New year's resolutions for the wine year 2010
It is the start of the new year. Time to think about what to do better, what not to do any more and what new things to try. It is time for new year's resolutions! Accordingly, the Wine Rambler committee assembled on New Year's Eve and came up with a list of wine related resolutions. Drinking less, by the way, is not one of them.
As we all know, sticking to new year's resolutions is not easy, so I looked around for good advice on how to succeed. Time for instance offer useful suggestions such as 'Do What the Dalai Lama Would Do', which is explained as follows:
"Between stimulus and response, there's a space, and in that space is our power to choose our response, and in our response lies our growth and freedom," says Marlatt, quoting author and Holocaust survivor Victor Frankl.
If this is the best advice you can get, it is no wonder that only 12% of us still stick to a resolution after a year's time, at least according to a poll by Quirkology. Apparently, men are more successful when their resolution is related to getting attention from the opposite sex (like lose weight), while women do better through peer pressure from friends and family. Time agrees that 'friends who can also be role models' are a key to becoming a better person, and so they boldly suggest 'Get Better Friends'. While we have no intention of getting rid of our wine friends, we would appreciate a little encouragement to help us to stick to our resolutions:
- First, the hardest: Finally seriously educate ourselves about Burgundy. Specifically, find the three to five individual Pinot Noir under 30 € that will broaden our Pinot horizon, and give us a new perspective on the German Pinots that we love so much.
- Try a few interesting German sparkling wines without waiting for something to celebrate.
- Learn more about the German wine regions we do not regularly venture into, for instance Saxony and Swabia.
- Try more from lesser-known French wine regions like the Jura or the Loire Valley.
- Taste blind more regularly, and honestly confront the utter subjectivity of the wine tasting experience.
- Keep an eye on what's happening in eastern Europe.
- Focus more on really matching food and wine.
- Learn more about wine and food photography.
- Continue the search for an English wine to get really excited about.
- Keep an eye out for esoteric 'German' grapes and also for wines made from varietals Germany is not usually associated with (such as Syrah, Chardonnay or Sauvignon Blanc).
These are our top ten resolutions for the wine year 2010. Do you think we should be doing something else instead? Have we forgotten the most important things in wine life? Perhaps more importantly, what are your wine resolutions for 2010?