About
You already know.
For people who'd rather order than ask.
The wine list arrives. Eight pages. Producers, vintages, regions set in a font chosen to look confident. The table passes it to whoever seems most sure. Most of the time, nobody is.
I won't open mine. The Sassicaia, page forty-one. I've known since this morning. The short list was in my pocket before I sat down.
That's what Valmont is for.
Taste, learned quietly. Every list, read before you arrive. One name, waiting. You order. The bottle comes. Nobody at the table sees you think.
No scores. No explanations. One signal arrives. You take it.