Aboard the MS Volendam
Aboard the Holland America MS Volendam, March 11, 2008
This is the last day of a 10 day cruise in the Caribbean from Ft. Lauderdale to the Panama Canal and back. I am on board as the “Guest Vintner”, part of HAL’s culinary arts program. I did two book readings from At Home in the Vineyard, billed as “Story Hour for Adults,” and a large wine tasting with slides of Sokol Blosser. In addition to slides showing the harvest and how we make wine, I also showed slides of our feral cat rodent patrol, the bluebird boxes, and Alex’s twins munching on ripe grape clusters.
The wine program on Holland America is extensive. Sokol Blosser has been part of it for close to eight years and this is the fourth trip I have taken as one of their guest lecturers. They don’t pay me to lecture but they pay my way and it’s a good deal for both parties. I was particularly taken this trip with the wine stewards who were uniformly polite, eager to learn more, cheerful and humorous. I was touched that they wanted to have their picture taken with me. I told them I would put their picture on our web site. Here it is. The fellow in black with the tastevin is Ben, the Cellarmaster, who is in charge of the wine program and has his team all fired up.
