It's taken 10 years, but a lunch with old friends seemed a fitting occasion to open a bottle that was given to me for my 50th birthday.
I suggested this to my friends and they agreed to share the experience of an aged bottle of wine in preference to something bought last week. The fact that the new wine was a Naked Wine variety may have put them off. I saw them eyeing off the logo on the box – something about wine was best drunk naked (but tht’s a whole new column).
But I digress. The problem has been that no one until now has wanted to partake in what is my favourite and only occasional tipple. Despite seeing empties on picnic tables in the wee hours at city parks, not too many people I know seem to enjoy Passion Pop, something that is still synonymous with mullet hair dos and book cases made with bricks.
And so the gift of the bottle, given as a joke, has remained cellared for the past decade, my husband seeing it as a blight in a wine fridge filled with interesting little varieties from local wineries.
He tells me that there are certain wines best drunk immediately, or even better, not drunk at all. But I was positive that the improvement in the wine would not only be reflected in the fact that it had gone up in price by 29 cents, but had also gained flavour and potency.
It took about half an hour to prize off the plastic stopper, something that I saw as a good sign. Clearly this was well sealed and therefore had stood the ravages of time.
On releasing the stopper (pliers were applied) there was no satisfying pop, but ever the optimist, I poured anyway. It seemed the two-pronged name was fraudulent on both counts.
It has been a good 20 years since I had last enjoyed my last sip or two of Passion Pop but I feel sure the drop was clear and lightly coloured. What I poured was something resembling the bottom of our septic system and I feared its murky depths. I took the smallest sip.
My friends did an abrupt u-turn and we opened last week's purchase. As the cork headed for the ceiling and the bubbles tickled our noses, my passion turned towards its pop, breaking an allegiance of a lifetime. – Linda Muller
