It is time to get a little personal.
Up until this point, we’ve gone over a lot of detail in this book. Hopefully, you are getting a solid understanding of the pink wine category.
But now I want to focus on you.
At the beginning of book, I shared some of my earlier life experiences with pink wines.
For a while, I unintentionally pushed rosé wine out of my life. It wasn’t because I wanted to. It just sort of happened as I focused on other styles of wine, hoping to expand my personal palate.
Pink wine didn’t seem to fit into the life of the person I was trying to be in the world: educated, sophisticated, successful, cosmopolitan.
I allowed judgement, shame and insecurity to keep me away from wine style that I really enjoyed. It eventually just fell off my radar. I only really got back into rosé when it was deemed “socially acceptable” about 15 years ago.
I have a lot of years of drinking under my belt, if you couldn’t already tell.
The thing that saddens me is that I know I am not alone. I know there are some of you reading this chapter that have had similar experiences with wine.
It might not have been with rosé, like in my case.
Maybe it was with a buttery Chardonnay? Maybe it was Riesling? Maybe it was Merlot? Maybe it was value brand? Maybe it was a regional preference?
But at some point, in your life, you were wine shamed. That’s not right. That’s not cool. That’s not acceptable.
There are a lot of persnickety wine drinkers out there. By all means, people are entitled to their opinions. Lord knows that I have mine.
While we cannot change the behaviors, beliefs or rhetoric of some individuals who
appoint themselves as the authorities on proper wine consumption, we can evoke our own power.
That is the power of our personal palates.
The opinions of others don’t have to order your steps in terms of your wine consumption.
You decide for yourself.
Wine is for everyone and there is a wine for every single palate type out there in the world.
You, and only you, will truly understand your palate. Be confident and secure in what it likes and focus on the enjoyment of those things. Enjoy what you like – not what someone says you should like.
If you enjoy your rosé with a glass full of ice, enjoy it. If you keep getting judgmental looks because you love a deep, dark pink rosé, ignore them.
If all you ever want to drink in terms of pink is a light, pale, crisp, dry Provence rosé, then do that. If you have rosé sparkling wine with nearly every meal, please invite me over. I think that is super cool. But, again, it is not about me. It’s about you.
Own your personal palate. And to the men!
There is a slew of great, fun, adventurous and gregarious men around the world who really love wine, but some might have some personal reservations about drinking rosé.
Drinking pink wine has nothing to do with gender or “acceptable” gender roles. It is wine. It’s not going somehow change the molecular structure of your DNA. Wine can be magical, but it’s not quite that powerful.
The only thing you should worry about is if you enjoy it. If you don’t like it, you just don’t like it.
Life is too short to drink wine you don’t like. But please don’t let the color deter you.
If you are not sure if you will like it, the only way to know for sure is to try it. And if you try it and are not sure how you feel about it, that’s perfectly fine too. Sometimes a wine will grow on us or it will eventually fall out of our consciousness.
That’s perfectly fine and natural.
There is this powerful personal palate paradox when it comes to all wine.
Sometimes there seems to be no rhyme or reason why you like what you like. Then there are those times when you know what you like without the shadow of a doubt.
You don’t have to know all the time. There is a type of magic that happens in the not knowing.
That’s why wine classes, wine books, wine videos, wine stores and wine bars exist. They are there to help you explore and get lost in the possibilities.
Wine is meant to be enjoyed. It is not something to be ridiculed about.
From this point on, please try not to fall victim to judgment, shame and insecurity regarding your wine choices.
Get a little weird with your rosé choices. Go for something a little obscure. Explore the fringe. Go against the grain.
Many great things happen can inside a person’s wheelhouse, but also outside of one’s comfort zone.
Cheers to owning what intrinsically belongs to you: your palate, your choices, your life, your time and your interest in pink wine.