Requiem for a Dream

Requiem for a Dream - This date two years ago I got a call out of the blue to say my dad had died singing one of his songs in a bar near his vineyard in the Valencia region.

Yes, I know it's the title for a pretty bleak movie from 2000 but for me the title is a fitting act or token of remembrance for my dad's journey. From the time the two of us took the 'Wine & Spirit Education Trust' introductory course and exam in the early 90's in Dun Laoghaire (he cogged one of my answers which turned out to be wrong, something he regularly brought up ) it was his dream to make his own wine.

Through many twists and turns he eventually made his lifelong ambition come true, naming his vineyard Casa Costello, pressing savignon blanc grapes each season, taking pride in hand signing every one of the 300+ bottles of annual output.

Earlier this month I went out there to finalise his affairs in Spain. It was hard to find things exactly as they were on the last visit my son and I made to him 10 days before he died. His last wash was still in the washing machine, our bed still the way I'd left it when myself and Killian were there, the remaining cans of beer from our visit still in the fridge!

While my dad and I didn't always see eye to eye on things, on the second anniversary of his passing I salute his commitment to realising his dream, in doing so he epitomised his rule of thumb 'Do the best you can with what you've got.'

- Photo is taken from his vineyard of one of dad's last bottles of wine with the Calpe Rock rising in the distance from the Costa Blanca coastline.