary or intellectual.  There is a time and a place for sipping and twirling, and there is a time to just shut up and drink. 

(Which brings be to number 2…)

2.     When you’re at a house party, especially one with beer kegs… there’s no need to slurp your wine like you’re in the barrel room of a winery in Bordeaux.

The End.

3.     When someone brings you a hostess gift, say thank you… even if it’s a bottle of Baby Duck.  Act excited. They picked it out for you as a gift, with their own money.  If it’s Baby Duck, use it for mimosas.

4.     Don’t make people who don’t know as much about wine as you feel stupid… The world of wine is about sharing an experience not about isolating an elite and select few.  It just makes you look like a jerk.

5.     Wine choice is key.  When choosing wine with friends who don’t know super much about wine… help them to focus on the spirit of it and be adventurous.   Look for a striking label, choose the bottle with the cool name, play the country game, or godddamit, just pick the one with the little gift hanging on the neck.

Yes, wine is beautiful thing.  It’s sensual, delicious, intriguing, even mystical.  I love it. 

I love drinking it, buying it, studying it, sharing it, talking and intellectualizing about it… with other people who like those things too.

But for a lot of people out there, wine is just wine.  The same way vodka might be just vodka, or math is just stupid math or film is… a movie. The mystique is unique to a mixologist, a math scholar, or a film buff and that’s OK.  In fact, it’s great!  There is a time and a place.

When it comes to wine, I certainly wouldn’t consider myself a snob (although my friend Christie tends to think otherwise) - but I feel like I’m still studying, still learning.  I love to be challenged by a new varietal or flavour, I can’t always articulate what I taste or smell, and I certainly don’t always remember which are affected the most by philloxera.