wine snobs

What could be a better Christmas present than a mammoth tusk? If you too cannot imagine anything better, you are certainly in line with some of the staff and customers of Harrods, the famous London department store.

I visited this temple of conspicuous consumption earlier today, but as I had already organised all my Christmas presents a while ago, I showed the tusk and another £47,000 fossil that also was on sale the cold shoulder and moved on to the wine shop in the basement, eager to explore what delights it might offer - especially with regards to German wine. I mean, where better to go, one would think, than Harrods if it comes to finding something unusual and extraordinary, right?

At a wedding this weekend a friend approached me with the questions "So what's with this wine thing?" It took me a second to realise that he was curious about the Wine Rambler. More than that he actually wanted to know if I was one of those people who can tell the vintage, vineyard and region of a wine just be sniffing it.

When I pointed out to him that I am most certainly not one of these people (even though I might manage to recognise a Riesling by Theo Haart, a theory that may need to be tested one day), he seemed very pleased. "Good!", he said with quite some emphasis, especially when I told him that our website project was all about the fun. Turns he almost distrusts wine experts and prefers to go for simple reds.

Perhaps once or twice every fortnight I have to endure the London underground. It is usually a painful and in no way enlightening experience. To help the Londoners endure it better, the Lord has created free newspapers. The most substantial one is cleverly called "Metro", and today's Metro has an article about wine, cleverly called "You decant hurry love". Actually, the two pages of the "Good Taste" section are not so much about wine, they are about "vino".