A Matter of Taste

Writers: Suzee, Eimi
Date Posted: 11th February 2011

Characters: Benani, Fayazel
Description: Fayazel takes Benani on a tour through the fruits of the Hall's labor
Location: Vintner Hall
Date: month 13, day 10 of Turn 5

Benani

Benani hummed as she bundled up. She'd arranged a visit to the
Vintner's Hall to make some special plans for Turn Over and she was
eager to get a start. She signaled to her escort that she was ready
to go and began the walk to the dock. A little trip up the river and
soon she was entering the hall.

The Hallsecond had been warned of her visit, and so was standing in the
entrance waiting for the party to arrive. "Lady Benani," he greeted
with a deep bow. "We are honored you took the trouble of coming
yourself to visit us today."

She smiled having enjoyed her bit of exercise. Benani had always
enjoyed the out doors and felt cooped up in the winter when her
excursions were fewer and farther between. Her color was heightened
and her eyes bright from the cold winter air.

"Thank you for the kind welcome Master Fayazel."

"My pleasure," he assured her. "How can I serve you today?"

"Well," she said "I have a Turn Over celebration to plan for the Hold
and several occasions along the way will require wines." She was sure
he understood. "I would like some guidance and possibly to taste some
of your recommendations."

"Already arranged, m'lady. I could not let you come all this way
without sampling our best." He had spent the morning carefully choosing
which bottles from their cellar he would pull out for her. Fayazel knew
a Lady Holder would bring a lot of business their way. Business they
certainly could use!

She inclined her head and moved toward the tasting room, remembering
the first time she'd accompanied her father on one of these. He hadn't
let her taste anything of course but it had begun her fascination with
good wines.

Fayazel lead the Lady Holder into a room with a long table, covered in a
white table cloth. It was set close to a large window to allow in
plenty of natural light. There were several green bottles lined up,
though one could easily tell by the light shining through them that
there were both red and white vintages being offered. Fayazel had
purposefully omitted the bucket usually at the end of the table for this
sampling, feeling she might think it unlady-like to spit everything out
into it.

"Now, where to begin? I have a dry, medium, and sweet in both colors.
Do you have a preference?" He wondered how much she actually knew about
wines.

"Personally," she said "I love a full bodied red. But lets start with
the whites. We'll want something light and sweet for dessert."

"As you like," he smiled, liking that she was taking this seriously
rather than just charging right in. "This one," he said pulling out the
cork screw to carefully open it, "is one of the vintages that we've
brought in from one of your own vintners, Master Chezet. As you know,
we're still rebuilding our vineyards from after the earthquake, so we
have been incorporating many of your Holders fine creations into our
line. The grapes are grown on a slope over looking the canyon. Quite a
picturesque spot, I must say."

Benani smiled at the Hall Second pleased that he wasn't just patting
her on the head and thrusting his own choices at her. He was giving
her a real idea about the wines before she tasted them. Truly she
wasn't extremely experienced but she knew what she liked. Picking up
the the glass she held the pale golden wine up then swirled it in the
glass before taking a delicate snif. "mmm" she mused "smells crisp."

He smiled. She seemed to know something of wine at least. "It does.
It has a higher acidity. It would go well if you were serving fish or
avian."

She took a small taste feeling it on her tongue then pulling in a
little air like she'd seen her father do. Her eyes popped open, the
flavor burst on her tongue. She smiled. "Oh that's nice." she said
after she swallowed.

"It is rather," Fayazel nodded, partial to that one himself. He set a
glass of water down in front of her and took up the next bottle. "This
is a medium white from the first fruits of our new Hall. It's neither
too sweet, nor too dry." It lacked varied taste in the Hallseconds very
prejudiced opinion, but others seemed to like it well enough and it was
the most popular medium white they had on hand.

She took a sip of the water to clear the flavor of the first wine from
her mouth and then picked up the next glass. She closed her eyes to
help concentrate this time when she tasted. "Hmmm" she said softly.
"It's nice, but I don't like it as well as the first one."

"Neither do I," he confessed. "So I won't try to sell it any more.
Let's move on to the next, shall we? Do you like sweet wines?"

"Not as much as I used to." she smiled. "They're good depending on
what you're eating. At least thats the way I feel." she said realizing
she probably shouldn't yuck someone else's wow.

"It's very true. The food you serve really should determine the wine
and not the other way around. Wine should be the compliment, not the
focus, unless you are drinking it purely for pleasure." He poured some
white-gold liquid into a glass. "This one, for instance, should be
served with fish or food from the sea. It's not a dessert wine, but it
has a very pleasant and subtle sweetness to it."

She took his instruction to heart and nodded. The Hallsecond was both
knowledgeable and kind. She certainly appreciated his input. Taking a
sip of the new glass she nodded and smiled. "Oh yes. I agree, that is
very good."

"It's probably my favorite of the sweet white wines we have." He poured
a little into a second glass and swirled it around, breathing in the
aroma. "There's something that almost reminds me of redfruit in the
smell."

She sniffed her glass trying to identify the smell he'd mention but it
escaped her. "Your nose is better than mine," she smiled.

"It's all the training," he said with a sympathetic smile. "Shall we
move on to the reds?"

"Absolutely" she said and preceded him down the table toward the next
section with it's selection of red wines.

"This wine would go brilliantly with a herdbeast roast," he said as he
uncorked the bottle. "It's another of your local vintages, though
closer to the boarder with Amythest Cliff."

She nodded then repeated the procedure for tasting again. This time
she closed her eyes and savored the rich velvety flavor with a hint of
berries and spices. "Oh I _really_ like this one!" She smiled quite
tempted to fill her mouth again. She almost didn't want to move on to
the others but carefully set the glass down. "I would like a few
bottles of this sent to the hall for Zathris' and my private
consumption," she added.

"That can easily be arranged," Fayazel assured her with a smile. She
had good taste! That particular red was one of his favorites, too.
Opening the medium, he waited for her have a bit of water before pouring
the next. "This one was rescued from the Amethyst Cliff Hall after the
earthquake. It will be some time before we are able to make this kind
again, but we were able to rescue a fairly large store. And thank the
Egg we did! It would have been a shame to lose."

"Oh yes," she said after tasting it. He was absolutely right. But then
she also realized that she was beginning to feel the effects of the
tasting. She put the glass down. "I'd like a bottle of that too for a
special occasion but I don't want to dig too deeply into your supply.
It really would have been a shame to lose."

"Every vintage must at some point be exhausted, m'lady," Fayazel pointed
out with sad smile. "However, you needn't fear, there are plenty of
bottles available for your party. I wouldn't show you a wine I couldn't
promise to produce. Shall we try the final red?"

"Alright then, we'll order enough for the high table and the Masters
table at the final feast." She smiled "You are coming Master Fayazel?"

"But of course!" the Hallsecond grinned. "Since the Vintner Hall lost
our most excellent cook with the previous Hallsecond, the Hold's the
place to be for Turns End delicacies."

She grinned hoping their efforts this year would reflect well on Amber
Hills and her husband. "Very good to hear. Now tell me about this last
one."

"Ah, this one was actually made with the grapes we were able to harvest
from our new vineyard. It is young and sweet. Our woodsmiths made
special barrels to age this in." He poured a bit into a fresh glass,
with a rather pleased smile at the rich red color. "The wine has soaked
up a bit of the taste of the oak, you might notice."

She lifted the deep red liquid to the light and admired the color. The
smell was rich and full and when she tasted it she couldn't help
herself. "You have such wonderful taste Master Fayazel." she said.

He resisted the urge to say 'But of course, it's my job', and opted
instead for a simple and humble "Thank you." It did always make him
feel good to hear, after all. "As do you, I must say. You seem to
appreciate the finner wines. If you weren't a Lady Holder," and a man,
"I would snap you up as my apprentice this instant."

Benani giggled and immediately slapped her hand over her mouth. Ladies
were not supposed to giggle in public. Her eyes got big and she
realized she was a bit more tipsy than she thought. "Please forgive
me Master Fayazel, that was a great compliment and I think you." She
smiled. She pointed to the bottles she wanted and said "I'll take this
for the main feast, that for the high table, and that one for the
dessert. I will have Wirnan follow up with you for the exact amounts."

"Very good, m'lady," Fayazel said with a deep bow and a grin. "And now,
may I ask, are you at all interested in seeing our tavern?"

She smiled prettily at him and held out her hand "As much as I might
enjoy that, I do not believe my husband would approve. Perhaps another
time when he can join us."

Last updated on the April 27th 2011

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A Matter of Taste