We live in a strange world these days. We’re all stuck indoors for the moment, and unable to connect physically with friends and family. Coming up on the Easter long weekend, I feel nostalgic for those days spent by the beach over many other long weekends in previous years. Now I feel like I took them for granted! But it isn’t hopeless, because although we are all mostly confined to our houses, there are plenty of fun things to do – and I can think of heaps that involve wine! So I decided to write a list to give you some ideas of how to make the most of self-isolation with wine!
There are plenty of blogs and posts on social media about how to make the most out of self-isolation and become your best self. Learn a new skill, get into self-care or do those jobs around the house that are bugging you. Well, I am here to tell you there is absolutely nothing wrong with not becoming your best self in self-isolation. We are all just trying to get through this day by day, and if a glass or two of wine is going to make it that much easier, don’t deprive yourself of that!
I have to admit we have been partaking in plenty of wine, probably a little too much, in our house. But that means I’ve road tested plenty of these ideas for you! So sit back, with a glass of wine, and become inspired for the better self-isolation life you are about to have. Because everything is better with wine. Without further ado, here’s my guide on how to make the most out of self-isolation with wine!
Get your hands on some great deals and even better wine
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You know what is more fun to hoard than toilet paper? Wine. Toilet paper is not going to make you happy in the way wine can. Toilet paper won’t comfort you at the end of a long day, and you can’t drink it or eat it. Take my advice and stop hoarding toilet paper. Put that money into something more useful, like wine!
There is an upside to this pandemic and that is that there are so many great deals out there on incredibly good wine. There are so many small cellar doors offering great prices and free shipping on cases of wine. So relive your experience of visiting your favourite cellar door in your own home! The best part about this is that you’re also supporting local businesses, and this is particularly important here in Australia where many wineries are rebuilding after the devastating bush fires. They have what you need, and all our cash helps to support them in getting back on their feet.
Wanted to start building a bit of a wine cellar? Now is the time to get your hands on bottles at great prices. Just make sure you have enough surplus to stop yourself from drinking it all! Or drink it, I won’t judge.
Have a wine night with friends
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You know what’s great about the home bar? The drinks are cheap, and you don’t need to worry about how you’re going to get home if you have one too many. Sure, it is really hard not being able to catch up with friends and family. This can feel quite lonely at times. But the great news is that there are so many apps out there that will help you stay connected! Whether you want to Facetime one person, or get on a group chat on Zoom or Houseparty, there is something for catch ups of all shapes and sizes.
Just because we are in self-isolation doesn’t mean we can’t catch up for wine nights! Make the most of self-isolation and get all your friends to dial in, bring their favourite bottle and show and tell! Sure, you can’t try all the wines, but it’s a great way to still get together and chat about wine. Or just bring a glass and talk about everything else. That’s what we’ve ended up doing and hey, as long as wine is involved it is always a good time! You can even play games to really bring your party up a notch!
Try some funky new food and wine pairings
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I love to cook and so I’ve been enjoying this time at home to really focus in on recipes I normally don’t bother with. But what I’ve really enjoyed is taking the time to try and really match the wine to what I’m drinking. My partner and I are pretty bad at doing this usually – we’ll just open whatever we feel like (red with Japanese anyone? Don’t knock it ’till you try it).
Food and wine pairings can feel complicated, and a little bit wanky, but it can actually be a really fun exercise. Whether you cook or not, it’s all about experimentation. And we have the time to do it at the moment! What you can do is get a bit of a plate together of snacks with different tastes – something more acidic, bitter, sweet etc. Then open a bottle of wine and try it with the different things in isolation. You’ll be amazed by how different the wine tastes with each flavour! Plus you’ll get to eat snacks which is always a good thing in self-isolation.
Learn some things (and drink wine while you do it)
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If you’re keen to learn more about wine, why not learn about it while you are sitting bored at home? Learning can be a great way to pass the time, not just make the most of self-isolation. Now I am not telling you to self improve, this is only if you want to learn more. I mean you could learn more by watching some wine movies!
If you are looking to pass some time but don’t want to break the bank, check out this free course from the University of Adelaide. It has some great modules about learning to taste wine which encourage you to sip while you do them – so it’s really a win win! Or you can read my summary here.
Open that bottle
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My partner and I have plenty of bottles that we are saving for a special occasion. In fact, I am such a wine hoarder that I find it hard to justify opening anything from our cellar. But really, is there any better time to open those bottles you’ve been saving? This new world we are living in is teaching me to live in the moment more, as life truly is too short. We need to appreciate things now, and enjoy those things that are going to make this hard situation a little easier. So if you are going to get joy out of opening that fancy bottle, just do it! And when you do, really enjoy it. The best part is you can keep it all to yourself because you’re not going to have any visitors!
Organise your wine cellar
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If you are like me, you find it really hard to sit still. In self-isolation I feel I’ve had a lot of difficultly stopping, despite not being able to go outside. I still manage to find plenty of things to do indoors! So if you are like me, why not tackle something that takes plenty of time but is super rewarding at the end? Organise your wine cellar. It’s great to start this even if you don’t have that much wine so you can build on it. There are a number of great apps for this (I’ve used Cellar Tracker recently and found it really easy). Or, you can use my guide to do it the old fashioned way. The beauty of my method is that you’ve got the information on hand so you don’t mistakenly open a bottle you should have waited to open (although this isn’t such a bad thing…see above point). This tip is for those that will go a little wild without some activity to complete (myself included). So if this will help you make the most of self-isolation – go ahead!
The final word on how to make the most of self-isolation with wine
Look, there are plenty of tips there to get you thinking how you can make the most of self-isolation with wine. But really making the most of self-isolation is whatever you want it to be. If that means sitting on the balcony reading your favourite book with a glass of wine in hand, then that is the best idea in the world! As I said, we are all in this not to come out our best self, but to just get through it and come out the other side. The world is a crazy place at the moment, and if you need a glass of wine to get you through, drink that glass of wine!