The Dance Of Grapes In Nature

To Drink Or not to drink...better sit on it (http://pedangbermatasipit.blogspot.com/2010/12/why-drinking-wine-for-your-health.html)

“And you, madam, are ugly. But I shall be sober in the morning.”-These words belong to Winston Churchill, replying to Bessie Braddock who told him he was drunk. Indeed drunkenness is known to unlock one’s tongue and make it utter words that would otherwise have remained only in one’s mind, yet never on one’s lips. Yet I guess that much like Dean Martin used to say “You’re not drunk if you can lie on the floor without holding on.”

Since we all have a day when we prefer forgetting about everything and start seeing life in pinker nuances, I would declare this very day happens to be such a day in my case. I would spare you of all the unnecessary details yet I am not going to spare you of my writing about one of the perhaps most demanded alcoholic beverages in the whole history of humanity, namely wine. What do wines have in common with environment? My logic goes as further: grapes come from Mother Nature and so do other fruits being used in the making of wine and therefore it could be said that even though being third cousins wine and one’s environment do interact one with the other. And so I told myself that wine would make my environment more “sparkling” today even though only in my writing.

Getting Drunk in old times (drinknectar.com/2010/05/24/my-first-trip-to-greece-for-wine/)

Speaking about writing, I find it interesting what Hans Sachs said in “Die vier Wunderberlichen Eygenschafft und Wurckung des Weins…” about wine. Apparently there is talk about a pamphlet “describing the ‘four wondrous properties of wine and their effects’”. The one who translated it namely Professor Ralph Elliott provided people a first passage from the work. I happened to like this very much and as such I thought about sharing it with you too: “One day I asked a doctor to tell me whence derives the power of wine to affect in four different ways whomever it overcomes so that his mood changes. The first he makes peaceful, benevolent, mild and kind. Others he arouses to anger, so that they storm and quarrel and rage. The third he makes crudely childish and shameless, while the fourth is led by the wine to fantasies and follies. He said, I will tell you. The wise pagans describe how after the Flood has passed, Lord Noah began to plant vines before anything else. But the soil was unfruitful, so old Noah cleverly fertilized it with manure which he took from different animals, namely sheep, bears, pigs, and monkeys. With this he manured his vineyard all over, and when the wine was ready it had acquired the natures of the four animals, properties which it still possesses. Now God made all men from four elements, air, fire, water, and earth, as Philosophy confirms, and according to each man’s nature, so does wine affect him.”

I know not which happens to be your case and how you react to wine drinking yet I know I am more the kind of person who once feeling rather dizzy being affected by the wine’s virtuous properties I prefer going to sleep and only at times I “am led to fantasies and follies”. Therefore it all starts with “W” and continues with ‘-ine’ and it is still unclear how it all started. I guess someone once managed to come across some piles of grapes and while standing and looking at them, wondering what he could do with them all he suddenly envisaged a dance performed on them. And since I mentioned in the very beginning that there was talk about piles of grapes then I just imagine that at some point he got tired of so much dancing and decided to leave all that juice there and go to sleep. Once crushed and transformed into grape juice, those piles were left there to just ferment and this is how wine came to be discovered. Before someone jumps to tell me that this is not actually how things happened I should say that the above mentioned story just came from my imagination which happens to be quite a vast one. I dare say that it may be labeled as being too vast at times.

Wine and grapes brought together again (portugalweb.com/portuguese-wine.html)

And just in case you happened to be wondering how this whole wine art began when sitting relaxed and sipping gracefully from a wine glass, and before you started imagining things just like I did you should perhaps be told that actually nobody knows how it all started. What I can tell you is that it certainly started with the grape. Therefore given the circumstances it could be said without being mistaken that the history of wine happens to be a pretty cloudy one since it is believed to go back to the year 6000 B.C., if not even before this date. Rumor has it that people used to drink quite a lot of wine in those days so perhaps the logical explanation lies just in this information, namely that people were just too preoccupied to taste wine to keep any records of what was going on at that time.

However, there is evidence that there was a time when people used to enjoy drinking wine more than water. Those must have been quite sweet inebriating times, don’t you think so? Apparently in ancient times people highly desired something to make the meals easily glide down the throat and since water was rather insipid, colorless and odorless, and it didn’t taste as great as wine, people were given a rather wonderful alternative, namely wine. Voices made themselves heard claiming that the production of wine or what I would call the “grape dance” goes back as far as 6000 B.C. in Mesopotamia. How did modern people managed to figure out this? Apparently people were helped to divine this by looking at the Mesopotamian tomb walls and the stone tablets that are said to depict some scenes from the wine making process. Rumor has it that as such Mesopotamians had some knowledge about how this whole wine manufacturing process was supposed to be done, about the stages that they needed to undergo to be able to afterwards enjoy its taste. Though as far as taste is to be brought into discussion it is said that the wine did not have the same taste as nowadays! Anyway it certainly had some taste since it came to be considered better than water.

Sipping wine...gracefully (hubpages.com/topics/food-and-cooking/beverage-recipes/soy-drink-recipes/6353)

Speaking about taste I feel like making you feel its taste by reading about a story accounting for the beginnings of wine. And if some claim that it supposedly all started with some grapes being crushed, others come to veil everything under a more romantic story, this time one which involves a woman being in love with a king. As far as this story goes it could be stated that man was not in fact the one who invented wine but rather wine invented itself, by mere chance as some would say. How did it all start and what does this story tell? I previously stated that it is supposed that it all started with a woman falling in love with a king and who feeling too miserable because the King did not look at her she decided to end up her life making use of a rather ingenious method, namely that of eating some rotten grapes stored in a jar. As you can al probably imagine the suicide attempt did not have the scored results and instead of causing her death the woman started feeling dizzy and eventually passed out. What is funny is that the story tells that when she woke up “she felt as if all her troubles had disappeared and in fact it was this fact that sort of encouraged her to continue devouring fermented grapes. I think the moral is that fermented grapes can not kill one but instead it can only make one pass out and forget about himself and wish for more. Yet, in spite of this moral I urge every one of you to better keep to moderation than exaggerate and feel sick afterwards or even worse. I guess the saying mentioned that “Moderation comes to be the key to everything.” I also know tat we happen to be humans and that sometimes we tend to make abuse of whatever pleases us, including here such things as food, parties, carnal pleasures and the habit of drinking wine or any other drink, yet I guess too much of something may trigger various reactions in us, according to the element used in our creation as Hans Sachs used to say.

History Of Wine (premiumromania.com/history/world_history.html)

And since the history of wine appears to be as old as civilization and even the man himself, it could be said that men did keep certain moderation in relation to wine. Otherwise wine would have managed to inebriate to death all people and all civilization and would have started pouring down in rivers making the whole earth go drunk. This comes to be again nothing than imagination and some words mingled together in some sentences. I thought about doing this thinking about the rather old Latin dictum claiming that “In vino veritas”, namely that “Truth lies in wine”.

Leaving aside truth, I shall now start concentrating on the rather captivating history of wine only, a history that comes to include the ancient Egyptians, the Romans and even Greeks and many other European countries. I fear that in all this wine pilgrimage one may get drunk yet I guess Egyptians did not feel like this because it is said that in those times only the richest of them had access to wine and thus were able to enjoy it. Apparently not only they enjoyed its taste but also made full use of it in the various ceremonies being organized in those times. Rumor has it that wine was an integral part of people’s lives and ironically enough came to be included in funerary ceremonies as well. It looks to me like wine managed to conquer life and what was there left in the after life as well. Talking about the Egyptians and wine I guess most of you did not know that the ancient Egyptians are said to have been used to labeling the wine jars with “product, year, growing area and the vine grower’s name”. Finding out all these things I dare say that the ancient Egyptians liked to keep things in good order being pretty organized and meticulous in matters of wine at least. Yet as far as evidences come to prove it, they seemed to enjoy only red wines. Later on there is even an interesting story which comes to tell us how it all started with the great French white Burgundy, Corton Charlemagne. It is said that this white wine owes its name and its existence to the Emperor Charlemagne’s wife more than to the emperor himself. I think that things get rather funny when discovering that it all started with a wife’s desire to keep her husband’s beard unstained from the red wines of Corton. Thus she envisaged the possibility of compelling her husband to plant some white grapes as well. If I had one of those smiley emoticon faces now I’d surely make use of it.

Medieval Wine Conservation (http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Medieval_wine_conservation.jpg)

As for the Greeks, it is said that these ones were aware of its medicinal uses and other uses as well. Hippocrates himself is said to have been heavily preoccupied by the many virtues of wine, virtues which this time did not include the getting drunk gift but instead touched its supposedly excellent properties of reducing fever and of working as a surprising antiseptic as well. As for its properties touching the subject of convalescence I tend to believe that wine only managed to make the patient forget about its bad mood created by its illness. Even so, rumor has it that Greeks came to be equally preoccupied by the not so beneficent effects of too much wine. I tend to think they were right to act like this because just like Shakespeare said “Good wine is a good familiar creature if it well be used”. What did this “if it well be used” actually mean in those times? Much like it means in our time, it refers to its uses in feasts and thus making everything more pleasant but leaving it aside when one felt like he’d had just enough of it and started being rather dizzy, meaning drunk and noisy. In fact those knowing something about alcoholic drinks probably ask themselves why Shakespeare used to be so preoccupied about the rather “warrior” effects of wine since in those time people were said to be more into beer. Even so, it is believed that some people started refining their tastes and thus discovered the ‘blessing’ taste of wine.

Speaking about the taste of wine, I feel an almost stringent need to tell you that there was a time when people like the Romans preferred their wine sweet, rather than dry. Things get rather complicated when discovering what they used to add to wines. Now be honest with me and say whether you happened to be interested in tasting some wine tasting like garlic or onion and even fish like. The very mentioning of all these flavoring ingredients being added to wine urges me make wry faces. Yet, apparently not everyone was into these ingredients combined with wine and so these ones preferred adding rose petals, pepper, mint and absinthe. This certainly tastes better to me than did garlic or onions. What about you? Which one do you happen to prefer?

Wine Grapes (commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wine_grapes05.jpg)

And since I mentioned the preferences of Romans in matter of wine I should also share with you a story which tells us about a wealthy man who throwing a party decided to fill the public bath with wine. And so women were offered the possibility to bathe in this wine and I know not how they felt like while doing this or when being offered this rather weird, yet refined opportunity, yet I know what the story tell us namely that when “being asked to express his opinion about the wine, a guest responded “I like it very much, but I prefer the toast.”” There were voices claiming that this guest was referring to the women when saying this. Which would your case be in such an occasion? Would you choose the women or the wine? While asking you this I can hear almost all of the men who happen to read this “Both….Both!” Yet, as I’ve said it previously it all comes down to just a matter of personal choices and preferences.

But exactly like Benjamin Franklin used to say “Wine makes daily living easier, less hurried, with fewer tensions and more tolerance.” And by quoting Franklin I could make a joke and say that women do not necessarily always bring with them such things as the ones mentioned by him. “If all be true that I do think. / There are five reasons we should drink: / Good wine- / A friend- / Or being dry- / Or lest we should be, by and by- / Or any other reason why!” – This opinion comes to be embraced by many wine lovers and I can only suppose this happened to be the case of Henry Aldrich too, the one who once uttered these words.

Wine (cookinglight.com/eating-smart/smart-choices/take-two-red-wine-vs-white-wine-00400000001062/)

And just in case you tend to be rather obstinate in your questions and kept on wondering what grapes and wine have to do with environment then perhaps the next information is going to convince you that every thing that is to be provided to us by nature is related to environment and to the changes undergone by this one under our influence of course. As such, even though you may be unable to see if there happens to be any connection between wine and global warming then you’ll be more than surprised to discover that actually there is one such connection. Evidences come to prove that global warming is thought to have a rather dramatic impact on the winemaking industry namely because the warming is supposed to affect the grapes too. I guess this would spell disaster for all those who love wine and find it useful in inebriating their senses in their pilgrimage through life. Not to mention here the parties organized on wine! Yet I guess the biggest tragedy would come to be the fact that our whole life on this planet would come to be affected.

And since I would define myself as being an optimistic person I decided to end it all in an optimistic tone and tell you the story of an Italian wine called “Est! Est! Est!” I guess many of you would happen to find this name rather strange for a wine and actually this was my case too. Yet things got a little bit clearer when discovering the story or better said stories that are hidden behind this name. The first story involves a bishop who “planning to travel the Italian countryside, asked his scout to find inns that had good wines, marking the door “Est” when he found one”.  The word “est” comes to be translated in English as “This is it” or “Is it”. The story says that “the scout finally came across an inn that served an excellent wine and finding the wine’s taste exquisite “he marked the inn’s door “Est! Est! Est!” “I think I would have done the same if I was the scout from this story. What about you?

Woman drinking wine (marieclaire.com/world-reports/news/latest/godmother-custody-children)

As for the other story accounting for the name of this wine, a priest who coming across this local Italian wine felt like sharing its experience with the ones left in Rome and thus send them a message in which he wrote “Est! Est! Est!” What comes to be the surprising fact is the end of this story telling us that the priest decided to spend the rest of his time sipping this wine and thus renounced the priesthood. I know not what you would have done if you were in his case and honestly I don’t know either.

And just to end everything I shall now quote Benjamin Franklin who wrote in “Bottled Wisdom” the following words: “Before Noah, men having only water to drink, could not find the truth. Accordingly they became abominably wicked, and they were justly exterminated by the water they loved to drink. This good man, Noah, having seen that all his contemporaries had perished by this unpleasant drink, took a dislike to it; and G-d, to relieve his dryness, created the vine and revealed to him the art of making wine. By the aid of this liquid, he revealed more and more truth.” In other words “In vino veritas” or as Jonathan Sift said “This wine should be eaten, for it is much too god to be drunk.”