I’ll Top Myself Off, Thanks

Nat Geo 6/68

A patron of a Viennese wine garden refills his glass from a weinheber. A fat cigar, fine wine, a plate of cured meats, perhaps some friendly company. What else could one want? The article from which this came declares this image as an example of the German word, gemutlichkeit, which we’re all going to learn today.

Pinterest

Behance.net defines it as, “A feeling of friendliness and coziness that comes from drinking in a beer garden.”  They created this next poster, which you might find helpful, should you choose to add more words to your vocabulary. Perhaps a little humpen and hopfen is in order.

A Very Good Find In A Very Tough Year

Life: Our Finest Hour

During WWII, the not-yet-vanquished German army occupied the north of France, including the port of Cherbourg, which they heavily fortified against seaborne assault. As the only deep water port in the region, it was particularly desirable, so American troops encircled the city in June of 1944 in the Battle of Cherbourg, and handed the Germans their asses five days later, when they surrendered. The fighting left the city in a compromised state. However, in only a month, cargo ships known as Liberty Ships began to arrive, and it became the busiest port in the entire world, with twice the traffic of New York, until the war ended. It has since merged with an adjacent city to become Cherbourg-Octeville.* In this image, we see American soldiers in Cherbourg who appear to have stumbled upon some German wine stores. I’ll drink to that.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*per wikipedia

 

Sample My Wares

National Geographic Society, Finlay Photography by Bernard F. Rogers, Jr.

While this pretty maiden humbly offers two bunches of grapes on sticks during a Roman Grape Festival, her old-fashioned costume betrays her. She is no country bumpkin. As the article states, her wristwatch shows that she is a modern woman, and chances were high that she was actually an extra from a nearby movie studio.

This grape girl wrapped her finest grapes in paper packages, while the salesgirl below sold roses in assorted colors.

If a flower girl could not carry her burden, she used a beast.

Bernard F. Rogers, Jr.

This donkey was piled high with daisies, violets, and chrysanthemums, brought in from the fields to Nemi, near Rome. With such plentiful bounty, vendors often gave faded flowers to children to beat on the pavement and watch the petals fly.

Those who weren’t selling got into the spirit by wearing provincial costumes to celebrate products from the many district vineyards, displayed in the Basilica of Constantine. That’s a serious middle hair part.

Once the Grape Festival got underway, 25 floats made their way down the streets. This one depicts Bacchus (Dionysus), the ancient Roman and Greek wine god. As the oxen moved, the tongue revolved as if lapping wine. Ew.

 

Sniff Flowers, Not Glue

Sniffers, London, 2018, by Jim Lustenader

I’ve heard of stopping and smelling the roses, but I hadn’t heard this twist on it.

Etsy

I don’t believe I’ve ever stopped to smell the rosé. Perhaps a cab sav, but not a rosé.

giphy.com

Evidently Hillary Duff enjoys a good rosé.

giphy.com

Perhaps you should pop a cork this evening! After all, it IS Wine Wednesday.

Genius Idea: Mashing Grapes With Wine Bottle Itself

NatlGeoJune68001
June 1968

National Geographic describes this Viennese toiler as “an old-timer tamping bunches into a backpack.” Odd-looking backpack. And it’s not a wine bottle, but you knew that. It’s a pige.

And this here is pigeage.

commons.wikimedia.org
commons.wikimedia.org

This process is known in French as pigeage and is part of the maceration process that extracts color, flavor and aroma compounds from the grape skins into the wine.–wikimedia

Seems like the same idea as a mortar and pestle, no?

I’d Tap That

81Cactus101You know, I was gonna make a crack about Justin Bieber’s dad in the pedophile mustache, but then I remembered that the Bieber is STILL A TEENAGER. Yes, he is. And Papa Bieber is barely old enough to be president. Yes, Jeremy (spoke in class today) Bieber would have been learning what sound farm animals make and how not to wet the bed when this picture was taken. So maybe it’s Bieber’s granddad. Or fun uncle. Or Drunk Uncle.

drunk uncleEither way, it appears they’ve drained the bottle. And nobody likes an empty bottle.

porter wagoner

%d bloggers like this: