Dorothy Gale, Scarlett O'Hara, Practical Pig & Persephone

What do Dorothy Gale, Scarlett O'Hara, Practical Pig and the Greek Goddess Persephone have in common? And beyond what they have in common, what does it have to do with anything? Well, let's break it down. Dorothy Gale was portrayed onscreen by Judy Garland in The Wizard of Oz and Vivien Leigh played Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With the Wind. Oh ok, this is pretty easy then; two beautiful screen sirens from the Golden Age of Hollywood. Let's proceed. Who's next? Ah yes, Practical Pig... Practical Pig? Ummm. Don't think we can put Disney's animated pig in the same legendary beauty category as Judy Garland and Vivien Leigh. Ok so what do these three all have in common? Got it! The 1930's! Practical Pig was in Disney's Silly Symphony animated short The Three Little Pigs, a cartoon which came out in 1933. And both The Wizard of Oz and Gone With the Wind were both released in 1939. Ok good, we're back on track. Who was the last one? Persephone. The Greek Goddess. Daughter of Zeus and Demeter. Wife of Hades. Hmm. Sure, Persephone fits right in with Judy Garland and Vivien Leigh, but the goddess is from ancient Greek mythology not the modern 1930's. Back to square one.

Let's go back and focus on the second question rather than the first. So putting aside what any of these four have in common, let's see if we can figure if there's a correlation with what they have to do with anything, wine and a wine tasting specifically. Let's see if we can break it down. Ok, there was no wine drinking in The Wizard of Oz, but what did it have? Kansas, a Twister, a Wicked Witch, a road made of Yellow Bricks, Ruby Slippers. Not seeing much here. Let's put Dorothy aside a sec. Scarlett O'Hara. Wait a minute. That just might be it! Scarlett O'Hara. Ruby Slippers, Scarlett! Ruby and Scarlet are both shades of Red! Does that also fit with the last two characters? Practical Pig; which one was he? Did he build the straw house? No. The house made of sticks? Nope. Practical Pig built his house of brick, which not only kept out the Big Bad Wolf but is also another shade of Red. Finally we're getting somewhere! Ok lastly, Persephone. Is the goddess associated with any shade of the color red? She sure is! Garnet! After her abduction by Hades to the Underworld, Zeus commanded that his daughter be released. Hades had no choice but obey, but the sly god gave Persephone pomegranate seeds knowing that she loved the sweet fruit. And once eaten, she would return to him for more seeds. Which she did. Garnet gems, even in the form of mythological pomegranate seeds, symbolize estranged love and a lover's quick return.

We did it! We solved this odd Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon riddle!

Ruby. Scarlet. Brick. Garnet.

A spectrum of the color red.

Is that to say we'll be tasting Red wine this week?

It sure is! And our apologies for all the silly runaround and brain teasers. We just thought it a fun way to say that not only are we tasting red wines this week, but each of the four choices we'll be enjoying will be associated with one of those colors.The reason we're going all Red, even though we've been preaching White Wine and Rosé all throughout Charleston's hot summer, is that August 28th in National Red Wine Day! In honor of that, we're giving homage to four different red varietals, each a different shade of red and each from a different place on the globe.

Ruby. Pinot Noir from Willamette Valley, Oregon.

Scarlet. Chianti Classico from Tuscany, Italy.

Brick. Cabernet Sauvignon from Robertson Valley, South Africa.

Garnet. Malbec from Mendoza, Argentina.

This is going to be a fantastic journey. See you there!

Salud,

The Wine Shop Team