Hamlet had his castle and his ghosts. The Serial Quilleur, on the other hand, has his spittoon and his regrets. The existential question remains the same: to spit or not to spit?
The swallowers' camp
Let's be honest. Spitting out a grand cru after having brought it to your lips is a bit like walking into a bakery, sniffing a warm croissant, and then putting it back on the shelf. Technically possible. Morally dubious.
So we convince ourselves. We tell ourselves it's a tribute to the winemaker, to his years of hard work, to his vines nurtured like children. Swallowing is respecting. It's thanking. It's almost a civic act.
And frankly—who wants to be the one making a suspicious noise in a stainless steel bucket in the middle of a grand cru tasting? Nobody. We want to savor, to enjoy, and too bad if the fifth vintage makes the atmosphere a little more... lively.
The spitters' camp
Except that reality always catches up with idealists.
Because if you swallow everything, your palate becomes as reliable as a GPS from the 2000s—it constantly recalculates and leads you into a ditch. Flavors blur, every wine becomes "excellent" (including the corked one), and you end up confusing a Chablis with a supermarket rosé.
Not to mention endurance. A twenty-wine tasting that ends in reciting poems into the spittoon is not exactly the image of an accomplished taster.
Spitting is discipline. Professionalism. The only way to last until the last glass without ending up singing La Bohème with the winemaker at ten in the morning.
The dilemma becomes philosophical
Spitting is also renouncing. Renouncing the pleasure of letting the wine glide gently, of that warmth that accompanies each sip. It's like watching a great movie and turning off the TV before the climax. Ordering a chocolate soufflé and only taking one spoonful.
What worthy Serial Quilleur can live with such frustration?
The answer (the one we don't want to hear)
Balance, of course. A few sips for pleasure, a few spittoons for lucidity. Tasting is not a drinking marathon—it's a sensory experience, an ode to precision.
Even if, let's admit it, sometimes we really want to put precision on vacation.
So the next time the dilemma arises, remember: spitting with style into a stainless steel spittoon is a talent. And talents, they are to be respected.
In truth, there is neither a good nor a bad answer. Every tasting deserves both.
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