Jay Rayner slams the ‘bollocks spouted by wine connoisseurs’

Restaurant critic Jay Rayner has slammed the “bollocks spouted by wine connoisseurs,” suggesting diners should ignore them and buy “the cheapest wine on the list”.

The knives are out – Jay Rayner has laid into ‘intimidating’ wine connoisseurs

As reported by the Daily Mail, loose-tongued Rayner laid into “intimidating” wine lists and snobby sommeliers during a recent talk at Cheltenham Literary Festival.

“I was in City Social and the wine list was stratospheric. I asked the waiter if he could find me a bottle of Pinot Noir for under £50.

“He looked at me as if I was some kind of scum on his heel and said he couldn’t, so I called him back and said there’s one for £49, you didn’t even know your own wine list,” he said.

“Wine lists are fraught with problems, mostly because of the bollocks spouted by wine connoisseurs. They irritate me profoundly.

“I do not hold to being intimidated by anything in life and if a wine list irritates you just buy the cheapest on the list and tell them all to piss off,” he added.

The 50-year-old Observer critic also advised attendees to the festival to “drink the house wine in a restaurant and the expensive wine at home”.

Restaurant mark-ups are a grey area with no official guidelines. The November issue of the drinks business will explore the topic in depth.