> Living in days of the comet Hale-Bopp it might be interesting > to note some of the thoughts on wines in Bourdeaux. According to > a recent note in the Swedish press comets positively influence > the wine harvest. There is even talk of the fine comet years: > 1985 and 1989. In 1985 Chateau-Lafite-Rotschild went so far as > to place a small comet on the label. > > One of the superior wines made was a Lafite in 1811, Le vin de la > Comete. > It was served in 1926 to 300 guests in the Castle Lafite. The British > wine expert M. Healey claims that was the case. > > In _On the Marble Cliffs_ the two brothers drink wine "made in the > year of the comet". Juenger is once supposed to have said to the > filmmaker Bjoern Cederberg that the wine referred to in the book > is the 1811 Lafite, which EJ (so Cederberg) himself has never had the > opportunity to drink. > > Any wine experts out there with knowledge of the Comet Wine of 1811 ? > > Cheers. > > Bertil Haggman > bertil.haggman@helsingborg.se > When you have to grow vines in such an unfavourable climate like the French one, you do have to wait for the comet to get a good annata. But if you make wine in places where the sun is less stingy (I am not just nationalistically thinking of Italy, but also Australia, California, Chile, and South Africa), you do not need the help of the comet. I suspect that here we are getting deep into wine mythology, which is something the French have always been very good at; luckily there is also wine craftsmanship and wine poetry, which are more concrete matters. In those fields, comets do not have such a big influence. It is the sun, the soil, and the vines which make the difference. Umberto Rossi "A commission is appointed To confer with a Volscian commission About perpetual peace"--and nobody told me!
Markup © John King, 2008. Web archive generated Tue, 21st August 2007.