There's a certain ritual that seems have played out somewhat consistently over the course of my adult life that began during my college years and continues to this day: The good friend arriving relatively late in the evening at your home for a stay and the subsequent (and immediate) kitchen table sit-down right then and there upon their arrival to catch up before any sleep is had.
It's not as though the immediate sit-down couldn't wait until the morning when the guest is refreshed. It could. But the combination of instinctual hospitality as well as the joy in seeing them prevents you from waiting. It must happen now. There is something very intimate about catching up with that old friend who knows so much about you and whom you've not laid eyes on for some time, sitting in front of you late at night when everything is quiet and dark.
For the last 20 years that ritual has almost always been accompanied by the cracking open of wine. And almost always the guest likes wine and knows I am in the wine industry. That means they have expectations that the wine they will drink in your presence will be something better than they are used to consuming. When it's 11pm and a good friend who you love is in the house, you don't want to let them down.
Last night a very dear friend of Ginny's (Terry) arrived and set this ritual in motion. While one of the greatest problems with wine is that there is just too damn much of it that it can be confusing for the average sipper, that diversity is also what gives us who have wine on the brain one of our greatest pleasures: trying to pick just the right wine for a specific occasion.
The point, which I'm slowly getting too, is that those of us with a wine-infused brain can turn almost any set of events into an occasion that calls for just the right wine.
-Finally finished setting up that brand new 52 inch flat screen TV? This calls for a BIG California Chard.
-Your child finally took their first steps? Where's the Prosecco?
-Finished that report for the new CFO? Then it's time to crack open that German Riesling you've been chilling
-The SF Giants finally win the World Series? Then it's time to....Oh, there is no wine that could be drunk to truly celebrate such a turn of events.
This of course begs the question, did Orson Wells mean that he shall "Drink no wine before ITS time" or that he shall "Drink no Wine before IT'S time".
The ultimate point here is that this choosing of just the right wine to drink for a specific occasion is one more way wine lovers turn their obsession into a cerebral endeavor, which I argue wine drinking is for anyone who believes there is such a thing as the right wine for the right time.
I choose Old Vine Russian River Valley Zinfandel from the 2002 vintage. Not only was it fat and juice and peppery, it had the added benefit of being a sleep aid with its 16% alcohol content.
