Two Bunches of Grapes for Wine Lovers

For those who like a glass of wine, becoming a vigneron is a rose-tinted-glasses dream.

I don’t know if that’s what Andrew John Henry Way was thinking when he painted Two Bunches of Grapes, but it’s certainly what I thought of the more I studied his work.

I learned that a chimera is not just a multi-part Greek mythological monster, or an illusory dream, but something that also exists in the world of wine. It’s about grapevine genetic diversity that shows in the leaves and berry colours themselves, and in the chimera wine mix produced when combining different grape varieties.

More of my ekphrastic poetry here. More on the huitain here. For an extensive discussion of the grape varieties try here and here.

Andrew John Henry Way, *Two Bunches of Grapes,* n.d. Image in the public domain: Source

black currant and cedar of cabernet
plum and cherry and chocolate of merlot
apple and fig and oak of chardonnay
strawberry, earthy, herby pinot noir
melon and lemon and pear of pinot gris
tropical and grassy sauvignon blanc
rosy, peachy, raisiny Moscato
chimera honey mixed with chenin blanc

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Two Bunches of Grapes for Wine Lovers – A Poem