{"id":1418,"date":"2019-11-30T17:22:06","date_gmt":"2019-11-30T17:22:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=1418"},"modified":"2020-01-25T20:30:04","modified_gmt":"2020-01-25T20:30:04","slug":"how-not-to-be-a-wine-snob-part-3-questions-and-answers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=1418","title":{"rendered":"How NOT to Be a Wine Snob \u2013 Part 3: Questions and Answers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>There really is no justification for being a wine snob, not even (maybe especially even) if you know a little bit about wine.\u00a0 If you are a wine expert, it\u2019s still not excusable to be a snob because the whole idea of snobbery is to make others around you feel small.\u00a0 What you do in the privacy of your own home is your business;\u00a0 snobbism should be avoided when visiting tasting rooms in Wine Country.<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s say you have entered a tasting room.\u00a0 Who\u2019s there?\u00a0 Anyone accompanying you, a few servers and some other wine tasters.\u00a0 Your significant other is unlikely to be impressed with your vast knowledge.\u00a0 The servers already know a lot about their own wines.\u00a0 And the other guests are strangers who you\u2019ll probably not see ever again. \u00a0So who is there to be snobbish for?<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/snob3.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1419 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/snob3-175x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"175\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/snob3-175x300.png 175w, http:\/\/powertasting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/snob3-598x1024.png 598w, http:\/\/powertasting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/snob3.png 620w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 175px) 100vw, 175px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>Courtesy of the Mercury News.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Here are some simple tips for avoiding wine snobbery when you\u2019re out tasting.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Only ask a question if you want to know the answer.<\/strong> That sounds basic enough, but a true snob is only asking in order to show off when the answer is given.\u00a0 The snob may not even listen to the answer, so eager is he or she to preen.\u00a0 By all means ask questions in order to increase your knowledge or just to add to your pleasure about the wines you\u2019re sipping.\u00a0 But if you already know the answer, don\u2019t ask.<\/li>\n<li><strong>If you\u2019re trying to confirm you\u2019re understanding, say so.<\/strong> Sometimes you think you know something but you\u2019re not sure.\u00a0 In that case, it\u2019s polite to say, \u201cI think I know, but would you remind me about\u2026\u201d.\u00a0 For example, you might ask, \u201cI think I remember that this vintage softer\/ more tannic\/ more fruit forward than previous vintages. Is it?\u201d\u00a0 The wine snob would simply pronounce his or her opinion, not ask.\u00a0 But if you\u2019re polite about it the server might reach below the bar for an older vintage for you to compare.\u00a0 Impolite wine snobs might not be invited to try.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Listen to the answer.<\/strong> Snobs aren\u2019t eager to hear; they are primed to speak as soon as the response to a question begins.\u00a0 Often the answer to a specific question might lead to another question followed by another answer and so on.\u00a0 We call that a conversation.\u00a0 If you are knowledgeable, most servers are happy to converse.\u00a0 Being lectured at is not likely to increase their interest in serving you.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Talk to others like you talk with friends.<\/strong> A lot of wine snobbery is attitude rather than words or actions.\u00a0 It\u2019s hard to look down your nose and sip at the same time.\u00a0 If you are in discussion with someone who really knows wine, keep your tone conversational, the same way you would with a loved one or a friend.\u00a0 If another guest asks what you think of a wine, give simple answers in plain English until you have reason to believe that the other person knows enough wine lingo to start using it yourself.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There really is no justification for being a wine snob, not even (maybe especially even) if you know a little bit about wine.\u00a0 If you are a wine expert, it\u2019s still not excusable to be a snob because the whole idea of snobbery is to make others around you feel small.\u00a0 What you do in &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=1418\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">How NOT to Be a Wine Snob \u2013 Part 3: Questions and Answers<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1418"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1418"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1418\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1465,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1418\/revisions\/1465"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1418"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}