Disappointment on Disappointment

The end of last week was to mark my first ever harvest in Kenya. God knows I was on the verge of paralytic excitement counting down the days while thinking of: the scaringly sharp secateurs I was probably going to stab myself with a few times; to the numerous grape-laden lug boxes I was to ferry from one point to another, degenerating my arms to mere strings by the end of the day; and exhausting evenings made bearable by hearty meals accompanied by stupendous amounts of wine or beer (depending on the winemaker’s traditions)…. The fun and sweat that could have been had!…

Alas (who even talks like this any more) nature conspired against me. She sent her ravenous birds that have sparsely any other morsels to consume during this lengthily bitter drought to feast intently on the grapes. This caused the farm to make an impromptu decision to get on with the last batch of harvesting immediately. 🙁

The call informing me I had just missed the harvest was devastating for a whole two minutes, following which I focused on the impending weekend trip to Kericho. Among the myriad of necessities I had carried with, was a bottle of Dodoma Dry white: grown, made and bottled in Tanzania! To date I had only seen the brand from a far and marveled at its rather chic looking labels that had thankfully nothing to do with animals or “The African sun” clichés.

Tasting the wine, the wonder faded with a rather disappointing showing. It was vinous (in that it tasted like wine), but was firmly tart and short. I’m all for East Africa and pushing the envelop with wine, attempting to make the best wine we can make given our climate, however I struggled hard to understand the intention of this wine, despite its price tag of KSH 550…