Pruning reigns supreme when it comes to mental therapy. All of life’s worries and complications are cleansed by a couple of rows of stress free repetition. Though not quite in the same league, topping barrels gives similar therapy. After a couple of barrels, the repetitive nature gets you unwound, and thinking of important things. Like the good old days at university. And sheep.
Strange as it may sound, it’s true. Topping barrels today somehow got me thinking of a story the great raconteur Clive Torr told of his days as a student, and it went something like this:
It all started with the annual rugby match between Elsenburg College and one of the big university koshuise in Stellenbosch. As it was always a tight affair, the men of Elsenburg decided to take the college’s stud ram along as a mascot. They popped him onto the back seat of an old Merc and drove him off to the match. The extra support must have helped, as Elsenburg recorded a historic victory, and everybody headed into town to celebrate – along with the ram of course. They couldn’t have left him in the car!
After a few rounds at the local, hunger set in, and it was decided that a braai on the banks of the Eerste River was in order. So, the ram was popped back into the Mercedes and up to a picnic site where he roamed about freely – munching fresh grass, being fed beer and stumbling in the way of a touch rugby match. When the braai eventually wound to an end, he was taken home by his new, and rather intoxicated friends.
On Monday, the winemaking students got into a bit of trouble, but my thoughts keep returning to the ram, and the discussion he had with his mates that morning. It must have gone something like “Hey, we were worried, where were you all weekend?” To which the ram might have replied, “My friends, I had a brilliant weekend! Clive and his friends picked me up and took me to the rugby. It was great. We won, and afterwards we went out to celebrate in the Dros. Everyone was buying me drinks, I didn’t have to pay for a single one. Then we went for a braai and some touch rugby next to the river. It was all super fun, but the best was when we got home, they put me in with all the ewes, and Oom Schalk only noticed this morning!”
Tags: Chris Mullineux, Mullineux Family Wines, Swartland, Wine