Sir Bushek's vintner wisdom Lore Books

Description

A collection of interesting facts about wine, winemakers and wine culture in general. From the most famous wine connoisseur of the Bohemian land, Bushek of Velhartice, who as is known taught Emperor Charles that even Bohemian wine can be drunk if given enough time.

Text

On the importance of wine in Galen’s theory of humours

Many of us are certainly familiar with Galen’s theory of the four humours or four bodily fluids. According to this ancient theory, the balance of the four bodily fluids: blood, mucus, bile and black bile affect our body and health. Even a small imbalance can affect our physical and mental health. Classical medical science addresses the imbalance of these fluids and ways to bring the humours back into equilibrium.
But beyond that, doctors are also looking at the effect of personal diet on these fluids. It can certainly be understood that apart from solid food, the fluids we take in affect the balance in the first place. Water, as is well known, is the only neutral fluid. But we will deal with wine. Red and full-bodied wines are associated with blood (Greek haima). Thus, red wines are warm and full of life. On the other hand, white wine is associated by most ancient physicians with mucus (Greek phlegma) and by some with black bile (Greek melaina chole), which are cold and dead fluids.
Balance needs to be maintained especially in relation to age. In fact, our bodies are very rarely in balance. Young people have an excess of blood in them and should therefore drink white wine. This will enable them to calm down and not succumb to youthful passions. Old people, on the other hand, have more mucus and are cold, so they should drink red wine, which will give them vigour.
In addition to age, the composition of the diet and especially the pairing of wine with particular dishes should be taken into account. Here again, there should be a balance between the liquid (wine) and solid (food) components. Determining which liquid predominates in the dishes is a rather more complicated problem.
It is generally thought that anything that has been circulated by real blood can be associated with the blood of Galen. Even if the food contains no blood. It is therefore good to drink white wine with all meat, game, sausages or offal. Although many gourmets are convinced otherwise. The exceptions are aquatic animals, such as freshwater and marine fish, crabs, crayfish, mussels and other aquatic creatures. These are cold by definition. The situation is quite the opposite for plant foods such as vegetables, fruit, baked goods, various porridges and pulses. These are cold foods, and even then only if we associate their growth with heat (melons for example). We therefore drink red wine with these foods.

About rare and exclusive wines

As we know, wine can take on a wide range of qualities. From almost-tasteless and bitter wines, which are more suitable for cleaning metal objects or pickling vegetables, to rare, exclusive and even rarer wines. We do not need to mention the wines from the first group, as the reader is surely aware of a number of wine bars where they can torture their throats with poor-tasting wine. But of the wines of the second group the reader would certainly like to know more.
As the saying goes, “Different region, different manners”, and this is of course true of the more highly regarded wines. In the whole Italian peninsula there is no more famous and valuable wine than Vin santo. This is a style of wine that is made from the Malvasia or Trebbiano grape. It is a so-called straw wine. The harvested grapes are dried on straw under a well-ventilated roof. The result of this process is a very sweet wine, which a certain parish priest in Tuscany is said to have used to perform miraculous cures on people infected with the plague.
In France, which is considered by many to be the land of winemakers, there is no more famous vineyard than the Pope’s near Avignon. This French city is known to the readers for its canonical machinations with the papacy, but the vineyard here was established under Pope Clement the Fifth, long before the schism to which the Christian community is subjected today. Thus it may be said that any vin du pap, or papal wine, is highly prized. Particularly the Burgundy style wine, which has the longest tradition in the vineyard.
In the nearby Germanic countries, one of the most valuable wines comes from the vineyard at Eberbach Abbey, which can astonish one with its gargantuan size - many say it is the largest vineyard in the world! One might say that large quantities and high quality do not go together, but the opposite is true. The Cistercian monks of Ebberbach are known for their strict adherence to procedures and their wines are among the best that the German lands have to offer.

About flavoured and spiced wines

Some say that a true connoisseur will most enjoy a wine that is virgin, not flavoured or spiced. It should be added that this is what the connoisseurs themselves claim, so that they can proudly exalt themselves above the common people, who are forced to drink watered-down, flavoured or spiced wines. However, this idea stems from the ingrained habit of using flavours and spices to mask the taste of wine that is spoiled, vinegary or otherwise bad-tasting. The truth is, however, that if adulterants are added to a good wine, the resulting drink will be enjoyed even by a wine connoisseur with a tongue accustomed to refined flavours.
Such a spiced wine is called hippocras after the Greek physician Hippocrates because he is credited with the invention of the sieve by which coarse impurities can be removed from liquids. This is a necessary process in the case of hippocras, since many hard, spicy fruits are broken down into small impurities by maceration in wine.
As I have written before, each region has its own manners and the same is true of the ingredients that are put into hippocras. In Bohemia, the most common are various aromatic spices, like cinnamon, ginger, cloves and of course honey to add sweetness. Spices that are pungent such as pepper or bitter such as cumin or aniseed are never added. In Bohemia, hippocras is called hippocras only for spiced white wine drinks while the same drink made from red wine is called claret, which may confuse foreigners because claret is also a wine style from the Bordeaux region.