Tuesday, March 01, 2011
Steppin' to the Dark Side
It should come as no surprise to aficionados that wine contains alcohol. It is no small part of its attractiveness as a beverage and social lubricant. In vino veritas, friends. In the early days of this country, wine lovers like Ben Franklin and Thomas Jefferson promoted wine as a more temperate choice that whiskey or grog. You rarely see wine drinkers getting into violent exchanges or throwing up in the alley. I'm told that a very snobby woman entered the AA program and declared: My name is Sandra and I'm addicted to fine wine and champagne, but you don't hear about it often.
I just encountered a fellow, a client, who has a serious alcohol problem. I've never seen him drunk, but a family member told me that it's bad. In and out of rehab. Drinking tequila early in the morning. They were concerned that there would be empty bottles in the wine cellar, but when I went in, I found it was virtually untouched. A visual check revealed that only a couple of bottles had been removed in the time since I was last there. The guy wasn't drinking wine to get drunk. It takes too long. It's too expensive (at least with his wine). It calls for food.
