The Wasp — 1891 — page 592: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This cartoon satirizes pretension in wine appreciation. Two men discuss a bottle of "fine sherry, extra old." The liquor dealer boasts it's genuinely old; the buyer (appearing skeptical or disappointed) responds that he "always buy first-class goods" but wants "brand new" wine instead of "second-hand or shopworn wine." The joke mocks contradiction: the buyer claims to appreciate quality yet rejects aged wine—traditionally valued for its maturity. He's exposed as a fraud "connoisseur," valuing appearance of sophistication over actual knowledge. The term "brand new" applied to wine is absurd, since aging improves most wines. This reflects Gilded Age anxieties about nouveau riche consumers lacking genuine taste or understanding, merely performing wealth.