No, his guests are not plebeians. If they were they would not be his guests. Then comes the embarrassing rigmarole when he checks the label as though the waiter is a cretin incapable of obeying a simple instruction. I ve often wondered why waiters are so tolerant at this gross insult to their intelligence. The more experienced of these snobs then proceeds to sniff the cork, a part of the ritual the up and coming snob often overlooks.
Waiters are a canny lot.
They know there is a chance the client will disapprove of the wine, just to show he knows the ritual to the core and, if too much is lost in the first glass, then he and his companions back in the kitchen will have less to drink when all the washing up is finally finished for the night. To demonstrate his great knowledge of the ritual the pompous host then holds the glass to the light as though to determine if the manufacturer has slipped up and let a few tadpoles through the filters. Not content with insulting the manufacturer by sniffing the cork his next insult is to smell the wine itself. But that is not the last of this demonstration of the ritual - courageously he takes a small taste and cautiously swills it around in his mouth before taking the plunge to swallow the wine. Chances are that this poor unfortunate has absolutely no idea why he has performed this rather quaint but outdated and redundant ritual in front of his guests and anybody else foolish enough to observe the performance.