IN VINO VERITAS

Robert Louis Stevenson wrote: "Wine is poetry."

Yesterday, for my birthday, my wine-making son-in-law John presented me with a bottle of his recent vintage.  He told me to wait a bit before drinking it, in other words "let it age."

This reminded me of a couple of stories.

AGING WINE

Some years ago, as we were trying to sell our Randallstown, Maryland house, a couple showed up to inspect the premises.

The husband was very interested in some home-made wine that I had just bottled.  As a friendly gesture, I presented him with a bottle and a gentle admonition.

Me:  "I just bottled this wine, and you need to let it age for a few months before drinking it. Do you understand?"

Husband:  "Of course, Mr. Vaughan.  No problem."

The couple left before night fell.

At eleven PM, the phone rang.  It was the husband.  He slurred, 

"Hey man, got any more of that great wine?"

ANY PORT IN A STORM

Our family rented a river-front cottage for a week in Westport, Massachusetts, not far from where my wife and I grew up.  We invited all of our in-laws, relatives and old friends to visit with us.  Many did.

To get the minds off of a violent thunderstorm raging around us and to spice up the activities, I decided to bring in from our car trunk a large case of my home-made wine.  This batch was ruby-red, but rather bland, so I had added some sugar and brandy to make it taste better. And it did.

Everyone seemed to like this wine's taste, and it was the consensus of my Portuguese-American in-laws and friends that it was the best Port wine they had ever tasted.  Yes, it was good, if I must say so.

In a very short time that whole case of wine was devoured.  Some of our guests still talk about how good that wine was.

OLD AGE

When we moved to the country in 1976, we had over an acre of yard at our disposal.  Besides lots of naturally growing vegetation, we were able to have a rather large garden.

We planted peas, corn, cucumbers, tomatoes, potatoes, and zucchini.  We struggled a bit with strawberries and raspberries but did get a few.

Our "Renaissance Man" son, Chris built us a beautiful sturdy grape arbor and we tried to grow some.  Unfortunately, my fear of the poisonous bug spray that was necessary, meant that we did not get grapes. But the foliage on the arbor looked nice.

We also had apple trees that needed spraying.  I didn't do that.

We did have a wonderful cherry tree that grew right next to the house. Every other year, I was able to reach out of the kitchen window and pick a lot.

Our dandelion crop was enormous. I love those beautiful yellow flowers.

As you may know, wine can be made from any kind of vegetation, so, in addition to store-bought peaches and grapes, my supply of wine ingredients was quite large.

In addition to peach and grape wine, I made wine out of dandelions, cherries, strawberries, potatoes, zucchinis and even pea pods. (A friend of ours loved my peapod wine. She was the only person that did.)

Most of my wines were undrinkable at first.  They needed aging.  Over the years, they began to taste better and better.  Some were extremely tasty, if I must admit.

A couple of years ago, I dusted off the few bottles still unopened since their creation.  One was peach wine from 1975.  One was dandelion from 1975.

The last bottle was a peapod wine from 1976, and the 45-year aging process had worked very well. The wine was quite tasty and was swiftly consumed.  Yum!

 

WASTED WINE?

A Social Security co-worker learned that I was an amateur wine-maker, and every day he would bring me an empty bottle that had contained very expensive wine, such as Chateau Saint Pierre ($61) or Chateau Lafite Bordeaux Blend ($250), or similar 

He told me that every night, he and his "beautiful" loving wife would enjoy a bottle of famous wine with their filet mignon.

I amassed a large collection that I used in my bottling until one day the donation stopped.  

A few days later I learned that his "beautiful" loving wife had eloped with a neighbor!

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