Portugal – The Streets Will Run Red (and Taste Great)

I try to put out positive stories, maybe a bit of humor, because we live in a world of sadness. Unfortunately, that world has crossed into our world, and with unbearable sadness, it is my dour duty to eulogize a death, that of 581,000 gallons of red wine, lost from a breach at a wine facility in Portugal.

So this isn’t exactly new news (remember, you won’t hear it here first, but you’ll hear it here best) but how can we not pay tribute to it? The streets in São Lourenço do Bairro, Portugal ran red with wine (at least a couple of streets,) and while no one got hurt (blessed be) one individual had the wine flood their basement. Destilaria Levira, the spiller, promised to clean it up, but it is unclear whether or not the owner of the flooded cellar chose a clean up or chose to make the most of hundreds of gallons of red wine in their basement.

Free flowing wine could mess up farmland and whatnot, so this is at best a dark cloud with a silver lining. And this much wine was only in Destilaria Levira because they were trying to take it off the market, being that there is a lot of supply right now, and less and less demand. Guess the wine folks are going to sweet Kentucky bourbon.

So what came to mind for me was this. Running of the Wine. It doesn’t have to be Spain, it could be Portugal. Government pays for 581,000 gallons of wine and they let it loose down a street. And the runners dress up fancy fun, and they bring long-handled ladles with them. And they run and they scoop wine and drink. Whoever is left standing at the end wins I don’t know, a fancy cork.

So Europeans are drinking less wine. You know, it’s when a dog stops eating that you have to worry (It’s the only thing I could think of, sorry to my European friends.)