A Nose for Wine

It began in boyhood,
a tremor—an overwhelming knowing
before anyone else had a clue.
The sour tang of milk a room away,
The gassy leach from the pilot light,
a mutinous, fouled fridge
beneath it’s heaving gates.

Nosed like a prowling hound.

Dare I mention the cheeses:
marriages brokered in darkness,
alliances forged with bellowing inhales
blue to brie, sharp to cream,
each union more scandalous than the last.
But what is a gift without temptation?
Nasal temptation led him
into the knotted char of barrel wood,
secrets only he could hear whispered,
a vineyard’s lust for recognition,
gave him clues of drought and blight