Monday, March 8, 2010

Rant: Generosity

Usually this Monday spot is a rant, my complaints about some issue, whether big or small. Yet today is different, as any complaints I have were swept away by an act of genuine generosity. This act was performed by a sincere individual, a man passionate about wine who also has no compunction about sharing that passion with kindred spirits.

Saturday evening, I attended a blind tasting of Rhone wines at the home of Adam, who writes the WineZag blog. We tasted fourteen wines, and I will post much more about the event later this week. In short though, it was fun and informative. I don't have much experience with blind tasting, but would like to do more. They are certainly very challenging and it is always good to test your limits.

I enjoyed checking out Adam's wine cellar, and saw many interesting bottles. As a generous surprise, Adam offered to open almost any bottle in his cellar. In the end, he opened a 1985 Lynch-Barges, a French Bordeaux, which was a birth year wine for one of the other attendees, Amanda. It was obviously quite an amazing wine yet Adam went a step further, opening another interesting wine, a 1985 Chateau Monetelena, a California Cabernet.

Adam certainly did not need to open either of these wines, let alone both. Our evening would still have been excellent. But he wants his wines to be drunk, shared with people who share his love of wine. He does not want to hoard his wines, to simply watch his collection grow and grow. Plus, he expected nothing in return for sharing this wine. It was done out of the goodness within him, and it impressed me.

His generosity should be emulated by others. Wine that simply sits in your cellar gathering dust does nothing. At its most basic, wine is meant to be imbibed, to be savored and enjoyed. And wine shared with friends and family always tastes so much better. So, if you have been sitting on your wines, then open up your cellar and open some of those bottles. Call over some friends and have a drink, without waiting for any special event.

Cheers and kudos to Adam!

3 comments:

Lynda said...

Rich - I enjoyed meeting you at the wine tasting on Saturday night. It is great when people with a similiar interest in food and wine can get together.

I second this post about Adam! Not only does he generously share his wine, he shares his knowledge and passion about it through his blog.

I look forward to reading more about the Saturday tasting.

Anonymous said...

That is very cool! Genuine generous people are often hard to come by. It seems that people are more and more skeptical, reserved, and even paranoid these days.

It's always nice to hear about good people and I'm sure you are the same way, Richard!

Josh @nectarwine on Twitter

Richard Auffrey said...

It was a pleasure to meet you as well Lynda. It was a great crew of people that evening, and I had lots of fun. Hope to see you again at a future tasting. And I hope you enjoy reading my blog.

Thanks very much Josh for your kind words. Cheers!