The Illustrated Winespeak

by Ronald Searle

The Illustrated Winespeak: Ronald Searle’s Wicked World of Winetasting not just pokes fun at pretentious jargon of wine gurus. It is a work of art. This blog features several of these marvellous drawings.

The tortuous phrases that are frequently used when trying to describe music, fade into insignificance beside the agonising and often excruciating acrobatics of those whose duty it is to enlighten the baffled consumer regarding the more esoteric aspects of, say, Rotterdam rouge. The art of wine-tasting has its own brand of remarkable poets, those whose words vividly conjure up unimagined nuances and have us panting to experience the excitement and glow of drinking a particular bottle. Alas, they are as rare as the greatest vintages of the wines that dutifully pass their lips for our benefit. The rest, that grotesque international band of snobbish inarticulate sponges, who are incapable of thinking beyond their incestuous little circles, do as much harm to the world of wine as they do to the language. Their day will come... All the phrases in this little book have been plucked from unacknowledged but absolutely authentic sources. You could do worse than ponder over some of them. Cheers! R.S.

By some reason, our kids grew very fond of this book. I hear them laughing loud at the bits I find, say, just mildly amusing. Most likely they know something I don’t.