In Vino Veritas

In wine, Truth.  Latin.  Dead language.  That concludes your lesson for today.  Please make checks payable to "Cash."

Sure, the saying maybe quite old, it may have been applied in interesting ways, and it may have been quoted in the greatest movie ever made (minus the horse scene), but do any of these things speak to the voracity of the claim?  Anecdotal evidence suggests that the saying should be In vino, drunk dial or in vino, indiscriminate (or maybe I just need to pay more attention to the third pillar of the Arch). So, I put it to you....is there truth in wine.  Are we nearer reality when the spirits lift us up and lower our guards?  No, probably not.  It is a saying, perhaps, for a man with a habit to justify (I'll have another...in vino veritas), a product to sell (have another...in vino veritas), or in need of a scapegoat (I told all because I had too many...in vino veritas), but not a lamp unto my feet.  No, I don't like "In vino veritas" much at all....but On vino veritas, now that my have legs.

Have you read the back of a bottle of wine lately?  I need to hire that guy to spruce up my match.com profile.  Mystical vineyards, a supernatural process of purification and redemption, bliss.  An experience that requires no less than seven adjectives to describe and it's all right there on the back of the bottle....a $9 bottle.  Swill merchants, right?  Maybe.  Maybe not.  I understand your skepticism.  We've all been burned by silver-tongued salesmen, but what if the scenery really is sublime, the process mind-boggling, and the taste delightful?  What if the marketer is merely a mouthpiece  whose verbiage the vintner vindicates?  What if...

In the end, none of it matters to the wine.  It is what it is and a person's willingness to try this wine or that will ebb and flow with what that person believes about the winemaker, the marketer and, let's be honest, the aesthetic value of the bottle...is there a larger metaphor here?  I don't know that but I do know that where you've been and what you do along the way will change the way people tell your story...so join me.

1810 Country Inn and Winery - Too obvious.  I normally list to-dos that are pending but this one really fit the theme.  Also, how many of you even knew Thomson had a winery?  See there...you're welcome.  Bed and breakfast, guided tours, fancy dinners...this has your name (and hers) written all over it.  Maybe not this weekend but it belongs on your short list.

Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus - You know, I've never been to the circus... I don't think.  If I have, then that's hardly the positive review they're expecting.  Fortunately, I have a pretty small readership (hi, mom).  All you really need to know is that it's the greatest show on earth and it's at the James Brown Arena this weekend.  Tickets start at 11.

Artist's Market - I dropped the ball last weekend, I'm sorry.  This Festival actually began last weekend with an artist's reception and the market will run through tomorrow.  If local art is your thing then this is probably your best opportunity to see what kind of talent we are hiding here in the CSRA.  Market is open to the public 8a-5p tomorrow at Gertrude Herbert Institute of Art.

Yellow Jessamine Festival - The yellow jessamine (or jasmine) is native to the south and is typically in bloom during the first four months of the year.  If you want to know more you'll have to ask google as my thumb is anything but green (I killed a cactus).  If you don't care about flowers and you just want to have a good time, you're still in the right place.  Art festival, kid's crafts and a food court (is that really a selling point?) are waiting to entertain you this weekend at Boeckh Park in North Augusta.  The Swinging Medallions round out what should be an excellent Saturday.

I know nothing of wine (which is why I was in the $9 section reading bottles) but I know a thing or two about telling a good story.  All good stories, like wine, begin quite unlike they end and somewhere after the beginning and before the end, all the really interesting stuff happens that makes the end so sweet.

-Jake