Already worried about your wine intake?

December has begun and with it came the signal that the cork could come off the bottle. You tumble over the drinks and before you know it, you’re saying ‘yes, go ahead’ to a refill and ‘no, thank you’ to an extra workout class more often. Because I tend to be quite enthusiastic, I can be very much team wine and then suddenly team gym. In December, I find it very easy to switch back the other way. Too easy. An Amarone by the fireplace, a full Meursault to toast to the life of a dear colleague who is being buried in Paris, a pink Moët because we are having such a good time with our friends und so weiter und so weiter. Too much is not good and besides, oh horror, you get way too juicy from a glass. I’m the last to advocate for an alcohol-free month (especially when it comes to December), but cutting back a bit has never made anyone worse off.

1. Take action

Take the glass that is being poured. Walk around with it, set it in a corner and walk over to the tray with water. No one cares a bit less.

2. Don’t mention it

Biggest danger. At least for people like me with the backbone of a rubber band. The other person calls out the whole bingo card from ‘don’t be so unsociable’ to ‘you only live once’ and ‘a glass is good for you’, and you hear yourself saying ‘oh, why not?’ So don’t talk about it. Pretend until you drop.

3. No sip. Not even a little one.

‘One is none’, they say in the legal profession, but this rule unfortunately doesn’t work when drinking a glass. As soon as you take a sip, you’re done and you drink at least one glass. And then those types from point 2 come back with their sayings like ‘you can’t walk on one leg’. Smelling is allowed, but otherwise, that’s it.

4. Shirley Temple

Take a virgin cocktail, or serve them. The only difference you experience is when you wake up.

5. A gift to yourself

Remember that the treat to yourself that a glass of wine can be is twice as great when you wake up the next morning after an alcohol-free evening. Really.

Best regards from Wim Kieft uh, May-Britt Mobach