Sommelier ‘hams’

There are many talented sommeliers and worthy associations, like AIS (Associazione Italiana Sommeliers) and FISAR (Italian Federation of Sommeliers, Hotels, Restaurants) and I have nothing against the vast majority of them. In fact, even yours truly took their courses, learned the terminology and concepts from them and even went on to teach courses. Thus here I will say nothing against those who do such a magnificent job is spreading knowledge about the world of wine.

However, as in every family there can be the occasional black sheep. In this case they are those who hide behind abstruse, redundant and basically trite terms more to show off how they know them rather than to effectively inform. Their “story telling” talks about “minerality”, “crunchiness” and includes claptrap about “terroir” and “extreme wines”, words that have little to do with informing and explaining but are in fact just trite terms and unbearable clichés. Although everyone is free to use the terms they please, what bothers me is what their real intention is by using certain words. My fear is that rather than trying to attract and inform new wine lovers, share passions and experiences, there is a risk of alienating them. Using banal terms and unbearable clichés, ‘wine speak’, also exposes one to the risk of appearing ridiculous and self-absorbed more than anything else. Recently, efforts have been made to tackle the problem of terminology, to apply the right words to precise scientific situations, those involving biology and enology.

The initiative is being carried out by those who have learned the lesson of people like Morgan Freeman, Alberto Angela, Mario Tozzi and others who have had great success on television explaining scientific concepts, some much more complicated than those of wine, in an understandable way. Why this approach has not been applied to the world of wine is beyond me. It would be great if during the meetings of the various wine associations more attention was paid to this, with an attempt made to revise a terminology that in some ways is dated and, above all, does not correspond with the science behind wine, not just organic chemistry but also history and geography. We owe it to those who are approaching the world of wine and deserve to be informed in a light but also precise way, without resorting to sector jargon and acting like a theatrical ham, who uses exaggerated pronunciation and movement to disguise a lack of talent.

The approach of the “sommelier hams” should be avoided at all costs.