how cute

[Thomas]

Last week I was at a big Italian wine tasting at the Mariott Marquis in Manhattan. At one station (I will not mention the producer's name) I was poured a corked Barbera D'Asti. The nose was faintly corked but the fruit had been stripped away. The bottle was about two-thirds full. When I pointed out the corkiness to the distributor rep, he first said that no one else had mentioned it, then he poured himself a taste and told me I was wrong. I told him that if the wine was not corked, then it wasn't up to standards as a Barbera, and when I asked to taste the Barolo he refused to pour it because, he said, "You do not understand these wines."

Now that is what I call a real salesman: obviously in need of no customers, at least not this one, and obviously doesn't know when a wine has a problem. Incidentally, I am one of those people Bucko mentions who are super sensitive to corkiness in the nose (and SO2).