Wine Snobism

I have often joked with friends, family, and strangers that my wine geekdom spills over into snobbishness. Being a 'wine snob' has become a friendly colloquial term for someone who knows a lot about wine in a world where the converse is usually the norm. It is also a hobby or profession that involves excess and luxury, therefore allowing for the correlation between basic knowledge and elitism. Therefore, while the playful term 'wine snob' is thrown around, there is a deeper seeded understanding and resentment of the culture of wine that does not attract the average consumer to become involved in wine.

Like knowing what kind of private jet or stretch limo is your favorite to ride in, having a sweet spot for aged Bordeaux or vintage Champagne is not exactly a casual relationship. There is a serious financial investment required to have these things be a regular part of your life as opposed to a once in a lifetime experience. But it is not just expensive, it is an expense that is auxiliary to other finer things. It is very difficult for the casual or limited wine drinker to reconcile this reality.

However, desire is a spice of life and it keeps many of us spending a bit more on the next bottle than the last, drooling over the unobtainable wines of which some have the privilege to amass collections. Wine lovers all over the world find their sweet spot, from picking out one bottle a week to piling up cases of Grand Crus. So where do you reconcile your place in the wine world and converse with all of the other wine drinkers and their interpretation of the beverage?

In my experience, it comes down to being honest with what you are passionate about while being completely grounded in what it feels like to not know anything about wine. For the former, it is never wrong to really embrace any style of winemaking. While some may say that over-oaked California chardonnays or high-alcohol Southern Hemisphere reds can never really match the finest wines in the world, they also cannot tell you that you do not enjoy them. And for the later, the most vital part of any enthusiast should be knowing how to describe a wine in the simplest terms to communicate their passion to anybody.

The finest wines in the world are so because they have a history of producing the greatest product, year after year.  However, they may not be a part of some wine lovers' reality when the cost is so extravagant.  And if they are not worth the cost, how great are they really?  My guess is that they are great for a small few, and not relevant to the thirsty many.

All of that being said, I find myself in a precarious position.  I often drink good wine, probably nicer stuff than most people will ever taste in their lives.  No, I do not spend extraordinary sums on piles of wine that I will never touch, but I will collect fine wines that most people will not consider.  And we are not talking Grand Crus or First Growths, but really nice wines that age well and fall in the $30-$100 range.  So how do I reconcile my fine wine passion with staying grounded in the world of wine snobs?

Firstly, I aspire to fine something to appreciate about any wine that I taste.  From boxed wine to two buck chuck, I try to reconcile the product with the market, and put myself in a mindset that allows me to find the good or appeal in any bottle.  I do not have to like everything, but I try to understand it.
Second, I never discount the ability of any region or winery to produce a world-class wine.  When people look down their noses at certain winemakers or styles of wine, they are selling short the producers' effort and creating a hierarchy on the acceptable realm of wine. Having favorites is completely understandable, but rejecting the quality and techniques of a region as a whole is a complete prejudice that can be insulting to others' preferences.

And lastly, if there are only certain types of good wine, then the individual's ability to have a unique experience is stripped.  Wine is, after all, an undeniable individual sensory episode and is only relative to a singular person at a specific moment.  In other words, there is nobody who can tell you what you taste; it is a irrefutable flavor that connects with you however you decide it does.

Wine can easily be intimidating.  Unfortunately there is a culture that propagates this.  I am happy to dub myself a 'wine snob' because I hope I can be humble and grounded enough to use this as an opening to begin a informative or fun conversation on the topic.  However, it is very hard to get deep into wine and reconcile that excitement with the average wine drinker.  This is the key to a conversation that will help everybody find the bottle that leads them to discover the next great thing about wine.  I hope that I can help as many people as possible make this step, and that my fellow professionals will have the same candid goal.