As geekery, not snobbery. I feel like we are often confusing those two things in this thread.
A snob is someone who has an exaggerated desire to have a high social position, or someone who believes their tastes are greatly superior to those of others.
Bringing a bottle versus ordering premium bottles off the restaurant list versus not drinking wine and ordering other drinks doesn’t fit any definition of snobbery.
Civilians might think you care too much about wine because you BYO, but it doesn’t make you a snob. If you then go on and on about the wine you brought and how great it is, then that behavior would be snobby, but that would be equally true if you did that about an expensive wine you ordered off the list.
And in that case they’re paying the cost of your expensive tastes. When you BYO, you get to have good wine, share good wine with your friends, and they pay nothing or almost nothing for it. Generosity isn’t snobbery.
Lots of us are probably wine “aficionados” and not wine “snobs”, but yeah, there are definitely some wine snobs who post here and that’s just fine.
“Snob” seems to be used interchangeably, incorrectly or maybe it’s that “aficionado” isn’t used enough.
Geez folks - you really want to get down rabbit holes about ‘geeks vs snobs’? Even THAT sounds snobbish to folks who are just casual wine drinkers . . .
It’s really not that hard. A snob looks to put down those he or she sees as beneath them, and to kiss up to their betters. So far as I can tell, that has next to nothing to do with the obsessed here
If the only wines someone buys are more than $100 that doesn’t make them a snob per se.
If someone brings their own stems/wines to restaurants or dinners they are invited to that doesn’t make them a snob per se.
But if they tell people about those strategies in a self-important way or in a way that makes the listener feel “less than” or a philistine, then they are a snob.
I will offer my opinions/tips to civilians in a geekish, fanboy manner, but never in a condescending, snobby manner.
It’s all in the attitude … in your heart and expressed in public.
Geek vs snob is completely besides the point. Being a snob is not how you see yourself or rather how we see ourselves. Its about how others perceive us.
In our circle of geekery taking a bottle to a restaurant is completely normal, reasonable and smart.
To someone who has no concern for wine whatsoever we look like snobs doing that. As in, their perception is likely to be we can’t bear to drink what the restaurant has to offer so we have to bring our special, hoity-toity bottles.
I can’t swear you are wrong because I can’t get in their craniums, but I think that is incorrect. I would imagine they would feel as I do when I see someone keeping score at a baseball game. He’s deeper into it than I am or will ever be. He’s not imposing his interests on me; why should I care or be offended?
Neal, I believe you are old enough to know that the world is full of constant judgement. If no one judged wine geeks, this thread would never have existed.
But your post is sort of a microcosm of the differences in this thread. Its not about how we perceive ourselves but how the world at large defines people. We don’t have to participate but we should acknowledge and understand.
That is a very alien world view to me. You think if the guy at the next table sees me walk in with a wine bag his first reaction is to get in a huff because I am a snob? Even if I say nothing to him and never interact with him in any way? I believe that is badly mistaken, and I hope it is too. Wow.
All of us judge people for all sorts of things. Fairly or not. I doubt anyone gets in a ‘huff’ over a bottle of wine but they might roll their eyes and think “lighten up, Francis”.
How wines that 90% of “normal” people drink are talked about on here would be viewed as downright obnoxious and not just snobby in most circles ( and just because you say it on a message board and hopefully not in front of those people doesn’t make it lesss “snobby”)
Separate issue but but bringing your own stems would definitely be viewed as snobby (rightly or wrongly)
I don’t think it is a bad thing just a negative connotation of the word but this board very much is imo
I’ve never heard of or observed a reaction that someone bringing a bottle into a restaurant is a snob. I can’t say it never happens but I’ve never heard or sensed that.
I mean not because of BYO per se — a person bringing in a bottle could act like a snob in other ways.
There are a few serious snobs on WB who just drip contempt at the rest of us who BYO, but I won’t name any names (but I’ll clarify that I’m not referring to Cris W in the least)
