Are You a Snob?
The wine world is full of people who seem to know it all
Posted: Jun 27, 2012 10:00am ET
A long time
ago, before I started writing about wine and food for a living, I was a
newspaper reporter. I covered everything from fatal car crashes to rock
concerts, and interviewed everyone from movie stars to murderers on death row.
A lot of
the beats required little more than fearless interrogation skills and the
ability to type like an AK-47, but some called for specific knowledge and
experience, and that's when I learned that the line between passion and
snobbishness is razor thin.
Silly me, I
thought it was OK to like paintings by Grant Wood and Jackson Pollock or listen to bluegrass
one minute and Wagner the next. And isn't it possible for Black Swan and The
Avengers to be two of your favorite movies in recent years?
Despite all
the snobs I met while covering music and movies, visual art and theater, none
compare to wine snobs. The world already thinks wine lovers are snobs in the
first place. If you Google the phrase "snob definition," the first result
reads: "A person who believes that their tastes in a particular area are
superior to those of other people: 'a wine snob.'"
You can't make that stuff up.
Obviously,
there's a difference between the average guy believing all wine drinkers are
snobs and the über-snobs who are just insufferable? Most wine snobs don't know
they're snobs, of course, and they will argue and deny if confronted. (They can
be violent when cornered, so stay alert.)
There's an
easy way to tell when you're dealing with snobs: They spend more time telling
you what not to drink than offering ideas on what you might like.
A good
example of that are the extremists in the natural wine debate. When they tell
me about the wines they're passionate about and why, they've got me hooked, but
when they demonize the wines that don't fit their worldview, they're snobs.
The same is
true with the debate over ripeness and alcohol levels in wine. Talk to me about
the wines you love and the special place they're from, but when you start
blathering about how Cabernet Sauvignons or Pinot Noirs shouldn't taste this
way or that, you're a snob.
There must
be something in the human psyche that triggers the need to take on "an
offensive air of superiority in matters of knowledge or taste," as
Merriam-Webster defines it. I have to admit that I just don't understand it,
and yet I'm sure there are people who consider me a snob.
To me,
it comes down to this: if you're comfortable with your passions and opinions,
you shouldn't feel the need to convince other people that they're wrong.
Tim,
Great blog. I think it is very easy for all of us to talk about what wine we like in contrast to some other wine (and in doing so, subtly, or not so subtly, put down that other wine). It requires real effort to extol what we like and praise its virtues without putting down others. But I think it is the far better path to follow.
Adam Lee
Siduri Wines