Make Every Sip Count

If you’ve turned to the bottle to endure the tedium of being homebound, no one is judging. But this is not the time to skimp on quality

- Sarah Heller MW

There’s a cardboard crate of wine sitting near my desk that feels, in the context of our Covid-19-fixated world, like a relic from a bygone era. “Don’t get off the couch,” it urges in a large, friendly voice. “It’s wine o’clock.” It seems to harken back to a time when a spell on the couch with a glass sounded like a tempting indulgence, rather than the only option after yet another set of plans got Covid-cancelled.

Indeed, who among us has not logged more couch time than we ever thought possible? In this work-from-home, learn-from-home, play-from-home era, it’s certainly understandable to seek a little escapism through wine, which, with its inextricable link to its place of origin, can transport us to remote places and eras, at least in our minds.

However, there’s a fine line between an escape hatch and a black hole. I’m often reminded of a joke from the beloved series Modern Family when the frazzled mother, Claire Dunphy, reminisces fondly about trips to “wine country”, which, it emerges, is code for lying on the trampoline drinking chardonnay. These days, we’re all like Claire, and it doesn’t always feel particularly funny.

The sneaky problem is that the pandemic has changed the complexion of enjoying responsibly. Over indulgence is easy without the sticker shock of restaurant mark-ups, no friends to judge you or even the need to remain sober enough to drive home. Virtual cocktail hours across different time zones have eroded our sense of what is an appropriate hour for a drink and, with the boom in e-commerce, wine can be summoned home with less effort than ever before.