My Article: We Can Tell the Difference Between Plonk and Not

(York, England) I arrived here from Tuscany today with my daughter Isabel at her mom’s house, and I came across a story in the Daily Mail that said, “Britons can’t tell the difference between a fine wine and plonk.”

The story begins saying that “spending more than £5 ($8) on a bottle wine is a waste of time, researchers say.” Apparently most people cannot tell the difference between the cheapest “supermarket plonk” and quality wines that cost up to £30 ($48.80). The article used 578 people in Edinburgh for the study, and only half of the time could they tell the difference between the expensive or cheap wine.

I am not sure what this proves, and I don’t think Scotland is the best place for deciding if people can tell the difference between an expensive wine and a cheap wine. It’s like asking the inhabitants of Paris if they can tell the difference between cheap and expensive whisky.

Moreover, I have found the opposite in most cases. With nine out of 10 people I have served two wines – one much more expensive and famous than the other – the top wine is always the favorite. And I do blind tests like this for fun at dinner at home on numerous occasions.

But then again, I guess we are not average drinkers – we are wine lovers.