Sending Wine Home

I sat with my head in my hands. Slumped over at the end of the dock. The sunset was gorgeous but my life was falling a part. He had lost everything. The house, the money, the cars. Everything was gone or soon to be gone. Years of hard work, determination, dedication…..down the drain.

I couldn’t believe it. I had started out with such hope and certainty. He worked so hard. He was so smart with his money. He was so great at just about everything. I had dedicated myself to being there for him and the kids instead of out focused on my own goals. I thought for sure that all the years of hard work would build to something so rewarding.

But, life can turn on you in an instant. And, a few bad plays….with the tiredness of aging….and lady luck didn’t hold out.

The years of the good life only lasted a short time. They held good memories but this descent downwards was…..so hard to accept.

I pulled myself out of the slump determined to find new work in my old age. I needed work that I could do, wasn’t too hard to shift into, and was at least fun so my older years weren’t demoralizing. If I had to work, at least it was going to be fulfilling in some way.

Off to the wine store, I needed to go to pick up my next set of wines to study. I was determined to pass that sommelier test and move into the wine world. I needed white wines from the Alsace that week.

My coach told me to ask the guy that works there for recommendations. But, when I got there, the guy who he usually trusts wasn’t working that day so someone else had to help me. I knew just by looking at him that I couldn’t trust him but decided to give him the benefit of the doubt.

My odds of discerning who to trust with my money were pretty rough at that point so maybe I should be more open minded.

He quickly pointed me to a few that he thought I should get and I happily agreed to check out. Excited to dig into the grapes, soil, terroir, vignerons while I paired my lovely whites with some nice light and refreshing meal choices that evening; I confidently waltzed out of the stacked cases of wine store and back towards my car.

I took a picture in the car of the labels. My coach told me to always take a picture and keep it in a file to go back to. I sent him a text later that next day after I had my wine rating sheet filled out.

He texted back a frowny face emoji.

“Well, that is unfortunate that he recommended those.” ….My heart sunk into my stomach.

“He should know better than to have you buy whites that are older than 3 years.”

This was news to me. I hadn’t read or heard yet that it was so important to stick with a window of 3 years for buying white wines. But, as they say, you live….you learn.

I rectified the situation a week later by getting better ones at a different store and trying again.

That’s all you can do, really. Make mistakes and then try again. We learn much more quickly through failure than success. Even though, we usually won’t tell those stories to our impressive friends while enjoying a boat ride in our retirement years.

We just keep those painful moments tucked in our pocket until we can find the good stories again.

P.S. Turns out there are some white wines that age really well. We will learn as time goes by. Nothing is ever all or nothing.