ON DRINKING WINE

 

This five page article is all about wine.  Johns is a keen wine drinker.  “In a world fairly saturated with snobbery and hypocrisy, nothing has received worse treatment in this country than wine, the reason being that less is known of it here than in any other country in Europe.  For the same reason, the worst wine in the world is to be found here, wine – so called – that no one in a wine country would touch with a barge-pole.  Furthermore, its price has been so distorted that it has come to be regarded as a luxury, available only for the wealthy, or something to be reserved for great occasions.  Which is all very silly”.  “The rule in drinking wine is to drink the wine you like best”.  Johns tells a story of when he was in France drinking a five franc bottle of wine with a plain label.  Four Englishmen arrived and were given the same wine but they turned their noses up at it.  They wanted a better label.  The then paid twenty francs a bottle for a wine with a fancy label but Johns knew it was in fact the same wine.  Johns says this about wine.  “Don’t, for heaven’s sake, throw it into your mouth as though you have just done a route march across the Sahara.  Three senses are called into play when drinking wine: sight, smell, and taste”.  “In closing, let me say that I have nothing against beer.  I can drink beer with anybody, and beer is one of the few things that are getting better and better; but for dinner, wine is the king of the table, and always will be”.

 

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