Are you a wine drinker?

[SKL]

9 minutes ago, J-rap said:

Oh I agree!  And I'm not against cocktail hour.  But in what we're referring to, I had an image of a parent taking care of a bunch of small children in the middle of the day while going through a bottle of wine.  I guess I was taking it to an extreme.  I don't think it's wrong to drink responsibly in front of children.  

I haven't seen that ... I've seen where it says "it's wine o'clock" or similar, implying the day's work is done, or where there's a one-time break in the day for a rest / drink.  I don't actually know anyone that does that in the middle of the day - I mean, I don't even drink tea unless the mood is right, and yelling at my kids definitely doesn't set the mood, LOL.  But it's OK to laugh about it.  Sometimes I even say I need a drink (no alcohol in sight), and I recall the saying growing up, "you're driving me to drink" (no alcohol there either).

On the other hand, I do literally say (and mean) that my kids' continued existence is made possible only by my coffee habit.  ?

[solascriptura]

 

We drink a beer or a few glasses of wine a few times a week.  I have a friend who's a sommelier and they drink quite a bit.  They have a wine fridge that covers the wall and is larger than two or three of my regular refrigerator and judging by their collection, I would be surprised if they didn't spend 5 figures worth of wine each year.  

[Terabith]

I think the memes are funny, and I have liked them and even made them, even though I don’t drink.  A friend was doing a fundraiser collecting bottled water at Wine Gourmet, and I shared it and said what a good cause it was for and that it was at Wine Gourmet, where people wanted to go anyway.  I think it can be funny, especially when people talk about the relatable issues of needing a break and such.

But sometimes, I see jokes and references about wine that are so frequent and so, I don’t know what the word is.  Maybe heartfelt?  I see people who are participating in that lighthearted meme culture with such fervor, and I see them in real life drinking rather a lot of wine at unusual times, and sometimes, in some contexts, it feels like that joke isn’t really funny.  That these are people really skating the line of having a real problem, but we are all just laughing about it because Mommydom and wine go together the way moms and Target do.  And it worries me and feels creepy, because in these contexts, if wine was replaced with any other substance, we wouldn’t be laughing, we’d be trying to figure out how we can help.  But it’s just wine, so we laugh.  

So that is the subcultural issues that I’m seeing in my physical and online community (frankly made up largely of mom’s with special needs kids who are already extra stressed) that led me to my comment that it can be creepy.  I’m really not judgmental, but I think humor can sometimes lead to situations in which people’s real needs are ignored.  

[Lady Florida.]

5 minutes ago, Terabith said:

I think the memes are funny, and I have liked them and even made them, even though I don’t drink.  A friend was doing a fundraiser collecting bottled water at Wine Gourmet, and I shared it and said what a good cause it was for and that it was at Wine Gourmet, where people wanted to go anyway.  I think it can be funny, especially when people talk about the relatable issues of needing a break and such.

 

Same here. I've laughed at them and shared them even though I'm not really a drinker of any type of alcohol. There were even some homeschooling ones. I remember one that went around nearly every August/September about if it's too early for wine/trying to choose a curriculum. 

[Farrar]

16 hours ago, KungFuPanda said:

No. I think they’re mostly joking and women can’t even have that without being judged for bad parenting or called creepy for sharing a meme. 

I have to think about this. I think it's a really good point. And most of the people who share that stuff, I would never judge personally. I find it mildly amusing, as others are saying. But I'm also aware that statistically binge drinking is up among the same demographic that's sharing those sorts of memes and I worry how much the memes normalize it too much. I don't think there's anything wrong with having a glass of wine in the afternoon, even with kids... but several glasses? Every day? With the idea that it's your earned right? That concerns me. But I'm also coming from the perspective of having a recovering alcoholic for a spouse and seeing my mother drink too much as she's aged, so there's that.

[rebcoola]

Midday mom wine drinking defintly is a thing here we have way to many activities for me to have time for that.  I have a group of friends who have wine Wednesday every week.  Another friend has time set aside with the ladies on her cul de sac where they all day drink and they celebrate the fist day of school with champagne and mimosas as soon as the bus comes  So yes some of those meme are really happening with 30 something moms.  There was a big debate one day over whether it was better to have a glass or 2  at 2pm or 5pm to stave off the witching hour.

[SeaConquest]

I've been a wine drinker for at least 20 years. When I was working, I had several wine subscriptions to high-end wines. Now, I try to keep the bottles under $20 for everyday drinking. I usually start to want wine around 5ish, and we definitely go through several bottles every week. So, I imagine that we are spending a couple hundred per month, but we just roll it up into our overall food budget. My fav wine store is K&L Wine Merchants in Palo Alto. They get some great deals, and I still buy a ton of wine from them. In another life, I would have loved to be a sommelier. I love sharing good wine with people. It's definitely one of my passions in life.

[MrsMommy]

Could someone please tell me that I'm not the only one who bought a bottle of wine to go with dinner because of this conversation? ?

I drink wine sometimes. Mostly I buy Yellow Tail, which isn't expensive at all, but I really like it, especially the Shiraz /Cab blend. I've had some expensive wines that dh has received as gifts through work, and they're great, but I'm not really discerning enough to tell just how great they are, and why they're worth the cost (I just like to pair a red with a nice hearty pasta dish), so the cheap stuff is good enough for me!

[Jenny in Florida]

No, I don't drink. I have a certain amount of baggage with regard to alcohol, in general, and I also can't stand the smell or the flavor.

I will admit that, in the midst of my ongoing stew of stress, I have occasionally pondered whether it might be a good idea for me to try and develop a taste for wine, but then I remember the two facts listed above, sigh and move on.

And, honestly, if that weren't enough to turn me off, "hundreds" of dollars per month would scare me off right quick.