So I was working the other day stocking shelves when a customer came up to me and asked if I could recommend a couple of good wines for her. I asked her what she was looking to spend and she said about 20 bucks a bottle.. She said she is looking for a good merlot and also a good chardonnay or pinot grigio Knowing the price range I took her over and recommended a bottle of Magness merlot. I personally do not drink merlots and went with my knowledge of the shelf tag used at other stores. Magness Merlot was given 92 points by Wine Enthusiast last year. While I never mentioned me ever having tried the wine, the customer was glad to take a bottle of wine with such a favorable rating. I then walked her over to the chardonnay's where I ran into the liquor store's wine manager. As I don't drink chardonnays much either I felt it best to have the wine guy recommend her the second bottle, which he did happily and I thought it was time to go on with my day.
But low and behold, next time I passed the wine desk the wine manager stopped me and asked me to take a test he made. Apparently in order to hand sell at this liquor store one is required to pass this 7 question test. Now I like to think that I know a decent amount about wine. I read books and I drink lots of wine and I absorb everything I can from everyone I can who knows wine. One look at this test told me I know nothing about selling wine. It wasn't the questions about naming the varietals from Bordeau or Piedmont or the grapes used in champagne and sparkling wine. The difficulties came in the questions about how one is supposed to qualify a customer.
Besides me failing to ask how many people will be served or whether the wine will be served with dinner or alone. Even my apparent mistake to use a question of preferred price range didn't bother me to find out. What has my mind boggled is the information that this wine manager uses with customers that I really don't think I will ever know. I never knew that the sauce is the main key in a dish concerning the pairing of wine. It is not enough to pair fish with a sauv blanc. One must know how the fish is prepared. Is it grilled? Poached? Seared? Fried? All of these have different possible pairings.
I just cant make my mind work in a way that makes a bottle of wine a key component of my meal. I know I am young but I love the taste of wine so much that I always put the wine first. It just doesn't add up to me to think "well, my chicken was prepared in a light olive oil sauce, I should probably pick a wine that doesn't stand out too much otherwise it will over power my chicken". I guess I am just not that proud of a cook.
So for now I think I am just gonna have to step back on this situation and let things be. I love my wine for what it tastes like by itself. Should somebody ever prepare a fabulous meal for me I will just let them decide on what wine goes best and start my learning from there.
