Eoran Wine

[jtbehnke]

Something in the lore of the setting has been bugging me lately: the types of wines available in Eora. According to the Pen & Paper draft provided with some pre-orders and to backers, in its entry for the Winemaking skill, grapes are unknown in Eora, so all available wines are rice-based.

 

I thought this was a nice touch, a great way to emphasize how the game's world is different from our own. However, as I played the games I began to notice references to wines of a different color. Some wine racks in various taverns would mention red wines in the descriptions you got when you clicked on them. Captain Mad Morena's hair is described as "tresses that gleam like red wine in the low light." The alcoholic clerk you can recruit as a crew member, Luca, has clothes "stained with faded, purple droplets" due to his wine habit.

 

This raises A LOT of questions, to say the least. Do purple or red rice wines exist in real life? If not, then what would these wines being described be made of? Is this just an oversight or miscommunication on the part of the writers? Am I overthinking this?!

 

What do you all think?

[handsomenat]

Interesting.

 

I googled "red rice wine" and it turns out there is a thing like this in real life. The color comes from "red yeast rice". But I don't know if it would leave purple stains like grape wine.

 

Wines can be also made from different fruit than grapes. Like berries and whatnot. Does the draft say that all wine is rice based or just says that grapes aren't a thing?

[omgFIREBALLS]

I'm not sure whom I asked to get this response (Fassina or one of the two women bickering outside his estate) but it was mentioned Arkemyr might be (at the time of the Watcher contemplating burglary) in weirdoland with weirdofriend drinking koiki wine. They weren't actually weird but I don't remember the names

 

P.S. Funny you can use grapeshots in naval combat if nobody on Eora knows what grapes are ^^

Edited August 9, 2018 by omgFIREBALLS

[Parasol_Syndicate]

I'm in danger of losing (more) respect for the Valians, knowing their vineyards only produce rice juice. That's the sort of thing I would expect from brutes like Rauatai. 

[jtbehnke]

Interesting.

 

I googled "red rice wine" and it turns out there is a thing like this in real life. The color comes from "red yeast rice". But I don't know if it would leave purple stains like grape wine.

 

Wines can be also made from different fruit than grapes. Like berries and whatnot. Does the draft say that all wine is rice based or just says that grapes aren't a thing?

Here's the text from the PDF:

 

Winemaking

Though grapes are unknown in Eora, many kith make wine from rice.  Winemaking involves the cultivation of rice, its fermentation, and the subsequent development into rice wine.  Note that wines do not typically stay potable for more than a year once the process has been completed (Sawyer 25).

 

I'm in danger of losing (more) respect for the Valians, knowing their vineyards only produce rice juice. That's the sort of thing I would expect from brutes like Rauatai. 

Um...rice doesn't come from vineyards, it comes from paddies. 

Edited August 11, 2018 by jtbehnke

[Epixia]

If I've learned nothing else from my more rural family members, it's that you can make wine from almost anything. I believe they have a bottle of homemade wine from every fruit and berry in existence (locally that is) and often will experiment with something new to make it from every year. I also want to say I've heard mead referred to as honey-wine before, but that's something I'm a little less familiar with.  

 

Anyway, Eora's lack of grapes certainly wouldn't limit it's potential booze variety.

[jtbehnke]

Yes, and there seems to be more varieties of mead in Eora than you normally see in these games.  Fine Aedyran Mead, Midnight Mead, and Wyrthoneg too!