Life is short. Open the bottle.

Why I’m done saving the good wine for “special occasions”

“Pop!” The sound of the wine cork lifting out of the bottle was incredibly satisfying. I was about to pour myself a glass of wine from a bottle I had been saving for a “special occasion.”

I love wine (see Substack logo). I have two wine fridges and three winery memberships, and yes, I’m aware that sounds like a lot. Most of my collection comes from local wineries, though I also pick up bottles I’ve loved at restaurants or while traveling. I’m also lucky enough to receive wine as gifts. If you’re still shopping for me, I wear a size “dry red,” preferably a Cab Sav or Pinot Noir. Most of these bottles fall squarely into the everyday category, the ones I open with dinner, share with friends, or bring as a hostess gift.

Drinking the “special” wine on a mostly ordinary day

But a few bottles are “special.” Mostly that translates to “more expensive.”

The bottle I was opening was in this category. It was double (or more) the cost of my go-to bottles. It was from a winery I wasn’t likely to visit again anytime soon, so it wouldn’t be easy to replace.

I was celebrating some good news. Nothing life-changing, but let’s just say it had been a very good day. And this bottle was the one that seemed pair well with a very good day.

I hesitated a bit before I started to twist the corkscrew. I didn’t have anyone to share the bottle with that night, so I’d only enjoy a glass or two and then cork it for the night (with a wine preserver, of course).

But still, this bottle seemed like the right one at the right time.

Photo by rikkia hughes on Unsplash

Similarly, on Thanksgiving morning, I opened a very nice bottle of sparkling wine for my husband and me to sip while we watched the parade and he prepped the turkey. We didn’t make mimosas. One of my most strongly held beliefs is that you never, ever use really good, or even just good, champagne or sparkling wine for mimosas. We drank it on its own, as intended. It was absolutely special-occasion wine. At one point, my husband asked whether Thanksgiving morning was the right moment to open that bottle.

My answer: “Why shouldn’t it be the right moment?”

Every once in a while, you read one of those stories about someone who waited to do the thing they loved until retirement, only to drop dead the day after they finally stopped working. I’m not planning on dropping dead anytime soon, and let’s be honest, I’m not retiring anytime soon either. But I feel strongly about not putting off the things I love for “later,” because none of us actually knows what the future holds.

So instead of saving the really expensive wine for the “perfect” moment, I’m going to drink it when it feels right. Maybe it’s a small win. Maybe it’s big news. Maybe it’s a holiday. Maybe it’s a random Tuesday.

Because if you keep saving it for a special occasion, what happens if that occasion never comes and you never get to enjoy it at all?

The way I see it, if you enjoy it on a less-than-special occasion, the absolute worst-case scenario is that the next time you have something to celebrate, you don’t have a bottle on hand. And that feels like a very easy problem to solve.

Or you can be like me and have two wine fridges.

For what it’s worth, I apply the same logic to travel. I don’t want to wait to visit my bucket-list destinations until the mythical perfect moment, when I have more time, more money, and my daughters are older. I try to take the trips when the opportunity shows up. That’s what points and miles are for. But that’s a topic for a different post. Stay tuned.

But back to the special occasion wine: life is short. Open the bottle.

Love,

Amanda

Zero F’s Favorites

My must-have wine accessory is a can of Private Preserve Wine Preserver. It’s a harmless gas you spray into an open bottle that creates a protective barrier against oxidation—meaning your wine still tastes great the next time you pour a glass. Because at this stage of life, I enjoy wine and self-control, and this lets me have both.