People who know I'm a wine geek invariably ask my opinion of their
"special wine."
I don't want to offend them by saying I don't like it (as is often,
sadly, the case) and
I end up hemming and hawing, trying to think of something positive to say.

This happened again this weekend, I was served some awful Bordeaux that
was made
by a cousin of the Hostess. She was really proud, but I thought it was
herbaceous but
at the same time over concentrated, with an addition of oak juice and
elmers glue. I
took a couple of sips politely but drank water with the rest of the
meal. (Got a headache
anyway, but maybe not down to the wine, although it had "headache" writ
large on the
label.)

She pressed me for an opinion so I waxed on about how wonderful it must
be to drink
juice produced by one's very own family. Blech.

What say the fellow geeks, or those considered geeks by their friends,
in these situations?
Is honesty really the best policy?

-E

Emery Davis wrote in
:

People who know I'm a wine geek invariably ask my opinion of their
"special wine."
I don't want to offend them by saying I don't like it (as is often,
sadly, the case) and
I end up hemming and hawing, trying to think of something positive to
say.

This happened again this weekend, I was served some awful Bordeaux
that was made
by a cousin of the Hostess. She was really proud, but I thought it
was herbaceous but
at the same time over concentrated, with an addition of oak juice and
elmers glue. I
took a couple of sips politely but drank water with the rest of the
meal. (Got a headache
anyway, but maybe not down to the wine, although it had "headache"
writ large on the
label.)

She pressed me for an opinion so I waxed on about how wonderful it
must be to drink
juice produced by one's very own family. Blech.

What say the fellow geeks, or those considered geeks by their friends,
in these situations?
Is honesty really the best policy?

-E


I would try a music or art metaphor. Not everyone likes neo
contemporary,post modern deconstructed etc but somebody out there pays for
it. In this one you might say "My it is very concentrated!" I am oak averse
and that is one thing that I will point out, "You know we all have out
tasstes and I have never been big on oak so this just isn'my cup of tea- I
really like cubism you know?"

--
Joseph Coulter, cruises and vacations
www.josephcoulter.com

877 832 2021
904 631 8863 cell

Joseph Coulter wrote:
Emery Davis wrote in
:

[]
What say the fellow geeks, or those considered geeks by their friends,
in these situations?
Is honesty really the best policy?

-E


I would try a music or art metaphor. Not everyone likes neo
contemporary,post modern deconstructed etc but somebody out there pays for
it. In this one you might say "My it is very concentrated!" I am oak averse
and that is one thing that I will point out, "You know we all have out
tasstes and I have never been big on oak so this just isn'my cup of tea- I
really like cubism you know?"

Heh, nice one. Knowing myself, I'd probably come out with "this reminds
me of the sound Pete Townsend gets when the guitar burns, just after
he's stomped it." Or maybe: "evokes the sound of a four year old
violin student."

-E

On Jun 30, 6:29�am, Emery Davis wrote:
People who know I'm a wine geek invariably ask my opinion of their
"special wine."
I don't want to offend them by saying I don't like it (as is often,
sadly, the case) and
I end up hemming and hawing, trying to think of something positive to say.

This happened again this weekend, I was served some awful Bordeaux that
was made
by a cousin of the Hostess. �She was really proud, but I thought it was
herbaceous but
at the same time over concentrated, with an addition of oak juice and
elmers glue. �I
took a couple of sips politely but drank water with the rest of the
meal. �(Got a headache
anyway, but maybe not down to the wine, although it had "headache" writ
large on the
label.)

She pressed me for an opinion so I waxed on about how wonderful it must
be to drink
juice produced by one's very own family. �Blech.

What say the fellow geeks, or those considered geeks by their friends,
in these situations?
Is honesty really the best policy?

-E

I'm usually pretty blunt. I usually comment on how hard it is to make
really good wine at home and that I wouldn't let an amateur remover\
my appendix.

On Jun 30, 6:29�am, Emery Davis wrote:
People who know I'm a wine geek invariably ask my opinion of their
"special wine."
I don't want to offend them by saying I don't like it (as is often,
sadly, the case) and
I end up hemming and hawing, trying to think of something positive to say..

This happened again this weekend, I was served some awful Bordeaux that
was made
by a cousin of the Hostess. �She was really proud, but I thought it was
herbaceous but
at the same time over concentrated, with an addition of oak juice and
elmers glue. �I
took a couple of sips politely but drank water with the rest of the
meal. �(Got a headache
anyway, but maybe not down to the wine, although it had "headache" writ
large on the
label.)

She pressed me for an opinion so I waxed on about how wonderful it must
be to drink
juice produced by one's very own family. �Blech.

What say the fellow geeks, or those considered geeks by their friends,
in these situations?
Is honesty really the best policy?

-E

I usually hem, haw, say something "wow, I'm really getting a lot of
vanilla (or herbs, or whatever)" , say things like "just like in
music, there are a lot of styles, no one likes all of them equally,
that doesn't mean they're better or worse." Still, some people get
offended because I don't like their Marquis-Phillips.

Emery Davis wrote in
:

Joseph Coulter wrote:
Emery Davis wrote in
:

[]
What say the fellow geeks, or those considered geeks by their
friends, in these situations?
Is honesty really the best policy?

-E


I would try a music or art metaphor. Not everyone likes neo
contemporary,post modern deconstructed etc but somebody out there
pays for it. In this one you might say "My it is very concentrated!"
I am oak averse and that is one thing that I will point out, "You
know we all have out tasstes and I have never been big on oak so this
just isn'my cup of tea- I really like cubism you know?"

Heh, nice one. Knowing myself, I'd probably come out with "this
reminds me of the sound Pete Townsend gets when the guitar burns, just
after he's stomped it." Or maybe: "evokes the sound of a four year
old violin student."

-E


Jason Pollak? I can identify with the Pete Townsend however, though
potentially not as diplomatic as I had hoped for, it is on the money!

--
Joseph Coulter, cruises and vacations
www.josephcoulter.com

877 832 2021
904 631 8863 cell

Mike Tommasi wrote:
[]
I believe you are talking about a cousin who actually makes wine as a
business, not your "home made" stuff.


Yes, a drop from the ocean of bad commercial Bordeaux. It had a TVA
capsule, I didn't inquire about the price.

With friends asking your opinion on an allegedly great wine that they
picked just for you by asking "an expert" but turns out to be worse than
the home made one of the previous paragraph, you say: "Mmm, I can tell
this was done by a top oenologist, very interesting, now if only he had
used grapes".

LOL. My problem usually occurs because they have genuinely convinced
themselves that they like it. And of course, Bordeaux is "good wine."

-E

On Jun 30, 11:51�am, Emery Davis wrote:
Mike Tommasi wrote:

[]

I believe you are talking about a cousin who actually makes wine as a
business, not your "home made" stuff.

Yes, a drop from the ocean of bad commercial Bordeaux. �It had a TVA
capsule, I didn't inquire about the price.

With friends asking your opinion on an allegedly great wine that they
picked just for you by asking "an expert" but turns out to be worse than
the home made one of the previous paragraph, you say: "Mmm, I can tell
this was done by a top oenologist, very interesting, now if only he had
used grapes".

LOL. �My problem usually occurs because they have genuinely convinced
themselves that they like it. �And of course, Bordeaux is "good wine."

-E

I didn't realize that it was commercial wine. In that case I would
refer them to the Dale Scale and rate it a "C"

What say the fellow geeks, or those considered geeks by their friends,
in these situations?
Is honesty really the best policy?

-E

I usually hem, haw, say something "wow, I'm really getting a lot of
vanilla (or herbs, or whatever)" , say things like "just like in
music, there are a lot of styles, no one likes all of them equally,
that doesn't mean they're better or worse." Still, some people get
offended because I don't like their Marquis-Phillips.

My response is " rustic", " individual" and if really awful " what is the
encepage?"

JT

I usually simply tell them that the wine is not to my taste. They then get
to salvage themselves by thinking I obviously have lousy taste!!

Chuck

"Emery Davis" wrote in message
...
People who know I'm a wine geek invariably ask my opinion of their
"special wine."
I don't want to offend them by saying I don't like it (as is often, sadly,
the case) and
I end up hemming and hawing, trying to think of something positive to say.

This happened again this weekend, I was served some awful Bordeaux that
was made
by a cousin of the Hostess. She was really proud, but I thought it was
herbaceous but
at the same time over concentrated, with an addition of oak juice and
elmers glue. I
took a couple of sips politely but drank water with the rest of the meal.
(Got a headache
anyway, but maybe not down to the wine, although it had "headache" writ
large on the
label.)

She pressed me for an opinion so I waxed on about how wonderful it must be
to drink
juice produced by one's very own family. Blech.

What say the fellow geeks, or those considered geeks by their friends, in
these situations?
Is honesty really the best policy?

-E

Hi Emery,

On Mon, 30 Jun 2008 12:29:50 +0200, Emery Davis
wrote:

People who know I'm a wine geek invariably ask my opinion of their
"special wine."

Is honesty really the best policy?

I think it is. Though put as tactfully as one can. So in the case of
the Bordeaux as you described it, I may well saysomething like "This
isn't really my kind of wine, I'm afraid. I can see your cousin has
thought very hard about what he's doing, .(and then steer the
conversation into how long he's been winemaking and so on). But as
you rightly say the majority of French are completely blinded by the
dread words "Apellation Bordeaux Controlée" and think that's a
guarantee of a wonderful wine.

Sigh. I don't know how many bottles of Chateau Plonk I've been offered
in the last 20 years.
--
All the best
Fatty from Forges

"Emery Davis" wrote in message
...
People who know I'm a wine geek invariably ask my opinion of their
"special wine."
I don't want to offend them by saying I don't like it (as is often, sadly,
the case) and
I end up hemming and hawing, trying to think of something positive to say.

This happened again this weekend, I was served some awful Bordeaux that
was made
by a cousin of the Hostess. She was really proud, but I thought it was
herbaceous but
at the same time over concentrated, with an addition of oak juice and
elmers glue. I
took a couple of sips politely but drank water with the rest of the meal.
(Got a headache
anyway, but maybe not down to the wine, although it had "headache" writ
large on the
label.)

She pressed me for an opinion so I waxed on about how wonderful it must be
to drink
juice produced by one's very own family. Blech.

What say the fellow geeks, or those considered geeks by their friends, in
these situations?
Is honesty really the best policy?

What do you say when it really is a home made wine, i.e., made from a
supermarket kit! A friend always took some of his kit wine to dinner
parties, with great pride, of course, but his wife always made a beeline for
the real stuff.
Graham

On Tue, 01 Jul 2008 00:03:15 +0200, IanH wrote:

But as
you rightly say the majority of French are completely blinded by the
dread words "Apellation Bordeaux Controlée" and think that's a
guarantee of a wonderful wine.

Is that really true? It would surprise me if it were. I think most
French probably have a pretty realistic view of generic Bordeaux. But
many punters outside of France may be more naive.

To the original question... I would usually say the wine is not to my
taste. The fact that a wine exists commercially is almost proof that
it is a question of taste, and there are very few circumstances where
I proclaim a wine to be BAD - they are usually wines that are faulty
or bordering on being faulty. Home-made wines are another issue.
Mercifuly I don't know anyone who indulges in that hobby ATM.

--
Steve Slatcher
http://pobox.com/~steve.slatcher

"John T" wrote:

... and if really awful "what is the encepage?"

Either "cépage" (grape variety) or "encépagement" (grape mix).
Please decide.

M.

I'd take a sip and ask the hostess if her cousin crushed the grapes with
his feet and then I'd suggest she should tell him to take off his sticky
smelly socks because the wine is only fit to be drank by Canadians.