same bottles. Only once. I just talk about it a lot.
Hey Alan…
We talk about those touchdowns scored all the time amongst friends. 
…and they razz me for the fumble. I like to remember the Angels ![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}
Now hold on just a doggone minute. You have two spouses–one who doesn’t drink, and one who is cutting back? Maybe you should just add a third spouse who drinks like a fish, and you’ll be set.
History became legend. Legend became myth.
Plenty of good thoughts. McCart said it pretty well. I usually split a bottle over two nights. I do have to admit it was more like two bottle over three nights or worse during a lot of the pandemic.
Opening a great bottle on my own doesn’t concern me. It’s often a great relief. I’ve opened great bottles at group functions plenty of times. Lots of those times I’ve regretted it because they ended up being just another check mark in a night of drinking rather than honestly enjoying the wines at hand. It could have been any wines at some of those functions. So having the time to contemplate those good bottle means something. They are providing the experience I intended to have when I purchased them. Good company is certainly also welcome and can enhance those wines. Its not required.
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Good one! Lol
I agree. I live alone so I tend to open some nice bottles every now and then to go with dinner. I don’t usually open my highest end bottles because they need more age or I want to share them with my parents. Either way, it’s always nice to pop open a good bottle just for yourself!
As mentioned before I try to keep some decent half bottles around for single use with a solo dinner. My/our real thrill is to share wines with others over good food and plenty of “talk story”.
When my wife Jacqueline is away, I have no hesitation opening a bottle of wine to have with a meal by myself. I’ll usually finish it over a few days, since, unlike Alan, the angels who would visit me would be fallen ones. I also find that most of my wines hang in there pretty well or even improve over the few days.
I should probably mention that I sometimes do all of these thing alone even when Jacqueline is here.
Of course I open wine alone - I always want wine. I don’t always want company!
When I was single and living alone, nothing was off limits for my solo evenings. Sometimes I finished a bottle, sometimes I didn’t. Sipping something delcious, reading a great book, listening to jazz…those were and are pretty near perfect evenings, Now that I share a cellar with Jonathan, I’ll still open anything I want when he’s away, but tend towards bottles that I like more than he does. I’ll still sometimes finish a bottle and sometimes not.
There are a few bottles in the cellar that I wouldn’t touch without discussing it with him first, because we only have one and are looking forward to sharing it. But nothing is being saved for, if you’ll pardon the vulgarity, a Big D–k Contest.
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And people say you’re cheap. If they only knew.
^^
This, for sure.
You are invited. My treat. You could use some homeowner respite.
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Agree, I had the same feelings/worries early on that it meant I was an alcoholic if I drank wine alone and enjoyed it. Over time that worry diminished as I realized I didn’t have it. I do find it easier to drink wine alone when my wife is gone versus drinking wine alone when she’s home but not drinking.
When our kids were toddlers with 7/8pm bed times and my wife out of town over a weekend, I would oftentimes open one, two or three bottles. Sometimes I was worried bottles had gotten too old and didn’t want to open them for guests, sometimes I wanted to understand how a wine was aging, other times I just wanted to taste a certain wine.
I’d grill a simple beef/pork dish, make a salad and bread, then enjoy with wine(s) opened earlier for breathing. Usually by 9pm I was eating, tasting wine and watching a movie in peace and quiet. It was glorious. Those who’ve had young kids and taken care of them alone for days on end know what I mean.
My favorite guise is the “Wine Smackdown” where I pit 2 bottles against each other and taste them over the evening, comparing and contrasting, declaring a winner at several intervals. Dead Arm vs. Bella’s Garden; Spring Mtn vs Mount Veeder; Merry Edwards vs Rochioli; Etc. One of the most epic smackdowns was '97 Napa Vs '97 Italy (Spring Mtn Res vs Guado al Tasso) feasting on ribeye while watching John Wick. Those were seriously nice bottles 18 yrs old at the time and I had no idea what I was in for with John Wick!
I guess that was a bit of a ramble, but yes, I’ve opened bottles alone.
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My wife doesn’t drink alcohol anymore, so if I want wine at home I have to open a bottle for myself. I often will pop a bottle on Fri or Sat and have a couple of glasses a couple nights in a row.
As I drink less wine overall these days, I have found myself spending a little more per bottle. I tend to save the best wines I have for evenings when family or friends are over, but have been known to open some very good stuff for myself—agree with others that it can be glorious to get to taste the development of a full bottle of a really great wine rather than a glass or 2 at best.
Some bottles are so special, I want to open them alone and savor them slowly over one or more evenings. Usually more than one. Over dinner or not. With music or not. Many of my wines fit in this category.
Some bottles are so special, I want to share them with a small group of friends (better up to 6 but up to 10 still ok) or a particular person. Many of my wines fit in this category, particularly if I have only one bottle of it. There are many bottles in this category in my head that I don’t plan to open alone, but many times I do in the moment. Nothing is sacrosanct that I wouldn’t open it alone although having the majority of my wines in offsite storage lowers the chance that I open alone wines I had planned to share.
Edit: I would put 98% of what I own in the two buckets above.
It’s bringing a bottle to a large dinner or event that is mentally challenging because this is an intimate hobby in which I select each wine I decide to buy, making each special in its own way and for its own reason, and a bigger dinner or other event is rarely the place to contemplate and savor that wine at that moment. There are no wines tagged for such events. They are more like sacrifices.
My girl was working late last night so I enjoyed a nice grilled porterhouse and a nice bottle of 2011 The Debate Beckstoffer Missouri Hopper myself. Would have been nice to share, but no regrets!
My best dining alone experience was a long lunch at Restaurant David Toutain (Paris). Full tasting and wine pairing menu over three hours led to this tweet:
Eating alone in a restaurant, the silence like a broad-rimmed dish that cradles some precise cut of flesh, the absence of another voice a chance to fare one’s life solemnly like a knife being drawn across a whetstone the color of God’s cigar.
After a 2-hour nap in Tuileries, I headed over to Akrame (Paris) later for another tasting menu alone. It was the only time I ever felt I would explode from too much food and wine. Watch out for that: gluttony while alone.
I occasionally have to travel for work and, depending on schedules, find myself alone at dinner every now and then. I make it a point to find the best restaurant I can, and bring or buy great wine if possible. When my wife is out of town and it’s just me and my young sons I still open a good bottle of wine. I think you get one shot at life and then you’re dead. I’m not an alcoholic and I’m not anti-social by any means. So why not? Sometimes I’d take a fine meal and a great bottle of wine alone over the same with company. I like my company and am not bothered in the least by being alone. I’ve had sensational meals with world class wine alone in NYC, London, Chicago, Santa Barbara, Grand Rapids, and a bunch of other places where I’ve had to go for a deposition or hearing last minute and could not arrange plans with someone in the area. I quite enjoy it and find no shame in it.
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