Will a six-minute date really lead to love???

I’ve always been curious about speed dating so when my friend, Sarah asked me to join her on a “wine tasting and speed dating” event, I happily accepted. Then as the event inched closer, Sarah and I began to call, text and email each other with our growing (and perhaps slightly unrealistic) concerns, all while simultaneously trying to remind ourselves of the great benefits of meeting new people AND trying new wines. We nervously wondered if anyone would show up at all…and if they did show up, would they all be too old… too young… socially awkward or worse yet… serial killers???

Sarah and I sat in my parked car before the actual event, contemplating an alternative plan (as it turned out, the classy wine tasting venue appeared to be a section of a warehouse-sized liquor store). While in the parking lot, we attempted to discretely assess the quality of men that were entering the store. Our anxiety grew as we endeavored to determine if the cane-using, cardigan-wearing grandfatherly types were just entering the store to buy a bottle of alcohol or actually seeking to meet us.

After serious consideration of abandoning the event altogether, we pep-talked, rationalized and rallied one another to enter the boxy building. Upon entry, we were directed to a dark corner tucked behind a massive tequila display. Surprisingly, the corner housed a charming Western-themed nook, lined with wooden bar stools, a faux bar and even a shingled rooftop. We grabbed a wine glass, name tag, notepad and took our assigned spots (the men would move every six minutes to a new person while the women stayed seated). The wine tasting began and shortly after, so did our first six-minute “date”. After a few sips of wine and nervous laughs, the conversation began to flow and surprisingly, I found I was actually enjoying myself! The event involved multiple tastings of various varietals of wine and a total of twelve six-minute dates. While it was quickly apparent that six minutes could easily feel like six hours with some of the men, the overall evening yielded several unexpectedly insightful conversations and a good dose of sincere laughter.


Lemon: While the general demographics of the men where within my desired education, profession and age range, I did not feel chemistry with any of them…

Honey: Risks pay off! After all the fretting and worrying, the overall evening was really quite fun…I socialized with many new people, learned about some interesting hobbies, skills and professions AND tasted some really good wine as well! And heck, if dating is a numbers game, then my numbers are most certainly increasing!