Today’s story is one of tragedy and grieving. Of regret and longing for what could have been. It’s about the treasured bottle of wine kept too long. You may well recognize yourself in the story.
Not long ago, a friend asked me to go through her wine “collection”, which was really an assortment of bottles she had picked up on impulse when grocery shopping or that various guests had brought to her house over the years. She had about 30 bottles, some of which she had possessed for almost 10 years. She wanted me to look at them all and then tell her which were ready to drink and what food she should match with them.
I had to give her the bad news: Only about five of her bottles were still in their prime. Another eight to 10 were on their way down, but still drinkable – immediately! The rest of the bottles were likely pretty bad. And so began the grieving process:
