Frasier blows his cork when Niles convinces members of a wine club not to partake in his radio show.
Tropes:
- Ambiguously Gay: Gil's assistant Lance speaks in a sing-song voice and is quite catty with Frasier and Roz when they interrupt to set up their wine segment. Neither Roz nor Gil himself can tell which way Lance "swings", though when leaving with Gil to have a "boy's night out", he says "lock up your daughters".Gil: Well, just between us I've always thought he went the other way.
Roz: (deeply confused) Which way would that be? - Brawn Hilda: Martin tries a new physical therapist named Frederica to replace Daphne. She's got a thick accent, a tall stature, and puts him through some excruciating exercises before rewarding him with good food.
- Broken Record: Martin browbeats Niles into letting Frasier back into the wine club by repeating "are you gonna let your brother play?" until he caves.
- Bystander Syndrome: The only two people that seem to care about their status in the wine club are Frasier and Niles, with everyone else only taking whoever's side is the quickest path to getting to drink more wine.
- Comically Missing the Point: The wine club Frasier and Niles are trying to gain respect from never actually reviews wine; they just use it as an excuse to get drunk and gripe about their problems. Similarly, when Frasier and Niles start their own club in the end, they're far more focused on rules and forming a proper judiciary committee than the wine itself.
- Deadpan Snarker: Several members of the wine club, who are just totally fed up with Niles and Frasier's bickering, and would much rather just drink the wine.
- Drill Sergeant Nasty: Martin initially worries that his new physical therapist is one of these types. Although she's not vocally dismissive, she does put him through some pain, and then blames the Cranes for not keeping him in shape rather than herself for expecting too much from the get-go.
- Here We Go Again!: The episode ends with the Cranes planning to set up a new club, discussing the various rules and foundations, when it was sniping over rules that led to their deciding to start a new one in the first place, with the implication that it's just going to lead to the same old mess.
- Hypocritical Humor: When Frasier learns that Niles is interfering with his radio show, he can't believe someone would turn their back on a blood relative like that. He then tells his father, who's yelling in pain due to the "exercises" his new physical therapist is putting him through, to quiet down.
- Judgment of Solomon: In The Tag, Frasier and Niles go back to arguing over the award Niles received for becoming "Corkmaster", to the point that Martin ends up splitting it in half and giving each brother one part.
- Lost Food Grievance: One of the reasons Martin is so cranky with Frasier and Niles' stupidity is because he's having to let his dinner go cold.
- Manchild: The feud between Frasier and Niles eventually reaches the point where they're arguing like children, and their father has to intervene.
- Sarcasm Mode: As Fras is still sulking, Martin begins reassuring him that without him, the wine club will be no fun, and within a month it'll have shut down, the building will have been demolished, and everyone will have forgotten it completely. It's at this point Frasier comments he has no idea when Martin is being sarcastic.
- Sibling Rivalry: The episode begins with Niles being elected "Corkmaster" of the wine club he and Frasier are a part of, after Frasier's lost four recounts. Frasier picks that moment to announce he's leaving the club, as he's been chosen to be the host of a wine-reviewing show on KACL, and gives a farewell speech that takes the spotlight away from his brother's victory. This action instigates the rest of the episode's events.
- Sommelier Speak: Frasier writes a review about one wine that goes into elaborate detail about the nuances of its taste. Martin thinks his audience won't know he's talking about wine.
- Sore Loser: Frasier only accepted Niles's victory as corkmaster after four recounts. And he still sulks about it.
- Start My Own: After Martin embarrasses them in front of the other wine club members, they end up getting teased about it, to the point where they decide to leave and start a club of their own.
- Stealth Insult: After Frasier's disastrous first episode of wine reviewing, Gil says that he's sure a lot of people have been motivated to "hit the bottle".
