Let this sommelier explain just what it means when a wine has a ‘personality’ and impress and infuriate your friends with your new knowledge.
Be honest: every friend group, including yours, has that one person who pretends that they know *everything* about wine. You’ll be on a night out at a swanky bar and they’ll be sniffing it, swirling it and glugging it like they’re in an episode of Frasier.
Yet there’s a line in The U.S. Office – said by Michael Scott, who else – that sums up the huge hypocrisy of such wine pretenders. “I know a fair amount about fine food and drink,” he insists, sniffing a glass of wine, before saying, This is a white.” Magnificent knowledge!
Thankfully, then, you can shut that annoying friend up on your next night out thanks to this new video posted by The Business Insider. They got a real-life sommelier (a wine steward), Sara Lehman, to explain exactly what it means when a wine has a ‘personality’. She insists that a good wine has a ‘personality’ when it has a quality that’s more than the expected.
When I look for a personality in a wine, I look for something that’s big and bold,” she says. “I look for a wine that not only expresses the grape varietal that it’s being made from.”
Lehman considers the wine-making techniques: “Did they use oak? Did they use stainless steel? I also look for pairability. Does it have enough acidity to age? Does it have enough acidity to pair well with foods that I think in the season would be well with it?”
Overall though, she’s concerned with the finish. “If it doesn’t really have a strong finish, it can fall flat, and I find that those wines tend to be not as much fun to drink,” she says. “Sure I’ll have a glass, but if it doesn’t finish right, and if it doesn’t finish out strong, I find that that’s not a glass I’m going back to afterwards.”
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So there you have it. Why not head to Dan Murphy’s and impress the staff with your newfound knowledge? And make sure to drop words like “acidity” and “pairability” the next time you’re in a bar with your friends. Don’t worry, you’re allowed to be obnoxious once.
Check out Michael Scott’s wine knowledge:
