01/29/08 Gourmet Wine

Welcome to Vine to Wine this is your host Linda Moran and recently I was asked what is a gourmet wine drinker and I was puzzled but as I thought about it I realized that if one is a gourmet of any kind a great deal of time and effort are spent on it. Okay so I went to the internet and according to the wikipedia the term gourmet refers to a person with a discriminating palate, who is knowledgeable in fine food and drink. The word is a corruption of the French word gourmet, a valet in charge of the wines. Upon furthere research I found a clip from an article in the NY Times Jan 1985 describing the differences between epicurean, gastronomes, gourmets and gourmands and how they write about their dining experiences. It says "After eating, an epicure gives a thin smile of satisfaction, a gastronome, burping into his napkin, praises the food in his magazine; a gourmet, repressing his burp, criticizes the same food in his magazine and a gourmand belches happily and tells everybody where he ate." There is no doubt a bit of all of them in all of us who enjoy food and beverage. Although, back to my original thought, to be classified as a gourmet I think a great deal of effort has to be invested in reading, understanding and experimenting with food and beverage. So maybe knowledge isn't just power it is also fun! Remember to send your wine questions to Linda at vine to wine dot net and thanks for joining me on today's Vine to Wine.