The Trouble with Wine

The following is my response to a message board post questioning why when it comes to female alcoholics that wine is the drink of choice.

1. Wine is the great equalizer -- With the exception of some fundamentalist
religions, wine is socially acceptable among almost all classes and cultures.
Conservative Christians are OK with the consumption of wine; Catholics are OK
with the consumption of wine; educators don't want to be seen in a dive bar
downing shots, but a 4-hour wine train tour is appropriate and deserved (after
all, those teachers spend their days with bratty kids, don't they?).

2. Wine is an ingredient -- Wine goes in pot roast, shrimp scampi, pasta sauce,
etc. Nobody bats and eyelash when you open up a bottle of wine at 8 a.m. to pour
some into the crock pot for that night's dinner -- and they also don't seem to
notice if you pour the rest of it in a coffee traveler to sip while doing your
morning chores. Likewise, nobody seems to mind if you're making a 5 p.m. dinner
that includes wine and sipping/gulping from a glass while you do it.

3. Wine is "cool" -- Thanks to television, books and gourmet magazines, wine
carries a level of prestige that other forms of alcohol don't. In major cities,
you can find vodka/tequila/bourbon tastings but not easily. I live in a podunk
little town in the armpit of my state, and even we have a tasting room and three
wine bars. There are 6 wineries within a one-hour drive of me.

4. Wine is easy to drink -- No carbonation, no burning sensation, no need for
mixer. If you can find a wine you like, you can guzzle glass after glass.

5. Wine is an easy drunk -- With 12%-14% alcohol, a glass of wine packs a harder
punch than most beers. And the faster you drink it, the faster it hits you.

Personally, I'm amazed by the power of wine. I joined a Christian moms support
group after my daughter was born because I didn't want to be a "drunk mommy." I
had read and written stories of women who became alcoholics after having
children. I knew it was a danger. What I found was that women can be insanely
busy juggling their roles as wife, mom and (sometimes) professional...but many
will drop everything to have some "wine and whine" time with the girls either
after the kids go to bed or even during an afternoon playdate. I tried joining a
book club but discovered after the second meeting that the book was really just
an excuse for five women to split four bottles of wine once a month without
their husbands judging them. On Sunday, I was invited to a Drunk & Crafty social
at another member's house -- bring an unfinished craft and a bottle of wine.
That was an easy invitation to decline. I'm not even crafty while sober; get me
drunk and I'd probably stab myself with a knitting needle.

And in my opinion, a woman's consumption of wine is easily dismissed by the
medical community. When my daughter was 1, I had a check-up. Doc asked how I was
doing. I said I was mostly OK but feared I might be drinking a little too much
wine. She asked how much, a glass a day or a bottle a day? My response: More
like a bottle a week but sometimes only spread out over a couple of days. She
laughed and said, "Honey, that's called motherhood. We take our pleasures where
we can get them."

Obviously, the "why" doesn't matter. I'm always trying to analyze that question
in my head but the truth is that we share a common problem. We may be the only
ones in our peer groups who know we have a problem, but it doesn't mean we are
the only ones with a problem.