Niagara’s greatest vintage in the 20th century. Youthful, plum, cherry and earth on the nose. Palate mirrors with the additional complexity of cedar and tobacco. Drink now to 2018. (Side note from Bill: “I shared a bottle of this with British wine writers Oz Clarke and Robert Joseph, last month -- they loved it!”) 1.5 L; SOLD OUT.

featuring an excerpt from
Planet Earth
by P.K. Page

It has to be spread out, the skin of this planet,
has to be ironed, the sea in its whiteness;
and the hands keep on moving,
smoothing the holy surfaces.
–In Praise of Ironing, Pablo Neruda

It has to be loved the way a laundress loves her linens,
the way she moves her hands caressing the fine muslins
knowing their warp and woof,
like a lover coaxing, or a mother praising.
It has to be loved as if it were embroidered
with flowers and birds and two joined hearts upon it.
It has to be stretched and stroked.
It has to be celebrated.
O this great beloved world and all the creatures in it.
It has to be spread out, the skin of this planet.

The trees must be washed, and the grasses and mosses.
They have to be polished as if made of green brass.
The rivers and little streams with their hidden cresses
and pale-coloured pebbles
and their fool's gold
must be washed and starched or shined into brightness,
the sheets of lake water
smoothed with the hand
and the foam of the oceans pressed into neatness.
It has to be ironed, the sea in its whiteness.

and pleated and goffered, the flower-blue sea
the protean, wine-dark, grey, green, sea
with its metres of satin and bolts of brocade.
And sky - such an 0! overhead - night and day
must be burnished and rubbed
by hands that are loving
so the blue blazons forth
and the stars keep on shining
within and above
and the hands keep on moving.

It has to be made bright, the skin of this planet
till it shines in the sun like gold leaf.
Archangels then will attend to its metals
and polish the rods of its rain.
Seraphim will stop singing hosannas
to shower it with blessings and blisses and praises
and, newly in love,
we must draw it and paint it
our pencils and brushes and loving caresses
smoothing the holy surfaces.
One of Canada’s most distinguished and cherished poets, P.K. Page was appointed a Companion of the Order of Canada in 1999. She won the Governor General's Award for poetry in 1954, and is the author of more than 20 books, including ten volumes of poetry, a novel, selected short stories, a book of essays, eight books for children, and a memoir entitled Brazilian Journal, based on her extended stay in Brazil with her late husband Arthur Irwin, who served as the Canadian Ambassador there. Page also paints, under the name P.K. Irwin, and her work is part of the permanent collections in galleries across Canada. Page, who was born in 1916 and resides in British Columbia, is delighted that her poem has been paired with Cabernet Merlot. “I think it’s a brilliant idea,” she says. “I’m a red woman.”

www.pkpage.ca
©Copyright 2009, Southbrook Vineyards. All Rights Reserved. P.K. Page's work copyright © to the author.
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