Fruit of the Vine

I like wine.

I like drinking wine.

I love drinking wine out of wine glasses.

Plastic cups, coffee mugs, and straight out of the bottle all work very nicely if the situation calls for it, (and trust me, there have been situations that call for it) but there is just something about the glass.

It’s sexy, People.

A wine stem is just dang sexy and there’s no two ways about it.

There is something ritualistic and soothing and celebratory about opening the bottle, letting it breathe, (by breathe I mean the time it takes to reach up and grab a glass from my hanging stemware rack) and pouring it into a glass of my choosing.

I certainly don’t own or can I tell you all types of glasses. I know that there are different types of red wine glasses but other than a brandy snifter, I couldn’t tell you what they were. (Is brandy really considered wine?)

I digress…

My favorite white wine glass has crackled glass at the base of the globe. A Christmas gift from Big Daddy.

My favorite red wine glass has a crack in it, but still has a place of honor. (also a gift from BD) My second favorite and the one I use most, is royal blue and the bowl fits in my hand like a…well let’s just say it fits. It was a gift from Mammy Kelly for my 37th birthday.

My favorite sparkler glass is a flute with a slight white frosting at the base of the bowl and a long, lithe stem. (I like delicate stems. It forces me to be gentle I guess, and reminds me to slow down and savor the whole experience.)

It was stolen from a friend I haven’t seen in years.

Actually, I didn’t mean to steal it, it just ended up at my apartment about 18 years ago and never made it’s way back to it’s proper owner. I think of her every time I drink from it and wonder where and how she is. I also wonder if she knows or cares what happened to it.

It also bears telling that I have only one matching set of ‘all-purpose’ wine glasses and they are in a box in my cabinet gathering dust. I don’t think they’ve ever been opened. They were purchased for company, but somehow company always gravitates to my rack.

So to speak.

They see one they like and pluck it off the rack.

I love that.

Whenever someone asks what they can get me for a gift, (and you’ve been wondering haven’t you?) I always say a stem. It’s also what I like to get for myself when I travel.

I remember who got it for me, from whence it came, and the occasion. And I get twice the pleasure drinking wine from a treasured tribute.

So, yeah. I’m a little obsessive about my wine glasses.

And when one breaks,

…my heart goes with it.