I totally embarrassed myself on a date recently. I was drinking a glass of Grüner Veltliner (not the cause of said embarrassment, though the name is kind of a mouthful), when suddenly both the past 90 minutes and my wine were gone. So another round was ordered.

Being a wine snob in your own home is one thing, but in public?

When my new glass arrived, I thought the color looked…different (it was still light out because summer/weekend/late afternoon) but didn’t really think anything of it until I took a sip. Without realizing what I was doing, I made a little face and said, “Oh dear, what is this, Chardonnay?”

My date cracked up and called me on it right away, but I was so embarrassed I immediately tried to cover up by making a bunch of jokes about my “douchey wine-snobbery” (if you hadn’t gathered, I have kind of a mouth of me when I’m not at work—I’m from New Jersey, what can I say?). We moved on quickly, but as I tossed and turned later pretending not to wonder if I’d ever hear from them again, I couldn’t help but think, “F***ing Chardonnay. What the f*** is wrong with me?”

On the one hand, I always say that we shouldn’t apologize for liking what we like, but on the other, you do run the risk of coming off as a food/drink snob. I usually make a joke of my potential Snob Alarm triggers to offset any bad vibes, but as you can see, I still wrestle at times. For the record, I drank the aforementioned Chardonnay because it was drinkable—just not what I was expecting or what I normally go for. One glass of wine that doesn’t totally do it for your palate is not the end of the world. At least not for me.

Are you a food and/or drink snob? Any funny stories related to said snobbery?