A fault in the plumbing of a wine bottling plant gave locals a Cana-like experience for about an hour on Wednesday.Imagine going to the sink to get a drink of water or to wash the dishes, and finding the liquid coming from the tap to be a sweet red wine. You might be hesitant to take a sip, but in Castelvetro di Modena, Italy, when this scenario actually did play out this week, some people’s first instinct was to bottle the “miraculous” fluid.
Turns out it was a fluke, but it really was wine.
“I was washing stuff in the kitchen. I turned off the faucet. I turned it on again, and instead of water I saw wine: I said ‘cheers’ and [my father] and I made a toast,” 56-year-old Maurizio Volpi told Catholic News Agency.
The phenomenon occurred in the homes of several residents living close to the Settecani Cantina, a wine cellar on the outskirts of Castelvetro di Modena: the sparkling red wine Lambrusco Grasparossa di Castelvetro DOC flowed for about an hour on Wednesday. The manager of the wine cellar told an Italian news agency that the problem was a broken valve, which was connected to the water system for cleaning the wine bottles in the bottling plant.
The damaged valve caused the red wine to back up into the water main, Catholic News Agency explained. “Some loyal customers from the area called us to notify us and share that they were bottling [the wine],” said Fabrizio Amorotti. The news agency added:
Volpi said his father wanted to try to catch the wine from the faucet in a bottle as well, “but I said that I buy the wine already bottled.”
“It is clear there was a problem, no cellar exchanges water for wine,” Volpi continued. “Perhaps it could have been given to the parish priest for Mass.”
The City of Castelvetro di Modena said on Facebook that the wine was not harmful to the body and “free of both hygiene and health risks.”
“We apologize for the inconvenience which, in reality, many have much appreciated,” the city wrote.
