I am starting to really like wine

My introduction to the drinking of wine got off to a really bad start. You can probably guess what happens when you are 19 years old and in an attempt to show the world that you can drink with the best mixed beer, hard liquor and wine at one party.

The only good thing about that night was one of my friends picked up my false teeth out of the pool of puke I was staring at. Now thats real friendship.

You would think I would learn my lesson but as the clock rolls forward about 8 years to New Years eve 1972 I once again found myself confronting a mixture of liquids that do not belong together. My wife and I were visiting with some friends and the husband was in the Canadian Navy. A pleasant evening as we sat around visiting and drinking some beer, but at about 10pm when the beer was gone he produced a bottle of Black overproof Rum he had brought back with him from the Caribbean which we proceeded to dispatch with. As could be predicted by anyone things began getting a bit unstable and if even a small amount of capacity for rational thought remained I would have run for cover when the next offering was brought forward.

He produced a gallon jug of a dark red very thick wine that he had traded for from a Portuguese sailor. I have never seen wine that was almost like a thin syrup in consistency before and after a few glasses of this I was once again on my knees trying to keep my head above the water line in our toilet. It made me so sick that for 25 years I couldn't even smell red wine without my stomach starting to reel.

But after 30 years I am coming to appreciate wine in a different capacity than as a means to get me drunk. I started making wine about 6 months ago and find that a glass or two of red wine in the evening or with a meal has benefit, it takes the edge off life and improves the taste of your food. I read now that it is considered to be good for your health. I guess the bible knows what it is talking about when in the book of Timothy it says "take a little wine for your stomach" and who am I to disagree with the bible.

Its a pleasant way to start winding the day down and if you don't have a drinking problem I recommend it to anyone. The biggest problem I have is keeping it away from my 4 oldest daughters. In order to keep them in wine I would have to convert an entire room in my house into a winery, I may have to put a lock on the door.