Originally published on April 7, 2008.
I actually have a lot of small pet peeves, but none worth mentioning. Actually, this one probably isn’t worth mentioning either, but what’s a blog for if not to write about the minutia of our lives.
So, here goes…nothing makes me want to roll my eyes more than when someone picks up a bottle of wine and asks “is this any good.” Happens all the time – usually when someone is looking at one of my lower priced bottles – and each time, I have to restrain myself from saying “no, it’s complete crap.” Now I don’t like to make fun of customers (I love my customers) but this question drives me crazy because I make sure all my wines offer good value, even the $9.99 bottles – especially the $9.99 bottles! (that’s as low as I go, but remember, this shop is in Manhattan).
But I suppose the question really just comes down to a lot of the wine snobbery that surrounds the wine industry – implications that a bottle can’t be any good unless it’s expensive, or has been written up somewhere, or rated, or fear of the dreaded shop snob eye roll when someone picks out the least expensive bottle on the shelf. So I’m not really annoyed with my customers – I’m annoyed with the industry!
There, I feel much better.