1 Wine Dude

A Serious Wine Blog For the Not-So-Serious Drinker

Menu
  • Home
  • About
    • New? Start Here!
    • PR & Samples
    • Press & What-Have-You
  • Wine
    • by badge
      • crowd pleaser
      • elegant
      • kick-ass
      • overachiever
      • sexy
    • Full Reviews
    • Mini-Reviews
  • Stalk
    • Follow me on News Break!
    • facebook
    • Instagram
    • LinkedIn
    • pinterest
    • twitter
    • YouTube
  • Sign Up
  • Books
  • Services
  • Contact
Menu
1 Wine Dude

This World is Full of Crashing (Wine) Bores2 min read

Posted on June 18, 2008September 28, 2010 by 1WineDude

in commentary


Arthur Przebinda (of redwinebuzz.com) has an opinion piece published today in the L.A. Times‘ Blowback section. It’s well worth a few minutes of your busy time to read.

In his well-written rebuttal of Joel Stein’s amusing but ultimately misguided take on “wine snobbery”, Arthur contends that the language of serious oenophiles is not meant to be pedantic, and is actually no different in principal than that of a dedicated sports fan (or a passionate follower of any field):

“…the knowledge informed wine enthusiasts possess is no less meaningful, less interesting nor more ‘snobbish’ or difficult than the performance statistics in the head of a sports fan or the technical information rattled off by car aficionados.”

In other words, it’s just geek talk. And geek talk does not necessarily a snob make…

By the way, I don’t use the term geek pejoratively – in fact, I prefer to use the term “wine geek” to describe my own passion for wine (as do most of my wine industry buddies).

I love the company of wine geeks, just as I love the company of people who know way, way too much about the wood combinations of MTD basses. Because talking about wine, for me, is the apex of fun.

While I would rather leap off a 4 story building with my arms and legs bound and an anvil tied to my head than discuss fantasy baseball, you might love discussing fantasy baseball with your pals. I certainly wouldn’t ridicule you for doing it – and I’d expect you to show the same respect to us wine geeks.

I think where Arthur has this right, and where Stein is way off the mark, is that wine talk itself does not equate to snobbishness. As the famous Micahel Broadbent put it in Winetasting:

“If there is such a thing as a wine snob, he or she will have all the atributes of any other sort of snob: affectation and pretentiousness covering up the lack of everything that makes a person worthy of serious attention.”

Kind of like when Stein starts off an article with “When wine drinkers tell me they taste notes of cherries, tobacco and rose petals, usually all I can detect is a whole lot of jackass.”

Far worse than a snob in any case is a bore. The seriously smart Mr. Broadbent was onto this in a big way – also from Winetasting:

“A great expert can be a bore, particularly if speaking out of context, being repetitive, pedantic, opinionated… or merely intoing in a tedious, grinding, long-winded way. The wine bore is the person who speaks about wine when no one is inclined to listen, or to the exclusion of all else.”

Sounds right on the money to me, as it can easily be applied to any field of geek interest. Like wine, or fantasy baseball.

As Brit-pop music icon Morrissey sang, This World is Full of Crashing Bores. Wine bores. Fantasy Baseball bores.

And L.A. Times reporting bores.

Cheers!

(images: ewinetasting.com, viva-hater @ flickr.com, informationleafblower.com)


  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • More
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)

Related

5 thoughts on “This World is Full of Crashing (Wine) Bores2 min read”

  1. Classic Wines says:
    June 18, 2008 at 12:03 pm

    Thanks for the links dude, I had a read at both the original article and the response.

    I hope Joel was expecting this kind of blowback. Any time you off-handedly insult something many people take seriously, there is bound to be a slew of informed people raising their eyebrows at you.

    If his goal was to ruffle some feathers, I think he was modestly successful. If it was to make a comprehensive argument, I think he fell far short.

  2. Robbin G says:
    June 19, 2008 at 7:03 am

    Yep, we’ve got to work on that book… :-)

  3. Arthur says:
    June 19, 2008 at 11:19 am

    Oh no! Not another Morrisey fan!

    Thank you for the very kind words Joe!

    Frankly, responding to Steins piece seemed so simple to do do that I was surprised nobody had beat me to it.

  4. Morton Leslie says:
    June 20, 2008 at 10:25 am

    I know a lot of baseball fans but they have never forced their baseball knowledge on me at the dinner table. I have never met one that called himself a Master of Baseball and insisted on a M.B. after his signature. I have never met a baseball fan who picked his favorite players or favorite team based on the opinion of a baseball critic. Or bragged that his team had the critics highest rated score. A baseball fan will watch a tee ball game, little league, women’s softball, go to a losing double A minor league game just as happily as they do to the majors. And not a single one would get hot under the collar if someone made fun of their enthusiasm. They’d have a good laugh and go back to the game.

  5. Joe Roberts, CSW says:
    June 20, 2008 at 11:04 am

    Great point Morton – some of the ‘wine snob’ criticism is deserved, otherwise it wouldn’t carry such a negative (and easily recognizable) perception.

    Having said that – I’ve known many, may sports fans (baseball and otherwise) who do follow teams by jumping on the latest bandwagon – and I’d argue that blindly following Parker wine scores isn’t much different.

Comments are closed.

Dude’s New Books

Wine Taster's Guide Now Available!

“Bravo! Wine Taster's Guide is a perfect primer for both wine novices and learning enthusiasts." ―Evan Goldstein, Master Sommelier

Wine Taster's Journal Now Available!

"Wine Taster's Journal belongs in everyone's cellar… preferably wine-stained, dog-eared, and well-used.” ―Brian Freedman, wine/spirits/travel columnist

Get Some Wine

Popular Stuff

  • Wine Reviews: Weekly Mini Round-Up For January 11, 2021
    Wine Reviews: Weekly Mini Round-Up For January 11, 2021
  • Wine in the Time of Coronovirus, Part 22: Who's Down With BPC? (Bruno Paillard Champagne Tasting)
    Wine in the Time of Coronovirus, Part 22: Who's Down With BPC? (Bruno Paillard Champagne Tasting)
  • Wine Reviews: Weekly Mini Round-Up For December 28, 2020
    Wine Reviews: Weekly Mini Round-Up For December 28, 2020
  • Wine Reviews: Weekly Mini Round-Up For January 18, 2021
    Wine Reviews: Weekly Mini Round-Up For January 18, 2021
  • Bitterness in White Wines (No... Really!)
    Bitterness in White Wines (No... Really!)

About + Contact

Joe Roberts

Joe Roberts

Certified Specialist of Wine & WSET Advanced
Author, speaker, consultant, wine judge, & critic.

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • RSS Feed

Find Stuff

Sign up, lushes!

Join 36,566 other subscribers

Fine Print

This site is licensed under Creative Commons.

Code of Ethics and Privacy Policies.

Play nice!

Get The Guide

Wine Tasters Guide Footer
#1 New Release in Amazon's Wine Tasting category
This site uses cookies. Duh. Cookie Policy
©2021 1 Wine Dude
Yo yo YO!

Wine Tasters Guide InstagramWell, hello there!

If you like what you’re reading (and want to like more of what you’re drinking), consider subscribing.

If you’re up for a more immersive wine learning experience, check out my books and other services.

Cheers!

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.