I’m Blowing All My Holiday Money on Wine Subscriptions
No hate on Dry January, but why does the New Year have to be all about self-deprivation? After months of spending our time, energy, and money on everyone else, we're ready to treat ourselves. Welcome to our series To Me, From Me.
I've been trying to drink more wine for a while. I know this is a weird thing to admit when many are embarking on Dry January or otherwise making resolutions to do the opposite, but learning more about wine is perfectly in line with my goal for 2019: to be more Spanish.
I have a bit of a home-field advantage. My family actually is from Spain. I go there once a year, over the summer. But every time I come home to New York, I end up feeling like I'm not quite Spanish enough: I don't have an innate sense for making tortillas, I don't take a middle-of-the-day siesta (nor do I think I'd ever have the nonchalance to do it, even if I had the lifestyle), and I don't drink wine in a way that makes my life better. As a native New Yorker, I've grown up with a knack for doing things that make my life harder—always running from point A to point B and getting immediately defensive when anyone gets in my way. No matter what I'm doing, whether that's commuting or yes, drinking wine, I'm rushing. That's not a thing in Spain, where there isn't so much running, so much rushing, so much trying to get drunk at a breakneck pace. People there just are.
After much thinking, I've concluded that the most attainable way to achieve this serene Spanish lifestyle is by drinking wine the way they do: slowly, cheerfully, and frequently. Maybe with a tortilla.
Yes, I set this as a personal goal for 2019. But I've unintentionally been preparing for it for weeks. Instead of buying furniture at Ikea for my new apartment, I bought three large wooden cheese platters. Instead of picking up that dresser I really need, I acquired a hand-blown sangria pitcher. (Some might argue that this is an aversion to decorating my sparse abode. To that I say, Why worry about making my empty apartment livable when I can relax with a glass of wine instead? Plus, I have a mattress.) There's also been another fruitful development: I started dabbling in wine subscriptions.
If you're interested in joining me on my quest to educate myself and make Wine January a thing, I've found that wine subscription services are incredibly helpful for sampling different varieties and makers. Plus it ensures that you're always stocked without having to go farther than your mailbox. After much, ahem, testing, I've found that these five are my favorites. De nada.
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