Days of Wine and Roses

There are three batches of wine on the bubble at the moment, the first two are up in Sechelt, one at Wine & Roses and the other at a place called Eddy Banana's. The third is being rather aromatic in our kitchen hissing away in it's bucket.

Mother made wine, wine out of what appeared to be almost anything, berries, apples, crab apples, elderberries and elder flowers. I think father actually tried a rice whiskey one time, but I never found out what that was like.

Mother would slip a three or five ounce snifter in front of the young fool, probably I was less than a dozen years old and she'd slip me the mickey. If it was elderflower then I'd have no chance, a sweet, syrupy concoction, probably about 15 percent alcohol. It was like drinking perfume, but it was drunk, and after one or three, so was I.

I can imagine this would amuse her no end, seeing little David, always a fool, become a wobbly one, and it was joy and it was life and it was home. The wine cellar, always full of demijohns, popping away as the yeast did it's work and made joy and relief out of everyday things like fruit, sugars and small rodents.

In the coming months I'll try to continue the tradition, as the good lady said today, she knew someone who even made wine out of Christmas Cake.

Hey, I'm up for it.