Good Morning!

Today I want to talk about having a hangover. I have a strategy to avoid a hangover but it is something that happens to many folks so I thought I would share my wisdom with you.

I have a few rules and as long as a stick with these I rarely ever feel like crap on the morning after!

I stick with wine. I rarely drink anything else. I only drink beer after I have mowed the lawn or something that makes me sweaty. I used to be a big beer drinker, but it was harder to manage my consumption with beer, with wine I know my limits. When it comes to hard liquor I rarely drink it. I will do an occasional margarita, but it really is rare for me to have hard alcohol. In a minute I will walk you through my last hangover and you can see why I felt like crap when it happened last.

I am acutely aware I drink everyday, but my point is not to be drunk or even buzzed for that matter. I drink to better understand the flavor profiles, the textures, the nuances that make wine what it is. I am tasting (and sniffing and feeling) what the grapes and winemakers are trying to say. I am a rookie winemaker, I have so much to learn, this is how winemakers get better.

I rarely drive anywhere that I will be tasting. And I never drive when I go out with my pals. We always go out in San Francisco and taxi’s are everywhere. I travel a lot so I am prepared to catch a cab anytime.

Many of my friends like to use the term…OVER SERVED. I think that is funny, but there is nothing more miserable than waking up and not remembering exactly what you did, where you went and who you chatted with. Your head throbs, your stomach hurts, you want to sleep but you can not. It is a self inflicted illness.

Everyone has a cure…greasy food is my cure all. I go to Mickey D’s and order the Egg McMuffin, hash browns and OJ…that will bring me back from the dead. Others have said food repulses them, others said just tons of water and some say if they eat before they go to sleep or drink lots of water and aspirin will keep them from feeling badly.

I normally really monitor my intake of wine. If I keep it under 3/4 bottle of wine, I wake up happy and ready to go, more than that, I will feel my age the next morning.

The last hangover I had was two weeks ago, previous to that was 7 months ago. But this last hangover, I knew I would feel crappy before it ever started. I was having a girls day out with my friend Michelle in San Francisco. We started out with a bottle of wine and oysters at Hog Island Oyster company, then we went to Ferry Building Wine Merchant and started having flights of wine and after the flights of wine we ordered a glass of wine. After much time passed we headed out to meet friends in the Mission and we were early so we had a bottle of Champagne, once our friends arrived we went to Puerto Allegra and started in on the Margaritas, I lost count of how many pitchers we ordered. I knew I was done but when I returned home someone talked me into a scotch nightcap. I was screwed.

I had to catch a flight the next day and I indeed felt like crap…had I stayed with wine, I might have been fine. but this is probably why I only get to have a girls day out about once a quarter!

Be safe, be smart, know your limits and enjoy..don’t drink and drive!

Much LOVE and wine,

Tammi