Preparing for a Hurricane

The hurricane is on its way.  Most of my accounts are in evacuation zones, the roads are flooding, and the best thing to do right now is probably stay indoors, be prepared to light candles, and light the fireplaces...and drink red wine.  Remember - red wine.  Not white.  Why?  Because if the power goes out, chances are we won’t be able to chill the whites properly.

Last year I wrote a blog post right after the hurricane, called “Riedels in the Dark,” yes, it’s a reference to the chapter “Riddles in the Dark” from The Hobbit, but it’s exactly what happened in our family - we lost power for a week, so we played poker, listened to baseball on the radio, and drank plenty of fun red wines every night - Riedels in the dark.  I got exposed to some interesting Rhones, Cahors, and other Old World wines, as well as some delicious New World wines, particularly Argentinean Malbecs.

But let’s face it - big storms can be pretty scary and intimidating, especially if we listen to weather forecasts where they’ll try and convince us that the world might just be coming to an end, or something along those lines.  Yes, it’s scary.  And inconvenient due to damage and power outages.

There’s plenty of red wine in the house and hopefully it won’t be consumed in the dark.  Hopefully the storm doesn’t hit us as hard as it’s predicted to hit Long Island.  But if it does, at least we have our wine.  I poured two tastings this weekend, and got to talk to a lot of people.  They were all out buying as much wine as they could, for the impending storm.  I’m happy to hear people have their priorities in order - a supply of wine translates to staying indoors during the storm, spending time with family and friends, and keeping satisfied and entertained.

So let’s try and stay safe and hopefully by the time I write my Friday post, we’ll all be ok and we’ll have enjoyed some fun red wines.