Summer Wine

Each year we go to our local wine making store and purchase two batches of wine. This year we repeated last years order as it appeared to be popular as we are fresh out. Bottling the wine is always a fun thing and it takes only a couple of hours.

We have a wine cellar of sorts under our basement stairs and the temperature is perfect for the storage of wine. I have spaces for 200  bottles but never have nearly that much. I was just dreaming when I over built the room.

Years ago I used to make wine from scratch and had some great successes. I also had produced some of the most expensive vinegar as well. One time I ventured into making peach brandy with my fellow worker Betty. I sold peaches at our general store and we thought we should try this for a change. I think Betty had the recipe but I am not quite sure so I will share the blame.

We made the brew in my pool room and after the allotted time we looked in the huge barrel and saw a golden liquid fit for the Queen. We were told that to make the brandy clear we should put in corn meal and we would be rewarded with the most beautiful brandy.

I had that product at my store and we put it in the barrel and waited for the right time to bottle. After the week Betty and I were ready to taste the liquid and much to our horror we discovered thousand of maggots in our brew. Drunk of course but probably happy. We were so disappointed. I realized after the fact that the meal was old and as was the case contaminated through age.

I tried to strain the maggots out of the brandy but ended up dumping it down the drain. We never talked too much about this lack of success but I was very embarrassed. It was after this event that I left the brewing to the professionals and became a specialist at bottling and drinking the brew.Actually we never had a bad batch after that disaster.