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The Physics of Wine Swirling
sciencehabit writes "Meet the new flavor of wine: fruity with a hint of fluid dynamics. Oenophiles have long gotten the best out of their reds by giving their glasses a swirl before sipping. A new study has revealed the physics behind that sloshing, showing that three factors may determine whether your merlot arcs smoothly or starts to splash. The researchers also landed on another important discovery: how overly enthusiastic wine swirlers manage to splash their drinks, possibly staining their sweaters."
That's a pile of horseshit (though yes, the movie Sideways does suck).
People get all geeked out over all kinds of subjects, and there is no reason for wine geekery to be a less valid form of geekery than, say, smartphone geekery or movie geekery.
I'm a wine geek. I like tasting different wines, identifying what flavors are present and the compounds responsible for those flavors. I like appreciating the difference between a young wine vs. a mature wine due to oxidation in the bottle. I enjoy discussing the characteristics of the wine I'm sharing with friends or family, I enjoy the hunt for a bargain good wine. I delight in understanding the relationships between terroir, grape varietal, cultivation methods, and the flavors of wine. Winemaking is science wrought as art.
To sum up -- you suck for being a bitter, xenophobic geek. Not understanding another form of geekery is not a valid reason to belittle it.
"Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
http://xkcd.com/123/