5 ms·

I once did an experiment; I brought a 100EUR bottle of wine (probably $400 bottle in the US) to a party at my language school just for fun to see if people woul

by bitL 8y ago

I once did an experiment; I brought a 100EUR bottle of wine (probably $400 bottle in the US) to a party at my language school just for fun to see if people would notice. Except for one lady, nobody noticed anything (out of ~80 people) and those who drank it took it as a regular, uninteresting wine.

always_good 8y ago
You were able to serve 80 people from a bottle of wine? Did they drink from thimbles?
- jandrese 8y ago
  Wine tastings will often give you just the barest splash of liquid. Even then, getting 80 servings out of a 750ml bottle is impressive. Roughly 9ml per serving, or 3/10 of an ounce for Americans. I really can't blame the guests for having trouble identifying it as a particularly superb wine when they don't get enough to coat their tongue.
  - jimnotgym 8y ago
    > Wine tastings will often give you just the barest splash of liquid. You need to find a better wine merchant. You need at least enough to fill your mouth twice over...
- bitL 8y ago
  No, I said that the party was attended by ~80 people, some of them took my bottle of wine from among all available bottles and drank it (most people looked at what is available and then decided what to get). I saw only one lady that said "wow, this must be a very expensive wine!" and as she looked around excited to share the finding, nobody cared, and the ones who were drinking it seemed to drink it like a juice, completely uninterested.
everdrive 8y ago
Did you also serve 80 people a single loaf of bread?
- bitL 8y ago
  I wish...
UncleMeat 8y ago
Very expensive wine tastes different, not better. Untrained people, especially if they aren't paying attention to the wine, aren't going to be able to instantly pick out an expensive wine. But this doesn't make wine bullshit. I don't give a shit about mechanical keyboards or different fancy fonts but to people who do care and can notice differences they get a lot of value out of them.
- lisper 8y ago
  > different, not better This is really important. I think some people think that the reason a $1000 bottle of wine costs that much is that it's so awesomely good that a single sip will give you an orgasm or something like that. That's not it at all. A $1000 bottle of wine costs that much for one reason only: someone with more money than sense is willing to pay that much for it for some unfathomable reason. Even if that person thinks that wine is awesome, there is no reason to think that you will think it's awesome. Everyone has different tastes.
  - jimnotgym 8y ago
    > A $1000 bottle of wine costs that much for one reason Two reasons I think then. Expensive wines are also made the expensive way. Hand picked grapes off ancient low yield vines. Some even work the ground with horses rather than tractors to reduce soil compacting. Wooden barrels, wooden boxes etc all contribute to make the cost of production much higher...whether you like the taste or not
    - lisper 8y ago
      The cost of production sets a floor on the price, because if you can't sell it for what it cost you to produce then you won't stay in business. (That's true for any product.) But a bottle of Romanee Conti retails for $15,000 or more. I guarantee you it didn't cost them anywhere near that much to produce it. Even inspecting every single grape by hand wouldn't cost that much.
      - 8y ago
jcadam 8y ago
Keep that expensive bottle and re-fill it with boxed wine whenever you have dinner guests. Not that I would ever do such a thing...
- nrclark 8y ago
  Pro-tip right here.
  - jimnotgym 8y ago
    I have another pro-tip. How to look like you know about wine when offered a taste. I don't have a great palate, but I have watched the experts...this is how to fit in. 1. Pick the glass up. If it is an older wine hold the glass at 45 degrees and in front of the light. Make a noise like you noticed something. Time for a gentle swirl. If the wine forms into streaks ("legs") it is due to high alcohol or high sugar content. Store that info for later. 2. Put the glass back on the counter-top. Palm-down with the stem trapped between your index and middle fingers swirl it in circles on the counter-top. Make it look like you feel this is important. 3. Sniff. Compost smell is considered bad. If it doesn't smell of compost or vinegar, but something more pleasant make a vague "mm" noise. Don't overdo it. Wine does not have a smell, it has a "nose". If it is fruitier on the nose than the last thing you tried, then it is probably safe to say so. 4. Now take a mouth full and suck air through it as noisily as you can, just like you were told not to when you were a child. If it isn't rancid, give an intrigued look, but don't commit. 5. Spit. A good long spit is the pro-style, dribbling is bad. If there is no spittoon, then swallow. Spitting on someones floor is bad form. repeat steps 4 and 5. The experts always taste more than once. 6. Now the hard bit, you might get asked your opinion. "interesting" is a great play for time, maybe they will lead. If it is a red and very tannic (dry feeling in your mouth) you could comment that it would be a nice food wine. Now the magic, just like coffee, the longer you can taste it for (the "length") the better the wine. If you get a lovely mixture of spices that is still there in 30 seconds you can safely say it has "good length". If you can still taste it the next morning it either wasn't so good, or you tried a little too much. Advanced blagging: Wine tastes: Certain regions are supposed to taste certain ways with their own jargon. Here are a few to blag with. White Burgundy (Chablis, Macconais etc): "minerality" is the word to work in. New Zealand sauvignon blanc: Grapefruit=good, lemons=bad Bordeaux: "Full-bodied", "Tannin" Rhone valley (Chatuex-neuf-de-pape etc): Can you taste green -peppers? say so Hot dry places (Chille, Australia, California) are supposed to produce fruitier wine than the same grape from France. White Zinfandel : Don't admit to liking sweet white Zinfandel, unless you are on a hen-night Germany/ Alsace: You will struggle to blag here, save it for another time. So maybe that wont help you enjoy wine, but you can show your friends up, and really that is one of the most important things in life.
spookthesunset 8y ago
You didn't prove much. You have to be in the right state of mind to appreciate subtle things in wine. If you aren't paying attention to it (eg, you are at a party and not a wine tasting event), you'll miss it. Just because nobody could tell the difference doesn't mean the cheaper wines were the same as the expensive wines. It just means you served expensive wine at a party where nobody was expecting to have to put effort into analyzing their wine. Lets not even forget that some of these folks could have a been a few drinks in already...
poulsbohemian 8y ago
I had a client who said she was into wine. I gave her a somewhat difficult to procure bottle (small production, long waiting list) that was well above what I would spend on wine for myself. Next time I saw her she told me to my horror how she had popped it open for just her and her husband to have with their hamburgers one weekend. Now I no longer give such nice gifts to clients. ;-D
- joeblow9999 8y ago
  are you kidding? That's a great way to enjoy a nice bottle of wine.
  - poulsbohemian 8y ago
    I think you misinterpreted what I was saying: I might as well have given her grape juice, as she had no idea what she was drinking. Hamburgers wouldn't have even been a good pairing.

by bitL 8y ago

always_good 8y ago

You were able to serve 80 people from a bottle of wine? Did they drink from thimbles?

jandrese 8y ago
Wine tastings will often give you just the barest splash of liquid. Even then, getting 80 servings out of a 750ml bottle is impressive. Roughly 9ml per serving, or 3/10 of an ounce for Americans. I really can't blame the guests for having trouble identifying it as a particularly superb wine when they don't get enough to coat their tongue.
- jimnotgym 8y ago
  > Wine tastings will often give you just the barest splash of liquid. You need to find a better wine merchant. You need at least enough to fill your mouth twice over...
bitL 8y ago
No, I said that the party was attended by ~80 people, some of them took my bottle of wine from among all available bottles and drank it (most people looked at what is available and then decided what to get). I saw only one lady that said "wow, this must be a very expensive wine!" and as she looked around excited to share the finding, nobody cared, and the ones who were drinking it seemed to drink it like a juice, completely uninterested.

everdrive 8y ago

Did you also serve 80 people a single loaf of bread?

bitL 8y ago
I wish...

UncleMeat 8y ago

Very expensive wine tastes different, not better. Untrained people, especially if they aren't paying attention to the wine, aren't going to be able to instantly pick out an expensive wine. But this doesn't make wine bullshit. I don't give a shit about mechanical keyboards or different fancy fonts but to people who do care and can notice differences they get a lot of value out of them.

lisper 8y ago
> different, not better This is really important. I think some people think that the reason a $1000 bottle of wine costs that much is that it's so awesomely good that a single sip will give you an orgasm or something like that. That's not it at all. A $1000 bottle of wine costs that much for one reason only: someone with more money than sense is willing to pay that much for it for some unfathomable reason. Even if that person thinks that wine is awesome, there is no reason to think that you will think it's awesome. Everyone has different tastes.
- jimnotgym 8y ago
  > A $1000 bottle of wine costs that much for one reason Two reasons I think then. Expensive wines are also made the expensive way. Hand picked grapes off ancient low yield vines. Some even work the ground with horses rather than tractors to reduce soil compacting. Wooden barrels, wooden boxes etc all contribute to make the cost of production much higher...whether you like the taste or not
  - lisper 8y ago
    The cost of production sets a floor on the price, because if you can't sell it for what it cost you to produce then you won't stay in business. (That's true for any product.) But a bottle of Romanee Conti retails for $15,000 or more. I guarantee you it didn't cost them anywhere near that much to produce it. Even inspecting every single grape by hand wouldn't cost that much.
    - 8y ago

jcadam 8y ago

Keep that expensive bottle and re-fill it with boxed wine whenever you have dinner guests. Not that I would ever do such a thing...

nrclark 8y ago
Pro-tip right here.
- jimnotgym 8y ago
  I have another pro-tip. How to look like you know about wine when offered a taste. I don't have a great palate, but I have watched the experts...this is how to fit in. 1. Pick the glass up. If it is an older wine hold the glass at 45 degrees and in front of the light. Make a noise like you noticed something. Time for a gentle swirl. If the wine forms into streaks ("legs") it is due to high alcohol or high sugar content. Store that info for later. 2. Put the glass back on the counter-top. Palm-down with the stem trapped between your index and middle fingers swirl it in circles on the counter-top. Make it look like you feel this is important. 3. Sniff. Compost smell is considered bad. If it doesn't smell of compost or vinegar, but something more pleasant make a vague "mm" noise. Don't overdo it. Wine does not have a smell, it has a "nose". If it is fruitier on the nose than the last thing you tried, then it is probably safe to say so. 4. Now take a mouth full and suck air through it as noisily as you can, just like you were told not to when you were a child. If it isn't rancid, give an intrigued look, but don't commit. 5. Spit. A good long spit is the pro-style, dribbling is bad. If there is no spittoon, then swallow. Spitting on someones floor is bad form. repeat steps 4 and 5. The experts always taste more than once. 6. Now the hard bit, you might get asked your opinion. "interesting" is a great play for time, maybe they will lead. If it is a red and very tannic (dry feeling in your mouth) you could comment that it would be a nice food wine. Now the magic, just like coffee, the longer you can taste it for (the "length") the better the wine. If you get a lovely mixture of spices that is still there in 30 seconds you can safely say it has "good length". If you can still taste it the next morning it either wasn't so good, or you tried a little too much. Advanced blagging: Wine tastes: Certain regions are supposed to taste certain ways with their own jargon. Here are a few to blag with. White Burgundy (Chablis, Macconais etc): "minerality" is the word to work in. New Zealand sauvignon blanc: Grapefruit=good, lemons=bad Bordeaux: "Full-bodied", "Tannin" Rhone valley (Chatuex-neuf-de-pape etc): Can you taste green -peppers? say so Hot dry places (Chille, Australia, California) are supposed to produce fruitier wine than the same grape from France. White Zinfandel : Don't admit to liking sweet white Zinfandel, unless you are on a hen-night Germany/ Alsace: You will struggle to blag here, save it for another time. So maybe that wont help you enjoy wine, but you can show your friends up, and really that is one of the most important things in life.

spookthesunset 8y ago

You didn't prove much. You have to be in the right state of mind to appreciate subtle things in wine. If you aren't paying attention to it (eg, you are at a party and not a wine tasting event), you'll miss it. Just because nobody could tell the difference doesn't mean the cheaper wines were the same as the expensive wines. It just means you served expensive wine at a party where nobody was expecting to have to put effort into analyzing their wine. Lets not even forget that some of these folks could have a been a few drinks in already...

poulsbohemian 8y ago

I had a client who said she was into wine. I gave her a somewhat difficult to procure bottle (small production, long waiting list) that was well above what I would spend on wine for myself. Next time I saw her she told me to my horror how she had popped it open for just her and her husband to have with their hamburgers one weekend. Now I no longer give such nice gifts to clients. ;-D

joeblow9999 8y ago
are you kidding? That's a great way to enjoy a nice bottle of wine.
- poulsbohemian 8y ago
  I think you misinterpreted what I was saying: I might as well have given her grape juice, as she had no idea what she was drinking. Hamburgers wouldn't have even been a good pairing.