Because Even Good Things Get Tiresome
New York Times food critic Frank Bruni talks about writing about food, but could be talking about writing about wine.
Too often, those of us who swim deeply in the food culture of the moment give the impression that every dining choice made is a deeply considered one, that life is a series of carefully researched, freighted judgment calls about the content, and destination, of every single meal. But is life really lived that way? Can it ever be? Do any of us really have the time or energy (or budget) for that?
I know I don’t. And as often as not, when I wrap up a day on the road around 9:00 p.m., I’m tired enough or eager enough for a solitary moment or interested enough in NOT thinking so hard about eating and food that I just get room service, or plop myself on a bar stool at a restaurant that I select spur-of-the-moment, or do something along those lines. I make a deliberate decision NOT to deliberate too much.
Good wine demands attention and respect. Tasting tires me out. I always considered that a weakness rather than a human frailty until the end of last Winter’s Symposium for Professional Wine Writers. We’d been tasting and focusing on wine and eating extraordinary food for five days. (I know; it sounds like a nightmare.) The last morning — let me emphasize again: morning — we tasted 60 Chardonnays and 60 Cabernets.
When I was done I begged out of a nice lunch offer and drove my rental car instead to Taylor’s Refresher in St. Helena for a burger and chocolate shake. Looking around the picnic tables in back of Taylor’s I saw a half-dozen other Symposium participants, wine writers burned out on perfectly paired food and wine, chowing down on burgers and fries.
One of the things I’ve learned hanging around the periphery of the wine business for the last 18 months is that wine is work. I guess I should have known that. Things that look like fun to non-participants are often not that much fun in practice. I’ve been a writer my whole career and every time anyone says to me, “Oh, that must be fun,” I remind them of Hunter Thompson’s reply to similar enthusiasm: that while sex may be fun for amateurs, old whores don’t do much giggling.
I tease wine writers, once in a while, for taking wine too seriously. We would all do well to, as Mr. Bruni does when he gets tired of taking food seriously, order a carafe of the house red and focus on the friends we’re drinking with rather than what we’re drinking. That’s how most people approach wine, and it’s how we should, too, at least sometimes.
Hat tip Andrew Sullivan.
July 31st, 2010 at 10:53 AM
My last work trip to France was a rather grueling 11 days of up to 19 appointments a day. Intensive tasting of very young wines, lavish meals twice a day and nights where we were up until 3:00 am and had to be ready to go again like four hours later. We had one free afternoon in Paris and one of my travel mates and I found a bistro that had burgers and fries. I’m telling you that burger with the bottle of whatever Champagne we shared was like finally exhaling…..
July 31st, 2010 at 1:58 PM
Amen. Analysis of anything always interferes with its enjoyment. I like how you put it better… we’d do well to focus on the friends we’re drinking with rather than what we’re drinking. Can I borrow that?
I, too, was at The Refresher at the same time doing the same thing. Had I been seeing any further beyond my pint of beer, I would’ve called you over to join us – but not before making you promise to talk about anything but wine.
August 2nd, 2010 at 8:33 AM
Room service. Hamburger. Miller Lite. Will I get any points with the food and wine gods for doing that? Nope. Is it just the thing after a week of tasting wine? Yep.
August 2nd, 2010 at 9:01 AM
Take wine seriously? Yes. Take ourselves seriously? No, thanks!
August 4th, 2010 at 4:51 AM
It was interesting to see what people paired with palate fatigue. You, a burger and chocolate shake. Me, onion rings and diet coke.
There’s something about tasting 70+ wines before noon that generates unhealthy cravings. Which is just one of the reasons I like, on occasion, to taste 70+ wines before noon.
August 4th, 2010 at 5:30 PM
Next time try a Taylor Refresher ahi burger with that chocolate shake. Yum.