I'm No Dan...

Dan's awesome. He's not only takes the most fantastic pictures, but he grows a beautiful garden and brews his own beer while commenting on others he finds in stores along the way. I love hearing about the all of the different beers he can find in Canada since most can't be imported because of the alcohol content. Besides, as I often tell him, if it's not Budwiser, the places around here seem not to take notice of it. I was mulling over his latest post, thinking how creative the craft brewers can be when I realized we have something very local and just as compelling. I ran off and poured myself a far too full glass of our local winery's product. When I say local, I truly mean local (the winery is 4 miles from our house), and local wine in Georgia means not grapes, but muscadine. There's nothing that tastes quite like a muscadine. It's tart, bitter and sour all at once. Muscadines can grow wild here in the south and many kids fondly remember picking berries off vines back in the woods, but I never really found a taste for them. The first time I tasted this muscadine wine, I was at my neighbor's house and he poured me a glass without telling me what it was. From the color, I was expecting it to be a pino or the like, but the smell hit me just as I took my first sip. I thought he was trying to kill me. I returned the glass, sputtered, coughed and accused him of doing no less, but then the flavors sat with me and I inexplicably wanted more. It's not 'good.' It will never compete with a fine wine, you can't add it while you're cooking and it's strong taste assures it will never compliment food well, but it is surely compelling for nothing truly says Georgia Summer like muscadine wine. Why is there never a moon pie around when you need it?