I have always said that wine is in the eye of the beholder. One needs to sit back forget prices and reputations and embrace your own journey of discovery. The wine bottles that are the best are the ones that mean the most to you. Whatever those wines are. Wine can touch the core of your being. This year has been very tough not only for me but a lot of people. Covid-19 has hurt business. A lot of restaurants are closing. Many are open in a lesser capacity. I miss the restaurant experience and I try to engage with them as best as possible as I hope many of you are. It’s very easy to become emotionally invested in enjoying the occasion of going out to dinner regularly and having your favorite bottle with your favorite meal. Not just the barhopping. Things that can be taken for granted. To those of us who struggle to buy just a few fancy bottles and treasure them like babies for another decade. Like an investment. This might sound surreal to those that focus on different things like upgrading your mobile phones; which is an important use of resources too. Many discover the world that way. But for me, getting or drinking the bottles I have my eye on means a lot to me. It’s just fun to do it at restaurants.
Just recently I had an outing with some friend and we had a couple of bottles of White Tempranillo and two bottles of red wine that had dusty characteristics from opposite sides of the world along with Tapas and Meats at a Spanish restaurant in town. It was a nice revelation. I really appreciated that opportunity. It was a moment of gathering and celebration; shared joy with friends. It happened again last week with a Cabernet Sauvignon from Penedes, Spain! Looking for that unmistakable fruit from an uncommon region. That’s me discovering the world I guess. This is how wine can touch your core. For sure there are more expensive or prestigious wines out there. That isn’t the point.
I will be doing more of this; Getting back to it. Staying safe. It’s easy to forget that restaurants need us as much as we need them. It’s wrong to try and over-simplify. In my opinion there is a wonderful scope right now for wine lovers and foodies to compare and contrast wines at restaurants.
