Tag: divinum

Another Divinum is in the books. 5 days of 15K steps. Hundreds of crates of glasses schlepped. I still love it. It’s my 8th (?) year volunteering, and by this point, I know most of the regular winemakers by face, and a few by name. They seem to remember me as well, as the thumbs-up gesture remains a constant to say “we’re all good for glasses”.

I would like to think I do a good job. I’ve seen people just take off their volunteer t-shirts, park their carts somewhere, and spend most of their time drinking at stands. I’ve heard stand owners complain about the lack of glasses, but they never seem to do that while I’m around – mostly because I make it a point to individually ask them if they’re ok, and not just walk around pushing a cart and hoping to be called when needed. I’ve been told by other volunteers “oh, I’ve been down that aisle, nobody wanted glasses” and yet still managed to swap a full cart of clean glasses for dirty ones before reaching halfway down a “done” aisle.

On Monday night, during the manic glass collection rush, I was maneuvering two carts – 12 crates – while the only other person helping me was managing 4 crates in one go (and to be clear, I once managed 9 crates on one cart). It may seem like I’m bragging, and maybe I am a bit, but I’m also very efficient and diligent about doing a good job – and I think the winemakers appreciate and recognize that. Case and point – this year, the usual big personality guy who would nab bottles for the dishwashing crew wasn’t there and no one else was stepping up. So I did -and I managed to score half a dozen bottles, if not more. You’re welcome for your Rose, you lovely mad Ukranian lady :)

We always make a point, Katy and I, to visit and support our favourites – most of whom are always telling me to stop and have a glass of something while I’m walking with a stack of glasses. There were a few new and interesting things this year, and I can’t wait until next year now.

This marks my 6th year as a volunteer for Divinum – every year since 2018, except when it got cancelled for Covid. Still having a blast. I know a lot of the producers by sight, some by name, and I can still schlep 8 crates of glasses in one go.

This year, Jem came as well on Saturday night, and she described it as a 10/10 evening :)

Snippets:
– The Vino Argentino stand completely changed their offering from last year, and I didn’t think it stacked up as well
– Discovered that SRV Vins in Crissier imports the wines from Farina, which we visited in Valpolicella last spring.
– Met a nice Ozzie man, who wooed Katy and Jem with wines. Met a nice sommelier lady who might be a good candidate to organize wine tastings for the work wine club
– Tried some Margaux and Saint-Estèphe wines, which would cost you a kidney to buy and wouldn’t be really good to drink before another 5-10 years.
– (Re)discovered some local Swiss producers (Brantard, Ours) which make nice things.

Another Divinum completed. I volunteered 4 nights out of 6 this year, and it was still just as fun as in previous years. I’m starting to recognize many of the wine producers by face, and that’s a nice touch. Most are a really good bunch who appreciate what we’re there to do, and are always up for some wine-related banter. There are a few grumps, but it’s not too bad.

As always, the classics from Enoteca Capponi did not disappoint. The usual suspects: Gillard, Varone, Bonvin, Tulipe, Ours, Crans. We discovered some very nice Pinot Noir from Salquenen, which is going to be nice, light summer wine. I don’t usually care for Pinot, but these were a surprise. Found a new quaffing wine too.

And as always, there are advantages to being a volunteer on the last shift of closing night…

We ordered some wine from Enoteca Capponi, one of our favourite Divinum exhibitors. When they came to deliver our order, we had the added lovely surprise of having won a magnum from their daily raffle, and they gave us a limoncello Colomba di Pasqua!. This, on top of two cases of very nice wine, will fill our bellies and raise our spirits for a while.

We had our attack plan for Divinum. We did most of the stands we wanted to try. In some cases, the reception was poor and we didn’t linger. In others, the wines weren’t as nice as we remembered them. But, in the end, we discovered and re-discovered some of our favourites. We ordered more this year than in previous years, but we still played it fairly safe. Dieci Cavalli and a really nice Valpolicella Ripasso from Enoteca Capponi, the S’escusu Salice Salentino Riserva (and a few jars of tuna-stuffed red peppers) from Elvira Caligara-Monsellato, and the Cornalin and Humagne Rouge from Varone – which every year until now, we really liked, didn’t buy, and sorta regretted it afterwards. Maye was there as well, but they didn’t have their full stock at hand to taste, so we’ll have to drive out there when the Valais has its open cave day.

Ben got a bit tired and grumpy when the food ran out partly through the afternoon, so we sent him home and finished what we wanted to taste. Katy, bless, discovered what happens when her Grogan instincts on not throwing away any sort of alcohol came into conflict with reworked internal plumbing and much less body weight to counteract the effect. In other words, she got right wasted, Lesta-style! I haven’t seen her that drunk in a loooong time. Sadly, or happily, I’m still debating it, I was only sipping and then throwing out most of my wine, so I was mostly still sober and was able to drag/prop her up on the way home.

Edit: I wanted to leave this here as a reminder for the next Caves Ouvertes:

Domaine du Beau-Soleil, in Mont-sur-Rolled.