I love it when my friends drop around for dinner and bring over their latest wine find. I love to enjoy their excitement… I love to taste new wines…. Sometimes though, a friend comes late to the door when wines are already opened and those gifts are then put into our wine cupboard with the givers initials on for another night. I am sure that I am not alone in doing this. Right?

Recently, we were invited to dinner with friends and I grabbed the wine that they had brought to our place very early in the year.  The conversation before we left the house followed along the lines of :

‘The Man’ – “Isn’t that a little rude taking their wine to their house?”

Me – “Well, we have not been able to get our act together to share another meal with these guys all year. I want to share it with them”.

‘The Man’ – “But isn’t it like returning a gift…. like saying that we don’t like it?”

Me – “But they said that this wine has been made by their friends, surely it makes sense to drink it with them.  And with our track record, we might not catch up with them for a very long time.”

Yeah, yeah!  The conversation went on and we ended up taking the wine that night and a good time was had by all.  It begs the question though, was it poor manners? Would you be offended if someone did this to you? Would it be like a snub that your wine was not good enough to be opened on the night (this was not deliberate by the way, as it had been offered)? Or maybe a sign that I am stingy? Cheap?

My feelings were simply that I would like to share that particular wine with those friends because they took the time to choose it for me.   I am sure that I will do it again in time to come. So, this is a warning of sorts.

Please don’t be offended, I am just showing my gratitude for your thoughtfulness……