Do you have any wine traditions? I’d love to know what they are!
Our family does – and there are two we follow religiously!
The first tradition is when anyone gives the first toast at a table. Everyone, young and old alike, must tap each person’s glass at the table. It’s for good luck. Gets a bit crazy at times, like when there are three tables for Thanksgiving, but it’s always fun and always followed. Wine, water, milk – makes no difference what’s in your glass. You ching each and every glass!
Our second tradition is always followed, but only on special occasions. When the first bottle of wine or bubbly is opened, or at the end of a meal which turned out to be far more memorable than anticipated, I take the cork, cut a slice in the end, cram a dime into it, then date it, and note the occasion. The cork is then either given to the guest(s) of honor, the hostess/host, or kept for ourselves.
My wife’s grandparents, who all came from Italy to live in the US, insisted these were both old, Italian customs. My grandparents were from Cornwall and they believed the coin in the cork was an old British custom. Interestingly though, I don’t recall my grandparents ever doing this, but then again the wines they served always had a screw top on the jug. My wife’s family, on the other hand, always did both and now, generations later, we are carrying them on. I guess the history of this one is lost to time.
What got me thinking about this wine tradition was actually spring cleaning. I was attacking our kitchen cupboards and came across a small, odd bowl in one of them. It didn’t match anything so I grabbed it to toss it in the trash (no joy immediately associated with it). As I pulled it out, the contents rained down on me. My irritation gave way to a big smile as I realized what was scattered across the floor.
Out had spilled half a dozen or so corks – each with a dime in them! As I picked each up I was instantly transported off to a time and place in my memory. Naturally I gladly read each cork.
Just this small, forgotten stash spanned some 17 years! Our eldest grandson’s first Easter, Christmases, special dinners, and of course my favorite holiday, Thanksgivings!
Then I recalled two more corks. One is hanging on the side of the lake home my in-laws built. Popped from a bottle of champagne on the day we dedicated the place and named it ‘Pallino’.
That cork is still there, hung on a nail, and in pretty good shape having weathering 28 years of summer sun and winter snows so far!
The other cork is a bit farther away in resides on one of the Florida Keys. You see, my cousin sent me a photo he took at his folks place down there. My aunt and uncle had both passed away and he and his wife were doing some cleaning. Along with the photo, my cousin asked “Hi Scott. On my parents’ keepsake shelf is a cork with a dime in it. As the family historian do you have any idea why this would be here?” Did I ever!
That dime was put in that cork by my wife during the last time we had dinner with our family, both my parents, and that aunt and uncle. My smile was ear to ear as I recalled not only that dinner, but the many fabulous memories I have of times spent with that aunt and uncle, who were my absolute favorites in my life!
Just one more wonderful way wine brings us together, makes life a bit more special, and can span the generations.
As Tevye so aptly sang in Fiddler on the Roof, “Tradition, tradition! Tradition!”
