You can be forgiven if you didn’t know October 15 is National Cheese Curd Day or October 20 is National Chicken and Waffles Day. How about Come Over October, a month to celebrate drinking wine with people?

Come Over October is simple: invite people over and enjoy wine with them.

The opportunity could be at your house, a local restaurant, or an outdoor setting. Sharing wine is a social and communal act; it stimulates discussion and togetherness.

2024 is Come Over October’s inaugural year. Conceived by Karen MacNeil—an internationally known wine professional, author, speaker, and blogger whose Wine Bible sits prominently on my home wine bookshelf—the month-long opportunity is simple: share company, share wine.

As Karen relates in this accompanying article in VinePair:

“The point is being together. And in a country so divided right now politically, the idea of inviting someone over to your house, a restaurant, or a picnic and simply having some wine together is not such a bad idea. As the song goes, the world needs a little love right now.”

I certainly get it!

But further, the wine industry is in a fraught state.

Wine sales are down, people’s wine-drinking habits are changing (especially among younger generations whose wine uptake is lagging), climate change is taking its toll on viticulture—especially as practiced in traditional wine-growing regions—and the World Health Organization, with USDA and prohibition groups looking over its shoulder, is now indicating that no level of alcohol intake is medically safe.

Say what, no level of alcohol is safe? What are the risks in actuality?

Much as Tom Wark points out in the article “On Alcohol and Cancer – Be Happy, You’re Going to be Just Fine” regarding numbers and percentages, the absolute risk is minimal.

As Eric Asimov, writing for the New York Times in his piece “In Defense of Wine,” points out, drinking wine has many health aspects.

Come Over October is an opportunity to highlight the positive aspects of drinking wine on mental and physical health. Those who drink and enjoy wine modestly know of wine’s benefits. Wine heightens our mood, relaxes our body and mind, helps to alleviate stress, and promotes togetherness and discussion when enjoyed in a group. Drinking wine can also be compared to an aesthetic pleasure, such as enjoying art, being in nature, or listening to our favorite tunes. And importantly, wine also enhances food.

So before this month ends, invite a few friends over to enjoy wine. You’ll be better for it!