This fall, invite your friends to gather over a glass of wine. Photo courtesy of Wines of British Columbia

It’s no secret that, here at Vitis, we love wine. We love its aromas and flavours, we love supporting the people who grow it, make it and serve it, and we really, really love nerding out about obscure wine-soaked factoids.

Most of all, though, we love the way wine brings people together.

For millennia, wine has been at the centre of our gatherings. It has played an important role in social rituals dating back to the days of ancient Greece and Rome and even further back to 6000 BC Georgia. Consumed in moderation, it enhances conversation, breaks down barriers, improves the flavour of food and makes the stresses of the day seem less, well, stressful. As Benjamin Franklin once said: “Wine makes daily living easier, less hurried, with fewer tensions and more tolerance.”

You’d think that, given that society is in the midst of a global loneliness epidemic, we’d be raising a glass to the power of wine to connect us. Instead, the exact opposite is happening. In part it’s the hangover from the pandemic, when too many of us drank too much out of boredom or fear. But it’s also a response to alarmist messaging from health-care organizations promoting the idea, based on sometimes questionable research, that even a single drop of alcohol is very, very bad for you.

Young people especially are drinking less. So are older people. Both these groups are more likely to be lonely, and loneliness has been proven to weaken the immune system and increase the risk of depression, anxiety, dementia and serious health conditions such as heart disease and stroke.

Last year an American wine journalist named Karen MacNeil, author of The Wine Bible, launched an initiative called Come Over October. The idea is simple: to encourage friends, family and colleagues to “come over” during the month of October, share some wine and celebrate in-person connection in a world where we spend far too much time staring at screens.

The idea has spread across the continent to become an international movement. It’s one we’re fully behind, though we’d like to suggest that any time is a good time to get together with the people you care for. A glass of wine—even a glass of non-alcoholic wine—just makes it all better.

The website comeoveroctober.com has loads of tips and ideas for hosting events indoors or out, at your home or your business. You don’t have to serve wine, of course, but where’s the fun in that?

Meanwhile, pick up a copy of Vitis at any of these locations. Or subscribe here, and have a copy delivered to your mailbox.

Joanne Sasvari

Joanne Sasvari is editor of Vitis and The Alchemist magazines. She also writes about food and drink for WestJet and Vancouver Sun, and is author of the Wickaninnish and Vancouver Eats cookbooks.