Scientific proof that wine snobs are full of it

[Balog]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/10783463/Is-everything-we-know-about-wine-wrong.html

This is equally applicable to most areas where pretentious morons spend huge sums of money for no reason cough cough audiophiles cough cough.

[Nick1911]

Humans aren't very good at determining fact from fiction outside of controlled, repeatable methodology.  aka, science with a little s.

[Brad Johnson]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/10783463/Is-everything-we-know-about-wine-wrong.html

This is equally applicable to most areas where pretentious morons spend huge sums of money for no reason cough cough audiophiles cough cough.

But.. but.. but.. my $100 per foot Uber Cables have 0.0000345 % less noise than your sewer trash $0.16 per foot lamp cord. How dare you even speak of them in the same sentence, peasant!

Brad

[AJ Dual]

Imagine what else people are wrong about.

[Fitz]

First off, there's a difference between audiophiles and morons. Any real audiophile is going to buy normal, inexpensive cables and spend more money on processing and speakers.


Secondly... WRT wine. I remember a while back some big wine rag did a blind taste test of a bunch of reds. Forget which ones involved, but many were expensive


2 buck chuck won the taste test. Charles Shaw. Great wine... Super cheap

[charby]

Would be interesting with beer*. 

*or vodka, whiskey, gin, rum, etc other types of liquor with different levels of pricing.

[RevDisk]

But.. but.. but.. my $100 per foot Uber Cables have 0.0000345 % less noise than your sewer trash $0.16 per foot lamp cord. How dare you even speak of them in the same sentence, peasant!

Brad

Pfffft.  Only PEASANTS use $100 per foot audio cable. Ghetto audiophiles use cheap AudioQuest K2 stereo wire at $1700 per foot.

http://www.audioquest.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/audioquest_retail_pricebook.pdf


For the real deal, you want Siltech Emperor Crown at $7,400 per foot. Legend has it that it uses patented Emperor technology that only allows true audiophiles to tell the superior quality. If you can't hear the difference, you're not a true audiophile! 

[230RN]

I first made wine from sugar, Fleischmann's yeast, and Welch's grape juice.  Not bad.  Tasted like Cold Duck.  (I went on to other things, and the best wine I ever made was from strawberries.)

Soooooo, from wiki:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_Duck

Hugely successful, Baby Duck was the best-selling domestic wine during the 1970s and it hatched numerous imitators: Canada Duck, Love-A-Duck, Kool Duck, Daddy Duck and Fuddle Duck were joined by Cold Turkey, etc… All of these wines driving the runaway expansion in the wine trade in the 1960s and 1970s were concocted from water, sugar and grapes that were judged unsuitable for making good quality dry table wines.

Nyah-nyah.

Terry

[Fitz]

I first made wine from sugar, Fleischmann's yeast, and Wlech's grape juice.  Not bad.  Tasted like Cold Duck.  (I went on to other things, and the best wine I ever made was from strawberries.)

Soooooo, from wiki:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_Duck

Terry

The powers that be made the mistake of sending us gallons and gallons of grape juice and lots of baking supplies when I was at my little outpost in Iraq.



Drinking hooch out of a trash can is a beautiful thing

[Brad Johnson]

Pfffft.  Only PEASANTS use $100 per foot audio cable. Ghetto audiophiles use cheap AudioQuest K2 stereo wire at $1700 per foot.

http://www.audioquest.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/audioquest_retail_pricebook.pdf


For the real deal, you want Siltech Emperor Crown at $7,400 per foot. Legend has it that it uses patented Emperor technology that only allows true audiophiles to tell the superior quality. If you can't hear the difference, you're not a true audiophile! 

I feel so inferior... 

Brad

[230RN]

^ @ Fitz:

So how was the <ahem> "nose" of that wine?

But it was no doubt a properly aged and well-cared for trash barrel from the 1930s, eh?

What gets to me about these wine tasters is they don't swallow and they spit it out to keep their palates fresh for the next wine.   After reading the article, one can only wonder what difference that makes.

[mtnbkr]

Would be interesting with beer*. 

I can taste a difference between "good" beer and "not good" beer.  I know because I drink both (will just as happily consume Miller High Life as I will some of the local microbrews such as those from Bad Wolf Brewery here in my town).  Even their "light" beers have more body and flavor than a typical Miller.

I can taste a difference between Jim Beam Rye Whiskey and other, more expensive Ryes.  Doesn't make JB bad, but it does make the others more desirable depending how I'm drinking them.

Chris

[Ben]

I can taste a difference between Jim Beam Rye Whiskey and other, more expensive Ryes.  Doesn't make JB bad, but it does make the others more desirable depending how I'm drinking them.

Chris

I do the same. While I really like the taste of some high end whiskeys and mostly just drink small batch, I can be just as happy drinking Old Overholt. There are some expensive whiskies I simply haven't liked, just like I don't like cheap Jack Daniels.

Sometimes the more expensive whiskies are better though, simply because they are. I figure a snob (for anything) is someone who insists on only the most expensive or rare, even when it's not the best, or refuses to consider the "cheaper" thing, even when it's better. I'd rather have a smile on my face drinking from a $20 bottle of whiskey, than a grimace forcing down something I don't like from a $200 bottle.

[BlueStarLizzard]

When it comes to matters of literal taste, I remain seriously skeptical of cost vs. taste.

I've had good wine, I've had crappy wine and, I swear, the only wine I ever actually enjoyed drinking came out of a box.
The rest was stupid rotten grapes. (no, I don't like wine. I don't like straight liquer either. Beer, hard cider and cocktails are my alcohols of choice)

It doesn't suprise me at all to hear the so-called experts are full of excrement.

[erictank]

First off, there's a difference between audiophiles and morons. Any real audiophile is going to buy normal, inexpensive cables and spend more money on processing and speakers.


Secondly... WRT wine. I remember a while back some big wine rag did a blind taste test of a bunch of reds. Forget which ones involved, but many were expensive


2 buck chuck won the taste test. Charles Shaw. Great wine... Super cheap

IIRC, oxygenating whatever wine you drink makes it taste MUCH better. Pouring the 2-buck chuck back and forth between a couple of glasses for a minute or two made it taste as good or better than the $$$ stuff allowed to "sit and breathe" for a bit. Or so ISTR from reading a little while back. Do not recall whether oxygenating the $$$ stuff the same way improved it enough to make it worth the $$$ by comparison.

[SADShooter]

IIRC, oxygenating whatever wine you drink makes it taste MUCH better. Pouring the 2-buck chuck back and forth between a couple of glasses for a minute or two made it taste as good or better than the $$$ stuff allowed to "sit and breathe" for a bit. Or so ISTR from reading a little while back. Do not recall whether oxygenating the $$$ stuff the same way improved it enough to make it worth the $$$ by comparison.

Hence wine aerators are one of the latest trends in the gadget arena.

[MillCreek]

Hence wine aerators are one of the latest trends in the gadget arena.

My wife got me one for Christmas, and we think it does make a difference with some wines.

[birdman]

Pfffft.  Only PEASANTS use $100 per foot audio cable. Ghetto audiophiles use cheap AudioQuest K2 stereo wire at $1700 per foot.

http://www.audioquest.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/audioquest_retail_pricebook.pdf


For the real deal, you want Siltech Emperor Crown at $7,400 per foot. Legend has it that it uses patented Emperor technology that only allows true audiophiles to tell the superior quality. If you can't hear the difference, you're not a true audiophile! 

Reading the descriptions in that PDF has made me dumber.  Do people believe this poop?

[Nick1911]

Reading the descriptions in that PDF has made me dumber.  Do people believe this poop?

Vastly.

[Balog]

Reading the descriptions in that PDF has made me dumber.  Do people believe this poop?

I need to find the one with cables that have an oval cross section to let the electrons flow better. 

[birdman]

I need to find the one with cables that have an oval cross section to let the electrons flow better. 

You mean like how this one says DIRECTIONALITY matters on a wire due to grain structure from drawing?  Whoa...you mean pretty much ALL EM symmetry arguments are invalid when talking about high end audio?!

[Balog]

You mean like how this one says DIRECTIONALITY matters on a wire due to grain structure from drawing?  Whoa...you mean pretty much ALL EM symmetry arguments are invalid when talking about high end audio?!

Shut it science boy, only my golden ears can discern the changes dropping $30k on cables makes in this sound system. 

[RevDisk]

Reading the descriptions in that PDF has made me dumber.  Do people believe this poop?

...

Tell ya what. I'll cut you in for 5% if you get really really drunk and give me some good obfuscation marketing terms for the "best" speaker wire that the PRC is capable of making on 5-kilo spools.

 

[lee n. field]

Imagine what else people are wrong about.

Mmmm-hm.

Like handguns.

[charby]

I do the same. While I really like the taste of some high end whiskeys and mostly just drink small batch, I can be just as happy drinking Old Overholt. There are some expensive whiskies I simply haven't liked, just like I don't like cheap Jack Daniels.

Sometimes the more expensive whiskies are better though, simply because they are. I figure a snob (for anything) is someone who insists on only the most expensive or rare, even when it's not the best, or refuses to consider the "cheaper" thing, even when it's better. I'd rather have a smile on my face drinking from a $20 bottle of whiskey, than a grimace forcing down something I don't like from a $200 bottle.

I prefer a $90 bottle of Balvenie over a $14 bottle of Old Overholt, but if I drank Balvenie like I drink cheaper spirits I'd be flat broke. I'm probably visiting the liquor about every other week to replace a bottle that was emptied from the home bar. Granted I have company over that likes to drink but I don't have guests over every weekend.