Ten ways to cut it as a wine bluff

Looking for a shortcut to oenological enlightenment? Here are some hints for making a little knowledge – and some orbital shaking – go a long way

Never ruin your palate by drinking fine wine, they say: the last thing you want is to find that perfectly acceptable bottle of supermarket plonk turning sour in your mouth because you’ve supped too long at the altar of Gevrey-Chambertin.

But talking the talk can still be pretty useful: there’s nothing like a smattering of well-chosen phrases about “botrytis” (mould, counter-intuitively, a good thing, also known as “noble rot”), “malolactic fermentation” and “ullage” to put the most irritating know-all in their place.