I get annoyed when people explain what I’m supposed to feel while drinking wine.

There’s a familiar kind of video where someone swirls a glass with a very serious expression and talks about a great, perhaps legendary, wine. Then they explain that we should be finding brioche, or something else, in it. The whole thing comes with instructions on how impressed we should be.

I find that snobbish.

The pronunciation lessons irritate me too. Sometimes, watching wine content, I feel as though there’s always another thing I’m expected to get right. I don’t come across nearly as many videos telling me how to drink coffee or matcha. That’s my experience of what appears in my feed, anyway.

I’m interested in learning about wine. I like the stories around it, and I enjoy research and chemistry. Give me a piece about tannins and umami and I’ll want to read it. I’m curious about what happens when we put a wine and a food together, and how someone has investigated that.

So yes, there are plenty of things I’d like explained.

What bothers me is hearing someone talk about my experience with such certainty. They can tell me what they taste and why they find a bottle interesting. I might discover something through that. But I’d like some room to taste it myself before being told what I should be feeling.

Maybe the brioche is there. I’d still like to have a sip first.

Wine is never just wine. I would like to explore what’s in my glass without instructions on how impressed to be.