Is wine a posh drink?

Lynch Bags, johanna! You wouldn't be so unkind ! Re the Talbot, is that Tal with a short, Lancashire 'a' or Tol? Just askin'.

I used to love wine, especially claret and sauvignon blanc, (not to mention the champagne with the smallest bubbles), but more than a sip or two gives me a headache, so I'm not drinking wine much now, just posh coffee. Coffee doesn't give me the jitters at all. In fact, I can easily doze off soon after drinking my afternoon cuppa. I probably need the caffeine!

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Brits (not hoi polloi) were v. knowledgeable about the wines of Bordeaux - still known in the UK as claret. Brits also great importers of fortified wines - sherry, Madeira, port, Marsala, etc.

It's not important anway, johanna . Suffice it to say, my knowledge of wine has not progressed in those 40 years much beyond knowing what I like!

Well, who then? Not the run of the mill bloke down the local pub, surely?

Seriously, I am interested, because as has been said here, 40 years ago most of us wouldn't know good wine from bad, and couldn't afford the former anyway!

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Me,? mixing with the upper class?

OMG, Blue NUn! And my friends and I thought that Neirsteiner was the height of sophistication.

There are some rather nice Reislings around still, but not usually dry enough for me.

Forty years ago the only wine we could afford was blended plonk called hirondelle that came in litre bottles. Despite the name, I think it was Austrian. It seemed like the height of sophistication at the time - or was that Blue Nun?

I'm wondering what people you were mixing with 40 years ago, johnanna. I'm pretty sure not many ordinary folk had much knowledge of such drinks - perhaps the upper class did though.

greatnan
Absolutely not!

When I came here 40 years ago I was honestly stunned at the knowledge of the people regarding wine, port, and champagne. In fact the expertise on Champagne was incredible. No I am not winding you up.

Greatnan I wish I'd had an employer like yours

Your post did make me laugh,Johanna. Have you ever lived in France? I can assure you that everyone I know here drinks wine and I don't think they would be very pleased with your assertion that the British are more knowledgeable about wines than them. Were you just winding us up?

I am no wine buff, in spite of my years of having nothing but the best bought for me by my employer. I now drink the cheapest sparkling wine here, Polremy, which is about €2 a bottle, and I use it with fresh orange to make a Buck's Fizz. If I want to treat myself, I have a Chablis. At the moment, I am drinking from a 5 litre box of Cote de Provence rose which cost me about €15. Of course, wine is much cheaper here.

There is an awful lot of snobbery about wine - in a blind tasting, so called experts decided Tesco champagne was better than several costing four times as much.

harrigran
Some suggestions for you re. acidity:
Ruinart Blanc de Blancs , delicious ( expensive though )
Prosecco, not the Spumanti but the Frizzanti
Cava

Or.......a nice swizzle stick????...

Confused now.
The English were/are always the greatest connoisseurs of wine.Especially French wine and of course Port.
I can think off hand of two famous Chateaux that were English owned.
There is the world famous Chateau Talbot, then owned by the Earl of Shrewsbury, George Talbot.
I call it TalBOT, not TalBOW as the snobs do.( They are wrong )
Then there is Lynch Bages, Irish , which the snobs call LANGE Bages. Which it is not.
Have not seen the "masses " on the continent for a while, but in the past they drank a small beer or water, not wine.
It may be that they would rather have no wine, unless it was a good one.
And, to be fair the wines from the Continent are either undrinkable or unaffordable!
Cheers.

I find champagne to be a little acidic for my digestion but for some reason the pink does not upset me, pricey though

Harrigran I love champagne, but generally the pink variety is considered only suitable as gifts for girls 18th or 21st birthdays!

I don't - that's how I do know!

anagram is it.. I only drink good wine so I wouldnt know

For whatever reason, in this country, wine is seen as posher than beer. If you go to a drinks reception or any social gathering the waiters don't circulate with trays of pints!

No, they aren't, glassortwo - Lambrini isn't wine, it's a perry!

I must be posh then, are the young girls who drink Lambrini posh too

I think I must be posh too because I only drink the very best wine and champagne has to be pink.

Just what I was going to say, mamie! There's no way cheap plonk is posh!

I think it depends on the wine!

I am really really posh, I gave up swigging my half of bitter years ago.