Allison was raised on the vine in Sonoma, California, and believes that life is too short to drink bad wine, count calories, or second-guess your destiny. She now lives in Los Angeles where she practices many things, the two most important being contentment and tricks for opening a wine bottle without a wine key.
In an old apartment which I shared with a couple of girlfriends there was a wooden plaque above the refrigerator that read something along the lines of, “A good friend knows when to listen, when to stop listening, when to talk, when to stop talking, when to pour wine, and when to stop pouring and just hand over the bottle.” Now, this struck even me as a little extreme. Hand over the bottle? Yikes. Still, it’s perfectly acceptable, perfectly human, for anyone to yield to a little comfort food now and then. If you need a little comfort wine, on the other hand—if you’ve had a hard day or a hard month and you’d like a little sip of something delicious to mellow you out—you have a drinking problem. An ice cream sundae once in a blue moon is no big deal. Putting down a few glasses of vino after dinner garners furrowed eyebrows and looks of nervous sympathy.
With this in mind, kindly be aware that I am not advocating overindulgence in any form; I am simply standing up and putting my foot down for those of us who may not have much of a sweet tooth, for those of us who get sick, not high, from abundant sugar or grease, those of us for whom wine is so much more than an alcoholic beverage, but a tangible and toothsome expression of our connection with Mother Earth, of ancient tradition and celebration, of ritual and relaxation and pure and simple pleasure.
Geez.
Last Saturday night around 11 p.m., after one of the wildest work weeks in some time, I finally called it quits for the evening and sat down for a late dinner—just me, a pesto chicken sausage with sautéed peppers and onions, and my old friend, the Souverain Merlot, Alexander Valley 2007. I was tired. I was stressed. Like any good friend in a time of need, the Souverain was gentle and soft right from the get-go. She wrapped a tender arm around my shoulder as I leaned against her full-bodied presence. After a few moments, my soul warmed a bit as her dark-chocolate and cherry aura saturated my spirit. The tension eased from my neck as I took another sip. Sweet but not saccharine, she firmly told me what I needed to hear: chill out, girlfriend. And it’s OK to wine a bit after a long day.
To our right to wine,
Cheers.
