Can You Come Over?

It has been way too long since I’ve written—please forgive my silence.

But I have a good reason. An exciting reason. And I hope you’ll be a part of it.  

I want to tell you about Come Over October—an international campaign that I founded with two colleagues, Kimberly Charles and Gino Colangelo. It has received such overwhelming support (for which we are grateful) that the three of us and our staffs are swamped trying to keep up.

Here’s what happened:

Starting last January, I was increasingly saddened and alarmed by pieces from the very media of which I’m a part. The wine news was divisive, negative, and sometimes so contradictory it was hard to make sense of it.

On Social Media, things were no better. So many posts were either micro inanities, or they were about the benefits of not drinking wine.

Let me say right off the top here that I believe that people should do whatever is right for their bodies. That’s a given.

But I am troubled by two issues in the way wine is now talked about and thought about.

First, I am disappointed that the narrative around wine has increasingly devolved to a discussion solely about alcohol. To me, wine is more than alcohol. Wine is woven into an rich tapestry with Nature, spirituality, art,  cuisine, religion, and culture. And as we all know, if all you wanted was alcohol, there are cheaper and faster ways to get it than by having a glass of wine with dinner.

Second, and most important, I believe the positive story about wine is not being told. For 9,000  years, wine has been a communal beverage—a beverage that brings people together, creates new friendships and deepens old ones. Why aren’t more people talking about that?

The story of wine’s cultural and social benefits is slipping away right before our eyes.

One spring morning, my head and heart a-jumble with all these thoughts, an idea came to me: a nationwide campaign called Come Over October.

The idea was simple. Wine drinkers across the country would invite a  friend, a colleague, a neighbor, or a family member to “come over” to a restaurant or a home or a winery or any gathering place, to share some wine.

That idea is now a reality.

Come Over October will be celebrated by thousands of wine lovers this fall.

You’ll begin to see posters for Come Over October in hundreds of retail brick-and-mortar and digital wine shops and wineries. If you are a winery club member, you may find information on the campaign tucked inside your box of wine. Trade groups across the country from Wine America (which represents thousands of wineries) to the Napa Valley Vintners to the Washington State Wineries Association, the Willamette Valley Wineries Association, New York State Wine and Grape Foundation, Wines of Chile, the Chianti Classico Consortium, Wines of Sicily, Wines of South Africa, the Champagne Bureau and so many more are amplifying the message and hosting Come Over October events.

And if your get-together includes people who would prefer no alcohol at the time, know that non-alcoholic wines and other beverages are included too. The point is getting together. In fact, one of our supporters is the new winery devoted to non-alcoholic wines, Tomorrow Cellars. 

We also have a rideshare partner: LYFT. Starting in October, Lyft will offer new users 50% off on two rides (maximum $10 per ride) using the code ComeOverOctober.

The Come over October website www.comeoveroctober.com in conjunction with Local Wine Events www.localwineevents.com will begin to list events all over the country that you can  participate in. Or invite some friends over and throw your own Come over October wine get-together.

Come Over October is a simple idea, but an idea whose time has come.

Kimberly, Gino, and I are donating our time to this mission. We created the mission-driven business Come Together—A Community for Wine (www.cometogetherforwine.com ) which is the business behind the Come Over October campaign. 

We believe in wine’s historic role as a beverage of moderation and a beverage that unites us. Wine reminds us of everything that matters: generosity, goodwill, friendship, a respect for Nature, and the sheer joy of just being together and sharing.

We hope you’ll join us. Check out www.comeoveroctober.com and consider supporting the movement if you can. You can also follow the movement on the following social media channels:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/comeoveroctober/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/come-over-october/

Changing gears here, I want to tell you about a piece I recently read by the Washington State-based wine writer Paul Gregutt. Paul has been writing about wine for decades. His recent piece The True Significance of Community in the Making of Wine stopped me in my tracks. For the first time that I’ve ever read, Paul articulated why wine communities (which are farming communities and tend to be small) have a unique and important cohesion. He writes:

These are truly inter-dependent, connected and blended communities. The many lives that are poured into that bottle of wine you’ve just opened are inescapably entwined. Someone tended the nursery where the cuttings came from that someone planted and someone else tended and others harvested. Someone else sorted and crushed and fermented and barreled and racked and bottled that wine. Others designed the packaging, shipped the cases, stacked the shelves and marketed the wine. The making of wine involves an unbroken sequence of person-to-person hand-offs that together create a tapestry of connections on a truly human scale.

So beautifully said. So important to remember. I believe it’s part of the sometimes subconscious reason we love wine.

One of the very lucky aspects of our work is that winemakers and vintners from other places in the world come to our office and taste their wines with us. Not as good as actually being in France or Chile or Australia or South Africa. But an important second hand immersion into a wine culture nonetheless.

And so it came to pass recently that Hubert de Bouärd de Laforest owner of Château Angelus in St Emilion, Bordeaux, came to the office as did Cristián Vallejo Chief Winemaker of VIK in Cachapoal, Chile.

How to give words to how much the ANGELUS and VIK wines stunned and impressed me? There was so much emotion and philosophy and love of the earth, and thinking behind these wines. Wine is born in a place. But it is also born in the brain.

Tasting with Hubert, I was especially impressed by his wine LE CARILLON D’ANGELUS 2012 St. Emilion Grand Cru ($135). The purity and vividness of the wine was showstopping. At 12 years old, it has taken on a sinewy suppleness that was so delicious I simply didn’t want to stop tasting. It is still a powerful wine and one that exudes a savory, spiciness.

VIK is possibly the most avant garde winery in the world—but what makes it avant garde is its Back-to-the-Future method of winemaking which incorporates ancient practices. VIK calls it “Circular Oenology.”   The VIK 2021 from Millahue  in the Cachapoal Valley of Chile ($149) was deep and pure with a wild foresty perfume, silky tannin, and vivid blackberry and savory flavors. Truly a stunning wine.

I will do Blogs on each of these wineries soon. 

And lastly….

For personal reasons along with Covid, I have not traveled much for several years. But at the end of August, I’ll be in Germany at the Grosses Gewächs conference. These are the wines from the “Grand Cru” vineyards of Germany, and I will write about them because if taste were a sound, great German wine has the precision and beauty of the sound of church bells in the mountains.

Then in September I am going to South Africa. I am in great awe of that country. So torn apart for so many years,  but at the same time, the winemakers there are so determined to be true to that land.

As a thank you for reading to the end, I would like to offer you a special summer gift of 20% off an annual subscription to WineSpeed. Just use code SUMMERGIFT20 at checkout.

                                    Notebook in hand, Karen

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