Notes From the
Vintner
|
Welcome
to our column. We hope that you will return to
learn interesting notes on wine, and related
subjects. Wine is a great gift from God to be used
for the enjoyment of man. It is a food, and should
be treated as such. It is meant to lift up the body
and lighten the soul. 04/1/03
|
It is
time to go for the GOLD
again…the
Nineteenth Cowie International Amateur Wine
Competition is this month. Someone will walk away
with an ounce of real gold worth several hundred dollars.
Will it be you??? This competition is held to promote home
wine making and the enjoyment of wine. Wine is a food and is
meant to be enjoyed like a fine steak, and also enjoyed with
others.
There is something
about making your own wine. I believe that everyone has had
a family member make a vintage or two. There are many tales
of Aunt Jane and her home made wine, or my grandfather who
made really good grape wine. Many can remember watching
someone crush the fruit, or bottle the wine out of an old
barrel. And a few can remember helping themselves to a
sample when no one was looking.
The art of making
wine may have been the first art of man. We read in the Good
Book that Noel planted vines and drank the wine. There have
been people who have found old, very old vessels that had
wine stored in them that are thousands of years old. Even
today in some old country cellars you can find a few bottles
of the aged wine.
This is an art
form that will go on as long as man goes on. That is because
this art is a gift from our Creator. I believe that wine is
given to aid us in the journey. There is the joy of making
the wine, and the joy of drinking the wine.
The question then
come to mind, "Do I make good wine, or am I used to drinking
the wines that I make - good or not so good". Enter the
competition. This is a good judge of how your wine rates
and how well you have developed your art of making the wine.
As my friend Marvin says, "How we doing?".
We enter a
competition to see "how we are doing". Home wine makers do
it, and commercial wine makers do it! So…get
your wines entered by the 12th of this month, come to the
awards event, and share knowledge, wine and
friendship.
|