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Aziraphale’s wine

It is a truth universally acknowledged in the Good Omens fandom that an angel in need of a drink turns to his secret stash of Châteauneuf-du-Pape in the back room. He picked up a dozen cases in 1921, and a whole century later there's still some left… for special occasions.

Just to put things in perspective, a standard case contains 12 750ml bottles, for a total of 9 liters of wine. A dozen cases equals 144 bottles, or 108 liters of wine. That’s quite a lot for a single purchase, so Aziraphale — the established sherry and sweet drinks connoisseur — must have had a good reason for it.

One potential explanation is the aura of grandeur around this particular wine. The papal connection, rich history of the region, and recognition of high quality products give Châteauneuf-du-Pape wines a very luxurious status, considerably influencing their price tags. And Aziraphale is known to have standards.

Another one is the way in which their taste differs from Aziraphale’s usual choices: Châteauneuf-du-Pape reds are often described as earthy with gamey flavors that have hints of tar and leather. The wines are considered tough and tannic in their youth, but maintain their rich spiciness as they age.

Since everything in Good Omens has a meaning, it never hurts to run through a quick Strong’s Concordance search whenever a date pops up in a dialogue or, even more importantly, somewhere on screen. More often than not the result seems to match the researched topic, as it’s the case here:

1921: to know exactly, to recognize.

Provided examples: I come to know by directing my attention to him or it, I perceive, discern, recognize; I found out. The general usage of the word usually refers to knowing someone aptly, properly, thoroughly, even biblically. Which might be either a wishful thinking on Aziraphale’s part or just another layer of subtext in this already romantically charged scene. The table dressing, multiple candles, and focus on the lamps with Auguste Moreau’s Young Lovers statues in the background seem to successfully communicate what the angel left unsaid.

Too bad that Crowley remained so adorably oblivious for the next eighty years. At least when he finally came to the realization, he responded with an attempted temptation to another vintage red wine @vidavalor already analyzed.

But back to Aziraphale’s wine. To be exact, it’s a 1921 Châteauneuf-du-Pape from the domaine de Baban. An actual French vineyard from the Rhône region that still exists to this day, even though a few decades ago it got merged with another estate into what is now known as domaine Riché-Baban. According to the local guides, the 11 hectares on the estate are located in the Châteauneuf-du-Pape designation area in the Bois Lauzon and Mourre de Baud districts. At the moment 90% of the wines produced there are sent to wine dealers.

1920s were quite an interesting time for this region, but not because of the flapper cabarets or drag shows usually associated with the era on the Old Continent. To the horror of European oenophiles, right after World War I the whole of France found itself awash with fake wine. One of the worst outrages was the use of lead that magically transformed cheap, acid wine into something deceptively rich and sweet on the outside and one of the most powerful neurotoxins on the inside. People were already well aware of its effects — the poisoning from drinking sweetened wine probably made Handel go blind and Beethoven go deaf, but it shows how desperate for sweetness they were before sugar became available to the masses.

Admittably, it wasn’t a new practice. Far from it — the Romans liked it so much that they even advised to pack lead pans on travels to boil local wine in them to make it sweeter, especially in colder provinces like Britannia. But Aziraphale didn’t buy twelve cases of counterfeit wine for the sake of some good memories of Rome and its many health hazards. No, the fussy angel made sure to get the actually good stuff from the other side of the English Channel.

Henry Tacussel, whose name is mentioned on his wine label, was a French viticulturalist and a close friend of Baron Pierre Le Roy of the Chateau Fortia nearby, a trained lawyer and fellow winegrower from Châteauneuf-du-Pape who established the Winegrowers' Union of the Rhône Valley. Together with the Baron he became one of the founders of Appellation d'origine contrôlée (AOC), a labeling system intended to protect regional products and technologies that is still in use in France and serves as an inspiration to similar solutions worldwide. Their efforts were deliberately centred on Châteauneuf-du-Pape because with such a beguiling name even in comparison to other labels it seemed to attract an undue share of fraudsters at the time.

Soon after Aziraphale’s shopping spree, the local wine producers led by Le Roy and Tacussel began a very long campaign to establish legal protection for the wine from their commune. The delimited area and the method of wine production were finally awarded legal recognition after a decade, in 1933, but it wasn’t the end of the criminal activities on this front. An undercover investigation by The Sunday Times discovered that most of the “Châteauneuf” in the 1960s Britain was actually blended and bottled in Ipswich.

One question remains: was it a purely human affair, or maybe one requiring a demonic or angelic intervention?

Fobidden Planet Good Omens Official Merch! 😍❤

Did you know that Forbidden Planet has also official Good Official merchandise? :)

Currently it is :):

Good Omens Mug

Forbidden Planet link - £5.99

Good Omens Coaster

Forbidden Planet link - £3.49

They have one more coaster but it is currently unavailable, you can tho put there your email to be notified when it is avaliable again :).

Good Omens Print

Forbidden Planet link - £7.99

(no, I don't know how big it is :/ :D)

Good Omens T-Shirts

The End Was Just The Start - £15.99

The End Was Just The Start Women's Fit - £15.99

Cheers - £15.99

Cheers Women's Fit - £15.99

Aziraphale Icon - £19.99

Aziraphale Icon Women's Fit - £19.99

Crowley Icon - £19.99

Crowley Icon Women's Fit - £19.99

(and if you're already ordering Good Omens goodies and want a GO cover you don't have, they have these two :):)

The TV cover paperback - £8.99

The blue hardback - £11.99

Jukebox Omens is a community event that is open to all!!!

Choose a song. Any song. Could be multiple. Anything that makes you think of Good Omens. Then make something

We're taking anything and everything, it's all love here. Art, fic, gifs, manips, comics, video, headcanons, whatever you might like to create that's inspired by a song we will reblog it and adore it

Please @ this blog in what you post. I will also be checking the #jukebox omens, tag, but Tumblr is notoriously challenging so an @ would be better. You're also welcome to link me in dms if tagging isn't how you want to play, that's all good

The launch date is the 20th of December! Running until the 20th of January

We are accepting old and new work, but I strongly encourage you to make something new! It'll be a joy to have so much music about

Further details and FAQ will be under a readmore on this post

Get dancing!

You are welcome to post before the 20th of December but I will not reblog it until then

Some goes for old work, you're welcome to link it to me in advance but I won't reblog til the 20th. Could be nice if you want to link me ahead of time tho, we can start with a rush!

NSFW is certainly allowed, I will be tagging appropriately so no one is exposed unwillingly

On that note, angst and whump are also welcome. The only line I draw in content allowed will be work that I deem bigoted or designed to be cruel, but I will be surprised if I see anything like that

In terms of content guidelines I'd ask that, if it is not clear in the work itself, you mention or link to the song that inspired you. I'd like everything to stay reasonably on brand, ya know

If you're sending in headcanons you're welcome to submit/ask this blog rather than post on your own if that's what you're more comfortable doing, but I think it'd be nicer to reblog from other people

There is no limit to people involved or gatekeeping due to quality, everyone is welcome

If I don't reblog your work after a couple days, send me a direct link on DMs, it will absolutely be an oversight and I would hate to miss someone's contribution!

All interpretation of the characters are welcome, tv show, book designs, personal headcanons, go for it

Foreign language songs are totally okay! Up to you if you want to provide a translation, or just let the vibes speak for themselves

In honor of the news about season 2 and the fact that I'm finally reading the book I made ineffable husbands bookmarks!!! Feel free to make your own using the image below!

Finally! My #dtiys Pride piece is done!

AHHHHH!!! I AM SO EXCITED TO BE DOING MY FIRST DTIYS

(Do This In Your Style)

I worked crazy hard on this, and I hope you like it. It is a love letter to my community. I love you all so much, you are all gorgeous flowers and you mean so much to me. I know it’s not super traditional in terms of Pride presentation, but it comes from a very earnest place. Six flags are represented by the six flower varieties - ace anemones, pan cosmos, trans astilbe, enby irises, genderqueer blue seaholly, and bisexual hydrangeas. All of these are flowers I love dearly and have growing in my gardens. I know I wasn’t able to cover all the flags - and I am sincerely sorry for that. I only had so much space in the frame and time to work on the piece. For those of you participating in the dtiys, feel absolutely free to switch out any of the the colours/flowers/etc to make the piece more you. I can’t do alllll the flags, but between us all we can!! There will be a prize (possibly prizes?). The deadline for the prize draw is July 31st 2021. I’ll draw a name (maybe names) randomly from everyone who enters by that date. Make sure to tag me so I don’t miss it! I can’t wait to see what you do 💙💚💛🧡❤️💜🖤🤍🤎

Eden!verse Masterpost

AO3

Link to all of the Eden!verse fics

Russian translation of Eden!verse (WIP) by Sonnet23

   also on Ficbook

Chinese translation of A Memory of Eden by xxxbeike

    also on Lofter

Podfic of O Little Town of Bethlehem by GoLBPodfics

Summaries

Summary of A Memory of Eden

Summary of the “Bridging” Oneshots (all in the same post)

Crime & Punishment

What Glue Has Bound Together, Let No Angel Tear Asunder

O Little Town of Bethlehem

Summary of The End of Eternity

Summary of The Inheritance of Eden and In the Beginning

Handy Diagrams

The Hierarchy of Angels & Archangel and Archdemon Organization Chart

The Seven Circles of Heaven Diagram

The Gate to the Individual Heavens (from The End of Eternity)

Playlist

Eden!verse Playlist by me (covering the entire series)

Books

I turned the series into a set of printed books!

Art

From A Memory of Eden:

Crowley Being Taken to Heaven, by curiouslissa

Crowley Being Taken to Heaven, by ognivik

Aziraphale’s Fall, by portraitoftheoddity

The Clock Scene, by sous-le-saule

The Clock, by me

Aziraphale Finds Crowley’s Feather, by curiouslissa

The Burning of the Journals, by me

Aziraphale with Crowley’s Feather, by veller13

Death of Aziraphale, by cozy-aziraphale

Aziraphale’s Death, by los0sev

Aziraphale’s Death & Crowley Grieving, by Xail

Crowley’s Poor Heart Breaking, by me

Crowley Being Generally Heartbroken (some more), by me

Crowley Tearing Out His Feathers, by La-rainette-verte

Crowley Tearing Out His Feathers in the Church, by me

Just Let Me Fall, by me

The Waterfall Scene, by me

Crowley with the Scarf, by arishka-endy

The Fall of the Rebel Angels, by me

From O Little Town of Bethlehem:

Stay Close to Me, by ekalita-blr

From The Inheritance of Eden:

Heaven’s Library (Cover Art), by me

The Fab Four (Ludwig, Hamilton, Houdini, & Otho), by me 

The Words to Spells, by me

The Martyrium, by me

Crowley as a Mexican Black Kingsnake, by me

Crowley in the Holdall, by me

Serpent!Crowley Saving Aziraphale at the Bookshop, by curiouslissa

Death Cometh Amongst the Lilies’ Bloom, by me

Crowley’s Gift for Aziraphale, by curiouslissa

Crowley and Aziraphale Dolls, by sonnet23

Noli Timere Messorum (Don’t Fear the Reaper): A Visual Metaphor, by me

From In the Beginning:

God Shaping Phanuel, by patolozka

The Fall, by sous-le-saule

From The Redemption of Eden:

Cover Art, by me

Bert’s Brandy, by me

The Many Fashions of Ishtyr, by me

Fics Inspired By Eden!Verse

‘Twas There That We Parted, by DoctorTrekLock

The Abduction of an Angel, by DoctorTrekLock

The Tsar’s Hat, by Sonnet23 [also available in Russian]

Art: Aziraphale in the Tsar’s Hat by slipperyyy

Art: Story Illustrations by curiouslissa

Extras

Crowley and Aziraphale’s Midfarthing Cottage

Sigil Around the Tree of Life (from The Inheritance of Eden)

Graph of the Use of the Word “Beautiful” (from The Inheritance of Eden)

Heavenly Arithmetic (from The Inheritance of Eden)

Crowley as a Christ Figure (from The Inheritance of Eden)

I visited some of the real-life locations of places mentioned in Eden!verse

what's something (spoiler-free) that you're really excited for people to see in Good Omens season two?

The Whickber Street Traders and Shopkeepers Association monthly meeting.

在伊甸園裡的磨蹭蹭~~

With colors

Roman warrior Aziraphale

Open Letter to the Good Omens Fandom

Fellow Good Omens Fans,

The past few weeks, maybe even a month or longer really, things have been tense. There is a lot of drama going on within the fandom and I thought it was time for me to say something. 

What on the Almighty’s green earth is happening here?

When I first found the Fandom, it was after I saw Good Omens on Amazon Prime. I saw an Angel and a Demon completely mess everything up (”Just imagine how awful it might have been if we’d been at all competent.”) but still save the world from Armageddon. I saw an Angel and Demon who were friends, even if their respected sides were not and I saw them love one another (”To the World”). I also a kid deciding that his life, family, and friends were more important than power. I saw a witch who decided to break free from her familial expectations and burn the second book of prophecies. I fell in love with all of them and I found the most amazing group of people who loved this tale too, everyone was open and loving and welcoming writers and artists and readers and musicians… Queer friendly and cheered one another on. It was awesome. 

I slowly became brave myself and decided to take a stab at writing fan fiction and frankly reading that story now make my eyes hurt, it was bad. But again, there were cheerleaders out there who rooted for my writing and I have never felt so much support in my life. 

Then, things started to change. I think I was subconsciously effected by the shift because I stopped spending a lot of time in the Facebook groups and I never really got into Twitter until recently. My favorite writers and artists were no longer active in the groups. One of the most supportive writers (and beta) was kicked out of a group. Writers who weren’t the Select Few were getting less and less readers and support. Artists who also weren’t the Select Few were getting less support and love. Whispers started about bullying and blacklisting writers.

 Now I am, as someone who loves Good Omens and these characters, is stressed about everything that has been happening. It is difficult to write when you hear about “Two Pies” and if you’re going to be next in someone saying you’re copying them. It’s horrible to see this amazing group of artists and writers fight for Power… The Select Few can destroy a new, inexperienced writer or artist; just the fact that they only interact with one another’s fics and art creates a line of Us and them. Gatekeeping is a term that I just recently learned but it fits the bill on what is happening within the Fandom.

It hurts my heart. 

The only person who should have any say within this Fandom is Neil Gaiman. (Terry is no longer with us but if he were, he too would be right next to Neil) Us writers and artists should be grateful that Neil likes that we create. We could love a tale that the Original Writer would try to shut us down for creating fan fiction but instead we have the lovely Mr. Gaiman. If you want to be technical, we’re stealing from him his characters to tell stories that we want to tell and put them into situations that, perhaps, Neil wouldn’t want them in. But he lets us and supports us. 

I don’t want to walk away from this Fandom. It has helped me make it through my own issues with Depression and ADHD, survive Covid, stay a float when things got hard. I have made a few friends that I can’t imagine not talking to on a regular bases because of this Fandom. It gets so hard with the power struggles and the cattiness and watching people want to stay on top just as much as they want to keep people down. 

It hurts my head.

I plan to continue to write, at least my most recent WIP and I plan to continue to read whoever’s fics and look at whoever’s art. I enjoy them, kudos them, might write a comment if I have time and then read some more. But something has to give, this Fandom is going to destroy itself because of people sense of Self importance. We should love and support one another. Enjoy the gift that we have in Good Omens and Neil. The Select Few are not Gatekeepers if we don’t let them be Gatekeepers. 

Everything Hurts.

Lets build each other up. No one else will do it for us. 

Much love to you all.

Stormie