The Beautiful Wines
Sat, December 11, 2021 from 4:00 pm to 5:30 pm
This is a special class, one which was created during the darkest moments of our community and country. We all remember the first days of the pandemic. Each of us copped in our own way. I imagined teaching a wine class with a selection of the most beautiful wines.
I created this class in March 2020 and scheduled it for that October. We ran it with a small class, with protective barriers for all attending. Little did I know it would take a whole year before things would go back to normal(ish). This is a class in which we try to capture the great essence of wine and its poetic beauty, and a meditation on all things beautiful.
The following is the original copy I wrote for the class. Unedited and of that moment.
-Keith
On March 25th, back when everyone was afraid and unsure of what was coming next, I created this class and wrote this description. It will very likely sound dated by the time you read this. My greatest hope is it will sound exaggerated and a little foolish. If that is the case, I’ll be giving you a hug.
In any case, forgive me for being an idiot. To schedule wine classes, I have to create them a half year in advance. That is an impossible situation for me in the best of times: I drink for a living, after all. And today, when none of us can even figure out what is going to happen tomorrow, this is an impossible task.
I am literally throwing this class into the void, trying to anticipate what we –as a city of wine lovers, as a city of great people– will need seven months into an unknowable and perhaps broken future. I can only believe we will need one thing; I imagine there will be fear and crashes and terrible memories. And then we will be rising to meet the crisis head-on, in a uniquely Philly way. If my imagined future holds true, then Gritty will be defending the ramparts. Clearly, I am 100% not a psychic.
I only have a guess. I think that on October 1st, we all will want a reminder of peace and beautiful things. So, this is the class of beautiful smells and tastes, a class designed to evoke what is good and lovely in the world. It will be a class where any haters may just get carried out and drowned into the Schuylkill River. So maybe not all peace and love. This is Philly, after all.