Here in New Orleans, we have a joke about Dry January: It’s the hardest five days of the year. There are only five days between the celebrations of New Year’s Eve and Twelfth Night, the official start of Carnival Season. You have less than a week to go dry before Mardi Gras parades begin.
In the rest of the nation, however, it appears Dry January is going strong—at least, if my inbox is to be trusted. Every day I receive a dozen press releases extolling the virtues of abstaining from alcohol for a month: better sleep, clearer skin, more energy. (I’m not sure why the emphasized benefits of giving up wine sound like an ad for a Goop product.)
Oddly enough, the people sending me these messages also seem to be selling something, like non-alcoholic wines or books of mocktail recipes. Even though I haven’t gone dry, I do believe Dry January has given me more energy based on how quickly I hit delete when these emails show up.
I jest, of course. Longtime readers know I am not a fan of Dry January or Sober October or Drynuary. Why? Because it’s a fad diet. If you have an alcohol abuse problem, you should seek help, not a fad. For folks without addiction issues, it’s a 30-day trend that often ends with a night of binge drinking and resumption of bad habits.
Ok, But What About Damp January?
Damp January, if you’re unfamiliar with the term, is not a reference to the winter storms sweeping the country recently. It’s the idea of cutting back on drinking, rather than quitting cold turkey.
Believe it or not, I’m ok with this. In fact, I suggested it four years ago, but called it Moderation March, in a prime example of why I don’t work in marketing. At the risk of crafting another slogan no one will use, I suggest: “Try Damp, Not Dry.” (I will not bother to trademark this.)
Many people seem to use Dry January as a chance to impress themselves or their friends with their willpower. But the original point was to assess your relationship with alcohol. Why are you drinking, how much and when? Are you engaging in irresponsible habits?
Going cold turkey may show you have grit and discipline, but it doesn’t really assess your drinking habits unless you plan to never drink again. And while some people need to abstain, the majority of us can consume alcohol responsibly.
The Difference Between Enjoyment and Abuse
What has troubled me most about the growing anti-alcohol movement is how it has treated all drinking as abusive, heavy drinking. It has pushed dry, not damp, as the only healthy solution.
Recent statements by the World Health Organization (WHO) that no level of alcohol consumption is safe, based on studies that reanalyzed and dismissed past research showing health benefits in light-to-moderate drinking, have added to that impression. Neoprohibitionists routinely claim that alcohol kills millions of people each year. But if you look at the WHO report on alcohol, it states that “Worldwide, 3 million deaths every year result from harmful use of alcohol.” The key word there is harmful.
Damp January offers an opportunity to ask yourself if your alcohol consumption is ever harmful. How much are you drinking? Do you pour that extra glass all too often? And are you drinking alone, or enjoying wine with friends with a meal? What role does your love of good wine play in your life?
Wine is the Temperate, Civilized, Sacred, Romantic Mealtime Beverage
One of my favorite details about the late Robert Mondavi was his belief that his winery could not succeed if the entire wine industry and even wine culture in America did not. He routinely explained to audiences why wine itself was a Good Thing. He specifically wrote about that in 1989, and Tom Wark, a veteran wine marketer and publicist, wisely refers to this passage as the “Mondavi Defense” of wine:
“We believe wine is the temperate, civilized, sacred, romantic mealtime beverage recommended in the Bible. It is a liquid food that has been part of civilization for 8,000 years. Wine has been praised for centuries by statesmen, scholars, poets, and philosophers. It has been used as a religious sacrament, as the primary beverage of choice for food, and as a source of pleasure and diversion. Wine is the natural beverage for every celebration: the birth of a child, graduations, engagements, weddings, anniversaries, promotions, family gatherings, toasts between governments, and other festivities.”
Those words still ring true today. Wine can be abused, but for most of us, it can be enjoyed responsibly and enrich our lives. Now is the perfect time to ask yourself what role you want wine to play in your life in 2024.
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