A Layman's Wine Explorations 7

And yet I was rather stumped when I got into a discussion with my five-year-old daughter on Tuesday. 

“What are you drinking?” 

“Wine.” 

“Can I try some?”

“No — it's alcohol, it's not for children.”

“Why not?”

“Because it's a bit unhealthy.”

“Then why do you drink it?”

Damn!

I don't care

And what do you say now? I was lucky, because her interest had basically waned at “No”, and when I didn't answer straight away, she shrugged, turned around and went looking for more interesting things. Still, I'm sure neither she nor the best wife of all would have been particularly impressed by the answer “Because it tastes good!” And “Because it's Tuesday” probably wouldn't have gone down too well either, although there's some truth in that.

Our neighbours are consistent

Our neighbours always eat fish on Fridays, and my brother sweeps the street every Saturday. Neither otherwise leads a strictly Christian life, but they've kept up the habit. Besides, Thursday is cinema day, Sunday is when most married couples have sex, Monday is commuters' day, and on Tuesdays we like to drink a glass of wine or two.

Which day is wine day?

It all began years ago, and funnily enough, the person who set it in motion no longer remembers it himself. Back then, he had a works council meeting every Tuesday and would regularly drop by afterwards. Now, this champion of employees' interests also happens to be a wine drinker, so he would bring along a bottle or two. We didn't have children back then and accordingly still had a social life beyond parent council evenings and playdates.

So it was only natural that other people spent time with us too, and since Tuesday was already “booked up” anyway, we simply invited the rest of the gang along. What I can't explain in hindsight is why nobody ever thought of bringing beer to these Tuesdays. As if responding to a secret signal, we drank nothing but wine.

How I find the right wine on the shelf

At first I was the pack mule

At first, I still bought the wine for our growing gatherings, but enthusiasm for my purchases was rather limited. Understandably, more and more volunteers stepped forward to relieve me of this burden. Before we knew it, the battle cry “It's Tuesday!” was ringing out among our friends quite independently of us, and we weren't the only ones for whom Tuesdays and wine simply went together — whatever else was on the agenda that day. Among other things, this meant we enjoyed the football World Cup semi-final between Germany and Italy over a very pleasant Riesling, which more than made up for the painful defeat and made the evening bearable even for the girls.

A few years later

Today, that original circle is scattered in all directions and across different countries, most of us have children and demanding jobs, and the lure of the easy life takes its toll too. But my Pavlovian bell is still the inaudible sound of Monday turning into Tuesday. By the afternoon at the latest, a gentle craving for wine sets in, and nobody is surprised when we crack open a bottle in the evening — except perhaps my daughter. And I'm almost certain that if we ever manage to drag ourselves off the Lego-strewn play mat and get the old gang together again, it will probably be on a Tuesday. By now, I even think I'm ready to bring the wine myself, perhaps a Riesling from Kießling in Heilbronn.

That rhymes and tastes delicious.