I love beer. I especially love beer on a hot day in an icy cold mug or while enjoying pizza, or at a BBQ with big juicy cheeseburgers, but I ADORE wine.
My love affair with wine began many, many bottles ago. In college, I’m ashamed to admit it, but I wasn’t drinking wine in the form bottles, I drank the boxed stuff…good ole Franzia. Hey, desperate times called for desperate measures.
After college, my friends and I used to frequent a restaurant that had wine tasting every Thursday evening and let’s just say, for a good eight months, I sat in a lot of Friday morning status meetings wreaking of alcohol and feeling like utter crap.
Needless to say, we got to know the staff pretty well and we getting way more than “tastes.â€Â
Sadly, I have never really taken the time to learn about wine. I know that red wine is supposed to be good for your heart and that it typically goes well with steak (and chocolate!) and white wine is better chilled and served with fish and chicken.
In my opinion, both compliment a cheese plate, but what doesn’t pair well with cheese?With so many different grapes, countries, regions and flavors, it honestly makes me dizzy and a bit insecure when ordering or purchasing.
I tend to stick with what I know and I have realized that just because a bottle of wine comes with an expensive price tag, does not necessarily mean it’s good. I know that Merlot is often too heavy for me and that if it were the only wine available, I wouldn’t turn down a Syrah.
I reserve Chardonnay and Pinot Grigio for weddings and extra warm days, but at home you will always find a bottle (or six, if my in-laws are coming to town) of Cabernet Sauvignon. It will probably be a Californian wine and most likely Cannonball, Bliss, Louis M. Martini or my new favorite, The Dreaming Tree. All delicious!
Benjamin Franklin’s quote, Wine makes daily living easier, less hurried, with fewer tensions and more tolerance has never made more sense to me now that I am a mother. There’s just something about that first sip of a full-bodied Cab at the end of the day that is indescribable. It’s bliss.
Being a mother, as many of you can attest to, is sometimes very frustrating, always exhausting and never without rewards. Those rewards, however, come in different packages… maybe your child will come up to you out of the blue and say “I love you, Mommy†or maybe you’ll catch your son doing something that makes you so proud, your heart will want to burst out of your chest, like lovingly helping his little sister take off her socks and shoes.
Or maybe you’ve endured a day full of too many dirty diapers, runny noses and over the top tantrums that once you’ve put the kids to bed, the reward comes in the form of a nice, big, beautiful glass of wine!
Some days, it is literally the only thing that gets me through the day; knowing that at the end of it, I have a glass of vino waiting for me. Sometimes just envisioning myself sipping it slowing and savoring every last drop, all in an effort to wash away my day and clear my mind for a little while, is enough for me to power through.
I read an article a couple of years ago on Mommy Tracked by Stefanie Wilder-Taylor, author of Sippy Cups are not for Chardonnay, that spoke to me loud and clear and I’ll never forget it: “I like the way wine softens the edges, smoothes out the line between “their time†and “my time,” helps me to feel relaxed, helps me tune out.” and I thought to myself… Yes!
That’s it, that’s the beauty of wine! That’s exactly what it does for me too! I must note that Wilder-Taylor goes on to say that she is concerned about her habit and has quit drinking.
Before you start to worry about me, I am NOT an alcoholic. In fact, far from it, and get this: my husband doesn’t even like wine! He’ll have two beers while I down a bottle…just kidding…have a glass, but he can’t tolerate wine. He says it has to do with the tannins and headaches, or something.
Oh well, more for me!
Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on the stress level of the day, I believe that wine is one of those things that simply must be enjoyed with others to truly appreciate. After all, what’s wine without conversation? So, no matter what kind of day I’ve had I don’t (hardly) ever drink alone.
Are you a wine drinker? What’s your favorite?
Photo credit: twertman2
