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Jeremy Clarkson lays into cork-sniffing ‘wine bores’
Former Top Gear host Jeremy Clarkson has laid into wine bores that double decant their prized bottles and revealed he’s a lover of rosé and Blue Nun.
Jeremy Clarkson is not a fan of cork-sniffing wine bores
In his latest column for The Times, Clarkson rejoiced at the proclamation by wine writer Martin Isark that the need to let wine breathe was “bunkum” and out of date; a view backed up by wine author Giles MacDonogh.
“Some experts have decided that the practice of opening a bottle of wine a couple of hours before you start drinking it is old fashioned nonsense.
“And that there’s nothing wrong with removing the cork with a screwdriver and necking it on your way home from the off-licence,” he wrote.
In the column Clarkson professed to know “absolutely nothing” about wine, despite having enjoyed regularly drinking it for the last 30 years.
He goes on to explain that his father instilled in him a loathing of glass-swilling, cork-sniffing wine bores that pretend they know about the subject to appear sophisticated.
“I know lots of people who pretend they know about wine. They post pictures of what they’re having for supper, and their friends reply, making appreciative noises.
“The wine cellar has always been a thing in big houses. But now it lives in the kitchen and it has glass doors so that visitors can peer inside and swoon with amazement at the man’s impeccable breeding and knowledge,” Clarkson wrote.
“I’m having a glass-fronted wine fridge built in the kitchen of my new house and I’m going to fill it with Blue Nun. At parties I shall serve a special version sprinkled with bits of gold leaf, which sparkles when you shake the bottle,” he added.
The motoring enthusiast is particularly irked by wine lovers that like to show off and spend ages faffing around with their beloved bottles before serving them. “I go to their houses and wait while they slowly read the label and then even more slowly pull out the cork before slowly pouring the contents into a decanter.
“At this point you might think there’s no more waiting to be done, but you’d be wrong because a proper wine bore will, after an hour or so, pour the wine back into the bottle before serving,” he wrote.
While laying into wine bores, Clarkson revealed he’s a rosé lover. “I love to ingest vast quantities of wine the sunshine, and while I prefer the pink kind, I’m perfectly happy with a pint of white at lunchtime and a balloon of red before bed,” he said.
Top man Jeremy thumbs up to you pal.
The fact that there are no other comments in response to this article probably says it all.
Well,
he’s right on most things, except on the decanting especially in younger red wines even if no reductive character is detected. They often benefit greatly from being able to absorb some oxygen beforehand. I have had wines that changed from good to spectacular after opening the previous day and left some headspace in them.
There’s a sad irony (coming from someone that swept away dull and boring style car presenting and magazine article writing – someone who has, up to a while back, been a hero of mine) … when they have now (sadly) become as predictable and dull as the Chris Goffey n William Woollard era and style of car test reviews. Money aside 🙂 The old (but not old old old) TRIO of Top Gear presenters should have called it a day when it was already passed its best (been there, done that,wrecked stuff for the hell of it). DO SOMETHING ELSE on TV Mr JC … For JC sake!!
But he’s an idiot why would anyone take advice from him?
It takes a second to sniff a cork and it’s the best way to check for a rancid bottle – Other than tasting , it and good luck with that one to him!
Well he is right about the posting of pictures by people , blogs do the same, all showing something more expensive than the last picture, look at me, look at what I can afford.