Let's talk about how crappy wine is
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Join Date: Sep 2015
Posts: 336
Originally Posted by WaterOx 
Yes. The culture.
Imagine if we had crack cocaine on such a pedestal. Would this be ok? How about heroine? Crank?
Imagine a "crack tasting" or "heroine-thirty" or "mommy needs her crank". Would this be ok?
Robert Parker gave the latest rock a 98 rating for its blueberry menthalated hues and a smooth ease that didn't make you cough or even throw up!
"this crack rock has the smooth satisfaction of skiing down the Sierra Foothills with a calm ease that blends with the pine trees on a winter's day". Charming.
Somehow this is all taboo but when it comes to alcohol (and especially wine), it's all just fine. I don't hear people proclaiming "hey if people in crack dens can't handle the loveliness of crack then that is on THEM....losers. If they can't handle the occasional crack rock with a meal well then they have no business smoking it like the rest of us normal people"
Final disclaimer: I'm not abdicating responsibility here. On the contrary. This is all.on.me....and although I like to think I'm not a grandiose person, this here is truly a "me against the world" situation if there ever was one.
I'm sure some of you are so far along with all this that you glide by it without a care in the world but some of us aren't quite there yet. The drug is real, the addiction is real and no....one....cares......they are all poised and ready for you to join them again. To drink again. It is what people do.
Those are some pretty serious odds.
Imagine if we had crack cocaine on such a pedestal. Would this be ok? How about heroine? Crank?
Imagine a "crack tasting" or "heroine-thirty" or "mommy needs her crank". Would this be ok?
Robert Parker gave the latest rock a 98 rating for its blueberry menthalated hues and a smooth ease that didn't make you cough or even throw up!
"this crack rock has the smooth satisfaction of skiing down the Sierra Foothills with a calm ease that blends with the pine trees on a winter's day". Charming.
Somehow this is all taboo but when it comes to alcohol (and especially wine), it's all just fine. I don't hear people proclaiming "hey if people in crack dens can't handle the loveliness of crack then that is on THEM....losers. If they can't handle the occasional crack rock with a meal well then they have no business smoking it like the rest of us normal people"
Final disclaimer: I'm not abdicating responsibility here. On the contrary. This is all.on.me....and although I like to think I'm not a grandiose person, this here is truly a "me against the world" situation if there ever was one.
I'm sure some of you are so far along with all this that you glide by it without a care in the world but some of us aren't quite there yet. The drug is real, the addiction is real and no....one....cares......they are all poised and ready for you to join them again. To drink again. It is what people do.
Those are some pretty serious odds.
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Join Date: Jul 2017
Posts: 3,027
Originally Posted by dcg
Well, crank is put on a pedestal. They call it Adderall and give it to kids who misbehave or college kids who need an "edge" over their classmates. We're kind of lucky in the regard that doctors don't prescribe Jack Daniels for depression, but I guess there's no money in that.
Yep.
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Join Date: Jul 2017
Posts: 176
Originally Posted by listae
I really, really needed this thread. Thank you WaterOx.
My first drink was in third grade when my parents let me taste wine on a tasting trip to Napa Valley. There is a picture of a little school girl smiling as she engorges the glass of red wine.
I can relate to every post about how "sophisticated" wine drinking became a cover for my alcoholism. I lived for wine. I went to wine stores; I drank a bottle every night for twenty years; I have red wine stains everywhere and the teeth stains are horrid; I vomited and urinated so much wine that I could smell the alcohol fermentation in my house.
I just heard an advertisement on National Public Radio in the U.S. about joining their wine club.
Anyways, every time I go out and quit sobriety, it is over that romantic fantasy of tasting wine. So, again, I really needed this thread.
A GLASS OF WINE IS NOT MY FRIEND. I WILL NEVER BE HAPPY WITH ONE GLASS. I WILL WANT MORE AND MORE.
My first drink was in third grade when my parents let me taste wine on a tasting trip to Napa Valley. There is a picture of a little school girl smiling as she engorges the glass of red wine.
I can relate to every post about how "sophisticated" wine drinking became a cover for my alcoholism. I lived for wine. I went to wine stores; I drank a bottle every night for twenty years; I have red wine stains everywhere and the teeth stains are horrid; I vomited and urinated so much wine that I could smell the alcohol fermentation in my house.
I just heard an advertisement on National Public Radio in the U.S. about joining their wine club.
Anyways, every time I go out and quit sobriety, it is over that romantic fantasy of tasting wine. So, again, I really needed this thread.
A GLASS OF WINE IS NOT MY FRIEND. I WILL NEVER BE HAPPY WITH ONE GLASS. I WILL WANT MORE AND MORE.
No Dogma Please
Join Date: Jul 2017
Location: SoCal
Posts: 2,562
People cannot enjoy a puff of crack with dinner.
People stop doing cocaine at only one event. When it's gone. Well maybe two events.events...when it's gone, and it's 3am and your dealer(s) have all crashed.
I have an extremely good palate and nose for wine and beer. It's a skill that I trained and cultivated with a great deal of time and effort.
I obviously can't use this skill anymore, but I'm trying to find a place that trains people to do this with coffee. I know it exists.
People stop doing cocaine at only one event. When it's gone. Well maybe two events.events...when it's gone, and it's 3am and your dealer(s) have all crashed.
I have an extremely good palate and nose for wine and beer. It's a skill that I trained and cultivated with a great deal of time and effort.
I obviously can't use this skill anymore, but I'm trying to find a place that trains people to do this with coffee. I know it exists.
Giving up is NOT an option.
Join Date: Jan 2015
Location: Western Wisconsin
Posts: 7,808
Wow, I'm really enjoying this thread. I was a wine swiller at the end. I had always enjoyed wine, knew how to pair it, knew what I liked and why, went to wine country and loved it, had some fine times with wine. Then I started down the road to serious alcoholism and the fine times with fine wines became boxed wine and nothing but pain.
I don't begrudge anyone their wine or beer or whatever. What I take issue with is the constant barrage of marketing of wine to women especially as something they NEED so they can cope with life. Stayingsassy said exactly what I've been thinking and feeling about it, so I won't rehash it. It bugs me. I think it's dangerous and irresponsible. But marketers are gonna push something, anything, on we consumers any way they can. It's up to us in the end to make choices. I just wish there was more attention paid to the dangers at the same time. I know lots of women who started out like I did, enjoying a glass or two, and now they are in serious trouble with it, but they don't see it yet. Or are just beginning to. Do I blame the marketing? Maybe a little. It really is literally everywhere. Onesies for babies picturing a wine glass and the words "I'm the reason mommy drinks." Makes me want to weep.
I guess I'm lucky, in that just thinking about wine makes me want to gag. And that's after over 4 years of sobriety. I hope it stays that way for me. Because whether I like it or not, people around me are still going to talk about it and drink it.
I don't begrudge anyone their wine or beer or whatever. What I take issue with is the constant barrage of marketing of wine to women especially as something they NEED so they can cope with life. Stayingsassy said exactly what I've been thinking and feeling about it, so I won't rehash it. It bugs me. I think it's dangerous and irresponsible. But marketers are gonna push something, anything, on we consumers any way they can. It's up to us in the end to make choices. I just wish there was more attention paid to the dangers at the same time. I know lots of women who started out like I did, enjoying a glass or two, and now they are in serious trouble with it, but they don't see it yet. Or are just beginning to. Do I blame the marketing? Maybe a little. It really is literally everywhere. Onesies for babies picturing a wine glass and the words "I'm the reason mommy drinks." Makes me want to weep.
I guess I'm lucky, in that just thinking about wine makes me want to gag. And that's after over 4 years of sobriety. I hope it stays that way for me. Because whether I like it or not, people around me are still going to talk about it and drink it.
Member
Join Date: Jan 2015
Location: Down Under
Posts: 400
When I was in the USA, Walmart, Australian wine was cheaper than we can buy it here,
Don't know if we can do a poll but I reckon wine would come up tops as preferred drink by alcoholics.
Why?
Because it's high in alcohol, doesn't need to have a mixer, trendy and cheap.
Here we have what's called "Day on the Green', held at a winery with a good band and copious amount of alcohol. They will bus you in and out.
As a friend of says "Never seen so many pissed middle aged women in my life".
Good riddance to good wine, please.
Don't know if we can do a poll but I reckon wine would come up tops as preferred drink by alcoholics.
Why?
Because it's high in alcohol, doesn't need to have a mixer, trendy and cheap.
Here we have what's called "Day on the Green', held at a winery with a good band and copious amount of alcohol. They will bus you in and out.
As a friend of says "Never seen so many pissed middle aged women in my life".
Good riddance to good wine, please.
Member
Join Date: Mar 2019
Posts: 519
I am an ex-Sommelier who just days ago decided to let go of my drug of choice, alcohol. I have worked in the beverage industry and have lost mentors, friends and have seen both the fun and UGLY side of it.
Needless to say, I found my career path to cost me basically everything and am very happy to be letting that part of my life, which I though defined who I was for so long, go.
Any words of encouragement for this rookie would be much appreciated....
NL
Needless to say, I found my career path to cost me basically everything and am very happy to be letting that part of my life, which I though defined who I was for so long, go.
Any words of encouragement for this rookie would be much appreciated....
NL
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Join Date: Jan 2019
Posts: 985
[QUOTE=Stayingsassy;7141249]It’s still a good thread. And women do have a lot of stress.....
More women are drinking now than ever before, alcoholism has skyrocketed in the female generation, it is killing women young with liver failure, it is ruining families, and this rise in alcoholics among women coincides directly with marketing to women. Marketing for wine. Where is the “daddy juice?” The “dad needs his beer to cope” label”. You won’t find it. Men are pictured golfing, in Rocky Mountains or picking up women in bars while drinking. Why is that?
/QUOTE]
You hit the nail on the head with this powerful post. It spoke to me directly.
I've always been a career-minded woman. Professional success was my priority. I drank red wine in beautiful glasses when I got home.
Have you ever seen the television show Scandal? Olivia Pope is a genius fixer and a wine aficionado. She drinks several glasses in her swanky D.C. flat after accomplishing miraculous feats at work. She can do it all. And she drinks wine ALL THE TIME.
I wanted to be her. I associated drinking wine after a full day as success. Then, this last December, I lost my job. The loss of a great job is a major professional failure. I lost my job because of wine. I drank a bottle and then some every night. I became a cheap wine at the pub every night drinker. So, yes, the marketing of wine as a woman's ideal companion has effects.
More women are drinking now than ever before, alcoholism has skyrocketed in the female generation, it is killing women young with liver failure, it is ruining families, and this rise in alcoholics among women coincides directly with marketing to women. Marketing for wine. Where is the “daddy juice?” The “dad needs his beer to cope” label”. You won’t find it. Men are pictured golfing, in Rocky Mountains or picking up women in bars while drinking. Why is that?
/QUOTE]
You hit the nail on the head with this powerful post. It spoke to me directly.
I've always been a career-minded woman. Professional success was my priority. I drank red wine in beautiful glasses when I got home.
Have you ever seen the television show Scandal? Olivia Pope is a genius fixer and a wine aficionado. She drinks several glasses in her swanky D.C. flat after accomplishing miraculous feats at work. She can do it all. And she drinks wine ALL THE TIME.
I wanted to be her. I associated drinking wine after a full day as success. Then, this last December, I lost my job. The loss of a great job is a major professional failure. I lost my job because of wine. I drank a bottle and then some every night. I became a cheap wine at the pub every night drinker. So, yes, the marketing of wine as a woman's ideal companion has effects.
Member
Join Date: Aug 2017
Location: In the Country
Posts: 530
Wine is for me more lethal than Vodka the spirit I began my drinking career with. I very quickly graduated from the "nice" bottles of wine to the cheaper plastic bag boxes of rotgut wine one of which I finished off today. Sat alone in my house tonight minus husband,financially almost wrecked. Wine is poison to me,I am finished with it. Have self imposed lockdown in my home tonight, No more Wine, cheap or otherwise is coming into here tonight or into my system, I'm done Wine, done I have allowed your crappy presence in my life to take me over, not any more. Sorry a bit dramatic & ranty. Just How I feel about wine today and ashamed of my reliance on it. SP
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Join Date: Aug 2018
Posts: 409
Well, what I learned recently is that most wines contains a multitude of preservatives, chemicals, additives ect.
In the US, wine makers (even the super high end ones) can add up to 40 different chemicals and are not required by law to label them.
So in addition to the alcohol, the toxic load is incredibly high which taxes the body even further.
Even organic producers use all kinds of terrible stuff so it's not just fermented grape juice
In the US, wine makers (even the super high end ones) can add up to 40 different chemicals and are not required by law to label them.
So in addition to the alcohol, the toxic load is incredibly high which taxes the body even further.
Even organic producers use all kinds of terrible stuff so it's not just fermented grape juice
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Join Date: Apr 2018
Location: UK
Posts: 29
Hey Sweetpeacan,
Hang in there - and hang out here. I don't have much advice to offer but many on here have GREAT advice and are incredibly supportive.
Wine was always my "go to" and, yes, I was a wine snob. Which I thought would keep me on the right track i.e. I'd never buy a bottle of cheap wine, so I'd never drink too much wine, because I couldn't afford it, therefore I wasn't an alcoholic.
So that's why I accompanied a glass of expensive wine with a big glass of cheap vodka... or "water" if anyone had thought of asking.
Rinse and repeat.
Doh.
Hang in there - and hang out here. I don't have much advice to offer but many on here have GREAT advice and are incredibly supportive.
Wine was always my "go to" and, yes, I was a wine snob. Which I thought would keep me on the right track i.e. I'd never buy a bottle of cheap wine, so I'd never drink too much wine, because I couldn't afford it, therefore I wasn't an alcoholic.
So that's why I accompanied a glass of expensive wine with a big glass of cheap vodka... or "water" if anyone had thought of asking.
Rinse and repeat.
Doh.
Member
Join Date: Apr 2018
Location: UK
Posts: 29
Oh, and whilst I'm here, last night I was at a function, chatting to a woman next to me - and the smell of the wine on her breath.. jeez (don't get me wrong, she'd only had a glass or two). Plus as I type this, my wife has left a glass of wine sitting on the table that she hasn't quite finished. Same smell.
I think I could be convinced to go off the whole concept of wine and I didn't think that was possible! Happy face.
I think I could be convinced to go off the whole concept of wine and I didn't think that was possible! Happy face.
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Join Date: Feb 2017
Location: Right here, right now
Posts: 3,973
Waterox, love that you started this thread! Ah, Passport weekend is here. I know we live in the same area. Maybe we even bumped into each other in the past at one of these events 
. No, I won’t be going this year either. But I am already hearing the discussions from those who are buying their tickets.
When I was newly sober, I thought everyone had a drinking problem, just like me. I’ve learned that’s not the case. Yes, there are many with a secret problem, many wine snobs who are just pretending to enjoy fancy wine while just wanting to get drunk off it. But there truly are the normies out there, and folks who genuinely appreciate fine wine. My husband is one of them and a bit of a wine snob himself. He enjoys pairing food with wine, has his wine memberships, can sip and spit just for the tasting experience without drinking the whole thing, etc. So I’ve learned to appreciate and respect these folks. I just won’t be going back. Because I accept my own limitations and I am who I am.
Having said this, I do get a kick out of the idiocy of wine tasting notes that even my husband and drinking friends laugh about. How about this: The rich yellow color of this buttery Chardonnay is reminiscent of urine soaked pants because I was too drunk to go to the bathroom. Or what about this: the taste of this heavy bodied Cabernet contains notes of barf aftertaste and acid reflux from drinking too much of it. Lol
Personally, I never truly liked the taste of wine. I’d drink cooking wine just to get a buzz
. No, I won’t be going this year either. But I am already hearing the discussions from those who are buying their tickets. When I was newly sober, I thought everyone had a drinking problem, just like me. I’ve learned that’s not the case. Yes, there are many with a secret problem, many wine snobs who are just pretending to enjoy fancy wine while just wanting to get drunk off it. But there truly are the normies out there, and folks who genuinely appreciate fine wine. My husband is one of them and a bit of a wine snob himself. He enjoys pairing food with wine, has his wine memberships, can sip and spit just for the tasting experience without drinking the whole thing, etc. So I’ve learned to appreciate and respect these folks. I just won’t be going back. Because I accept my own limitations and I am who I am.
Having said this, I do get a kick out of the idiocy of wine tasting notes that even my husband and drinking friends laugh about. How about this: The rich yellow color of this buttery Chardonnay is reminiscent of urine soaked pants because I was too drunk to go to the bathroom. Or what about this: the taste of this heavy bodied Cabernet contains notes of barf aftertaste and acid reflux from drinking too much of it. Lol
Personally, I never truly liked the taste of wine. I’d drink cooking wine just to get a buzz
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2014
Posts: 1,408
Originally Posted by NicLin
I am an ex-Sommelier who just days ago decided to let go of my drug of choice, alcohol. I have worked in the beverage industry and have lost mentors, friends and have seen both the fun and UGLY side of it.
Needless to say, I found my career path to cost me basically everything and am very happy to be letting that part of my life, which I though defined who I was for so long, go.
Any words of encouragement for this rookie would be much appreciated....
NL
Needless to say, I found my career path to cost me basically everything and am very happy to be letting that part of my life, which I though defined who I was for so long, go.
Any words of encouragement for this rookie would be much appreciated....
NL
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Join Date: Aug 2017
Posts: 135
I agree 100% with Sassy. I’m disgusted by the mommy wine culture. Most of my friends who drink wine, drink too much. But they’re not as bad as I was, so I guess they think they’re still fine. And I’m not supposed to take their inventory. Hard not to though when I can clearly see them struggling, and they have asked me for help only to chicken out later.
And I will never understand those who can drink one or two glasses of wine and be done. I may have thought I could do that but usually ended up drinking the whole bottle and then going to get one or two more bottles. And would drink more wine when I woke up.
Back to the original post of how crappy wine is...even one glass of wine would cause me a massive migraine, often even while I was drinking it. The headaches the next day would be absolutely unbearable, like go-to-the-ER unbearable. I am a migraine sufferer, but geez I couldn’t figure out for years that red wine could possibly be a culprit.
And the sick part part of it all is I still drool a little when I see someone eating a nice dinner with a glass of wine.
One or two glasses of wine has started almost every relapse I’ve ever had. Because sometimes, at the beginning of a relapse, I COULD do that for one night, just have one, maybe a week or month later do it again, and then I think I’m cured of alcoholism and the next thing you know I am full-swing drinking all the things, all day, every day.
I am drilling into my brain that wine=migraine and that does help me. I do think I truly have an allergy to it. Even if I wasn’t alcoholic, I would have to stay away from it so in a way that makes it easier...to know that wine is completely off the table for me.
Thanks for this thread. I read through the whole thing tonight and completely related to a lot of it and found it very helpful as well.
best wishes to all of us!!
And I will never understand those who can drink one or two glasses of wine and be done. I may have thought I could do that but usually ended up drinking the whole bottle and then going to get one or two more bottles. And would drink more wine when I woke up.
Back to the original post of how crappy wine is...even one glass of wine would cause me a massive migraine, often even while I was drinking it. The headaches the next day would be absolutely unbearable, like go-to-the-ER unbearable. I am a migraine sufferer, but geez I couldn’t figure out for years that red wine could possibly be a culprit.
And the sick part part of it all is I still drool a little when I see someone eating a nice dinner with a glass of wine.
One or two glasses of wine has started almost every relapse I’ve ever had. Because sometimes, at the beginning of a relapse, I COULD do that for one night, just have one, maybe a week or month later do it again, and then I think I’m cured of alcoholism and the next thing you know I am full-swing drinking all the things, all day, every day.
I am drilling into my brain that wine=migraine and that does help me. I do think I truly have an allergy to it. Even if I wasn’t alcoholic, I would have to stay away from it so in a way that makes it easier...to know that wine is completely off the table for me.
Thanks for this thread. I read through the whole thing tonight and completely related to a lot of it and found it very helpful as well.
best wishes to all of us!!
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