Vintage Flows: Wine Resolutions 2018

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Vintage Flows: Wine Resolutions 2018

“Like a bottle of Chateau Neuf Du Pap
I’m fine like wine when I start to rap
We need body rockin’ not perfection
Let me get some action from the back section”
-Beastie Boys, Body Movin

2017 was truly an interesting year. We saw things we never expected to happen happen and we also saw some of the most prominent figures in our time in lights we never saw them. Pillars in film, music, television, and radio have had their careers, perceptions, wellbeing altered due to the poor decisions they have made. Executives are stepping down after the slightest murmur of foul play. To add some of the ugliest and most upsetting parts of all, religious and political leaders are being revealed as some of the most flawed, immoral and unethical to boot. It is all largely due to the power of the internet and social media; the power of instant information. Now please don’t think I’m painting this as a bad thing. No, no, no! On the contrary, my friend. These are the truths our world needs to know, and you can bet your bottom dollar that we are only scratching the surface.

Now I’m sure you are must be asking, what does this have to do with wine? Are you saying we should be looking for the fall of some of the greatest winemakers, sommeliers, and wine connoisseurs? No, I’m not. What I’m actually saying is through the power of social media and the internet, we can find untraditional wine. We can break down these walls that have kept many of us feeling left out of the “wine conversation”. For centuries, wine has become more and more exclusive with it’s “traditions”, “unwritten rules” and it’s jargon. I believe it’s a huge part of the reason some don’t feel welcomed within the culture. I truly feel social media has been a phenomenal bridge for educating and simplifying wine. Which is something many traditionalists have not done. With communities on Instagram and Twitter, and groups on Facebook, wine has become more open to the public than its ever been. I see this as a give and receive. Yes, the fresh faces will mainly be receiving from the community initially, but I’m the long run their potential contributions will be exponential.

So, in my best Gerard Butler in 300 voice: To all those apprehensive on wine due to the false pretenses created by “Tradition”, hose that have flocked to beer, whiskey, Scotch, cognac, tequila instead and everyone in between, join me in this quest to change wine as we know it. We will not ask, but demand we be accepted into this incredible culture that many of us have been kept from. We will rewrite those “Unwritten Rules” so that it is more inclusive in the future. We will be styled as we choose, and pair wine with whatever we damn well please! We will post on our Facebook’s, Instagram’s, Snapchat’s, Twitter’s, Tumblr’s and proceed to give our true, unfiltered opinions. I’ll be honest, on this journey into wine culture, some of you may not return to your spirits and lagers. But, your legend will live on. Your stories of beer funneling, keg standing, car bombing, and worm swallowing will last forever. This battle is not for us to win, but for our children. And our children’s children. We will offer them a life of better buzzes and milder hangovers. Healthier appetites and hearts as well. No retreat. No surrender. That is wine lover’s law! And by wine lovers law, we will stand and fight…and love…and drink…and eat.

In 2018, I say we drink, be merry, and love one another. Let’s leave the judgment and shaming behind us. Let us educate ourselves as well as the generation that follows. Let us offer them a life better than what we had. In the forest of life, I feel wine is just a small branch, but a strong one. One that we can hold on to for a very long time. Let’s do it for ourselves, for them, and as always do it #fordacultcha !

Viva la revolucíon! Happy New Years everyone!

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