Over the years, I’ve accumulated a small collection of my favorite wines – nothing pretentious or well know, but delicious to my pallet nonetheless. And like most folks, I like to save my favorites for special occasions. Usually.
A few years ago, I was given a very fine and well-known bottle of champagne. I held on to it for a month or so, hoping for some kind of special occasion to manifest. Waiting. Waiting.... And then I said to myself, screw it. What if I die tomorrow having never tasted this champagne? I enjoyed it that night with a pepperoni pizza. I have to tell you, the pairing was outstanding and to this day, I still have champagne with pizza from time to time.
I have carried that lesson with me since then. Good wine, unless you’re an investor, is meant to be enjoyed. Yes, some wine will become better if you leave it for a few years in the bottle. But when it’s ready, I must insist that you enjoy it. Think of the bottle of wine discovered buried in some ruins of some far away city. Do you think the ghosts of that city are happy to have died without drinking that wine? No... they haunt the halls and forests, full of anger and frustration because they let the wine go to waste. They howl in the night with thirst, rattling their wine keys and pounding their fists on the walls.
So, do yourself a favor, avoid being haunted. Enjoy the wine.
Take that bottle you’ve been saving and open it. Do whatever you must to find a good pairing. Ask your friends, call l your favorite local wine shop, use Google. Or, accidentally discover that it pairs well with grilled cheese on your own homemade sourdough bread. Perhaps you enjoy it without food, alone in your garden with just the birds and the sunset.
In any case, enjoy it. Life it too short to not open the wine.
Cheers and drink responsibly!
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