What rare and expensive foods have you tried? How are they?

[TlalocW]

28. As a tee-totaler

I have an unhealthy fascination with sommeliers, as I think they're the biggest scam-artists out there, and double-blind tests have proven me right. Undoubtedly when told what a wine is, they have some knowledge of the area it's made and what traditionally has been done in the area. For instance, if a vineyard exclusively uses a certain kind of oak barrel... *Sip* "Yes, the fruitiness of this particular wine is counterbalanced nicely by hints of oak...." But then give them the same wine later on without telling them, and they'll describe it differently.

Dave Barry did wonderful column on them years ago.

http://www.miamiherald.com/living/liv-columns-blogs/dave-barry/article1936835.html

The first event of the evening competition was a blind tasting, where the sommeliers had to identify a mystery wine. We in the audience got to try it, too. It was a wine that I would describe as yellow in color, and everybody at my table agreed it was awful. "Much too woody, " said one person. "Heavily oxidized, " said another. "Bat urine, " I offered. The others felt this was a tad harsh. I was the only one who finished my glass.



TlalocW