 What is a vintage?
[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from Worlds of If Science Fiction, September 1962. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] "The Bogans have launched no less than four military campaigns in the last two decades. The wine crop is just about ready. Now I don't know if you're familiar with the Bacchus vines we grow...?" "Only mature every twelve years. Blue-black sky, stars visible all day. Lots of skiing, bob-sledding, ice skating; and it's the season for woodworkers. Our furniture—" "I've seen some of your furniture," Retief said. "All local timbers too. Autumn's our harvest season. Fruit, grain, that kind of thing; getting it in doesn't take long. This is Wine Year." "Our wine crop is our big money crop," he said. But this year...." Course, I'm only twenty-eight; I can't remember but two other harvests. "It's Bacchus wine, that's all. "The custom back home is to alternate red wine and black." Had to start exporting art work too. Picking Bacchus grapes isn't a job you can turn over to machinery—and anyway we wouldn't if we could. Vintage season is the high point of living on Lovenbroy. There's prizes for the biggest day's output, bets on who can fill the most baskets in an hour.... The sun's high and bright, and it's just cool enough to give you plenty of energy. Come nightfall, the tables are set up in the garden plots, and the feast is laid on: roast turkeys, beef, hams, all kinds of fowl. Fresh-baked bread ... and wine, plenty of wine. We still tramp out the vintage. Matter of fact, pretty near half our young-uns are born after a vintage. "You say most of the children are born after a vintage. That would make them only twelve years old by the time—" "Oh, that's Lovenbroy years; they'd be eighteen, Terry reckoning." If we don't get a big vintage, Croanie steps in. Then next vintage time, with them holding half our grape acreage—" "You hocked the vineyards?" "Properly speaking, equipment grants are the sole concern of the Motorized Equipment Depot, Division of Loans and Exchanges." "Bolo Model WV/1 tractors, to be specific. "First come, first served.
 The time of year that wine grapes are harvested.
 The anniversary of Lovenbroy’s independence.  The time of year that Lovenbroy switches to making music as their primary occupation.  The time of year that wine grapes are harvested.  The time of year that children are born.