Romancing the Vine Keeping Romance Alive: Applies to Wine Purchases Too!

by Eve Bushman

You know when you are enjoying a romantic dinner and everything just tastes so great?  The same thing happens when you are at a winery, a wine dinner, a wine cruise…with or without your significant other.
But, when the lights come back on the next day, why is it that the wine doesn’t taste as good?  Buyer’s remorse?  Nope, it’s a common complaint among vinophiles that wine tastes better at an occasion than it does at home alone.  
Think about it in the same context of that romantic dinner scenario I brought up.  Your loved one only illuminated by candlelight, your meal was catered by your favorite restaurant, the champagne is chilling in an ice bucket…
The next day, come to find that your loved one, now under closer and brighter scrutiny, is the same man you’ve slept next to for 20 some-odd, yes I mean odd, years.  The dinner that was so good only serves to remind you that your wife still can’t cook.  And that champagne?  It turned out to be just sparkling cider.  Now, how can you not help but feel cheated?
Wine people love to interact with fellow-thinking, and drinking, wine pals.  So you can often find us in groups in Napa Valley, at wine events that support charities, meeting at local wine bars, going to day-long fests and adorning stuck-on badges that read, “Hello my name is _____”.  It all becomes an open invitation to meet and mingle.
The wine is tasting better and better as your day proceeds.  Why order a bottle when you’re offered a case discount?  Why get a case when you can become a winery member and get to go to even more events?
You are drawn in, and soon, you are married…to your new wine.
You think you got it bad?  Multiply those scenarios for me.  I’ve stayed in winemaker’s homes, dined with winery owners, been sent wine for free to review and attended many of the same events that you do – as press.
I know I have a job to do, and as a professional, I do my best to keep to the task at hand.  But I’ve been romanced by the best of them, trust me.
So, how to solve the dilemma?  Be conscious of it.  Don’t get drunk on love or wine.  Remain calm at all times.  And, if all else fails, the best way to solve wine buyer’s remorse is to surround yourself with loved ones each and every time you want that bottle to be just as impressive.