One year, at summer time, my uncle Sergio, brother of my father, called to tell us that one of the wines of my grandfather had received many awards at a wine exhibit.

Of course, we were very proud of this and went to visit my grandfather at his farm. After one of the big lunches, the children, me included, were sent out to play. There was a room next to the big dining room where the walls were covered in cement so it was the coldest room in the house. There my grandmother kept the fresh cheese, the milk and any other food or wine that needed to be refrigerated. So after lunch I went to that room to stay cool.

From there, I overhead the story about the good wine:

My grandfather had sold the contents of a complete wine foudre. (A foudre is an oak barrel on steroids, turned upright and fitted with a small tight side lid and a spout for easier access. See picture above.) Before reusing a foudre for wine, it had to be hydrated and “treated” or cleaned.

Usually, he would hire some freelancers that specialized in cleaning the huge foudres. He particularly liked a man whom everybody knew was a drunkard but, when it came to cleaning the huge foudres, he did a good job. This is the man who had cleaned this foudre the year before. However, this year this man did not come back around and my grandfather had to hire somebody else to do the task.

These “foudre cleaners” were usually small framed men who could fit through the opening on the front of the foudre through the side lid. The tradition was for the man to strip, take a good bath, leave all the clothes near the mouth of the foudre and then go in totally naked with utensils and cleaning liquids. These liquids included Sodium Bisulfite and Citric Acid and, of course, lots of water from a hose that was always available at the wine bodega (warehouse). Before the treatment, the foudre cleaner needs to clear any grape pulp (marc or pomance) that the wine process has left behind. This pulp, skin and seeds, if carefully collected, can be used to make brandy. My grandfather usually produced an aguardiente 45% and higher ABV (alcohol by volume).

The man that brought the new foudre cleaner to the bodega, showed him the foudre that needed to be treated, saw that the man took his bath, and let him go into the foudre.

My grandfather said that the day that particular foudre was supposed to be cleaned he was at a field, inspecting crop. Suddenly, he saw one of his workers galloping to reach him. The inquilino (worker) said it was urgent for my grandfather to return and go to the wine bodega.

As soon as he dismounted his horse, my grandfather went to the bodega where he found a very scared foudre cleaner. He had found the remains of a small man’s body inside the foudre.

Grandfather had to call the authorities, fill out a lot of papers, and some people were asked to identify the body when it was taken to the morgue. It was the missing foudre cleaner who had cleaned that foudre the year before! Grandfather then understood why the drunkard he usually had hired in prior years have never come back. He probably had fallen asleep, or maybe died, inside the foudre. Then they had poured in the new wine, unaware of the body in the foudre, and only after a year or more his body had been discovered. The mystery was that his clothes were never found.

A few days later, grandfather received a call from the buyer of the wine from that precise foudre. He told him that the wine was so good they had taken some bottles to a wine exhibit in Santiago, the capital, and won some good prizes. Could he produce more of that exact wine?

No, but “That was the best wine ever”, grandfather said, to the horror of all the family lingering around the table.