He had sat there with ten glasses set out in front of him, and panicked when he tasted the first. He thought that the wine was Portuguese, and was on the point of setting out the arguments to support this view when it had occurred to him that it might be Argentinian. From then on, his progress through the examination had gone downhill. Instead of using the small spittoon that each candidate had on his desk, William had drained the first glass dry. The second sample, a Côtes du Rhône, he found no difficulty in identifying. Encouraged by this success, he again swallowed the entire glass, and by the time he reached the sixth sample he was drunk.
William was overwhelmed during his wine-tasting examination, faced with ten glasses that triggered panic upon his first sip. Initially, he believed the wine to be Portuguese and prepared to argue his point, only to second-guess himself and consider that it might be Argentinian. This uncertainty marked the start of his decline in the tasting process. Instead of spitting the wine, he chose to drink it, which quickly led to intoxication.
His second sample, a Côtes du Rhône, was easily recognizable, boosting his confidence. However, the pattern of consuming the full glass continued, and by the sixth sample, William was clearly drunk. This lapse affected his ability to accurately identify the wines, and the situation spiraled out of control, making the tasting experience increasingly challenging.
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