Generosity

 

Whoa, it's been a long time since I've posted anything here. I've been swamped with work but also personal stuff, so my focus has been, well, I guess you could say, somewhat fuzzy. That said, I have tried to find the time to enjoy some lovely meals with some very nice folks, which made me think a lot about this thing we call wine and our love of it. It all comes down to one over-riding habit, something we forget to appreciate when surrounded by a bevy of open bottles: generosity.

It's the one thing that binds all winelovers together, whether we know it or not. We collect these magnificent examples of winemaking, but what fun is it drinking them all alone? Appreciation of wine is inherently a social exercise, so we're almost forced to share it. Luckily, we can choose with whom we open those bottles, but still, the fact remains the same: someone is sharing a small treasure with someone else.

 

Whether it's a stunning bottle of 1996 Duval-Leroy Cuvee Femme that was opened with a Mother's Day dinner or a table of regular and HUGE bottles (above) sitting side by side while even more treasures are popped around them amidst a crowd, generosity is one of the reasons we love and share wine.

 

Other times it was lovely bottles of Burgundy, things that you don't just open on any night, but were opened for me at intimate, smaller dinners. Events like this remind me not just why I love wine, but why I like the people who are into wine.

 

And the generosity doesn't stop with wine, but with other things, in one case morels. These gorgeous little fungi are rare and expensive, yet were doled out like popcorn one night by a friend who never ceases to amaze me and yet never demands reciprocity (though I do try when I can!).

So the next time someone offers you a lovely bottle, don't underestimate how lucky you are to be sharing a drink with another person who thinks so highly of you. We take it for granted sometimes, but really we shouldn't. Generosity is certainly something we should raise a glass to. The world could use more of it, that's for sure.
Cheers!