He Wasn't Making This Up

The first thing I do every Monday morning (after pummeling the snooze button seventeen times) is to read Dave Barry’s column online.

The guy’s a brilliant comedic writer who actually got to meet me at one of his book signings about twenty years ago. No doubt, that was a high point in his career which I'm sure he remembers with great fondness.

He’ll often take an obscure news story then turn and twist it with his hilarious observations. Sometimes, I’m a bit envious of his abilities, but then again, he got to meet me at his book signing so I guess we’re even.

Today’s article is about a guy in Minnesota – okay, that’s funny already – who is making wine out of caterpillars, namely, army worms.

At first, I thought Dave Barry was making this up, even though he often uses the phrase, “I’m not making this up!” So, after doing some extensive, journalistic research on my own, (I googled “army worm” and “wine”) it turns out this story was true.

He really wasn’t making this up.

Check out http://www.armywormwine.com/

Apparently, there was this guy in Minnesota, (okay, stop laughing) Ray Reigstad, who likes to make all kinds of wines as a hobby and there were lots of these “army worm” caterpillars on his property. He had heard about someone else who used to make wine from army worms “back in the day” so he tried it himself.

He gathered about seven pounds of worms in plastic buckets, poured boiling water over them to kill them instantly, mashed them up, added sugar and let it ferment.

Then, he strained out the army worm mash (letting it drip through a strainer making sure to get all the “army worm flavor”) and bottled it.

Only one bottle exploded.

Apparently, it tastes pretty good. Four local wine connoisseurs were invited to taste the wine and described it as dry, pale and crisp. They compared it to a pinot grigio or white Bordeaux.

One said it would probably go well with walleye which is a popular fish in Minnesota. (Why do you laugh every time I mention Minnesota?)

Unfortunately, one can’t buy it on the internet. I would like to try it, but I can’t say I’d probably enjoy a whole glass of it.

But if you’re ever up near Duluth, you might want to look this guy up and buy some of this special Minnesota vintage – especially if you’re having walleye for dinner.