Among the bevy of things I’ve learned while working Snooth, one that caught me off guard (even though it’s pretty much the entire point of the site) is that it IS possible to know a lot about wine and not be a dick about it. I guess for a number of historical reasons, being “into” wine is seen as a pretty snooty endeavor, but the more I think about it and the more I learn, you can geek out about wine as much as you can geek out about anything.

Gregory Dal Piaz – a fellow Snoother, a Master of the Domaine (wait, that’s actually pretty funny), and a genuine nice guy – first got me thinking about this when he referred to his peers as fellow “wine geeks” rather than what I was expecting him to say – “wine snobs.” (True, while a snob would probably never admit to being one, it takes a true geek to refer to him/herself as a geek – it’s a basic tenant of Geek Pride.) So when Greg dropped that g-bomb, everything just became a lot clearer for me.

As with any topic, hobby, sports team, or other endeavor that inspires geeking, wine offers all the back-story, trivia, subtle distinctions, and of course – enjoyment – that makes it hold up as a pretty enjoyable thing to geek out about. Plus it can get you shitfaced. (Let’s see you try THAT, stamp collecting.)

So anyway, all this is what’s swirling around in my head as I read Greg’s latest blog post on the Snooth Blog, covering a blind tasting of Pinot Noirs for Thanksgiving. There’s a lot of no-nonsense, entertaining, and enlightening discussion about these wines (as well as a few well-placed curse words), and it’s all especially entertaining because nobody knows what they’re actually drinking until after all the reviews are done. Hence, none of the snottiness and all of the geekiness. It’s a lot of fun to read. (The photos are pretty good too. I’m just sayin…)