Bota Bag Lesson

My dad was not a big drinker, so why the ski season bota bag, I really don’t know. But I can see him with it, in a Nordic sweater, the wineskin’s cord looped around his head and one arm so the leather pouch rested low on his chest in front of the other arm, pointing slightly upward.   A giant, three dimensional comma, filled with wine.   Surely in his imagination he was the image of the quintessential European skier…but as he led a parade of three little kids,  hats and tiny skis askew, followed by our mom, he was in reality, a little less cool than he was in his head.   I can remember him showing us how it was done.  He’d tip back his head, begin to squirt the wine into his mouth, then draw the nozzle of the sack farther and farther from his face until finally the wine was no longer meeting its intended target and he had rich, red liquid dripping from his nose and chin.  My brothers and I would crack up; my mother would roll her eyes which only encouraged him to direct the stream of wine at her.  He’d laugh at himself and sling the wine-skin behind him—skiing off only slightly embarrassed; confident that his technique was pretty close to classic.

Today’s commercially available renditions of the bota are latex lined leather sacks stoppered like a sport drink bottle.  The ancient origin is lost to history but the iconic Spanish version has emerged as a legacy to traditional personal liquid transport.   Shaped like a curved drop of water the traditional bota was handmade from goat skin that was dried and treated with certain tree bark extracts and vegetable tannins.  It was specially sewn in such a way that the seam was tightly sealed, stitches were turned to the inside and the bag was rinsed with “pez” (not candy but a hot liquid form of juniper resin that creates a waterproof coating when swirled into the flexible bottle).  After a decorative red cord is attached the traditional wine-skin is ready for use.

Sweet fizzy drinks will do ok in the plastic lined version, but not in the traditionally created one.  A "real" bota is perfect for wine—like wine the bags get better as they age and some say the flavor of the wine is enhanced after it lives in the wine-skin for a while.

Dad’s bota eventually became dry and brittle.  The man just didn’t drink enough wine to keep it supple through the years.   So, through him I learned an important ski lesson:  the key to continuous coolness is to drink wine with regularity.  Keep your bota close, and refill it often!