View Single Post
  #7 (permalink)   Report Post  
Posted to alt.food.wine
James Silverton[_2_] James Silverton[_2_] is offline
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 3,207
Default FYI..Wine drinkers of the world , unite...

IanH wrote on Sat, 31 May 2008 19:28:25 +0200:

>> Author and journalist Christopher Hitchens has launched a
>> scathing attack on restaurants and sommeliers, calling them
>> "barbaric','rude' and 'boors'. Is Hitchens beating the right
>> drum here?


> I've not read the article, but I've never found a sommelier to
> be barbaric rude or boorish. I have once crossed swords with a
> trainee who didn't know as much as she thought she did, but
> that's all.


As others have mentioned, my major objection is over-solicitous
waiters who refill glasses without asking. Sometimes you don't
notice in time stop them from pouring for people who do not wish
any more. It seems a bit crass or distasteful to pour from one
glass to another. I suppose a wine waiter or sommelier might
wish to bring attention to a noteworthy wine but I prefer not to
have advice unless I ask for it.

I guess the restaurants that I frequent are no longer the type
but I never really liked the custom of a sommelier trying the
wine using a little saucer hanging from a chain around their
neck. Has the custom died and if not, what is the correct name
for the little dish?

--

James Silverton
Potomac, Maryland

E-mail, with obvious alterations:
not.jim.silverton.at.verizon.not