TABLE TALK #146
Not all medicine comes in a bottle. Sometimes it’s in the bracing sea, the calm focus of filling a canvas with colour, or a walk through the woods where a near-stranger remembers your dog’s name.
That’s the quiet power of connection. And the idea behind journalist Julia Hotz’s book, The Connection Cure. A new name for something humans have always known - that movement, art, nature, service and community are healing forces in their own right.
🍝 MAIN COURSE 🍝
In over thirty countries, doctors are now handing out more than medicine.
They’re offering ‘social prescriptions’: activities rooted in the stuff that makes us feel alive. Sea-swimming for depression. Gardening clubs for isolation. Culture vitamins for anxiety. Dance classes. Fishing trips. A bit of beauty. A bit of belonging.
And, as it turns out, it really does work. Not just because the data says so, but because people do. The more we feel part of something, the more we want to show up. The more we move, create, share and connect, the more we come back to ourselves.
Julia's book is full of these stories - hopeful, human and sometimes hilarious. It paints a picture of a world where care isn’t just about asking "what’s the matter with you?", but also "what matters to you?"
That small shift in question changes everything. It gives people space to say what they already know to be true: that the soft stuff counts. That healing isn’t always clinical. That the way we feel about our treatment, and the people offering it, is part of what makes it work.
And that maybe, just maybe, we need a little less fixing and a little more listening.
At Wednesdays Domaine, we talk a lot about drinks as punctuation marks. Moments of pause, presence, celebration or comfort. And we try to make wines that work as well solo on the sofa as it does in the thick of conversation.
So when Julia talks about prescriptions that start with people, not pills, it feels familiar. Our bodies know what we need, deep down. A laugh. A walk. A toast. A chat. A reason to keep showing up.
None of this is rocket science, but in an age where technology is ever-present, we do need something to jolt us out of our isolationist routines on occasion. It's the reason we felt so passionately about hosting our first ever Surplus Supper Club earlier this year - we wanted people to come together, to bond over a meal and a glass of wine, coming away with the feeling of having experienced something old and something new all at once.
🍮 SWEET ENDINGS 🍮
If you like the sound of social prescriptions, you might also enjoy “The Poetry Pharmacy”, a beautiful little book curated by William Sieghart.
Instead of pills, he prescribes poems for heartbreak, grief, anxiety and love. A good reminder that healing comes in many forms.
🍷 WHAT'S NEW
FROM
WEDNESDAY'S DOMAINE? 🍷
We’ll admit, our hearts sank a little when we saw The Times headline: “Why is non-alcoholic wine still so dreadful?”
Thankfully, it turns out we’re one of the good ones. Vignette - our unique, category-shaping Petit Verdot-Tempranillo blend - was named as a standout: “a credible alcohol-free red with dark fruit and without the sweetness of fruit juice.”
You’ll find it stocked at Ocado, Laithwaites, Delli Market and plenty of brilliant independents too.
Until next time,
Luke x
Luke x
