We have touched on this topic a bit in class, but wanted to expand on why I personally found wine a bit difficult historically (in full disclosure: I love wine and no longer harbor a lot of these feelings!), I still find myself being a bit intimidated (almost like that feeling when you go to a foreign country and do not know the language), which in some instances has been exacerbated by the attitude of the people serving or selecting the wine. This is not to say that this is a regular occurrence in the industry (in fact, ironically those that act with a stuffy attitude may be those that do not know as much, feel insecure, or are not really involved in the industry). Rather, it is to point out that these instances do occur, and they have an impact (at least for me) in my willingness to step back in and take risk in describing what I am tasting. Does this occur more in the wine industry than other industries? My instinct is yes, although I struggle to determine why this may be the case.
As a side note, I have actually been really encouraged by the visitors we have had so far in class - all have been very down to earth, extremely kind, and eager to share their knowledge of an industry they love.
I was thinking through the dimensions through which this intimidation may occur and developed the following list;
1. Not knowing what is good. This happens at restaurants quite a bit - you get a massive wine list with tons of different regions and feel completely lost. You must summon the somalia (if the restaurant has one), who is generally a really nice, outgoing person. There have been those rare instances for me when they are not, and those obviously stick out. I do think however that this can happen in other industries as well (high end clothes shopping, food, even shopping for something like books). The aspect I struggle with most in this instance is price. How do you communicate to the somalia that you are at the lower end of the price range (we are in fact GSB students with loads of debt!), especially if you are on a date or in a group of friends? How do you maintain that power to make the selection yourself with someone so knowledgeable in front of you making selections?
2. That friend who thinks they know everything about wine. This is more annoying than anything, but seems to rear its head quite a bit in terms of wine. We all know that feeling. You get to a restaurant and there is a wine list and either everyone pushes the wine menu to this person, or worse, they grab it themselves and proclaim they are a big wine drinker. This again is probably part wine and part just dealing with these individuals, but seems to happen more with wine. And to be fair, this person probably does know more about wine!
3. Wineries. I actually find wineries to be the least intimidating places in the wine industry. My suspicion is that these places see a lot of people come in that are not all that experienced in tasting and the general approach is to foster a warm and welcoming environment. I haven't really tasted wine in other parts of the world (outside of NZ), but the wineries in California appear to do a really good job of eliminating this intimidation factor (I especially like Kunde and Imagery in Sonoma if anyone needs any recommendations of low-key wine spots).
One of my big takeways from the class so far is that we also need to empower ourselves with the knowledge that will enable us to overcome some of these concerns / intimidation. It is not fair for me to harbor these feelings when I have not taken the adequate time and expended necessary effort to really get to know the product. Once I do, I may find a completely new world opened up to me where I feel empowered to make decisions, feel comfortable voicing my opinions, and enjoy wine for everything that it is. I have already begun to feel this since moving out to California and visiting some wineries. As much as I think the industry intimidated me in my early 20's, I think I had probably more to do with this than the industry (a preconceived notion about the industry that was not fair). I wonder how many other people in the world (or even in our class) could be converted to lovers of wine by simply removing this veil.
I think Bill does a really good job of synthesizing one of the key takeaways from this class: we need to empower ourself with knowledge. The first situation that you describe really resonates with me. As I mentioned earlier in the blog, I know nothing about French wine and when I'm on the east coast that's the majority of what I find on wine lists. One of the best pieces of advice that I've received for dealing with this situation is know how to describe what you like even if you have no way of finding it just by looking at a list. I was told that every time I drink a glass of wine I like (especially at a restaurant), ask the somm to describe the wine. This gives me, the consumer, a wine-o description of the wine that a future somm or bartender can understand. It can be frustrating to try to learn the jargon that somms use but the advantage is that when I ask for something, I'm more likely to get something I like. I think this can be one piece of empowering ourselves with knowledge, not about wine, but about our own preferences (likes and dislikes).
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