I am utterly bewildered by the criteria people use to buy wine.

I was standing behind a couple (?) at my local grocery store a few minutes ago.  He had four bottles of wine for checkout, she had one.  I was looking sidelong at the bottles, trying not to be too obvious.  We’re well below having the commonality be “well-reviewed” or “from good wineries”.  I entertained other ideas, such as consistency in vintage, region, varietal: as far as I could tell, nothing linked them.  They weren’t even all behind pretty labels.  I’m scanning them one by one: dishwater, graywater, bilge-water, bong-water, hello, 2006 Charles Krug Yountville Cab blend.  The latter is not a great wine, but compared to the rest, it’s a Petrus.

The cashier says, “If you get another bottle of wine, you save 10%” — the half-case deal which is ubiquitous in Southern California and maybe elsewhere.  The cashier explains to the confused couple what that means.  The woman says, “OK, I’ll pay for all of them.”

The cashier looks at her for a beat, and says, “You’ll need one more.  Which do you want me to double?”

I lean over and point to the Krug.  “That one,” I say in a quiet voice.

The couple look at me a bit oddly, simultaneously let out a little giggle, and say, “OK, that one.”  The cashier doubles it; the woman waits for the man to go fetch the second bottle; I pay for my carrot juice and leave.

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 15:54:38 +0000
Under Uncategorized
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