in vino veritas

in vino veritas

A Latin phrase meaning "in wine, there is truth," alluding to how people are said to be more truthful or open when they are intoxicated. Whenever I need to get the truth out of someone, I just open a bottle of wine. In vino veritas—it works every time!
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

in vino veritas

Drunks speak the truth. This Latin expression, literally “In wine [is] truth,” was already used by the ancient Greeks and probably survived so long in the Latin form because Erasmus in his widely circulated Adagia so rendered it. There are versions in numerous languages. The cliché is heard less often nowadays, but as the study of Latin is slowly reviving it may surface more often.
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer
See also:
  • under the affluence of incohol
  • get stupid
  • faded
  • have a couple
  • be ossified
  • snaved
  • snaved in
  • snaved-in
  • have a few
  • have had a few
References in periodicals archive
The new In Vino Veritas tablecloth means that spilling a glass of red wine can be an artistic event rather than the cause of red faces," The Telegraph quoted Louise Sellwood, the cookshop and dining buying manager at Selfridges, as saying.
Tablecloth that reveals pretty patterns after spilling wine
The virtual winery is owned by three Simi Valley couples, the Simonsgaards, Stewarts and Noonans, who source grapes from premium California growing regions and produce the wine at Paso Robles' In Vino Veritas custom crush.
New on South Coast: Vintners meet their markets in varied ways
They also do the Austrian-made In Vino Veritas glasses which are all one piece of glass as opposed to most glasses that have the stems attached.
Your LIFE: TRIED & TASTED.. FOOD AND DRINK
But to declare that the drunken, out-of-control man is the true man--or "in vino veritas," as the Latin tag goes--is simplistic hooey.
The Mel Gibson meltdown
'Cos you're an actress, aintcha?' "Seventeen bottles of wine later, which in all probability necessitated a large overdraft at his bank, conversation began to get more than spirited until in vino veritas one wag remarked, 'I knew you would look good but didn't realise your husband would be so f*** handsome'.
Why the lady's not for raffling
In Vino Veritas, by Gabor Vas and Tivadar Meszaros.
In Vino Veritas. (Voice)
If indeed in vino veritas, then new wines must bear new truths.
"The return of the cadavre exquis." (The Drawing Center, New York, New York)