God Bless
the Queen David Biggs toasts the queen of drinks
T
wo elderly guys are sitting on a bench. The one says to the other: “Which would you rather abstain from, women or wine?” The other replies, “I’d need to know the year.” Wine is often the subject of jokes and stories, amusing and serious, and is often compared to women. It’s obviously widely regarded as the queen of drinks. Queens have reigned for many thousands of years while wine has played a leading role in ancient history, as well as featuring prominently in many religious ceremonies and writings for centuries. Interestingly, wine is one of the simplest drinks to make, needing only one ingredient— grapes. And in spite of its simplicity it is discussed and written about more than any other drink—or food —on earth. What is it that makes us regard this simple fermented fruit juice with such reverence and awe? Maybe it’s the very fact of its simplicity—and at the same time, its enormous complexity—that keeps us intrigued. All that’s needed to produce alcohol is sugar and yeast. Grapes present us with both: sugar in the sweet juice and yeast in the dull “bloom” on the skins of the berries. Simple! But there are hundreds of grape varieties, each with its own flavour, and thousands of vineyards, each with its own soil and climate—each with its own unique influence on the wine. Now things begin to look a little more complex. In fact, every wine tells the story of the grape it was made from and the place where it grew. We are no longer just drinking juice: we are tasting the warm slopes of the Paarl mountain or the ancient vineyards of Bordeaux or the sundrenched Robertson valley. The queen is reminding us her empire circles the entire world. Every glass of wine requires our full attention. We can pop a can of beer without a thought, or slosh Coke into our brandy and slug it down without ceremony. But we feel obliged to treat wine with a little more respect. We choose the glass with care, open the bottle with anticipation (and probably with a favourite corkscrew), look at the colour and clarity of the wine, sniff it, even if it is an inexpensive plonk, and feel obliged to mutter a quiet “cheers,” before taking that first sip. It’s quite a solemn little ceremony. We are, after all, in the presence of royalty.
5 6
SOUTH AFRICAN CONNOISSEUR
‘Wine is widely regarded as the Queen of drinks. The queen has reigned for many thousands of years and has played a leading role in many religious ceremonies and writings’
