Fill in the blank: "You know you’re a wine geek if ..."

[Robin Garr]

Guess I 'll have to turn in my geek card and confess that I don't swirl water glasses either

Hang on to it, Jon. I think your credentials are still in good order. This Geek List isn't like the 10 commandments. You're not required to abide by all, or any.

[Steve Kirsch]

Out for a business dinner, on other person's expense account, they order some serious Bdx (like an '82 1st or Super Second). It comes, everything they want and more. Just outstanding Bordeaux. Fantastic, delicious. So good that when bottle is emptied, host orders another. Bill is appalled, any geek would want to try another wine!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That story spoke to me.

Contest over. This is the quintessential difference between "us" and "them", isn't it?

Actually, Howie's "other people's wine glasses are never clean enough" is bang on as well!

[Jon Peterson]

...you keep all your corks but you don't know why.

[Jon Leifer]

Thak you Robin, feel like I got my geek back..and will confess to suggesting wines to strangers in grocery stores..and liquor stores as well

[Tom N.]

If you are at a restaurant and decide what wine you want to drink first and then pick the entree that best matches the wine.

[Jeff Grossman/NYC]

I did this the other day: Signal for the store clerk. Tell them that it really isn't legit to put the Lopez de Heredia 2000 Vina Tondonia Rosado in with the other roses.

(( This particular clerk admitted that she did the wrong thing, as she knew the wine was "different", but she wanted to promote it. What she accomplished was that two people returned it. ))

[Mark Lipton]

I did this the other day: Signal for the store clerk. Tell them that it really isn't legit to put the Lopez de Heredia 2000 Vina Tondonia Rosado in with the other roses.

(( This particular clerk admitted that she did the wrong thing, as she knew the wine was "different", but she wanted to promote it. What she accomplished was that two people returned it. ))

Interesting, Jeff. I recommended that same wine to some non-winegeek friends who dined recently at NoMI in Chicago (aside: does your friends emailing you PDFs of restaurants' wine lists for your suggestions qualify for this thread?) who flat out loved it. Of course, they also got and loved the '09 do Ferreiro Cepas Vellas on my recommendation, so maybe they're really crypto-winegeeks in training.

Mark Lipton

[Brian Gilp]

Every vacation planned in the last 15 years has been to a wine region.

Picked grapes while on your honeymoon

Actually understand what it means when a wine is Biodynamic

Can better describe the difference between Santa Rita Hills and Santa Maria Valley than you can between where you grew up and where you live now

Refer to wineries by the winemakers first name, e.g. "do you want to go to Jim's this weekend?"

Think talking about soil/rootstocks/clones is interesting.

Remember relatives birth years based on Bordeaux vintages

[Sam Platt]

In Indiana you are considered a wine geek if you are aware that every Pinot Noir does not qualify as "burgundy".

[Neil Courtney]

Know the names of all the winery dogs.

[Dave Erickson]

You know you're a wine geek if you are interested in how Springer Oenologie's ML01 genetically modified yeast makes alcoholic fermentation and malolactic fermentation happen at the same time.

[Bill Spohn]

my definition of a wine geek comes from Bill Spohn (I'm 99% sure, there's 0.9% chance it was the other Bill who posts on AFW, and a 0.1% chance I totally forgot who it was). Out for a business dinner, on other person's expense account, they order some serious Bdx (like an '82 1st or Super Second). It comes, everything they want and more. Just outstanding Bordeaux. Fantastic, delicious. So good that when bottle is emptied, host orders another. Bill is appalled, any geek would want to try another wine!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That story spoke to me.

Thanks for reminding me of that. I recall being gob-smacked that anyone willing to spend that sort of money would just order more of the same when the same cost would bring a totally different no less astounding wine. It was like they were speaking in a foreign language.

I also will sign on for having swirled (and sniffed ) a water glass in the middle of a long tasting.

And one more - you know you are a wine geek when your host wants to order a lesser vintage first growth for dinner and you try and steer him away toward a much better wine that is a modest 2nd or even 3rd growth. Been there - tried to score a 1988 Lynch Bages over the 1987 that the host was more taken with. Failed, unfortunately - guess he didn't believe me that it was a way better wine.

[Bill Spohn]

Know the names of all the winery dogs.

So I know that the chateau dog at Ch. Gillette is named 'Bouchon' - that doesn't make me a geek (does it?) Especially when I can't recall the name of the owners' wives or kids....

[ChaimShraga]

Do threads like this one count?

http://www.wineloverspage.com/forum/village/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=43843

[Dave Erickson]

Do threads like this one count?

http://www.wineloverspage.com/forum/village/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=43843

When I read Jim's comment, "A learning experience for us all - at least, that is my hope" I thought, nah, that doesn't count.

But then I read Dale's comment, "And of course one's idea of typicity is inevitably influenced by parameters of own experience." and that had the ring of authentic geekitude to it.

[Jon Leifer]

Neil: I own Wine Dogs of USA, books 1 and 2, does that count re knowing the names of the winery dogs? Have actually met some of these dogs while visiting wineries

[Diane (Long Island)]

My most recent....while packing for our annual vacation in Aruba, I removed shoes from the suitcase to fit in another bottle of wine.

[Neil Courtney]

Neil: I own Wine Dogs of USA, books 1 and 2, does that count re knowing the names of the winery dogs? Have actually met some of these dogs while visiting wineries

Ye, I think that counts Jon.

[Dale Williams]

I did this the other day: Signal for the store clerk. Tell them that it really isn't legit to put the Lopez de Heredia 2000 Vina Tondonia Rosado in with the other roses.

(( This particular clerk admitted that she did the wrong thing, as she knew the wine was "different", but she wanted to promote it. What she accomplished was that two people returned it. ))

Interesting, Jeff. I recommended that same wine to some non-winegeek friends who dined recently at NoMI in Chicago (aside: does your friends emailing you PDFs of restaurants' wine lists for your suggestions qualify for this thread?) who flat out loved it.

I love the Tondonia pink (well, rusty pink) but that was be a bit of a shocker to taste if you were looking for a typical light and refreshing rose! Pretty sui generis.

[Drew Hall]

...you have a collection of autographed wine bottles."