(WSJ) - WINE IS A BEVERAGE meant to bring pleasure, perhaps even joy. And yet, for me, some aspects of wine can make it much less enjoyable. Some of these irritations are small, some are much bigger—from waiters who unceremoniously dump the contents of a bottle into customers’ glasses to wine shops that sell every bottle by means of a numerical score. Here are my top seven wine-related pet peeves. Perhaps you have one or two of your own?

1. Wine-dumping waiters

I’m not the kind of person who lingers long over a meal. I once managed to eat a five-course dinner in a Michelin-starred restaurant in less than two hours. (And that was in France!) But I want to set my own pace: I don’t like to be rushed along by the staff, and I especially dislike it when a waiter takes hold of my bottle and dumps the contents into my glass without asking whether I’d like more—or not.

The bottle is mine; I’ve ordered it and I will be paying for it soon (though clearly not soon enough for some waiters), so I should be able to control how much or how little goes into my glass or the glass of my guest. I hate a glass that’s filled to the top. It’s impossible to swirl the glass without slopping liquid over the rim or to get an aromatic impression when there’s no space for your nose inside the glass.

Most of all, I know that dumping wine into glasses is calculated to get me to order another bottle—fast. This may work sometimes, but I think overt manipulation of a guest rarely ends well. When I encounter this kind of aggressive upsell (that’s what it is) I might not order a second bottle, and drink water instead.

2. ‘Curated’ wine lists

When did a sommelier become the restaurant equivalent of a museum director or an art-gallery owner? I’m talking about the fact that just about every sommelier today talks in terms of curating a list, seemingly unsatisfied with the perception that all they do is buy and sell wine.

The word isn’t even particularly accurate. For example, I’ve yet to meet a sommelier who has mounted a wine exhibition. Secondly, the word is so puffy and self-important, it undoes the notion of wine as a democratic drink, as well as sommeliers as an approachable professional group.

A wine list, after all, isn’t a gallery catalog. It is a sales document and hopefully a profit center for the restaurant. And sommeliers who believe otherwise aren’t doing their job.

3. Pseudo-collectors

Some people are real wine collectors, men and women (mostly men) who are seized by a passion to own and drink particular wines. They share their favorites with friends and add new vintages to their cellars over time. Perhaps they collect first-growth Bordeaux, Napa Cabernet, Brunello or Oregon Pinot Noir, but whatever the region or the wine, they will strive to know much about that particular place and its producers, and perhaps even pay them a visit.

And then there are the buyers who aren’t really collectors at all but men and women who are chasing after wines with famous names or impressively high scores. These pseudo-collectors join every mailing list of every famous producer they can and spend more time talking about how a bottle has increased in value since they bought it than how much they enjoyed the wine with friends. They don’t want to take the time to understand a wine or region in depth but instead flit from one place or name to the next, seeking the wines that others want too. These kinds of collectors are the wine-world equivalent of serial daters. They like the thrill of the chase but not the commitment.

4. Wines served at the wrong temperature

The temperature of a wine is incredibly important and incredibly easy to overlook. When white wines are served too cold and red wines are served too warm, attractive attributes are suppressed and unattractive attributes are exaggerated.

Aromas and fruit are hard to find in a very cold wine (acidity is about all that’s detectable), while the alcohol is often exaggerated and the fruit dulled in a wine that’s too warm. White wines should be served chilled, red wines should be cool.