not a bottle of real wine in sight. what's a prince to do?

On the first night of his Diamond Jubilee Tour of the Caribbean and Brazil, Prince Harry drank many things: a glass of 15-year-old rum, five kinds of local beer, and “several shots” of local fruit wine.

Grapefriend was intrigued – what is this fruit wine of which the prince partook? Turns out Belize doesn’t produce traditional wine since the humid climate and soil aren’t good for growing the right kinds of grapes. But fruit wines are made using native fruits like pineapple, mango, blackberry and banana. One local winery even makes wine from cashews. I’ve never had any of them, but apparently they’re all really sweet (not surprisingly).

Now, obviously Harry was being a good diplomat and I’m sure the fruit wines have their appeal. But lest we think the prince isn’t a grapefriend, I’ll point you to the following instances:

1 This December, it was reported that for his 21^st birthday his plans were to have “a quiet glass of wine with his girlfriend, Chelsy Davy and some other close friends.”

2 He always plays in the Veuve Clicquot polo match

3 This:

cheers, harry! "right back at ya, grapefriend."

As Harry declared in Belize’s local dialect, “Mek wih go paaty!” Let the party begin, indeed.