Harvest time was a magical time. And it still is. But much more so, before the days of refrigeration, processed food that can be frozen and and giant mega stores where 6 months worth of lima beans can be had for a song. A time when people either struggled for survival, or survived on a monotonous diet of bread and a little meat. Think of your cupboards and refrigerator being slightly above bare for 10 months of the year. Think of going for long stretches with little food. Then think of the bounty that harvest times bring. Vegetables, fruit, grains, all aplenty. It’s certainly a far cry from our lives today.
In Cultural Appreciation of Wine at Napa Valley College, we pondered these issues and in the second half of class, after lecture, we had a “feast”, modeled after what was available to people, long before the times of supermarts.
On the menu:
3 types of goat cheese
olives cured in oil and brine
Figs and grapes
Lentil and onion stew and pita bread
Salt, vinegar and oil were our condiments
And of course, we thought there must have been one or more winemakers in out little village. Even in times that many of us in the modern day would consider slightly above barbaric, there was culture.
Our feast would not have been complete without wine. Wine that was common to the times, some 3,000 years ago. it was unlike our wines of today. In fact, often times, it was mixed with other ingredients. Spices, honey, milk, water. All were put in wine. Winemakers each must have had their own special recipe. our special recipe, prepared by Paul Wagner, our instructor, was a special blend.
To a very volatile burgundy, he added about 20% water, a 20 year old Barolo and a non descript CA red table wine, opened and left to the elements for two weeks.
This “ancient” wine had sediment, oxidation and a brackish character. Although when polled, students reported flavors and aromas of spices, honey, broth and sherry.
Behold the versatility and intrigue of wine. A blend, that if we had known about it, most of use would have sent down the sink without so much as a second thought, producing such a wide variety of pleasant characteristics.
Such was the wine of the ancients and the celebration of the harvest.
Anthony Blackburn is a student at Napa Valley College in the Viticulture and Winery Technology Department. He is also the Student Sales and Marketing Intern responsible for selling the wines made by the students in the student winery. www.napavalley.edu/winery
What a wonderful class!
I love the story of the woman who was trying to kill herself and ended up healing herself. I suppose it was the first example of the health benefits of wine.
Thanks for sharing.
Maria, Thanks for reading. We have been so lucky to have Tony contribute his beautiful writing talents and breath of fresh (wine) air! Seeing the wine landscape through his eyes has been very rewarding for me. Look for his posts on Mondays – until school gets out!
I enjoy reading tony's writing and suggest you keep him on after he graduates.
Tony's Dad
Dale!
I want to keep him forever! Have him forward you the e-mails between us and you can see that I'm his biggest fan, after his dad of course. You raised one smart wine-kiddo! Thank YOU!
Tony's Editor
Tony- I don't know if you remember me Lyn – we took some of the winemaking classes together. I took the Cultural Appreciation class last year and loved it. There is a good book called Ancient Wine- the search for the origins of viticulture by Patrick McGovern. If you are interested in that era of time it is informative. Have fun in the class – Lyn Favari
I do!!! remember you Lynn Thanks for reading my post….;) I will definatly look up that book, as I am a history buff.