ADVERTISING: Advertorial — Passions
A dear friend of ours passed away in recent weeks, and on Friday we attended her celebration of life. And what a life it was. In short, it was grand! Although her life was way too short by any standard, as we listened to the assembled speakers we were struck at the scope of her reach. But as we listened more, two themes came up more than once. She had created and participated in communities, and those communities arose and expanded from her passions, the primary one being her love of horses.
When our friend’s sister spoke, she told the story of how she introduced her brother, her husband and others to the joy of riding horses. As the story went, her brother and her husband didn’t really know they enjoyed being on horseback, at times perhaps they were even resistant to the notion of spending a day riding through the hills of North Idaho. But our friend’s passion prevailed; it instructed and brought many along with her, including her brother and husband. A remarkable, passion-driven life.
We have long said and written right here on these pages that much of our wine journey and our wine community is driven by passion. Let’s be honest here, in the absence of passion, wine is simply fermented grape juice. But for those who really enjoy wine, who strive to learn all they can about the process and the beverage, for those who hold a true passion for it, wine takes on outsized proportions, especially to those who are not that into it.
Just like our friend, though, who so openly shared her passions, many of us find that when we share our passion for wine, whether it be a particular bottle or winery- or wine overall- that friends and family will come along. Communities and friendships develop as we now have this common drive to talk about and enjoy together, wine. It moves beyond just fermented grape juice to something that is part of our daily lives.
A true passion for any pursuit, from riding horses to appreciating wine, is catching. These exercises may not appeal to all but they will connect with many. It is one of the reasons we encourage all to taste with a group; not every time, but periodically there are great benefits to tasting with friends. It expands your palate, enabling you to appreciate a broader array of wines, from varietal, to region, to producers. It will expand your own community, and if you include a novice wine person in your group, it can be quite rewarding on a psychological level.
You don’t always have to organize it all yourself either. Come to a wine dinner, attend a tasting or visit a winery. Even in these “virus affected” times, we are still holding wine dinners and tastings, we are just compelled to have them be a bit smaller and more structured to ensure that everyone has plenty of distance and is comfortable attending. It is still a way to allow our passion to flourish and bring others along for the “ride.”
Our good friend kept up her passion almost until the end. Even when she could no longer ride, her assembled community worked together to bring her to her barn to at least see and be among her horses. Her passion had kept her community united, not only to pursue their joint passion, but to take the time and gentle care to allow her as much of a slice of her love of horses when she no longer could ride. We marveled at the positive joyful influence across far-flung groups our friend had. It made us realize that sharing each of our passions, when done in a way like Di did, you can not only bring a deep enjoyment to your own life, but to so many others. It works with horses and it works with wine.
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George Balling is co-owner with his wife, Mary Lancaster, of the dinner party, a wine and gift shop in Coeur d’Alene by Costco. The dinner party has won the award for best wine shop in North Idaho twice, including for 2018. George is also published in several other publications around the country. After working in wineries in California and judging many wine competitions, he moved to Coeur d’Alene with Mary more than 10 years ago to open the shop. You can also follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/#!/dinnerpartyshop.