Wines of Creation

The fermentation of grapes is considered by most civilized peoples to be the highest art amongst the alcoholic crafts, the results both most complex and most refined.

Wines of the Blessed Isle

NOTE: On the Blessed Isle, House V'neef has an Imperial Monopoly on wine production.

Crimson Bacchanal Wine •••••

Brilliant scarlet grapes grown in Qishi Prefecture are used to produce this drink, said to be the favorite table wine of the Scarlet Empress, a heady and potent wine laced with essence and capable of intoxicating even the Exalted with ease. Bottles of Crimson Bacchanal sit at the high end of high-quality wines.

Summer Pale Wine •••••

Wine produced from the Sable Loamfast vineyard in Qishi Prefecture, formerly a possession of House Ragara until transfer to House V'neef. The rich black soils of the surrounding lands grow the most highly regarded pale grapes in Creation, creating a high-quality dry white wine.

Black Euphoria Wine ••••

Rich red wines, originating over a century ago in a House Cynis vineyard of the Scarlet Prefecture. Black Euphoria grapes are difficult to grow but produce wines that are very dark red-purple in colour, with flavours of cherry and tobacco. The vineyard forms part of the holdings of V'neef Thagada, who has worked to incorporate the grapes into the larger production runs of her main vineyard, though small quantities of pure Black Euphoria continue to be produced.

Verdance Resplendent Wine ••••

One of the most highly regarded wines produced on the Blessed Isle. It is a white wine, considered 'crisp, elegant, and fresh' by the Isle's sommeliers, and is favoured at high class tables despite being served young. It is often paired with dairy and seafood, and is one of few grape wines which pair excellently with raw fish. It is produced in Qishi Prefecture, from vineyards attached to the V'neef manse-estate there.

Song-and-Blossom Wine ••• / •••• (RY688 or older)

The only (grape) winery in Eagle Prefecture, a large vineyard located in the Valley of Verdant Song near the Plum and Cherry Redoubt. Song-and-Blossom wines are heady and alcoholic, red wines with hints of plum and cherry. Younger bottles flow in quantity along the northwestern coast of the Isle, while aged bottles are more well regarded and occasionally appear in the cellars of Arjuf and the Imperial City.

Shet Hill Wine •••

Large vineyard in Dongguan Prefecture controlled by V'neef Huodan. Transferred from House Tepet to House V'neef in RY708. Produces full-bodied red wines, described as having 'soft ripe tannins with a dry finish and the character of red berries'. The wines are mid-quality, consumed across the Isle and as far afield as Bushan.

River Ray Wine •••

Large vineyard in Dongguan Prefecture controlled by V'neef Red Sand. Transferred from House Peleps to House V'neef in RY708. The estate produces dry white wines, with an unusual element: each bottle contains the toxic barb of a Giant Freshwater Stingray to add a distinctive flavour element... the wines remain on the lower end of mid-quality, but this element has secured a loyal following amongst young risk-loving Dynasts.

Heliotrope Hall Wine •••

Formerly controlled by House Ledaal before the founding of House V'neef, Heliotrope Hall in Qishi Prefecture produces mid-quality red wines known for both their richness and their sweetness, pairing well with fruit dishes and desserts.

Unsworth Wines •••

Excited, bubbly wines produced in Verdant Rivers Prefecture. The vineyard was formerly held by the Sarash patrician clan before the founding of House V'neef.

Thagada Wine ••

The vineyards of the Scarlet Prefecture are not expansive, but proximity to the Imperial City makes their production important. Thagada Vineyards produces large quantities of a bubbly rose wine, with a slight sweetness, that is ready for drinking while still young. As such it provides a cheap table wine for all manner of folks around the capital: citizens, poorer patricians and Dynasts, even Dynastic schoolchildren sneaking out for their first tastes of alcohol.

[OOC: An RL equivalent to a Thagada wine would be Mateus]  

Abundant Yew Wine ••

Abundant Yew wines, produced in Qishi Prefecture, are of a yellowed white variety, which connoisseurs say have hints of bitterness and acid lurking at the edges of a silky and otherwise delicious wine. Abundant Yew is a young vineyard, its oldest vintages dating from RY738.

Viridian Fields Wine ••

Wines produced in central Qishi Prefecture, from a blend of white and red grapes, producing rich-flavoured rose wines.

Twin Vines Wines ••

Sparkling white wines from Pangu Prefecture, close to the Palace of Trees, ensuring a steady stream of wine reaches the orgies of House Cynis.

Black Water Wine ••

A red grape wine, thin but dark in colour, produced in Incas Prefecture in close proximity to the Cloister of Wisdom. Students of the Cloister will often smuggle it into the school, and while it is not of high quality by the standards of the Scarlet Dynasty many graduates will indulge in it later in life, evoking nostalgic sentiment.

Cejanis Wines

Black Laurel Wine ••••

Black Laurel grapes are dark red, almost black, and rather small, resembling the berries of the laurel plant. The Black Laurel vineyard, located in Dongguan Prefecture under control of V'neef Cejanis, produces small quantities of thick, sweet dessert wine according to ancient vinting methods. The wine is first stored in vats stored outside, exposed to the sun, where water content evaporates until it is ready to be transferred to closed barrels, with the addition of a distillate from previous wines. This wine is further thickened through being aged according to the Immortal Blending Method.

[OOC: An RL equivalent to Black Laurel wine would be Mavrodaphne]

Ten Thousand Hills Wine •••

Vineyard in Dongguan Prefecture, producing red and white wines and sweet brandies for export across the Isle. Control of the Winery was transferred from House Cynis to House V'neef in RY708, and it is currently administered by V'neef Cejanis. Ten Thousand Hills wines are certainly not regarded as the finest of vintages, but their mid-quality status makes them popular with patricians and younger Dynasts. Both reds and whites are fruity in flavour, whites with hints of passionfruit and reds with notes of dark fruits such as plums and cherries.

[OOC: An RL equivalent to Ten Thousand Hills wine would be something from Kim Crawford, in the case of whites specifically from the Marlborough region of New Zealand]

Wines of the South

Jegan Wines

V'neef (formerly Tepet) Jegan is renowned throughout the Realm, and across Creation besides, as the finest master of viticulture in the current age. With funding from House Tepet, lord Jegan established a number of vineyards in the satrapy of Harborhead, producing reds and whites, lower qualities for the wider market and luxurious vintages for the most refined Dynastic palates. This generated great wealth for both Jegan and his House, but when House V'neef was formed, the Throne granted his request to join the newborn House, and he took with him not only his wines and vineyards but the vinting knowledge desperately needed by the Dynasts now holding an Imperial Monopoly for such things in the Blessed Isle. The following are among the wines still emerging from his vineyards:

--- Constant Steadfast Wine ••••• - The most prized and most valued of Southern wines, emerging from a blend of different grapes grown at the Constant Steadfast vineyard located on the coast of Harbourhead, produced through an exacting process that sees the grapes starting to shrink on the vine before harvesting. Though the simple-tongued might class it a 'white dessert wine', connoisseurs would scoff at such understatement. The wine is amber in color, with an intense aroma that carries hints of honey, apricot, and pineapple to the nose. On the tongue, it is a potent wine, and yet these flavours flow smooth, with a sweetness that lingers after the last drop has made its descent. Bottles of Constant Steadfast are highly sought across Creation, from the Imperial City to Great Forks to the Coral Archipelago, with even the Scarlet Empress herself said to have commented favourably, commanding her cellars acquire a regular supply.

--- Thousand Oaks Wine ••• - The Thousand Oaks vineyard in central Harbourhead is named for the Oak trees planted to circle the property and line its paths by the vineyard's founder Tepet Jegan. The trees ensure the fertile soil is not lost to the winds in the occasional dry years, and provisions the satrapy's vineyards with barrels for aging their vintages. The wines of the vineyard itself are flavourful reds, with the notes of oak from their barrels said to be particularly clear.

--- Pardusia Wine •• - The white wines produced by the Pardusia Vineyards are dry, their flavours clean and fruity, with good acidity.

--- Pearl Mountain Wine •• - Wines grown in the shadow of Pearl Mountain in eastern Harbourhead. The vineyard produces large quantities of fruity reds, mostly to supply the thirst for wine in the Eastern and Southern Threshold.

Wines of the North

Bertran's Ford Wine ••••

Bertan's Ford is a small valley, part of the Haslanti League near Icehome, where the northern cold is lessened and fertile soil can be found. It is the only place in the League which grows grapes, and these grapes are used for a very specific purpose: wine. Wines vinted in the Ford come from grapes which have been frozen on the vine, when the temperature drops the first day of Ascending Air. Teams of slaves are mobilized for this one vital moment, gathering the grapes for pressing before the light of the Unconquered Sun can reverse their freezing. The resulting white wine is sweet, acidic, and flavourful, prized by connoisseurs both among the Haslanti and across Creation. While shipping goods by airboat is prohibitively expensive for most products, the high price of icewines means they are an ideal item for movement in this way, cargoes of icewine traded for valuable Isle silks and Scavenger tomes.

Crooktooth Isle Wine •••

Crooktooth Isle wines are a form of icewine, produced in the Realm satrapy of Cherak. They are a recent development, the result of an agreement between Great House V'neef and Cadet House Ferem, to tap into the market for Bertan's Ford wines, whose supply is greatly exceeded by demand. Critics deem the resulting wine, while certainly not of poor quality, to lack the complexity and refinement of its Haslanti competition, but it is produced in far larger quantities and is thus a more available and affordable acquisition for the cellars of Creation.

Wines of the East

Peerless Blessing of Madali Wine •••••

The finest wine produced in Great Forks, and perhaps all Creation, from a vineyard cultivated under personal direction of the goddess of the region's grapes and wines. It is a rich red wine, deep purple in colour, feeling like silk in the mouth. The wine has a bouquet of berries, spices and violets, with hints of leather, though to truly describe its depth and complexity is said by many connoisseurs to be impossible. Bottles rarely make it past the markets of Great Forks itself, leaving it beyond the reach of even the wealthiest elsewhere in Creation, though on occasion a House Cynis scion working with House interests in the Scavenger Lands might carry a bottle homeward to be the highlight of a fine gala.

Blissful Harvest Wine ••••

A wine produced in Great Forks, known as perhaps the best wine country in Creation. Blissful Harvest is sweet and red, easily descending the throat to produce a joyful intoxication.

Burning Kiln Wine •••

Wines from the Burning Kiln Winery in Miwoc tend to be deep garnet in colour, produced with grapes partially dried in old tobacco kilns to concentrate their flavor. The wine offers flavours of Cassis and Danaad's Brambleberry, with spicy Cinnamon and hints of sweet Tobacco leaf.