Dear Mary | 12 January 2008

Q. My brother-in-law, of whom my wife and I are very fond, is an admirable man and rightly proud of the ordinary background from which he has risen to a leading position in his company. However his rise (without trace, as they say) means that all he knows about food and wine is what he has gleaned from expense-account meals and he has adopted many of the mannerisms of waiters for home use. For example, when opening wine he waves the cork under his nose, pours some wine into the glass, sips it adopting a judicious expression and then proceeds to pour it for others. Recently, after he had gone through this ritual, I realised the wine was clearly and unmistakeably corked and said so. My brother-in-law looked into the glasses with a puzzled expression and said that he couldn’t see anything wrong but would change the wine. It is clear he does not know what a corked wine is.