Wine Night

“I like how wine continues to evolve, like if I opened a bottle of wine today it would taste different than if I’d opened it on any other day, because a bottle of wine is actually alive. And it’s constantly evolving and gaining in complexity.” (1)

This past weekend my husband and I hosted a “Wine Night”, inviting a group of friends to an evening of selected tastings followed by a wine paired dinner. To break the ice, we started with a Blind-tasting of 3 red wines: one Californian, one Italian, and one from Canada. The guests had to rate the wines based on the aroma, flavor and drinkability. And there was a prize for the person who correctly guessed the country of origin of all 3 wines.

“Okay, here’s number 2,” I said, and started to pour wine from the bottle marked “2”.

“There’s hardly any aroma to this one,” comes from one corner of the room.

“Too acidy for me,” says another.

“Just lacks flavor, if you ask me. I don’t like it,” concludes a third.

“Hey everyone – try this!” hails an energetic voice from behind the granite cheese platter.  “I just tried it with the cheese over here,” she says pointing to the tangelo coloured cube of cheese. “It’s really good! It doesn’t pair well with the one next to it, but with this one, it’s perfect.”

A surge of hands rushed to the cheese plate to try it out.

“You’re right – simply delicious!”

“Very harmonious.”

“Really nice.”

I found this turn of events quite fascinating. It clearly demonstrated the synchronicity between wine and the foods paired with it. And sometimes even wine needs a small helping hand to alert others to its unique mosaic flavors, its true beauty. It no longer mattered whether this wine won in any category; it had, however, earned the respect of the group.

I wonder how often we just jump to conclusions, or make assumptions and in so doing miss out on opportunities. I confess that in my fast paced, frazzled, multi-tasked days, this happens more than I’d like. But like wine, I too am alive, constantly evolving, gaining in complexity and I find myself in diligent pursuit of finding and promoting good, even in wine.

(1)My favorite quotes about wine. It’s from the move “Sideways”.