ROALD DAHL TASTE
Roald Dahl’s short story ‘Taste’, first published in 1945, recounts a ‘little betting game’ where a host challenges a wealthy, obnoxious wine connoisseur to identify ‘by its breed and by its vintage’ a glass of claret, served blind. The stakes are high. When the host’s beautiful daughter is pitted against his guest’s town and country houses, the host’s wife is outraged. Her husband, however, tells her ‘it is impossible for a man to differentiate the many small vineyards within each commune by taste and smell alone.’ Thus begins a tantalising performance of elimination and deduction, resulting in the gourmet triumphantly guessing the wine as 1934 Ch Branaire Ducru. I first read this story as a teenager, well before I became interested in wine. Dahl’s masterful descriptive characterizations of wines from Margaux versus Pauillac, etc., were completely lost on me. But in hindsight it was my first encounter with wine writing. Cast as corpulent, utterly devoid of kindness or decency, the smug meanness of Dahl’s ‘gourmet’ has remained in my memory. I wonder whether the story ‘Taste’ has stained my perspective of connoisseurship. Wine somehow brings out the best and worst of human nature. Perhaps it’s because growing vines and making wine reflects our own life cycles and caste systems? Young wines from young vines are often described as callow and lacking depth. A wine from a great vintage is portrayed as distinguished and complex. The similes of human look and character are everywhere. Dark and brooding, generous and powerful, tight and unforgiving, forceful and elegant are just some words that describe personality.
196 The Wine Journal – 2023 Ch â teau Branaire Ducru
Powered by FlippingBook