Wine Improvements for the New Year

 

Pet peeves. We all have them. One of mine is this thought of the new year making everything right. Year after year, I cringe at the endless “good riddance to the past year, now things will be different” rants that seem to spew out of mouths and across social media platforms. Seriously, how is the clock turning from 12 a.m. to 12:01 a.m. going to make any difference? Then, there are the New Year’s resolutions…

              As someone who works out every day, this has always been one of my least favorite things about the new year. Starting at the beginning of January and continuing until Valentine’s Day, the gym is stuffed to the max with people taking up the equipment, hording in on mat space, and making sign up for classes near impossible. Then there are the endless social media pictures of healthy food, people giving a daily breakdown of all the good they are doing and just begging for praise, and this Dry January crap. All this silly social media trend has done is damage small wineries and breweries. Anyways, as I have implied, I despise New Year’s resolutions and this whole concept of the new year.

              Though I say all of this, I do have to admit that the concept of change has been on my mind lately, as has a craving for the general calm that comes with the start of the new year. As I have hinted on in past blogs, I wouldn’t call 2025 my best year ever. I had some really great times, and some not so great. Those I had no control over like hail decimating my crop of wine grapes and losing my dog have made me look forward to the clean slate January brings.  On the other hand, since early fall, I have been really taking stock of things I do have control over, that I can change, to make my life a happier one. As I pondered these “fall resolutions” I, of course, found a correlation between these changes and things I need to work on in my wine world. Some wine resolutions, if you will.

              I am a routine-based person. Spontaneity doesn’t bring me joy; it brings me ulcers. I have my paper planner - yes, I still use one of those - and each day I methodically mark every listed item off as I go through my typical routine of coffee and magazine, work, workout, more work, some kind of special project or cleaning, then dinner with my coveted glass of wine. This may sound boring to some, but it is perfect for me. Except in one regard. As I was assessing myself, I realized that I had got so bogged down on scratching off the task, that I was just going through the motions. I wasn’t paying attention to or enjoying what I was doing, I was simply letting the day pass me by. With life already being so short and moving so fast, this was something I definitely had to work on. I discovered this was something I also needed to fix when it came to my wine enjoyment.

              A few weeks ago, it was both an audible book and a podcast that opened my eyes to this flaw in my wine drinking experiences. Though covering different subjects, both brought up the point that solely focusing on the tasting notes, the body, the level of tannins, etc. causes a consumer to ignore the most basic aspect of the wine; did they enjoy it or not and what did the wine mean to them? As I really took in these words, I realized this was something I was personally failing at.

I keep a wine journal of all of the bottles I consume. On each page, I jot down the notes I got on the palate and nose, the structure of the wine, if it went well with any particular foods, and any other interesting observations. Looking over entries from when I started to where I was now, I realized that though current Kacia was able to better tease out all of the technicalities of the wine, she had stopped noticing the emotions, memories, and images the wine gave. I had lost the heart and soul of the wine experience.

Upon this realization, I immediately got to fixing my ways. Each night, as I sip my glass of the day, I clear my mind and just drink the wine. When the glass is finished, I still take down notes, but I make it way less systematic than it used to be. I am no longer simply ticking off the wine component boxes. I still like to comment on any flavors or aromas I found, and I still like to analyze the structure of the wine, as these things are part of it, but my primary focus is on the happiness the wine brings to me. A recent vino I enjoyed was a bottle of Barbera. Though I did note its plum and sweet basil aromas, I also found myself writing about how the taste of herbs conjured up images of an Italian restaurant, one of my favorite places in the world. This Italian restaurant notion brought me joy; hence I found myself liking the wine for other reasons then its quality and makeup. I had rediscovered that perfect happiness a bottle of wine can bring.

              My hastiness is another problem, and it is a problem I need to seriously work on. “Slow down” has been a mantra I have desperately been trying to ingrain into myself for some time now. I am always rushing. Does this rushing get more done or the job at hand completed quicker? Nope. It causes me to make mistakes, continuously drop things, and just feel plain frazzled. So frazzled. This is obviously a problem that needs to be addressed, and it has been one I continue to work on every day. It also applies to my wine drinking habits and education.

              As I have mentioned before, I have two wine chillers housing bottles I am currently working on. This gives me the opportunity to pick a perfect wine to be paired with my dinner. However, a while back I noticed I was developing a nasty habit of simply grabbing the easiest bottle to pour. This could be a wine that I had already tried, so I knew the notes and didn’t need to test it out. It could also be a bottle that only had one glass worth left, so all I had to do was pop the cork and go, no other gadgets needed. I would convince myself that it would be great with whatever I was having for dinner, so I could quickly sit down and start eating.  I didn’t go through all of my options, tasting and selecting the best. I would go with the quickest and easiest. This means there have been some less than stellar pairings, and some lost opportunities on what could have been an amazing match. In the same vein, I would sometimes simply finish up the bottle with one remaining glass just to clear it out of my chiller and make space for the next. It didn’t matter if it was the perfect wine for the moment or not. I was so busy rushing through my wine list, that I sometimes forgot to stop and smell the rose note.

With these two things in mind, I have made some changes in my wine practices. My husband and I discuss and decide each morning what we are going to have for dinner that night, so I take time before we begin cooking to go through my wine options and select the best one. This way, I am not doing the mad scramble while preparing dinner, and it also gives me the opportunity to make sure I am giving the wine the length of time it needs to breathe. Over the past couple of months, this has really upped my pairing knowledge and enjoyment. I have also stopped worrying so much about what the next wine in my chiller will be, and when I will be putting it in. I have been exercising some control in not even thinking about this until a spot opens up. Then, based on my current mood, and wines that need to be consumed before others, I make my selection. No longer is it a game of quickly scratching wines off my list, it is finding the perfect wine for the time. I have taught myself to be in the wine moment.

              I noticed that this speedy mentality was also getting in the way of my education. Purchasing a whole lot of classes and having this sick need to collect all of the wine books I can get my hands on, my knee-jerk reaction was to try and get through everything as quickly as possible. I found myself thinking things like, “If I read this many pages a week, I can finish this book by the end of the month and start the next.” I was also pushing myself to start and finish a class segment in minimal time. Focusing so much on the completion, I was forgetting the retention. In my haste, I had lost sight of why I was taking these classes and reading these books in the first place. It wasn’t to rush through as many as possible to say I had finished them, it was to learn. To learn properly, you have to grasp and fully understand the information. Now, I no longer flip through the book I am reading to see how many pages are left, nor am I picking my next book before my current one is done. I enjoy what I am reading, sometimes rereading a section a couple of times to make sure I fully understand what is being said. When it is time for a new book, I select my next one based on my current mood, just like my wine bottles. The same goes for my classes. I don’t give myself a timeline or projected completion date. I take it in, take my time. It is amazing how much more I have soaked up by making these tiny changes.

              Finally, and this one is definitely a work in progress, I have got to stop worrying about what others think. Over the past month or so, I have been in a few different situations where I find myself agonizing about some interaction I had with someone. During these self-inflicted moments of anxiety, I came to the realization that I worry way too much about what others think, and in doing so, I am denying who I am. This is not good, and something that, in the terms of good ol’ Grady from The Shining, needs “corrected.” The same can be said for how I view wine.

              Though many in the wine community are actively trying to change the narrative, there are still those who thrive on being pompous asses about their wine know-how. Past Kacia would have just backed down and nodded along to whatever they were saying, and then mocked them later behind their backs. I never said I was mature. However, upon my recent enlightenment, I am actively working on holding my own and sticking to my personal wine beliefs and opinions. I have done the work, I have done the reading, and I have my own taste buds. I also know what I am talking about. It is my goal to no longer be steam-rolled by these individuals.

I am also being more honest with myself about what I truly think when drinking a highly rated wine. In the past, if I didn’t like a wine that received high scores and the praise of critics, I would just decide there was something wrong with me. This is a ridiculous notion to have. My tastes may differ from that person’s. Maybe they like wines that are sweeter than I like, or maybe rosehip is a note they seek out, while it is one I try to avoid. The point is, if I don’t like the taste of a top-rated wine, that’s okay. If I prefer the $20 bottle over the $50 bottle, that’s okay. I need to have the confidence to like what I like, and not like what I don’t like. As long as I can articulate why, I do not have to be ashamed that a drink is simply not my “cup of wine.”

As I start this new year, I look forward to what these new goals of mine will bring. I hope to continue to grow both as a person and as a wine connoisseur, finding happiness in both. And, most importantly, I hope to find some new and amazing wines. Whatever your stance is on the new year and those pesky resolutions, I hope that 2026 brings you much joy and delicious wine. Cheers to what 2025 gave us, and what 2026 will bring!