Enjoying a wine with friends or family, in a bar or restaurant, what a joy! But what about the little glass that you offer yourself at home? A question that is still taboo, which we answers in these lines.
In which countries is drinking alone not a problem?
This is a question of civilization to which each people, each culture, gives a particular answer. The Finns, for example, put forward a concept called kalsarikännit which literally means "drinking at home, alone, in your underwear". In this way of acting, neither the fact of drinking at home, nor the fact of being in underwear, bothered us. On the other hand, the social vocation of wine, which is above all a meeting facilitator, a pretext for gathering and exchanging ideas. Drinking alone would therefore go against this principle. And this wherever you are.
But is it still possible to be alone somewhere in 2023? Observers of the modern world remind us of the digital hypersociability of our contemporaries, who, accompanied by their multiple digital terminals, permanently overconnected, are never alone. At least, solitude is only physical. With this in mind, we can choose the bottle that corresponds to our current mood, pour ourselves a glass, and join the great digital community of drinkers around the world. E-tchintchin!
Can we drink alone while cooking?
But let's skip the Nordic and numerical facetiousness, so little enlightening, and let's evoke concrete situations. Who has not found himself alone one evening, at home, cooking for his own pleasure a simple but effective dish, corresponding exactly to his expectations of the moment? As soon as the dish is prepared, and even more so when it is tasted, what could be more pleasing than a glass of the best wine? "An incentive to whistle the whole bottle", will say the pisse-froid. "Wrong!" we will answer. Today, Coravin and equivalent systems allow us to serve ourselves a few centilitres without endangering the rest of the bottle, which will be kept in the best conditions.
Can we be drunk in moderation?
Let's close the technical part and take a step back. Such a subject calls for an inspired response. According to Charles Baudelaire, "One must always be drunk, everything is there; that is the only question. In order not to feel the horrible burden of time that breaks your shoulders and bends you to the earth, you must get drunk without ceasing. But of what? Of wine, of poetry, or of virtue as you please, but get drunk!" Let us apply the poet's recommendations to our problem. Yes, it is indeed during those moments of solitude spent at home, when one has turned the key in the lock, to lock out the thundering world, that one can get drunk on poetry, or virtue why not. To get drunk on wine, yes of course, on its perfumes, its aromas, on the velvet that coats the palate when you taste a great Bordeaux. An aesthete's intoxication that has nothing to do with an excessive blood alcohol level.
It is now time to give a definitive - but measured - answer. Can you drink alone at home? No, if you have a tendency to overindulge, or if you are in a depressive phase. But yes, in all other situations, to get drunk, like the poet, with the fragrances of the finest wines. With measure, of course. And above all with pleasure.
