Pissing contests: Keeping some wine knowledge to yourself
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Never ask a Trekkie which was the better show, Deep Space 9, or Next Generation. Never, ever ask who was the best captain. Same goes for wine.
I get people trying to rope me into these sucker arguements all of the time. They want to debate. They just bought a case (NOT from me, mind you) of that 175$ Cabernet when they were in Napa. Jabba the Critic stamped with 95 points. It got a "Highly Collectible" from the Wine Spewlator. But for some unfathomable reason of what can only be depressingly high levels of insecurity, they need me to weigh in on it. Maybe they just want me to know that they know that they knew that they were buying a good bottle when they bought it.
I used to get this all the time when my husband and I had our own modern furniture store. You get these guys (sorry, but they were always guys) that would come in, wanting you to know that they had a full set of original Eames dining chairs. They had a Saarinen dining table. They just spent 400$ on ebay for an Ericophone.
My thought was always the same, Why are you telling me this
Imagine a conversation with a friend at a dinner party:
Yeah, we just bought a new Escalade. It’s supposed to be the best. Next month we’re getting our entire kitchen encased in Italian marble. I got this outfit at Barney’s, what do you think? I paid $2500 for it. And I just scored a Barry Bonds rookie card off ebay for 200$, mint.
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Sounds wierd, huh? Replace those names with wines; how is it different? I’ve had some amazing experiences, met some of the most incredible people in the wine business. I guess I’m just a freak and too hyper-aware about name dropping(except here of course). It all comes down to how people communicate and how they treat each other during that communication.
I try not to tout out my absurd knowledge of the primordial soil make up of Burgundy, mainly because I don’t want to come off like an asshole–and it’s boring. I think this business would be a much better place if people, customers and sellers alike, stopped trying to one up/show up each other all the time. It’s boring, and …well, jerky.
But mainly I think this business would be alot better if everyone would just relax, shut the fuck up, and enjoy a glass of wine. Shhhh! Can you do that?


