Wine From Parsley, Pea Pods And Tea

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30454, 30 May 1964, Page 2

Wine From Parsley, Pea Pods And Tea

Don’t throw your pea pods away next summer. Make them into wine. It will look like “a mess of pottage” at first and you will wonder why you have wasted time, sugar and yeast on it. But have patience as the sediment sinks during the working period and a pale golden wine, which tastes a little like sauterne, will be your reward. /

A member of the Fendalton Amateur Wine-Makers’ Circle tried it last year, and it is safe to say that many others will be planting a few extra rows of green peas in the spring for the tender young pods they will be needing. This one is a sweet wine and quite, quite delectable, they say.

Rose petals, parsnips, dandelions, carrots, beetroot, elder flowers, broad beans, marigolds, spinach, fruits (fresh or dried) —almost anything that grows in the back section of a suburban home may be found fermenting in

a crock in a wine-maker’s laundry. What looks like a trough of river sludge in the garage could well be a brew of parsley wine in its infancy. Competition is keen among the circle’s 14 members, who include a doctor, an engineer, a journalist, an accountant, a retired American, and several housewives. They are mostly married couples and all mature adults, who enjoy wine with dinner or as part of their social living. Ancient Art Wine-making is their hobby. They regard it as a creative interest, an art of more than 10,000 years’ standing. “You don’t drink much wine and there is no record of anyone in the circle suffering ill-effects from our potions,” a member said yesterday. Meetings are held in members’ homes every month, when competitive testing is done. Everyone brings along a bottle. In the privacy of the kitchen someone pours a little more than a thimbleful into glasses from each bottle for tasting (“We eat a piece of cheese between each sample”) and the wine is assessed for bouquet, clarity and taste in sections for sweet, medium and dry. The member who wins the most points by the end of the year receives the bottle-shaped wooden shield and a prize to keep, perhaps a set of glasses. The circle was founded in 1961, based on English clubs and guilds, which sprang up after World War II and the end of sugar rationing. There are now about 170 of them in Britain, seven in Canada, one in Southern Rhodesia. In England they are grouped into associations, publish

their own magazines and conduct tours to wine-growing districts in Europe. Many of the clubs have a huge membership. Limited Membership

"But we feel that 20 members would be the limit in a circle like ours,” one of them explained. “Otherwise the group would become too big for private homes and it would lose the friendly, social atmosphere we like to have. We would, however, be delighted to see other groups starting up in other suburbs so that we could have competitions.” Never Fortified No wine is sold by circle members, it is not even exchanged by the bottle among themselves. The alcoholic content comes from the sugar and yeast used. The wines are never fortified. Wine-making is a time-con-suming hobby. Absolute sterility is essential. The process becomes more scientific as the maker advances in his craft, it seems. Storage brings its problems. One member tells how she was blamed for ruining her husband’s new golf bag when he left it under a rack of her bottles lying on their side. It just so happened they blew their corks and emptied out. The circle names no favourite vintage or type of wine. The two women who spoke for it yesterday said they like fruit wines best for their clarity, and recommended grain wine—such as wheat and raisin.

For the beginner they suggest tea wine as the easiest to make. It is a very palatable drink. Sometimes it comes out like madeira, at others like dry sherry and occasionally no different from ageing cold tea. There is no telling with wines and that is half the fascination about making them. A word of warning about tea wine, however. Give it a grander name. “Tea” wine to the philistine you may have to entertain some time will sound like a nasty trick.