Last year, the 700 block of Caroline decided to collaborate with each other during the Christmas holiday season. As a way of promoting each other, Chris Allen, of Duly Noted, suggested a cookie crawl where customers would purchase a tin and then collect their cookies along the path of participating businesses. Having sold out of tickets, Chris decided to take this idea to a much bigger platform. Chris is also the Executive Director of Mainstreet, which is a national nonprofit organization that focuses on the economic improvements of historical downtowns.
Many of us will be hitting the road this holiday season, and traveling near or far to celebrate the holidays with family and friends. In this “spirit” City Vino presents some wines to bring along with you to gift or share. We are calling these selections the “Nifty Gifty” wines.
Have you ever put a glass of wine up to your nose and noticed prominent aromas of flower, and wondered those notes come from? I can, with good conscience, confirm that floral scents in wine DO NOT come from a winemaker dipping an extra-large tea bag of dried flower petals into their tank or barrel of wine. The answer to the question, “Well, from where then?” is chemistry. I know that your eyes are now glazing over, and you are being flooded with memories of high school lab, and the smell of burning sulfur is filling your nostrils and making you cough. Bear with me, okay?
This past weekend, City Vino and Fredericksburg Théâtre Ensemble (FTE) joined forces for the 2nd Voices and Vines Signature Series. This is a fun-filled evening in the style of a musical cabaret, with a wine tasting component between songs. The first of the series was back in March, where we focused on blind tasting, because we had not attempted this kind of show before and really didn’t know how it would be received. Having such a fun experience, the next topic chosen was “miscast,” with the idea of a singer choosing a song that was completely out of character; eg. Justin Yates who sang “Fast Car,” by Tracy Chapman. So much fun!
Have you ever heard the phrase “money doesn’t grow on trees”? If you would have asked the Mayans and the Aztecs back in 250 AD, they would have said, “Yes, it does!” The cocoa bean was their form of currency, and only the upper class could afford to drink their money. What they discovered then is what we still love about chocolate today, Its perceived ability to increase stamina, endurance, mood, romantic arousals … LUST!
