originally posted by Rahsaan:
Yes, but that's not the way it is worded and his sentences sound wrong to me:
'The first wine I ever had at a backyard barbecue was Beaujolais. Around 10 years ago, this varietal didn’t have the best reputation.'
Am I missing something? (Aside from what is perhaps an overly-optimistic expectation for attention to grammatical details in Playboy)[/quote
don't get me wrong; i suspect the word choice comes from some of the pressures that Prof L mentioned a day or two ago. Although "variety" would not be the alternative. You or I might have just gone with "these wines" or "wines from Beaujolais", but hey, I, at least am not trying to help Playboy's circulation or ad revenue. Only PCapp can tell us if that was his choice or a copy editor wanting to make the article sound "technical" or in some other way privileged.