The Drunken Sommelier

Wine & food enthusiast Jon Greer calls into the show once again to have a real, down-to-earth conversation with Steven about the effectiveness of tasting notes for up-and-coming wine appreciators. Other topics are tossed about sporadically in this healthy chat.

What does it mean to truly love wine? Steven does a deep dive and weeds out the red flags of those who say, "I love wine!".

The primary tenet of wine education, as promoted by The Drunken Sommelier, is to Seek Understanding rather than Judgement. This tenet reaches far beyond the world of wine.

Must be funny....in a rich man's world. Is wine a rich man's world? I'm here to argue that in fact, it is not. When you take the right approach and dig it out of the dirt on your own, there's so much more to see and so much more to enjoy no matter what your budget is. 

The Drunken Sommelier embarks on a virtual coast-to-coast journey from Vancouver, British Columbia to Bathurst, New Brunswick to talk to budding wine enthusiast Jon Greer about his journey in wine. The full, unedited conversation is included. Steven and Jon were complete strangers before picking up the phone. Wine was consumed. Words were exchanged. Canada became smaller.

Why is it that so few serious wine professionals out there are talking to real mass consumers and simply talking amongst themselves? It seems that the reason that the average guzzler out there is not drinking better wine is because nobody who can show them what "better wine" can be is making an effort to talk to them. We need to create some Bodhisattva.

There are two worlds to discover in every bottle of wine. There's the world of events that went into making it and getting it to you, and then there's the life you give it from the time it first hits the bottom of your glass. Discover the magic.

Steven discusses how we sometimes mistake exoticism for quality. We discuss the flaws in sterile tasting environments, and explore the differences in how wine is consumed on either side of the Atlantic. The Quarter Pounder with Cheese™ is mentioned yet again, and as always, there's plenty more existential & deep musing on how our humanity impacts our experience.

Everybody has one. And what exactly can they tell us about wine and the human condition? How far does the prevalence of opinions reach in the wine world? And where can we go from there? We'll tell you. 

Host Steven Lane introduces The Drunken Sommelier. In this episode, we riff on what wine education is, how we perceive, how we drink, and how we learn. Buckle up: we've got lots to do.