WHOA–that is some mother!!! (Vinegar mother fermenting)
Mama and papa love wine. Wine is lovable, I have to say, because even I, a lowly kitty who should NEVER touch wine, am drawn by the lovely aroma of a good glass of vino, and IF I were a kitty who COULD drink wine, I would start my cellar now!
An article mama read me about Robert Parker, guru of wine, with a nose insured for one million dollars (!), describes Mr. Parker as someone you would really like to hang out with, anytime, anywhere, and now that he has retired and sold The Wine Advocate, his wine newsletter hallowed by the wine world for so many years, he might just show up somewhere not too far away from where you are standing (or sitting).
What I like about this amazing man is that, along with being able to discern intricate differences and qualities in any wine he tastes, he can also simply pour himself a glass at home and dispense with analysis—in other words, sip and enjoy.
And that, for me, is the objective in drinking (or smellling) wine. A glass with friends, people telling stories, exhanging views, perhaps eating nice small things that go with wine well, as in a lovely cheese and some crusty bread (I like the cheese part a lot!), is just about the nicest moments one can have with others. Of couse, wine isn’t a necessary part of having a sweet moment with others, but in vino veritas has always worked around here.
And mama has this 175-year-old vinegar “mother” into which all the leftover wine (haha—lots of luck around here, mama says!) goes, and our vinegar has the rich taste of roasted nuts and other good things, sort of like that bottle in Alice in Wonderland that said “Drink Me”—you know the one? Mama’s vinegar mother was a gift from someone in San Francisco years and years ago and it came from HIS grandmother so it’s pretty old now. And with all that good yeast around San Francisco, it had a very good start. Now it develops a very rich flavor here where there are so many yeasts in the air because of our wine region. Mama takes a little shot, diluted, for sore throat, and voilá—no more sore throat. It’s also good for hair and makes it shiny.
But nobody is giving ME a bath rinse with that stuff, no way, no how!
Still, mama and papa sometimes get a little mushy after a sip of wine, but that just means I get rubbed and admired longer…
Hey, I look this way without sipping wine!
How does Mr Parker keep his nose from being damaged by all the horrid fumes of life in general? Could he tell Primo Nip from lesser varieties? If so, he could be handy, because the wretched apes have put the cat nip jar away and I can’t tell where.
Look at your little pink nose Loulou. It’s beautiful. I fear a cellar full of kitty wine might turn it very red and that would be a shame.
The Ape has never heard of a Vinegar Mother, what an astonishing thing it is. I with you on the rinsing with it aspect *shudders*
Luff
Mungo
If you had some of mama’s livery “mother”, which is so, so old and still pumping, you would have wonderful nutty vinegar in about 3 weeks. It’s finding the leftover wine, as mama says….
Wow, that is so different than the mother we’re used to seeing in the apple cider vinegar Jan buys. So wine ferments too? How about that!
Loulou — Your photo looks as if you’ve skipped the wine and gone for the catnip.