{{unreferenced, date=March 2021 "Taste" is a short story by

Roald Dahl Roald Dahl (13 September 1916 – 23 November 1990) was a British novelist, short-story writer, poet, screenwriter, and wartime fighter ace of Norwegian descent. His books have sold more than 250 million copies worldwide. Dahl has be ...

that was first published in th
Dec 8 1951 New Yorker
and the 1953 collection '' Someone Like You''.

Plot summary

There are six people eating a fine dinner at the house of Mike Schofield, a London

stockbroker A stockbroker is a regulated broker, broker-dealer, or registered investment adviser (in the United States) who may provide financial advisory and investment management services and execute transactions such as the purchase or sale of stocks an ...

: Mike, his wife and daughter, an unnamed narrator and his wife, and a

wine connoisseur Wine tasting is the sensory examination and evaluation of wine. While the practice of wine tasting is as ancient as its production, a more formalized methodology has slowly become established from the 14th century onward. Modern, professional w ...

, Richard Pratt. Pratt often makes small bets with Schofield to guess what wine is being served at the table, but during the night in the story he is uninterested, instead attempting to socialize with Schofield's eighteen-year-old daughter, Louise. When Schofield brings the second wine of the night he remarks that it will be impossible to guess where it is from, but Pratt takes that as a challenge. The tough talk on both sides leads the two to increase the bet until Pratt declares that he would like to bet for the hand of Schofield's daughter in marriage — if he loses, he will give Schofield both of his houses. Though his wife and daughter are horrified, Mike eventually convinces them to accept the bet — it is simply too good a deal to pass up, especially since he is sure the wine will be impossible to identify. However, Pratt gradually proceeds to name the exact district, commune, vineyard, and the year of the wine (though Mike doesn't turn over the bottle, his reaction appears to be one of disbelief that Pratt could have guessed correctly). At this moment, however, the maid walks in and returns to Pratt his glasses, which he had left on the cabinet in the study earlier in the evening where the bottle had been left out to reach room temperature. (Pratt had picked out this place in the study on an earlier visit as the ideal place to sit the wine — his glasses being left there reveals that he knew the wine in advance and cheated on the bet.) With Pratt's deception having been revealed to all the table, Mike's wife pleads with him to calm down as he sits up angrily in his chair.

Adaptations

The story was turned into a one-act opera by William Schuman in 1989 and the 1980 '' Tales of the Unexpected'' episode "Taste". The 2015 Russian short fil
Taste (Vkus)
directed b
Ekaterina Krasner
is adapted from Taste by Roald Dahl 1945 short stories Short stories by Roald Dahl Works originally published in Ladies' Home Journal