Wine Bugs: What bugs you most?

[Rebel Rose]

Is there anything that annoys you about wine consumption, wine reviews, wine service, wine availability? I have a little list . . . let's hear yours!

[djsexyb]

i have a few...

i hate it when i read raving reviews about wines from such and such, from wherever, only to find that i can't locate the wine anywhere, save for hoping onto a plane and visiting the vineyard myself. why do a review for a major mag if little to no one who reads it will be able to drink it...

i hate people who bash screwcaps and other alternative closures like glass "corks." they are truely the wave of the future. in now way do i want to play russina roulette with an expensive bottle of wine simply for the "romance" of it. sorry the only romance in my nights with wine are between my wife and i, and thats just fine with me. true screwcaps do not allow secondary flavors to develope over long periods of storage, but if i want oxidzed wine, ill buy some sherry.

ok, that was a nice release.... lol

[mrbigjas]

what annoys me most of all is when reviewers get too cutesy and specific with their reviews. i read one last week that said it had a whiff of jamaica blue mountain coffee at the end. and another that specifically mentioned valrhona chocolate. another that mentioned spanish saddle leather.

'edible rice paddy' is probably my favorite of the nonsensical descriptors i've ever read, though.

now yes, i know that coffees have different flavor profiles, and i know that chocolate makers have their own specific profiles as well. but do i believe that you can differentiate between jamaica blue mountain and kona coffees in the finishes of wines that you're tasting? i don't think so.

and edible rice paddy doesn't even make grammatical sense.

Edited May 10, 2006 by mrbigjas (log)

[wkl]

wine stores that only have temperature control for their "special wines".

as if all the bottles stewing away outside the temp room aren't good enough to be kept at the proper temperature.

drives me nuts!

[jelainemiller]

I have several. One I ran into recently at a restaurant: not printing vintages on the wine list. I know it's probably cheaper for the restaurant since they don't have to reprint the wine list whenever a new vintage arrives. I know probably 99% of their clientele don't care what vintage of white zin they're drinking. But if they have a high-end Cali cab or Bordeaux on the menu there had better be a year next to it if they want me to order it! I guess that could be called a pet peeve, huh? ;-)

[jsolomon]

Servers who describe a wine I ask about as "yummy" or "popular". The last time I tasted popular, I was dating a gymnast and accidentally got her hair in my mouth. The flavor of her hair spray is forever burned in my brain as the flavor of "popular". Blecch.

People and places that treat wines like a social, political, economic, or classist statement.

But my biggest problem? The double standard America has with drinking and drinks. It's like we're just asking for problems.