Wines and October

You tell me it has faint strokes of citrus,

and I wonder how citrus could find

its way into Missouri clay, but it does.

Or that robust suggestions of cherry,

black courant and toffee (toffee?),

punctuated by smoky oak and pepper,

will splash my palate well with pasta,

grilled meats and Brie. But a hint

of cigar? Down my throat?

Accompaniment to duck and steak

and meaty stews replete with fatte

d’animal?

I think not; instead, I will sit atop

this hill of stones, this mount of pleasant,

my glass of Oregon redness in my hand

inhaling its silky smoothness,

its ripe black fruits and rich suppleness,

and turn my eyes to the sun.

I am not a beer drinker. There are two kinds of beers I have been know to occasionally partake of:  Guinness Extra Stout (“Taste It. Believe It. Become a Believer.”) and Corona Light – occupying two ends of the commercial beer spectrum. I live in the land of Anheuser-Busch, so you think I would average more than a beer every other year.

This may have something to do with how much beer my father drank. He liked Falstaff, which was brewed in St. Louis. I occasionally bike past the old Falstaff brewery on South Broadway, and see the company symbol sculpted in stone on the building façade, and think of my father.

Over at TweetSpeak Poetry, Seth Haines has posted a poetry prompt about Octoberfest. We didn’t have Octoberfest when I was growing up in New Orleans, but when we landed in St. Louis, we discovered Octoberfest about 90 miles to the west, in the little town of Hermann. Hermann was settled by immigrants from the Rhine River Valley, and they liked their wine. Today, Hermann is part of the wine production industry in Missouri, which stretches west, southwest and south of St. Louis. Even nearby southwestern Illinois has added a few wineries.

We’d go to Hermann in October, and we would find us some wine. At other times of the year, we head to Augusta, Missouri, much closer than Hermann, and visit the Augusta Winery (the town is also home to Mt. Pleasant Winery).

And having been blessed with a bottle of Merlot from Sineann Winery in Oregon, well, you can see where this poem came from – a found poem using fragments of promotional and advertising phrases about wines from Stone Hill Winery (Hermann), Augusta Winery, and Sineann Winery.

To see what others have been writing about Octoberfest, please visit TweetSpeak Poetry and say hi to Seth.

This poem is also submitted to Open Link Night at dVerse Poets.

Photograph: Bottles of wine by Jiri Hodan via Public Domain Pictures. Used with permission.