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A Wine Label Story by Roald Dahl

Roald Dahl has always been one of my favorite authors. Inflicted with the role of the outsider, but still managing as the insider within English society, he spies on and reproduces insidious stories that give insight to the character of the upper crust.

In Roald Dahl’s story “Taste”, a family invites the narrator of the story to their home for dinner, along with a famous gourmet by the name of Richard Pratt. Pratt is a connoisseur of rich foods and wine. Having dined with the family twice before, Pratt had invariably been able to guess the wine being served without reading the label on the bottle. However on this particular night, the host plots to win this challenge that Pratt will not be able to guess the name of the wine and thus plays for high stakes.
So high, in fact, that the host is willing to bet his daughter’s hand in marriage to Pratt that he cannot guess the wine.   As a result, Pratt takes his time smelling and tasting the wine in order to guess its origin,

“(….) For at least a minute, the smelling process continued; then, without opening his eyes or moving his head, Pratt lowered the glass to his mouth and tipped in almost half the contents. He paused, his mouth full of wine, getting the first taste; then, he permitted some of it to trickle down his throat and I saw his Adam’s apple move as it passed by. But most of it he retained in his mouth. And now, without swallowing again, he drew in through his lips  a thin breath of air which mingled with the fumes of the wine in the mouth and passed on down into his lungs. He held the breath, blew it out through his nose, and finally began to roll the wine around under his tongue, and chewed it, actually chewed it with his teeth as though it were bread.It was a solemn, impressive performance, and I must say he did it well.”

Slowly, the guest narrows down his choices. He guesses the wine, to the exact year.
 
Incredulous and horrified, the family retorts and worries about the nature of the bet.

Just at the point of the drama heightening, the house maid appears at the guest’s arm with his spectacles. She reminds him that he had left them, and very loudly proclaims that she had found them in the study on top of the filing cabinet – exactly where the wine had been left to breathe!Don’t get caught without your spectacles. Make your labels nice and clear. Use food labelling services.

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