Free Wine Giveaway!!!!

OK,

So now that I have your attention, I would like to ask who here would be willing to join me in abstinence for Lent??

Every year I give up all alcohol beginning on Ash Wednesday and ending at Easter Dinner. Call it being religious, or simply call it a "break" from it all, I find that it is not that hard!

So, for this year it would be from 2/18/2015 through 4/5/2015. A short time really!!!

So who's with me?? So far, only Boatboy is willing...

You guys have my complete support. I won't be joining you, but I'll cheer you on from the sidelines.
I gave up drinking from Sun. Night to Fri. Night every week about 4 years ago so I just sort of average out my lent over the year.

Mike

If you would like to giveaway some of your wine for free to me , than I could give up drinking my own wine . No Welch's please !!!
Thank you ,

In the interest of full disclosure, I give myself one or two exemptions that are determined before the whole thing starts. Last year, it was the 2nd Saturday when we had friends coming over that I hadn't seen for a long time. The other was a couple times when I was racking where an ounce or so was tasted, just to be sure it was doing OK. I was surprised how easy it was, although I felt like the worst Irishman on the planet when I didn't have a pint on St. Patrick's day. We need to move Lent.

Boatboy24 said:

In the interest of full disclosure, I give myself one or two exemptions that are determined before the whole thing starts. Last year, it was the 2nd Saturday when we had friends coming over that I hadn't seen for a long time. The other was a couple times when I was racking where an ounce or so was tasted, just to be sure it was doing OK. I was surprised how easy it was, although I felt like the worst Irishman on the planet when I didn't have a pint on St. Patrick's day. We need to move Lent.

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Jim,
There is a special dispensation just for Lent regarding St. Patrick's Day!

Steve

I have a defective calendar. It has Ash Wednesday listed as March 18...

Steve_M said:

Jim,
There is a special dispensation just for Lent regarding St. Patrick's Day!

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Well, that would depend on your bishop...

Officially, Lent begins Wed 2/18/2015 and ends on Saturday, 4/4/2015 (inclusive). Mardi Gras (fat Tuesday) is 2/17/2015.

A few facts about lent..

- The 40 days of lent is meant to honor Jesus' 40 days of fasting in the desert just after being baptized.

- From what I understand, the Pope has been know to gran special dispensation for the Irish on St. Patrick's day when it falls on a Friday. Remember, Catholics abstain from eating meat on Fridays during lent (on top of what they choose to give up). The special dispensation is to allow the Irish to have their corn beef.

- But lent (from Ash Wednesday through Holy Saturday) is actually 46 days.

- Lent does not include Sundays. This is because of the Jewish tradition of the Sabbath where Saturday was a day of rest.

Christians moved their day of rest to Sunday and, keeping with tradition, that day of the week was excluded from lent.

So, there are 6 Sundays between ash Wednesday and holy Saturday, and when removed this lowers lent to just 40 days.


I like to include the Sundays. The primary reason that I do this every year is to simply see just how easy it is to go dry for a period of time. Drinking on Sundays kind of defeats the purpose for me. I already know I can go 6 days without even thinking about a glass of wine, but just how easy is it to give it up for 46 straight days??? (OK, some years I end my lent fasting on good Friday, but 43 days is also good)

Another reason is that I also like to diet during lent and removing those calories helps.

Finally, IMHO, doing something to honor "the man upstairs" may not help, but it couldn't hurt!

So, for those that want to join me, here are the rules..

THERE ARE NO RULES!! This is a personal choice!!! Include Sundays, Exclude Sundays, Give yourself 6 special days excluded from lent, it is all good!!!! My hope is that some will join me (for whatever reason) and that we use this thread to support one another.

In the mean time, I have a party to plan on Saturday. I think that I will start off with a nice Opus One!

ffemt128 said:

I have a defective calendar. It has Ash Wednesday listed as March 18...

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Tee Hee... Nice try!

I would like to join this, However, I gave up drinking once, It was the most terrifying 15 minutes of my life.

I fully support you folks who give up whatever you do for 40 days. I myself fast once a year per regulations.
To make it easier I will gladly hold onto that which may tempt you, to lessen the struggle.

(disclaimer-establishment is not responsible for lost or consumed "temptations")

JohnT said:

- From what I understand, the Pope has been know to gran special dispensation for the Irish on St. Patrick's day when it falls on a Friday. Remember, Catholics abstain from eating meat on Fridays during lent (on top of what they choose to give up). The special dispensation is to allow the Irish to have their corn beef.

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That may be true if you happen to live in the diocese of Rome. Again, dispensations are granted by the bishop of your diocese. In the US, lots of bishops have granted this dispensation in years where 3/17 is on a Friday: http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-03-15-lent_x.htm.

JohnT said:

Tee Hee... Nice try!

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Honestly, look... No wonder it was on sale for $4.95 at Pet Supplies Plus...

I use one of these to remove that pesky Lent.

Doug - At first I thought that you might have a Russian orthodox calendar (they have a different calendar), but nope.

JS.. That's LENT, and not LINT!


WOW! No volunteers other than boatboy as of yet???

JohnT said:

Doug - At first I thought that you might have a Russian orthodox calendar (they have a different calendar), but nope.

JS.. That's LENT, and not LINT!


WOW! No volunteers other than boatboy as of yet???

Click to expand...

Orthodox Easter is the week after traditional Easter this year. We actually celebrate both as my wife is Ukranian Orthodox. For Orthodox Easter we just have dinner with her side of the family. No easter bunny for our daughter that one.

But nope, just a defective calendar.. LOL

Day 10,

Figured I would give an update.

for me, lent officially began on fat Tuesday. I normally do not drink on "school nights", so my last sip of wine was on the prior Monday.

AND WHAT LAST A SIP IT WAS!!! I got my hands on this amazing chianti classico and spent a nice holiday evening slowly sipping my way through it. It was balanced, velvety, and extremely well rounded with just the right level of oak. Simple poetry in a glass! A bargain at only $40.

I plan on going dry straight through to good Friday and have already picked out a nice Stag's Leap Artemis to mark the occasion.

In the mean time, going dry has proven to be rather easy so far.

How ya doing Boatboy????

By the way,


I really like the new avatar Doug. Is that your own original work??

Going fine here. While I'm not 100% dry for these ~6 weeks, you could pretty much say I am. My last "official" drink was Fat Tuesday Eve. But while racking and topping up my 2014 Chilean Viognier the other night, I was left with a little less than a glass from the top up bottle. I had that last night, along with the diced apple and brie that didn't fit into my stuffed burger (the trio paired extremely well). My consumption is pretty much limited to taste testing (if required) in the lab. So that Viognier was more than I'll likely have in a single sitting until Good Friday. It was good though. Horton (here in Orange County, VA) makes a very good Viognier.

32 days and counting...