A County treasure-trove

There is one remaining weekend to visit County wineries participating in Wassail festivities— to enjoy their newly released wines and to select wine for the upcoming holidays. With the vines laid down to rest and hilled-up to protect against the winter chill, it is entirely fitting that the County wine producers celebrate the end of the season with Wassail.

The tradition began in England back in the sixth century as a festival to drive away malignant spirits and to ensure a good apple harvest. It was an Anglo- Saxon custom to drink from the wassail cup and wish your guest “Waes Hael”(good health), with a response of “Drinc Hael”. The wassail cup contained cider and, depending on location (especially Dorset, Cornwall and Devon in the southwest), could contain mulled ale, cream, crab apples and spices, sometimes sweetened with honey. When crab apples were added into the mulled ale, they would burst open, creating a drink known as “lamb’s wool”. (This beverage was also fashionable on Lammas Day, an Anglo–Saxon holiday to celebrate the wheat harvest in the late summer.)

But it was over the twelve days of Christmas that wassailing became popular. It be-came customary to visit neighbours (just as children do on Halloween), looking for treats by regaling with song. “Mummers” might also dress in costume as they sang and danced from house to house—their leader usually assuming the mantle and costume of Father Christmas. (This tradition was most likely brought to England by the Romans, who would dress up to greet the shortest day on the year.) Mumming and wassailing came to North America with the colonists, and is still celebrated in Williamsburg, Virginia.

We still have a delightful seasonal carol and some tricky little poems that originate from wassailing:

Christmas is coming and the Goose is getting fat.

Please put a penny in the old man’s hat.

You may know the words to the rest of this rhyme and, if so, remember the Wassail!

THIS WEEK’S PICK
The overwhelming selection of County wines makes it difficult to select just one perfect wine to accompany a multi-course meal. You could begin with a sparkling wine from many fine producers and move on to County-grown chardonnays that are incredibly food friendly. Our range of pinot noir, cabernet franc and merlot will handsomely accommodate your taste for reds. A local dessert wine or cider is a perfect pair for your sweet tooth. And locally crafted port-style wines are the perfect match to our local cheese.

All these treats are available in Prince Edward County. No wonder we are such a draw for foodies and oenophiles. Don’t miss the last weekend of Wassail, and the chance to open up the treasure that is the County.