Wine Tasting Festival of Averheim

The rich fields of Averland have produced abundant harvests of fine grapes for untold generations. Indeed, winemaking has been a part of the Empire’s culture since its very foundation. One of the reasons why the many tribes of Men wished to abandon their nomadic lifestyles was to grow harvests in relatively stable conditions, and grapes have always been a popular crop in the southern reaches of the land that is now the Empire. For many centuries, wine was exclusively a luxury of the noble born, as it took a great deal of manual effort to produce a worthwhile drink. When Sigmar crushed the Greenskin hordes at the battle of Black Fire Pass it wasn’t ale that he drank at the victory celebration, it was wine. Averland legend holds Siggurd, their province’s legendary founder, shared his favourite personal vintage with Sigmar on that day, and the nobles of Averland have always been keen on the subject.

Professional winemaking in the Empire, until the Great War Against Chaos, was almost exclusively the province of clergy who produced vintages at their various southern monasteries. While many small villages produced wine, the majority only made enough for local consumption. The Moot, of course, has always been a source of a large variety of hearty wines suitable for a number of different occasions, as the Halflings were some of the first to produce a type of sweet dessert wine called Sherry, though many Estalians claim they took the idea from them.

In the aftermath of the Great War, after Magnus the Pious had taken the throne, Grand Theogonist Ansgar, whose name is still blessed and praised by wine aficionados to this day, came to power. At the time, the common folk of the Empire mostly drank beer and ale, as good wine was relatively expensive and hard to come by. Ansgar thought it was a mortal sin that more of Sigmar’s people couldn’t drink the libation that he had favoured in life. The Grand Theogonist turned to the Engineer’s Guild for help in creating simple wine presses that could evenly crush grapes, as he disdained traditional foot stomping methods for being unclean. He declared it was a sin to store wine in an animal’s skin, demanding wooden casks or glass bottles be used instead, as they didn’t influence the flavour. Ansgar’s modifications made winemaking a more precise and unified practice, thus resulting in more consistent vintages.

As the methods used to produce wine continued to increase its quality, a number of other factors aided in bringing wine tasting into fashion. Suggestions from the Dwarfs yielded improvements in glassmaking, which produced stronger bottles that were more suitable for both storage and transport. Cork was found to be the perfect bottle stopper, and shipments from Estalia soon regularly made their way to Averland’s vineyards. The Elector Counts of Averland made a point of celebrating their province’s heritage every year by holding a lavish festival to celebrate each year’s vintage. While wine remains relatively expensive in the Empire, it is still a staple within everyone’s reach but the most destitute. This is especially true at the Wine Tasting Festival, as Averland’s wine vendors were, traditionally, reimbursed by the ruling Count to lower the price. Since hosting the Festival is seen as a sign of legitimacy for ruling Averland, the various noble family claimants to the throne have all donated to the Vintner’s Guild and made certain that everyone knows about their contributions.

The Wine Tasting Festival has now been going on annually for well over a century. Many merchants in the Old World make a point of being in Averheim sometime between the second and fifth day of Harvest-Tide, the traditional days of the festival. It is a lavish but surprisingly subdued celebration, as outright drunkenness is heavily frowned upon. After all, celebrants at the Festival are supposed to be tasting and comparing various vintages, whereas drunkards pretty much don’t care what is in their tankards. It is also one of those rare times when nobles directly rub elbows with commoners specifically to converse with them and wax philosophical over the merits and flaws of different wines.

Indeed, in Averheim, even the lowliest peasant will have an opinion on the year’s newest vintages. This can be somewhat disconcerting for outsiders, as even though the festivalgoers are nominally speaking Reikspiel, newcomers may not have the faintest idea what they’re saying.

A panel of experts, which traditionally includes the Elector Count, the Master of Ceremonies, and Averland’s Lector, judges each year’s offerings. This year, however, political tension has caused a change. The noble families decided they needed an absolutely impartial individual to take the Count’s traditional role. After some drawn-out wrangling, they settled on Brew Master Cranneg Norgrimson, a deeply respected and locally beloved Dwarf vintner renowned for both his honesty and his strange un-Dwarfish preference for wine over ale and beer. Most years, Norgrimson would have a vintage of his own entered at the Festival, but he has but recently returned from fighting in the north. The judges wander throughout the Festival sampling various wines and comparing notes with one another between the second and fourth day, declaring the winning vintages on the evening of the fourth so that the winning vintners can bask in the glory all day on the fifth. The three prizes given each year are Best White, Best Red, and Best at Festival.

The Festival centres in the Plenzerplatz and stretches throughout Averheim. Wine stalls line the streets, radiating outward in a large spiral. A number of vendors sell various sorts of food, though whatever they primarily sell, almost all of them also sell some sort of pie. The traditional hawking of wares that goes on at most Empire festivals is especially toned down. The City Watch encourages such stalls to be moved to the very outskirts of the Wine Tasting Festival or, better yet, over to the fields of the tent city.

Source

 * : Warhammer Fantasy RPG 2nd ED -- Realms of Sorcery
 * : pg. 231
 * : pg. 232
 * : pg. 233

[[Category:W]] [[Category:T]] [[Category:F]] [[Category:A]]