The Consensus on Wine   The consensus on wine goes back and forth like a theological shuttlecock — It’s good! It’s bad! The blood of Christ! Not worth   the toll to your heart, your soul! Eau de vie! ¡Agua del diablo! Friend of the Earth! Fiend of dissolution!                                   Easy to be   confused, and maybe that’s the point: wine shocks the mind, blurs the words. The temperance creed, though — wine denatured, God replaced with talk.     © Michael Fleming Dummerston, Vermont July 2024