Cats, Clinton, and Corkscrews
Some not-so-trivial-trivia for the wine weekend. And an invitation to everyone to learn about a new series for subscribers.
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1. Cat
This week’s news cycle seems to be dominated by people eating cats (or probably not). Yet the wine media seem strangely silent on the issue. Wine media except this Substack that is.
Most food and wine writers are strangely silent on the subject of cat and wine pairings. (Although I heartily recommend
’s excellent substack for more orthodox matching advice). But it turns out there are two schools of thought on cat. Research claims that up to 3% of Swiss people have eaten cat. And apparently local recipes suggest that the cat should be cooked in, and served with, the local variety. Usually chasselas, often sold as fendant.While the town of Vicenza in northern Italy has long borne accusations that its residents are “mangiagatti” - cat eaters. As a rhyme goes:
venexiani gran signori, padovani gran dotori, visentini magna gati, veronesi tuti mati, trevisani pan e tripe, rovigoti baco e pipe. E belun? Ti, belun, non ti vol nesun
Venezia Big Boss, Padova Big Docs,
Vicenza Cat Eaters, Verona all Nuts,
Treviso Bread’n’Tripes,
Rovigo (silk)Worms’n’Pipes,
Belluno? What Else? No one cares about.
I have not eaten cat in the area. But I was once served rabbit with the head on. When I asked why, the waiter explained it was to “prove it’s not a cat”. By all accounts they are indistinguishable when cooked. And are prepared and served the same way, so - one presumes - with similar wine pairing advice: with Soave for lighter recipes, and Bardolino if in a stew.
Just to reiterate, this is in no way a recommendation or suggestion that you should eat a cat. And it’s not the season for eating cats anyway1. Just that if you did eat a cat, these are the wines you should serve it with.
2. Clinton
That trip - the one where I had the rabbit that definitely wasn’t a cat - reminds me of a story I may have related here before.
Bill Clinton is the only US president to share his name with a grape variety. Clinton is a hybrid variety sometimes grown Brazil, France, Italy, and Italian Switzerland. In the EU it can only be used as a rootstock. That said… once in Vicenza I was given a frothy, pink, and illegal wine from clinton called fragola, on account of its strawberry taste.
The pink colour comes from the variety’s dark, thick skins and flesh. As we tasted it, we were advised not to spill our glass “as clinton can stain clothing”.2
3. Corkscrews
Most discussed wine story of the week this week…? Surely this one in The Grauniad about the “death of the corkscrew”. Apparently young people no longer have a corkscrew in their kitchen, but instead are turning to bread makers, small ceramic sponges designed to clean refillable water bottles and “ergonomic garlic rockers”.
The main thrust of the article is that this is another indication of wine’s inevitable decline among the young. But for a clearer headed view
has this excellent counter case that actually, wine is just an older person’s drink and “the young” will (re)turn to their senses in time.My own answer is trivial. Not in the sense “of little value or importance.” But that the way to get more people to have corkscrews is to give them more corkscrew trivia.
Among the things you never knew you needed to know, a person who collects corkscrews is called a “helixophile”. You might be asking “so who on earth actually collects corkscrews?” It turns out it’s a crowded field. The world’s largest collection of corkscrews is held at Muzeul Recordurilor Româneşti in Bucharest, with over 30,000 corkscrews collected by Ion Chirescu3. I’ve yet to visit. But Chirescu’s collection dwarfs the largest selection I’ve ever seen, of 3,500 at the Vivanco museum in Rioja.
The passion of helixophiles has nothing on the two bizarrest things I know about corkscrews. One is that when the British actor and dramatist Hugh Williams appeared on the radio show Desert Island Discs he asked for a corkscrew as his luxury, but for some reason no wine. Which is the sort of thing you can tell at most dinner parties. But there are rather fewer where you can talk about how Muscovy ducks and pigs have a corkscrew-shaped penis, while hippos have a corkscrew vagina.
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This came to me from an Italian who remembered eating cat after the war. Apparently the skins of cats are very smelly. So you need to leach out the smell before cooking them. This can be done by soaking. But the best method is to bury the cat in snow for a while which draws it out. Making it more of a “winter” dish. Seriously, what have I done with my life. Why on earth am I typing this stuff out? But also, how the hell did I come to know this…?
In Series Two of The Wine Show I was tasked with performing a stand up comedy routine at Ha Ha Comedy Cafe in north Hollywood. I only had 36 hours to prepare the routine so was somewhat desperate for material. This was part of it. It was probably the best received joke of the night, but not surprisingly never made the final television episode.
Ion is not a one-item collector either. He also has 35,000 pressing irons.
While I appreciate the alternate take from Tim that wine is an older person's drink, which is generally and historically a truism, but getting away from feelings and vibes and sticking to numbers, how do we square that take with the actual, observable decline amongst younger drinkers? In 2010, the 21–34-year-old group represented 28% (US) and 24% (UK) of regular wine drinkers, but that figure dropped to only 18% and 14% in 2020. Though in 2023 abother report found that 31% of monthly wine drinkers were seen to be aged under 40, compared to 28% in 2021, which suggests a certain amount of post-pandemic recovery amongst the under 40 crowd. But that steep 10 year decline, shaving wine consumption among the young nearly in half, nevertheless occured. Are we thinking that was predominantly a pandemic related decline? Or...?