Good Morning!

A friend of mine called me and said they were at the wine store and he tried so many wines, his mouth felt like his body does after a workout. I giggled because he is so animated and then after some deeper thought, I thought he might be right. So, I thought about my workout routine and my wine tasting routine and found some of my patterns are kinda the same.

I prep myself mentally before I workout (If you do not know this about me, 10 years ago I had a malfunctioning thyroid and I weighed 267 pounds, today I am about 110 lighter), so I make working out or at least raising my heart rate 5 days a week a big priority. On the way to the gym or prepping to go on a hike, I wear the right socks, shoes, shorts and jog bra and the night before I workout I freeze my bottled water so it stays cold. I put on sunscreen, wear sunglasses and visor and then I am ready for the hike or if I am hitting the gym, I have to remember the lifting gloves, my towel, the ear buds so I don’t have to listen to other people’s music.

When I am going wine tasting weather it is here at home, in a winery or at a restaurant, I have an entire routine, no perfume, when I brush my teeth, make sure I have eaten enough and have a bottled water with me. I make sure I have a ride home if I have had a too much to drink.

When I get to the tasting, I have a ritual of water and wine ratio and sipping and spitting to keep myself from feeling the alcohol to early. I take my notebook and be prepared to take notes. My notes have a life of their own, they start out really detailed and if I like a wine…I rave about it. If I think a wine is poorly made or tastes really generic by the end of the tasting my notes become something like this…It’s color is beautiful but aromas suck and I would not pay $6 for a bottle of this! Hahahaha!

The reason I think tasting is kinda like working out, if I am lifting I will be really careful of form and mechanics of the muscles at the beginning and I watch in the mirror to see if I can see any difference in my body and by the last set and I just trying to power through the last set, so I am sure my mind is saying something like ….This sucks…How many more reps do I have to do? Hahaha

The truth is I can correlate about any activity with something wine related, I tend to do everything the same! I am kinda a neat freak and like everything in order and if I want to feel comfortable and relaxed I do most things the same way every time. When I really want to challenge myself, I watch Biggest Loser and see a new exercise or watch someone on youtube.com do a workout that is for a specific area, I will mix up my routine and see what new muscle is sore the next day. When it comes to wine tasting and I want to mix it up, I will try wines from areas I have very little knowledge about or have not tried at all. I recently went to a Greek wine tasting, really challenged me to think about my process so I could better understand the grape varieties, winemaking styles and the region.

I can pretty much taste any Cabernet from Napa, Pinot Noir from Russian River and Chardonnay from Sonoma and taste the area but to keep me on my toes, I have to try new things all the time. And so I do not get board in the gym or with hiking, I take new routes all the time.

Enough of my rattling on….go enjoy your wine or your workout!

Much LOVE and wine,

Tammi