Only the finest practitioners of verse will be rewarded with Sherry!
Carol Ann Duffy is the current Poet Laureate (as of 2009 and the first woman) and her reward for the post is a butt of Sherry. I met her after a reading in Aberdeen the night before she left for Jerez to select her wine.
Obviously, a butt (500/600 litres) is a wonderful thing, but not the easiest to deal with, so she was getting the equivalent in bottles. Unfortunately for the whisky trade, Sherry hasn't been exported in bulk since the 1970's. The seasoned barrels were used to age whisky, but the Consejo Regulador de la Denominacion de Origen (the body which controls Sherry production) ruled that Sherry be bottled at source.
The notion of Poets Laureate dates back to ancient Greece where Bards and Heroes were garlanded with a laurel wreath. Since then the meaning has moved on to cover people who are masters of their art (eg Nobel Laureates). For centuries Kings of England, and later Britain, appointed more or less official Poets Laureate, whose job was to write verse celebrating subjects like royal events or victories. Their salary was meagre, being a part-time post. The first to receive wine (as opposed to a few shillings) was Geoffrey Chaucer, who received a butt of Canary Sack in 1389.
The office became more official with the appointment of John Dryden in 1670, and the butt of Sherry (or Scheris Sack) tradition continued for a long time before falling into disuse when money was given. The tradition was revived by Sir John Betjeman in 1972 and has prevailed again to the present day. If only I were a poet!
Soon we'll discuss the Sack Trade.
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