[lisarea]

The hostility is the part I really don't get.

There are any number of things that I lack appreciation for. I like wine OK sometimes, but I'm not an enthusiast by any stretch. I don't really appreciate the nuances, and I realize this. I'm OK with a glass or two of $10 a bottle stuff every once in a while.

I realize this is just something I don't get, though. So while I can't at all relate to the notion of a wine having overtones of Easter lillies and black pepper or whatever, I don't assume that everyone who does pick up on those nuances is full of shit, and I don't go around informing people that they're paying exhorbitant amounts of money on rotten grape juice. And I don't expect anyone to be all that interested in my opinions on wine, either. I recognize that any opinions I do have are uninformed and probably not interesting or enlightening to wine collectors or enthusiasts. I might recommend something I like for other, similarly unschooled and infrequent wine drinkers like me, but that's about it.

I assume that the vast majority of wine enthusiasts just have a nuanced appreciation for these things that I am lacking. Just because I can't pick up on the things I see them talk about doesn't mean it's bullshit. I honestly do consider this my loss. (Not one I'm worried about, obviously, but it is a personal deficit all the same.)

Why the outrage? Is it that people assume that everything they don't understand is some kind of hoax? Is it that people think there's something wrong with spending time and money on luxuries?

If you don't understand a subject and don't have an interest in understanding it, what compels you to even have an opinion on it in the first place, much less spend time articulating and defending that opinion?