October Makes Fredericksburg Go Round

• Posted on 4 October 2022
• Posted in austraila, Cabernet Sauvignon, carignon, Carmenere, chardonnay, france, Italy, Petit Verdot, Virginia
• 0

So many events, so little time, friends. We have your events here! This past Saturday marked the beginning of October, and that means it is once again yes, Virginia, its Virginia Wine Month. This month vineyard crews, cellar rats, harvest interns, assistant winemakers, and winemakers themselves are spending long grueling hours harvesting their fruit, getting it fermented and turned into wine before it gets its rest over the winter. For the Virginia wine fans, there are lots of events including harvest festivals, wine dinners, bonfires, live music, food trucks, and even a few opportunities to stomp on grapes a la Lucy in Italy. (You know that you want to. Just admit it.)

If you cannot make it out to any Virginia wineries, we can help you celebrate Virginia Wine Month with our inventory of wines from these amazing producers: Barboursville Vineyards, Barrel Oak Winery, Early Mountain Vineyards, Fifty-Third Winery and Vineyards, Gabriele Rausse, General’s Ridge, Horton Vineyards, Ingleside Vineyards, Jefferson Vineyards, Michael Shaps, Mountain Run Winery, Thibaut-Janisson, and Wisdom Oak Winery. You want Virginia wine? We have your Virginia wine here! 

This past weekend, the Fred Nats held Fredtoberfest 2022, which featured people dressed in lederhosen and dirndls, fun hats, beer, music, and German food. Since it is Fall, it was also quite fitting that the event featured some alternatives to beer, including some cool meads from Saga Meadery, in Front Royal. Saga brought their Crisp Apple and Sunburst Citrus. We loved both so we bought a case of each and we will be featuring the Crisp Apple for our First Friday tasting on October 7^th. 

Fredericksburg’s own Main Street—a great non-profit organization that focuses on the economic development of our historical downtown area—is set to hold its Downtown Affair Dinner this coming Sunday October 9^th. City Vino will be doing a special wine tasting prior to the dinner featuring three wines from importer Kyslea Pere et Fils. One wine is the 2015 Brule Secaille Rouge Grande Reserve Cotes du Bourg, which is a Bordeaux blend comprised of 60 percent Merlot, 25 percent Cabernet Sauvignon, 10 percent Cabernet Franc, and 5 percent Malbec. Another is the 2020 Grace Town Chardonnay, from the Margaret River area in Australia. This is a great area for Chardonnay. Expect some tropical fruits, citrus, flowers, and creaminess. Our final wine is so new to the shop that we don’t even have it in our online inventory yet!  It’s the 2016 Ilaria De Nardi Winery Amarone Della Valpolicella Classico, from Italy. If you aren’t familiar with Amarone, you might want to introduce yourself. The grapes for this wine and wines made in this style, are harvested ripe, and then allowed to dry on mats, racks, or baskets for up to 120 days. This allows the grapes to become a bit shriveled due to evaporation of water from within. The sugars and flavors being concentrated yield a wine with big flavor. 

According to secret sources, the Downtown Affair Dinner MAY include items like Butternut Squash Soup, salad with Smoked Duck, Goat Cheese, and Cranberries, Cioppino, Braised Beef with Swiss Chard, with a side of cheese cannelloni with carrot ginger puree. Oh, did I mention the Burgundy reduction on that beef? No? My bad. Then there is dessert. Hello, DAD, you had me at Duck.

Finally, on Friday and Saturday we have our regular weekly tasting this week featuring wines from Chile.

Join City Vino, in store this weekend, for an exploration of the wines of Chile. The wines are the 2016 Inu Chardonnay, from the Maule Valley; 2019 Misiones de Rengo Black Gran Reserva Cabernet Sauvignon, from the Maipo Valley; 2019 Misiones de Rengo Carmenere Cuvee Gran Reserva, from the Rapel Valley; and the 2014 Undurraga Terroir Hunter Carignon TH, from the Maule Valley. Come hunt some Chilean terroir with us!

Whatever you decide to do this week, enjoy!  Cheers!