CORONAVIRUS VS WINE
Guys, things have become pretty serious. We shut the door on Coronavirus and drink at home. A bit extreme I admit but I believe that at a time like this we all should summon our sense of humor, good vibes, and creativity by having as many optimistic thoughts as possible to make our stay at home a bit more gentle and pleasant for ourselves and the people we live with. It is wrong to see these days as a waste of time. I am confident that we can learn a lot from what we are experiencing.
It is true that there are plenty of suggestions and ideas for things we can get involved in at home. What I will attempt to do here is to give you some tips about things we can do inside concerning our common passion for wine.
ORGANIZE YOUR WINE COLLECTION
Of course, this applies to those of you who actually have one, unlike me who hasn’t left anything in. You could organize your collection by creating a lovely excel on your computer setting down your bottles by color, producer, vintage, and origin. What could be really interesting would be to estimate the span of each wine according to when, you think, it will reach its peak and could be tasted. You can make an approximate estimation since you can never be 100% sure with wine. We will gladly help you out with this in case you find it difficult. For those of us that lack a wine cellar or collection isn’t it about time we organize one?
PRACTISE WINE TASTING
Since opening and tasting wines all the time is out of the question you could try smelling various foods – objects around the house, aromas of which we come across in wine quite often. What does lemon smells like? Orange, pepper, cinnamon? Cumin and sage? Different flowers but also rubber, lead, and tobacco? Becoming familiar with these smells will make it much easier for you to identify them in wine. It sounds funny but believe me, it helps a lot.
EXPERIMENT WITH WINE PAIRING
Try wine with different food combinations. How is a Syrah paired with cheese? What about charcuterie? How is the combo of Sauvignon Blanc with salad or fish? A Santorini next to a dessert? Trust me the last one is tragic. It doesn’t matter though. By experimenting you will discover loads of lovely and some not so lovely combinations and as time goes by you will figure out what goes with what. Prepare a nice meal for you or/and someone else (who lives in the house of course) and pair it with a nice bottle of wine.
READ BOOKS ABOUT WINE
Probably by the time you finish The world atlas of wine by Jancis Robinson and Hugh Johnson the quarantine will be over. I sure hope so.
WATCH MOVIES AND DOCUMENTARIES ABOUT WINE
Watch (again) SIDEWAYS
SOMM documentary
The RED OBSESSION
DISCOVER THE UNIVERSAL WINE MAP
Think of a nice journey you would like to take, according to the wine and the gastronomy of each place. Cabernet Franc and Chenin Blanc in Loire with the amazing castles? Arancini, diving and Etna Rosso in Sicily? Pinotage and safari in Constantia South Africa? I know that now is not the right time even for the slightest consideration of traveling but truthfully, keep in mind that at some point we will be going back to normal and then it will be the time to do all the things we have been putting off when taking our health and time for granted. After all, dreaming doesn’t cost a thing.
We are looking forward to your suggestions with ideas about other wine home activities on Facebook and Instagram.
Until then… Stay safe and drink wine…
Vassilis Galanopoulos
Sommelier
