Something To Look Forward To

Last week, I bought a bottle of dry rose wine.  While I’m always happy about purchasing a new bottle of wine, I was particularly excited about this one.  It was a Friday.  It was a Friday of a very long week.  My husband and I have just recently started our own business and our days are long and strenuous.  He had been getting home all week no earlier than 9 pm and he was due to be home early and in time for dinner on this Friday.  To top it all off, it was a gorgeous day – 75 degrees, sunny and not a smidge of humidity in the air.  The perfect kind of day for catching up in the back yard as the sun goes down.  The wine sat in the refrigerator, chilling away and I counted down the minutes until my husband texted me that he was on his way home.

Ponte Pas Doux – dry rose perfection

I could picture it already: cool, crisp rose wine, not sweet, just right.  Maybe I’d serve it with black olive tapenade spread on toasted baguettes.  Yeah, that sounded good. We’d unwind, letting the long week roll off of our shoulders with every glorious sip.  We’d forget about the phone calls and the long nights for a while.  Since he was working on Saturday, we’d at least talk about what we would do as a family on Sunday, which so far, we were able to keep appointment-free.

Five o’clock came and went, so did six o’clock.  Six-thirty, seven…no husband.  Here’s what happened: the client job he was at on this Friday was supposed to last about 1 hour (based on our limited experience).  He was there for 4 hours.  By 7:15 I figured I should at least feed my poor little 3-year old and since I don’t like for anyone to eat alone, I joined him.  I thought about opening the wine, but I knew it just wouldn’t be the same without the yard, the sun, the husband.

I can’t be the only one who looks forward to a glass of wine like that at the end of a long day or week or holiday season, right? I think it’s because, unlike beer or cocktails that can and sometimes should be consumed quickly, lest they lose their chill, wine is meant to be savored.  Sip after sip you notice different flavors, different smells, different sensations.  As you drain your glass, that little “fizzy” sensation makes itself known and suddenly you’re smiling…smiling just because you feel good.  You simply must have another glass.  Conversation flows, moods lighten, la vita is suddenly bella.

Long day?  Long pour

Something to look forward to, indeed.

We did get to enjoy that bottle of wine on Sunday.  Thankfully the picture-perfect weather lasted through the weekend, so we got the whole package: the sun, the yard, the wine and, this time, even the husband.  The wine was well chilled and wonderful.  I had three glasses and probably should have stopped after two, but I had to make up for lost time, right?

What is the wine that you look forward to after a long week?

–Erica