Patrick Comerford
As the temperature in Limerick reached 30 at one stage on Tuesday afternoon [26 June 2018] while I was indoors at a meeting in Henry Street. Later in the evening, two of us sat out in the rectory garden until long after 10.30, while it was still daylight and as a moon that was almost full was rising above the field to the south behind the walled garden. As we shared a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc from Chile, I thought back to my times over the previous two weeks sitting out in the early evening in Crete sharing cool, crisp, palatable white wines.
Many of those white wines in Crete were locally produced, and in some tavernas the wine – red, white and rosé – comes straight from the barrel, often produced by the family that runs the taverna.
I had written earlier during my holiday about one locally-produced wine in Crete which is made from the Malvazia grape and became known as Malmsey. This wine passed into folklore because Shakespeare says that the Dublin-born Prince George, Duke of Clarence, was drowned in a vat of Malmsey in 1460.
So, it was interesting last week, as the evening was beginning to cool down in Georgioupoli, to be offered a bottle of Malmsey or Malvasia from the nearby Dourakis winery.
The name Malvasia may come from Monemvasia, a Byzantine fortress on the coast of Laconia that was known in Italian as Malvasia. But in Crete, wine historians insist the name is derived from the district of Malevizi (Μαλεβίζι), west of Iraklion. The area includes Fodele, said to be the birthplace of El Greco, Palaiokastro and Gazi.
The bottle of Malvasia I enjoyed in Georgioupoli last week was part of the Kudos range of wines produced in Dourakis range of wines.
The name was chosen because of line by the classical playwright Aristophanes:
κῦδος δὲ […] ἡ δόξα͵ ἐξ οὗ καὶ κύδιστος ὁ ἐνδοξότατος.
The label claimed the word κῦδος (keedos) passed from the works of Aristophanes into the English language in the 19th century, meaning high acclaim or praise for exceptional achievement.
It also described Malvazia as ‘a Cretan variety of grape which spread across Mediterranean vineyards eight centuries ago and has been enhanced in recent years in Greece under ideal climatic conditions.’
The label added: ‘It is a golden yellow wine with rich aromas of citrus fruits and dried nuts. In the mouth, its high acidity balances perfectly with its rich body. The aromatic complexity continues with a long aftertaste.’
I passed by the Dourakis winery one day, and regretted later not calling in. It is close to the village of Vrysses, off the main road between Rethymnon and Chania.
The Dourakis family says its ethos and proud tradition is characterised by knowledge, skills and extensive experience in winemaking. The family winery prides itself in creating products of high quality using scientific care and respect of traditional methods.
In the last 28 years, the winery has developed quality wines using traditional Cretan grape varieties, as well as international grape varieties, and that that are distributed across Crete. Many of these are organic wines monitored by ΔΗΩ.
Aristophanes (Ἀριστοφάνης) (ca 446 to ca 386 BC) was a comic playwright in Athens. Eleven of his 40 plays survive virtually complete. He is also known as ‘the Father of Comedy’ and ‘the Prince of Ancient Comedy.’
Aristophanes has been said to recreate the life of ancient Athens more convincingly than any other author. His powers of ridicule were feared and acknowledged by influential contemporaries. Plato singled out his play The Clouds as slander that contributed to the trial and subsequent condemnation to death of Socrates, although other satirical playwrights had also caricatured the philosopher.
His play, The Babylonians, which has since been lost, was denounced by the demagogue Cleon as a slander against the Athenian polis. It is possible that the case was argued in court, but details of the trial are not recorded and Aristophanes caricatured Cleon mercilessly in his subsequent plays, especially The Knights, the first of many plays that he directed himself.
‘In my opinion,’ he says through that play’s Chorus, ‘the author-director of comedies has the hardest job of all’ (κωμῳδοδιδασκαλίαν εἶναι χαλεπώτατον ἔργον ἁπάντων).
Perhaps Aristophanes alone among the classical playwrights would have understood why Shakespeare had poor Clarence drowned in a vat of Malmsey. But I had better use for my bottle on a warm summer’s evening last week.
No comments:
Post a Comment