Wine, Women, and fear of being Wrong

[differenceblog]

A new survey conducted by Harris Interactive (2007) that men and women are equally likely to drink wine (63% and 61%), but that women were more likely than men to feel uncomfortable making wine choices. The survey, commissioned by Robert Mondavi Private Selection, found the biggest gaps in wine attitudes by age, not by sex. Most of those surveyed

Comments

[astrogeek01]

Mmm, wine....

I heard that you're only supposed to send the wine back if it's turned to vinegar. Now, that might be different if it's a glass of wine - I'd be more likely to send one of those back if it tasted weird. But, if they're uncorking a whole bottle, I think it's against the "rules" of wine-ness unless it's actually gone bad. (I could be wrong about this) On the other hand, I like a lot of wine so it's unlikely that I wouldn't like it, as long as it wasn't off. Mmm...wine...

[differenceblog]

According to an article at Cooking Light, it's only acceptable to send back a wine if it is flawed. They suggest you should just buy another bottle if you turn out to hate the one you ordered. (I've just discovered, in my reaction to this comment, that I'm even more cheap than picky.)

[differenceblog]

So, this isn't a gender thing, but an age thing, and I think it's a gross misinterpretation of the results. They mentioned that 9% of those ages 21-34 vs. 16% of those ages 55+ had "ever sent back a bottle of wine after tasting it"

It seems that a wine drinker over 55 would have probably tasted a far higher number of wine bottles, and that a difference that small between groups suggests that (for any particular wine bottle) the younger people are much more likely to send it back. There doesn't seem to be any control for "number of years drinking wine." I'm actually surprised by how high the numbers for "new drinkers" are -- those bottles can't all have been flawed, can they?

[astrogeek01]

It may be that newer drinkers don't know the "rules"... probably if you actually asked the restaurant, they'd send it back anyway, because they don't want to make the customer unhappy. I've never tried, frankly, because none of the ones I've gotten have been "flawed".

There have been a *few* times, now that I think about it, that the waiter has suggested a wine and I've been uncertain that I'd like it based on its description. In those cases, the waiter offered that I could taste it and if I didn't like it send it back. But, in both cases it turned out I did like the wine. ;)

[plumtreeblossom]

As a former waitperson, I saw a lot of bottles of perfectly good wine sent back arbitrarily, always by men, and always with the obvious intention of impressing the pretty girl they were with. I knew the wine was good because I would have a small taste back in the kitchen, or ask a cook to. Send-back culture is about power tripping.

I have only sent back food if it was definitely and inedibly prepared in a way I couldn't eat it (like bloody rare when I'd asked for well done), or if there was a hair or something in it. I've never sent back wine or a drink, except one time at Gargoyles when it was visibly obvious I didn't like the martini I'd chosen, and the bartender noticed and offered to make me something different and I accepted.

If I owned a restaurant, I would charge a steep corking fee for bottles of wine sent back unless the wine was definitely spoiled or bad, and would make that policy known on the wine menu. Too many years of asshole customers and nice bottles of wine wasted made me pretty intolerant of that crap.

[differenceblog]

see what I don't learn because the place I waited tables didn't have a liquor license?

[astrogeek01]

Does the waitstaff get to drink it, then? ^^

[plumtreeblossom]

In fairness, and while I can't speak to plumtreeblossom's experience (don't even know what restaurant s/he worked at), I have heard from wine experts that many a turned bottle are not sent back. Though there certainly are some appropriately called assholes who send back items of food and drink for a power trip, I would hesitate to label all "send backs" as such

[sparsityproblem]

I find this hilarious, because the incident that resulted in me realizing that I wanted to transition involved being out to dinner with an all-male group and no one else being willing to make a decision on ordering the wine; when I finally did (because I was tired of waiting, not because I knew anything about wine), someone made a crack about how of course the only woman in the group would be the decisive one.

[differenceblog]

Wow. That's the sexist joke equivalent of "yeah, I'd like to rotate her tires."