Chapter 53: The Wines of McKinway
"What is this?" The giant condensed by frost poked his head and looked curiously at the bottle in Catherine's hand, "Is this wine?"
"That's right. Catherine couldn't help but smile and nodded: "Very good wine, specially brought from human society." â
"Don't lie to me. Blue Hand touched his bare head, with a cautious expression on his face: "Isn't the wine all in that round barrel, and this one in your hand is not a barrel, is it really wine?"
"Wine, of course, and very good wine. Catherine patiently explained: "Ordinary wines are indeed served in wooden barrels when brewing, but when they are ready to be cellared after brewing, they must not be kept in barrels for a long time, they must be placed separately in these crystal bottles. Because the barrel is much more breathable than the crystal bottle, and the cellar needs a close to closed environment to prevent the aroma of the wine from escaping, so no one will use the barrel for a long time to keep good wine. â
"I didn't understand a word. Blue Hand expressed his opinion very directly, but he believed Catherine's statement a little, and muttered and complained: "Such a small bottle, I can drink it in one or two sips, it's too little." â
Pannis also saw the bottle that Catherine had taken out, and her eyes immediately changed. The crystal bottle in Catherine's hand was dark brown, and the dim light could not penetrate it, the bottle looked quite plain, without any decoration or pattern on it, and the brown bottle was stuffed with a cork, no matter how the bottle shook, no wine would spill out. Just such a bottle, normally thrown on the side of the road, no one will pay attention to it, compared to the beautifully packaged and chic bottles in the tavern, Catherine's hand can be said to be miserable, but Pannis can see at a glance the secret hidden in this bottle.
One of the few top wine regions on the continent of Yara, such as Calis and McGinway, is home to some of the most ancient wineries with a history of more than 1,000 years. These wineries do not produce a large number of wines each year, and this low production also means that they can send a limited number of wines to the market each year, which are often sold out as soon as they are marketed. But these people often don't know that the best batches of wine made by these wineries every year with the best raw materials and the best workers will not be sold on the market at all, but will only be supplied to specific old customers.
The finest wines are often served in coarse crystal bottles with no decoration. The reason is very simple, no matter how good the bottle is, it can't match the bright red wine inside, and the other wines are served in gorgeous bottles, because the wine itself also needs bottles to enhance its value, and the wine that Catherine took out belongs to the kind that does not need to be upgraded by appearance at all, they are just stored in zĂ i, which is enough to explain the problem.
"McGinway's?" said Pennis took the bottle from Catherine's hand before the blue hand. Carefully stroking the surface of the bottle, he smacked his tongue and said: "And it is actually the best batch, this bottle alone costs at least 50,000 gold coins, and you are willing to take it out." And why do you carry it with you, shouldn't it be worshipped as a family heirloom?"
"I really want to hit you. Catherine gave Pennis a blank look and explained, "This is a family heirloom left by my grandfather when he was still alive." I'll take it out this time. I was thinking that it would be used to celebrate Vivien in a few days, which was the most important thing, so I took it with me. Hey. But it's better to use it here, maybe you won't have to use it here, and you won't even have a chance to celebrate, right, Vivien. â
Vivien didn't speak, just squeezed Catherine's hand hard, keeping the words of thanks in her heart. For Catherine to take the initiative to take out such a valuable relic to celebrate, and not to show any heartache, it is enough to represent the important journey of this celebration in her heart. Sensing the power of her hand, Catherine turned to Vivien and smiled, patting her hand for comfort.
"Is it really such a good wine?" Blue Hand also heard Pannis's evaluation of this bottle of wine, his heart was full of anticipation, he stretched out his hand to him, and said excitedly: "Give it to me, give it to me, I want to taste it." You and the brunette had been tempting me with this thing called wine, and had kept me waiting so long, that we could finally know what it tasted like. â
"Hey, Blue Hand. Pannis's eyes rolled, his expression looked like a bad guy preparing to kidnap a child, his face was full of smirks, he rubbed his hands with the wine bottle and said: "Dear foreign friends, let's discuss whether it is good or not, this is a very important matter, you must think carefully before answering." â
"You've got enough. Catherine snatched the bottle from under Pannis's armpit, handed it to the Frost Giant, rolled her eyes and said, "Don't think I don't know what you want to do, it's your fault in the first place, and it's too bad to be reluctant to give the wine to others, and want to use other ways to fool the past." â
In fact, Catherine knew in her heart that Pannis's efforts were also to take care of her mood, but being able to get the help of ice crystals would have a great impact on her actions in the future, and it was worth paying the price of this bottle of wine now. And the most important thing is that she vaguely guessed the identity of the black-haired dwarf in the mouth of the blue hand in her heart, since it is her unfulfilled wish, then make up for it herself, Catherine feels that when she does this, she seems to be infinitely close to the figure that is only in her imagination, and seems to see the sight in the dream that spans endless time and space.
"You wait. Seeing that the giant was about to reach for the bottle with a smile on his face, Pannis shouted to stop him: "You shrink it for me, or you will not be allowed to drink it, this size is too exaggerated now, it is a waste of this bottle." â
"It's annoying to shrink again. Blue Hand found that his wish was about to be fulfilled, but he stopped crying, tilted his head and thought about it, and suddenly grabbed his thigh and broke it hard. After a crisp sound, the thick leg that was nearly two meters long was directly broken off by himself, he held one leg and looked at it, and stood it in front of him. The moment Blue Hand's big hand parted from his legs, his huge body froze, and after a strange friction sound came from inside, he suddenly collapsed on the ice field, motionless as if dead. But his broken thigh moved, jumping up and down on the ground. Jumping and jumping, it suddenly exploded into a cloud of ice mist, and when it appeared in front of everyone's eyes, it turned into an iceman more than two meters tall.
"That's all right. Blue Hand moved his limbs and muttered impatiently: "It's really troublesome, I have to shrink several times to drink a little wine, do you want to hold another ceremony to commemorate it." â
"Okay, okay, that's fine, you wait a minute. Catherine smiled and nodded, looked at the bottle in her hand, and sighed to herself. He handed the bottle to Vivien. Vivien was stunned, took the bottle of wine handed by Catherine, held it in her hand for a while, and then returned it to her, and it was obvious that when Vivien handed it back, the wine in the bottle began to turn into liquid again, and was no longer just a piece of hard ice like before. Catherine used the corkscrew to pull out the cork on the mouth of the bottle, and when the cork was pulled out, a faint aroma of wine wafted from the mouth of the bottle. In an instant, it floated into everyone's nose.
As soon as she smelled this aroma, Catherine felt a burst of intoxication, light and mellow were originally two contradictory words, but the two contradictory words were magically united in this aroma of wine. The light but mellow aroma of the wine is almost imperceptible to the fruity aroma, which is the smell of the highest grade wine. For a moment, Catherine even felt the urge to repent. Giving such wine to others to enjoy is a kind of torture for her who loves wine.
"It's so tempting. Beside Catherine, Pannis inhaled forcefully with his eyes half-closed. In a voice that almost groaned, he said, "I have only smelled such a charming wine three times in my life." It's so nice to smell this aroma, it's like going back to the town of McKinway deep in the mountains, and seeing the vineyards full of countless fruits. â
"Have you been to Mackinway Village?" Catherine was surprised, and in order to divert her urge to repent, she turned her head and asked, "It is said to be a very closed mountain town, and few outsiders are allowed to enter." â
"Yes, I did. Pannis seemed to think of something again, his expression became a little strange, and he lost his interest in fooling around, sighed softly, his demeanor suddenly became very serious, and took the wine bottle in Catherine's hand: "Blue hand, my friend, this is the wine we brought you." I'm sorry that I couldn't fulfill my promise to you in time for some reasons, but after many years, the promise has finally been fulfilled. I hope you will accept this gift, and I hope you will forgive me for being so many years late, and on behalf of that dark-haired friend, I apologize to you for the mistake of both of us. â
Catherine's sudden change of attitude startled Catherine, but after a moment's thought, she understood what he had in mind for such a change, and she sighed softly and pressed her hand on his shoulder to comfort him. This sudden surge of bitterness cannot be dissuaded, and it can only be encouraged by the wordless support of 'we are standing by you'.
Feeling the power of the female knight coming from her shoulder, Pannis gently patted the hand on her shoulder, turned back with a smile, and took out a glass and poured wine. The wine is red, bright like blood and clear like water, and is slowly poured into the glass along the rim of the glass, slowly rotating in the glass, making the intoxicating aroma even more intense.
"You don't have a sense of smell, so I'm afraid it's hard to smell this aroma. Pannis handed over the cup in his hand and patiently explained: "And drinking this kind of wine, from the choice of the cup to the speed of the entrance, and even the posture of the body have very strict rules and etiquette, all in order to better enjoy this gift of Bacchus to mortals." However, for you, these complicated steps are meaningless, and I will not explain them to you in detail. But you can't drink it directly to the bottle like anything else, and you're sorry for the bottle, so you should drink it from a cup. â
"Okay, okay, I got it. The shrunken giant blue hand, no, the current size can only be said to be an extraordinarily tall ordinary person, he can finally fulfill his wish after looking forward to it for more than a hundred years, he grinned happily for this, his strong body kept writhing, like a child looking forward to a gift, staring at the cup in Pannis's hand with eager eyes, and his mouth kept laughing: "It must be very delicious, after waiting for so long, I can finally drink it." â
"Hope you enjoy it. Pannis's serious smile always felt strange in it, and he handed the cup to the blue hand's extraordinarily blue hands: "Enjoy, this is the gift you deserve." â
"En. Blue Hand nodded excitedly, took the glass in Pannis's hand, and curiously observed the bright red wine from the mouth of the glass, the wine was clear and transparent, and there was no impurity in sight. After looking at it over and over for a long time, Blue Hand finally raised his glass with satisfaction and drank most of the wine in one gulp.
Everyone has curiosity in their hearts, so everyone is curiously observing, this is the first time everyone has seen ice crystals, and it is also the first time they have seen elemental creatures eating like humans, and they are all looking forward to the reaction of this ice crystal in front of them. In the expectant eyes of everyone, after the blue hand poured a large glass of wine, he closed his eyes and tasted it seriously for a while, and suddenly opened his eyes and said dissatisfiedly: "What, this is what you have been bragging to me about? Except for a little pungent spicy, it is no different from chewing ice cubes, what is so delicious about this, I have been looking forward to it for so many years in vain, don't drink it, you can drink it yourself." â
"Huh?" Seeing the disappointed look of the blue hand, Catherine let out a low cry of surprise and said strangely: "No, this wine should taste very good, this is the most expensive wine in the human world." â
"So it's weird to say you humans. Blue Hand wasn't angry, but he was a little disappointed when he found that what he had been looking forward to for many years was not as good as he imagined, so he complained in a low voice: "It's obviously like an ice cube, but I have to say that it's delicious, and I have to describe all kinds of tempting tastes, I don't understand what you think." â
"Then are you still drinking?" Pannis secretly squeezed her eyes at Catherine, "If you don't drink, I'll put it away." â
"Put it away, I don't want to drink anything like this. Blue Hand muffled, "I'm going to eat what you baked." â
"Hey. Catherine leaned into Pannis's ear and asked in the smallest of voices, "Is this what you did in the wine?"
"Nope. Pannis, too, leaned into Catherine's ear and said, "I remembered a few minutes ago that their palate was much more dull than ours, and that they had to be given spirits, which were no different from water to them. (To be continued......)
ps: Last night and today, a lot of friends gave monthly passes, but most of my friends' names were brushed over, and I couldn't see them. For the sake of fairness, I will not name names today, but I would like to thank you for your support here.
(l~1`x*>+``+