To think I did NOT give them a “present” of horrible wine!

[CherryShirt]

A few weeks ago I bought some wine (Royal Tokaji) on special offer, as it had really good reviews and it was a great discount. Well, the reviewers and I obviously had different tastes, as I really didn’t like it. I persevered through a large glass, as I know sometimes unfamiliar tastes can feel unpleasant until you get used to them, but I just didn’t like it.

This weekend I’ve been to visit my parents. They’re both into wine, so, as I had another bottle left, I took it with me to see if it would be more to their tastes. I explained that I hadn’t liked it, but thought they might like to give it a try; after all, it would just have sat gathering dust in my house.

My dad burst out laughing and said, “Oh, so you thought you come to visit and bring some horrible wine, did you? Ooh, what a lovely present. ‘Ooh, happy birthday - here’s some horrible wine!’” This is typical of the kind of “joke” he makes, so I just laughed and replied, “Well it’s not your birthday, is it? And it’s not a present - it’s not like I’ve deliberately bought something I think is awful. I just thought you might want to try it; maybe you’ll like it”.

Neither he or my mum liked it. Fine - it would have only got poured down the sink anyway, so it was worth (in my eyes) checking if they liked it before chucking it. My mum said she’d leave it in the fridge and would cook with it. All good - or so I thought.

My dad kept on about the wine ALL weekend. Every time he had anything to drink, it would be “This is nice - not like the horrible wine you brought us, because you don’t love us”, in this mock childish voice. I tried to ignore it the first night, as taking a joke and stretching it to breaking point is pretty much his MO. But he kept on and on about it. The next night at dinner it was, “Are we having nice wine tonight, or horrible wine?” My aunt phoned and I had a chat with her on my mum’s tablet; my dad peered over my shoulder and said, “Has she told you about the horrible wine?”

Today I’ve flipped. He mentioned it AGAIN and I snapped, “For God’s sake, will you shut up about the bloody wine!! I KNOW you didn’t like it; you’ve said it again and again. But it’s not like I deliberately bought something I thought you wouldn’t like and wrapped it up as a present. I just thought you might want to try it before I threw it out; THAT’S ALL!!”

Of course, now he’s sulking. He was only saying; why can’t I take a joke? And my mum is saying why am I letting it get to me, I know what he’s like etc… basically making it all about my reaction instead of him being an arse all weekend.

I’m sick to the back teeth of it. What sort of “joke” has to go on all weekend and make someone feel shit into the bargain? Why has he made me feel like I deliberately bought them a crappy gift? Frankly I feel like telling him to shove it (and buying him a fucking case of the stuff for Christmas).

I won’t accept that. It’s not ignorant to dislike a certain type of wine (although it IS a bit ignorant to pretend that every bottle of a certain variety will be of the same high standard). The quality or otherwise of the wine is not the issue here.

Oh yes, he sounds annoying, I'd probs blow my top too x

This is true in a sense, but I'd have been the same, naive/honest thinking I was in safe family company and said the same, my partner hates some of the drinks i like and visa versa, yes lol maybe we need to learn to be more crafty! Lol

My family actually like Echo Falls and wouldn't be remotely upset if I bought them it whrn going for a meal. We would probably enjoy it more than an expensive prosecco or champagne.

My parents like it, too. It's far from fine wine, though.

But it isn't bad form. I don't like Spanish red wines, so don't drink them myself. But I know millions of people DO like them, so it wouldn't be at all unreasonable for me to give a bottle to a friend or family member. Or say "I got this in a wine case and it's not my taste, would you like to try it".

The OP's father has acted very oddly and needs to learn a sense of proportion!

Yanbu. I do this all the time with family "I got this, but I'm not keen so you can give it a go if you like". Waste not, want not and all that.

I know I'm late to this one but it's just popped up on Bored Panda and I just had to comment. I can't believe all of the people saying "I'd be a bit upset if someone gave me a gift of something they didn't like"

Like, how many times in your post did you have to specify that IT WASN'T A BLOODY GIFT!! And again repeating it in your comments and people still can't seem to grasp that fact.

You found something that you'd heard great reviews about, something that's usually quite expensive but there was a great discount so you bought two of them, for yourself. However, you didn't like it. And so instead of dumping both bottles out you instead thought "oh, my parents like wine, I'll see if this is to their liking before wasting it all" and that's what you did. And it turned out they also didn't like it, but your Mum still could make use of it with her cooking. That's literally the story. Completely straight forward. Why do people keep clinging onto the "gift" part? It wasn't a gift, you repeatedly said it wasn't a gift. You just figured you'd see if they liked it before throwing it out.

Jesus Christ.

And people saying "if this is all you have to complain about you should count yourself lucky" oh bugger off, every is entitled to a moan, especially when they've heard about it none stop over a whole weekend. Just either read the rant and move on, or don't. Noone likes a smartarse.