The language of wine - 6 Minute English

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Hello. This is 6 Minute

English from BBC

Learning English. I'm Sam.

And I'm Rob.

Rob, would you describe

yourself as a wine connoisseur?

If you mean am I someone who

enjoys wine and knows a lot

about it, then no - although

the enjoy part is true -

particularly a nice glass of red.

Of course, wine might not

be everybody s cup of tea -

not something they like -

but wine has been an

important part of

history and language.

And even if you don't drink

alcohol, wine can be used

as a commodity you can

invest in and sell

at an auction.

And that brings me on

to my quiz question, Rob.

In 2018, a bottle of wine

dating back to 1774 sold

at auction in eastern France

for a record-breaking price.

Do you know how much

it was sold for? Was it...

a) $20,800

b) $120,800

or c) $220,800?

I know wine can fetch

a high price - but not as

high as some of those

options, so I'll

say a) $20,800.

I'll reveal the answer

later on. But let's talk

more about wine now.

A glass of the stuff

can be sipped and

savoured or just glugged.

Glug is a good word,

meaning drink in large

gulps or mouthfuls - not

something a wine expert

would do. For some

people, drinking and

serving wine is

almost an art-form.

If you go to a restaurant,

there might be a sommelier -

a person whose job is

to serve and give advice

about wine. They may

have had years of

training to learn about

the different types of

wine and the individual

flavours or aromas,

known as notes.

This job has fascinated

journalist and author

Bianca Bosker. She wrote

a book called 'Cork Dorks'.

And here she is talking

on the BBC World

Service programme The

Why Factor describing her

fascination with sommeliers

These were people who had

taken wine, which I always

thought of as a thing of

pleasure, something you

turn to after a long stressful

day, and turned it into

something approaching

sheer God-awful pain.

They licked rocks, trained

their palates, they

divorced their spouses

to spend more time

reviewing flash cards -

they had hired voice

coaches and memory

coaches, they took dance

classes to learn how to

move more gracefully

across the dining room floor.

Like me, Bianca thought

drinking wine was a

pleasurable activity -

something that helped

her relax after a long

stressful day. So she

was surprised at how

sommeliers turned this

activity into 'something

approaching sheer

God-awful pain'.

The word 'sheer' is used

to emphasise the amount

of something - or to mean

'nothing but'. She

thought the work of a

sommelier was nothing

but pain - they seemed

to dedicate their

life to wine!

One thing a sommelier

does is train their palate -

this is their ability to

distinguish and appreciate

different tastes and

identify types of good wine

from their taste. I guess

this is quite important.

But divorcing their spouses

does sound a bit extreme!

I m afraid I wouldn't take it

so seriously - I'll stick

to drinking poorer quality,

cheap red wine -

sometimes called plonk!

WeIl, Rob, cheap wine

doesn't always have to

be poor quality.

Interestingly, there is

some evidence that

shows we only think

wine tastes better

because it's

more expensive.

Ah yes, this is research

Hilke Plassmann from

INSEAD Business School in

France spoke about on

the BBC World Service's

Why Factor programme.

She's been looking into

what influences

consumer behaviour.

The price tag affects that

region in your brain that

encodes your liking of the

taste, so in other words,

you not only think that you

like the more expensive

wine more, you feel you

like the more expensive

wine more, because your

brain region that encodes

this feeling is influenced

by the price tag.

So, our brain is possibly

playing tricks on us.

When we see the price tag

on a bottle of wine, our brain

encodes the information and

tells us how it should taste.

Encodes means changes

the information into something

that we can use or understand.

Drinking more expensive

wine makes you think it

tastes better. So

perhaps, when buying

supermarket wine or wine

in a restaurant, it may

be better telling yourself

that the cheaper

option is OK!

I'll drink to that! But

I wonder how that

most expensive bottle

of wine ever sold at auction

tastes? The one dating

back to 1774 that you

asked me about.

So you thought it sold

for $20,800, but sorry,

Rob, that's too cheap.

It was in fact sold for

$120,800. I assume it

wasn't drunk.

I hope not. Well, I think I'll

stick to my plonk for

now, Sam. Plonk was

one of our vocabulary

words today and

describes cheap,

poor quality wine.

We also mentioned a

connoisseur - someone

who enjoys a particular

thing and knows

a lot about it.

A sommelier is someone

who serves and gives

advice about wine

in a restaurant.

Sheer is a word

used to emphasise

the amount of something -

or to mean 'nothing but'.

A palate describes

someone's ability to

distinguish and appreciate

different tastes.

Finally, encodes means

changes information

into something we

can use or understand.

But now we're out

of time so

'cheers' everyone.

Thanks for listening

and goodbye.

Goodbye.