Wine drinkers dictionary (half serious but not too much)

Wine world is a complex and various container, as the characters of the people that revolve around it.

Different types, very far from each other, a true bestiary of vices, defects and even some (small) virtues, subjects sometimes serious and sometimes improbable, united by the common passion for “the nectar of the Gods”.

 

We can think that it’s not true, but necessarily everyone of us is inside one of these categories. Rather, the path of every winelover is often nothing more than a passage, as if it were a cursus honorum, from a category to another next one.

 

1.The average drinker. (macro-category which includes 95% of wine drinkers, of which the vast majority of them never pass this phase). He drink for automatism, barely distinguishing between white and red, between good and bad. Look at the winelovers as if they were crazy or fools, those who prefer to turn it over in the glass instead of drinking, above all spending crazy amounts for a bottle. Buy improbable wines, trying to spend as minus as possible and giving yourself, only for very special occasions, a bottle of Brunello or Barolo bought in the discount store close to his house.

Preferred wine: Tavernello

 

2.The neophyte. Shy, almost embarrassed, he tiptoes into the varied world of wine, generally starting from a basic course for tasters. Look at the experts and sommeliers with respect, thinking that never in life, even after many years of study and tasting, he will be able to match them. He prefers soft and round wines, which give him safety and tranquility.

Preferred wine: Valpolicella Amarone (or Manduria Primitivo)

 

3.The guidebook. He moves cautiously but at the same time with (fake) security within wine world. He haven’t yet his own well-defined idea, but relies like a robot on the certainties of others, buying and appreciating only awarded wines. His guru is Robert Parker, his only enoic dream is to drink the perfect wine, a 100/100 rating wine.

Preferred wine: Bolgheri (better with the name that ending in ... aia)

 

4.The educated. Generally self-taught person, therefore with limited consideration for sommeliers or candidate ones. He devours a lot of books about wines, as well as visits and tastings, buying bottles that he jealously collects in the cellar and trying to make up for lost time and the distance that separates him from the wine connoisseur’s paradise. He begins to get his own idea, raising the bar of his tastes as well as his “enoic ego”. He is an appreciated figure but at the same time feared by the producers, cause of the time they are forced to dedicate to him

Preferred wine: Barbaresco

 

5.The expert. Accurate to the limit of pedantry, it moves easily between the shelves of wine bars as well as among the counters of the producers during the tastings in which it decides to participate. He selects his samples personnally, asking questions of which he already knows the answer, only to be able to make his clarifications. He has an unshakable idea of ​​what a wine should be, and buys only bottles of selected producers – better if coming from small denominations - who respect the dictates of his wine philosophy.

Preferred wine: Marche Bordò (or Cote Rotie Syrah)

 

6.The offbeat. Wary, allergic to dogmas and to any established order, he sees wine critic and industrial wines (which until yesterday he appreciated ...) as absolute evil, as if it were “Satan inside a bottle”. When he hears the words "sulphites" or "selected yeasts" he has gagging. He only attends trade fairs or sector events, buying and drinking only wines from small and unknown producers, logically natural or biodynamic.

Preferred wine: Orange wine

 

7. The long-time enthusiast. A figure that, after years of tastings, joys and disappointments, great masterpieces but also immense crap, has now reached the peace of the wine senses. He shows respect for all types of wines (provided they are made from grapes) and moves easily - almost as if he were in the home garden - between denominations, additional geographical mentions, appellations and Grand crus, without however being obsessed with them. He follows an unique denominator, that is finesse, depth and elegance.

Preferred wine: “His heart wine”