Why Cork Bandit?

1+1=3 and the origin of Cork Bandit

Why this Substack?

Simply put, I firmly believe that wine makes everything better, and I want to bring as many people as possible along for the ride. This will be a place to explore how wine connects with culture - through stories, food, people, music, and art.

Wine tends to take these cultural experiences and elevate them to a new level. I would argue it can even make 1+1=3. Pizza by itself is nice, and a bottle of Chianti by itself is also nice... but when you put them together and enjoy them with some of your closest friends, you come to understand what Aristotle meant when he said “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts”.

Wine should not exist in a vacuum. It’s an integral part of our culture and our memories. If a genie appeared and gave me the option to drink 1945 Romanée-Conti in a sterile room all by myself, but in exchange I had to erase the memory of drinking a half-decent Dolcetto with my Dad in Italy, overlooking the Piemontese vineyards on a sunny afternoon, I’d take that deal 0/100 times.

Wine often functions as an anchor for these memories. When I think back to some of my fondest wine memories, I can immediately recall not only what I was drinking, but where I was, who I was with, the conversations we had, etc. In a world where we’re starving for genuine connection and presence, I think wine can play a pretty pivotal role.

Why “Cork Bandit”?

So why the name Cork Bandit? I have a confession: I steal corks. Well, kinda. It's really more like hoarding. There are currently at least a thousand corks boxed up in my garage. For years, I've kept a vast majority of the corks I've pulled, plus a majority of the neglected corks pulled by others around me. If we're at dinner together, and a bottle gets opened, and no one seems to care about keeping the cork, odds are high it will find its way into my pocket as we’re leaving the table.

I keep promising my wife (and now you guys) that one day I'm actually going to do something with all these corks. Like an art piece or something. One day.

So maybe the name should be Cork Hoarder? But that doesn't sound as cool. Cork Bandit it is.