Do you consider yourself a "connoisseur"?

Not only don't I think I am a connoisseur, I'd be wary of calling anyone by the term. The dictionary term (here in the UK) is still quite neutral, but I associate it with a certain prissiness, preciousness and massive condescension. It has fallen amongst the bad company of Pseuds and Luvvies.

I certainly would say that Broadbent is a connoisseur in the real meaning of the word without the perjorative connotations, and His Lordship certainly doesn't give the impression of being other than the real thing either.

I would worry that a "connoisseur" of wine would be the sort of person who would look down on those who drink "anything less than a 2nd growth" or who served the classic "naiive domestic burgundy".

Of course a true connoisseur needs to have experienced the bad in order to know the good and would not be so haughty about any wine offered. The exception is, of course, with close wine-bibbing friends where the rough and tumble of "who brought this s**t?" can take place.

Yep, by that definition I'm a wine nerd, though my friends call me an "enthusiast" when being pleasant and an "anorak" after a few bottles. By which they mean that I use Jancis' guide to grape varieties and Hugh Johnson's Wine Atlas as I-Spy books.

I plead sort of guilty and offer some rather good Vranac as mitigation, at which point they would throw back - rather lustily - some Greek monstrosities and a 1990 Riesling Trocken that acquired the nickname of "The Battery Acid" (capitals deserved).

This solves things in a minor way.

There are connoisseurs in the dictionary sense - "a person with a well informed knowledge and appreciation, esp of fine food and wine or of the arts." though they would probably deny being such.

There are connoisseurs in the sense that it is all too often meant or self-applied - Cork Dorks with money.

Yeah baby!

James

But Dale, would you say that you are obsessive about wine? OK, we have only met twice but, I do believe, that you have other interests than wine, as do I, and, I think, many other of the posters here.

Decanter does a scoring of houndreds of wines each year, and a few years back the judges were interviewed about their backgrounds, including what were there "second love". I found that a majority of them had loads of interests, such as (and this was a prominent feature) music, both as listeners and performers, hiking, ornithology etc.

In fact one of them claimed that wine WAS his second love, second to, IIRC, music.

When we have dinner with tasting at home, it is usually accompanied by the latest aquisitions of recorded music (cool jazz, or African art music, or ...) because we all love that kind of music and are active listeners.

I feel the need to start a new thread.

Cheers

Nils