Drink Like You Live Here
I don’t know how you feel about this, but for me,
Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays.
As a guy, you know that the way to my heart is through my stomach. (As a winemaker, it’s across my
palate….) And ever since I was a kid,
I’d look forward to eating more than my appetite could handle.
Of course, now I am much different. (OK, I am, but not in the fundamental
ways…..) We celebrated Thanksgiving
early this year as my folks came out for a visit and we were able to share the
time with Kris’s parents and our boys with as close to a traditional
Thanksgiving dinner as I’ve had in a long time.
Ours may be one of the few holiday dinners that has only
local wine on the table. And this is
important. There is a movement afoot
these days, spear-headed by the Buy Fresh/Buy Local organization that seeks to bring
locally made food-products into the local marketplace. This is important for many reasons, but the
one that hits home to me is that it just makes good sense: Why transport
anything with regularity around the world when it can be avoided?
There is a sense of place with wine as there is with any
food. There’s a reason why crabs and
apples taste different in different parts of the world. And, yes, I agree that there are times when I
want to enjoy something that isn’t from this area. (I’m a sucker for Bordeaux
wines…..) But the everyday meals that
make up the bulk of our sustenance are not usually filled with these exotic
treats. Our main food source is usually
something we’re familiar with, something comfortable. Something we’ve grown up with.
But what has become familiar to us–more often than not—is not grown anywhere near
us. How many times do you eat lettuce
from California? Strawberries (in the winter!) from Florida? Or grapes from South America? It bothers me, bothers me, bothers me that even
for someone like myself, I can’t find a sensible and simple solution to eat
locally regularly. The places we
go to in our busy lives are places of convenience. I don’t have time to go to ten different
places for our food.
I’m not trying to come up with solutions, just pointing out
the problems. This is bigger than you
and me. It’s going to take all of
us. And we’ll have to start out with
small steps. My suggestion is that the
wines you drink this holiday season come from this side of the Mississippi
River. Get in touch with
what’s around you. And, drink like you
live here.
Cheers,
Carl
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