Last pour: the one down the drain

When I bought all my wine at retail, I was as a child.  I never poured any down the drain.  Almost never.  It had to be absolutely poisonous, rank and life-threateningly over-sulfured for me to throw my hard-earned pennies (pennies is right -- most of the wine was pretty cheap) into the kitchen sink.  I drank it because, damn it, I’d paid for it.

My my.  How things have changed.  I have put away childish things.   

Last night, for example, I poured the sometimes substantial remains of five bottles down the sink.  There was one bad bottle, yes, but the others were perfectly fine.  The only thing wrong with them was that they’d been sitting in the fridge for days -- we just couldn’t consume them.  I’m on a plane to Virginia now.  Ken heads to California on Monday.  The neighbors can’t drink all this stuff.     

The remaining half-bottles of tasting samples aren’t going to get any better over the better part of a week.  So -– dump ‘em.

This despite that fact that, damn it, I’d already paid for the wine. I don’t like it, but it’s inevitable.  This sacred, mysterious liquid becomes a commodity.  Not as much as the heap of condiments you toss out when the diner delivers your hamburger, but a commodity nevertheless. 

I try not to think too much about this necessary waste.  (Necessary both to protect my health and the business, since you can’t take stale wine when you present to a new or existing customer.)  But sometimes, as I’m pouring, I envision the unremitting labor of the producer.  I fret, “What would Luigi say if he saw this?”  “Sorry, Raffaele!  Sorry, Francesco!”  Guilt wracks me.

If it’s a bad bottle?  I curse the producer.  Loud and often.  After all, "I paid for this damned wine, you careless son of a bitch!"

Comments

[john hughes]

Straps,

I can relate to the drinking of ALL the wine in younger days. Back then all wine was worth drinking. I now realize that back then I had the taste buds of a two year old. I like to think the reason I don't toss much vino down the drain is that I am much more educated but while experimenting, I still seem to find some plonk. Life is indeed good.

Johnnie