Last week’s blog, I (Kathy Wiedemann) Was a Judge for the Virginia Governor’s Cup 2022 - Part I, covered up to my pickup of the precious cargo which was the first 60-plus wines to be judged on day one of the final judging for the “best wines in Virginia.” I purposely put that in quote marks because not all wineries submit their wines to the cup competition. Their reasons for not submitting wines vary. Some wineries are not into competitions and medals. Others don’t have the required quantity of cases to hold back and make available after the competition is completed. I am sure there are many other reasons.

The store owner at City Vino, Rita Allan, challenged me, your humble (ahem) weekly blog writer, with the topic “Does Raspberry Color Mean Raspberry Flavor?” in my wine, as all the wines in this weekend’s tasting skew to a lovely shade in the raspberry color spectrum. As I spent time over the last several days pondering how to frame the blog for this week, my inner Prince surfaced, and these modified lyrics were running through my head over and over again:
She drank a
Raspberry colored-wine
The kind you find in a local wine store
Raspberry colored-wine
And if it was warm out, she’d probably drink much more
Raspberry colored-wine
I think she loves it
You’ll thank me for the ear worm later. I promise.

This coming weekend, February 4th and 5th, City Vino presents wines from Château Ksara, in the Bekaa Valley, in Lebanon. On Saturday, Jon Yeager, of International Cellars, will be your guide for the tasting, and will be sharing the story of the renowned winemaking property. The Château was founded in 1857 by the Jesuits, who would discover underground Roman-era cellars in 1898, which continue to be used to age the wines.

This time of year, beautiful images circulate of bare wooded grapevines against the backdrop of snow-covered ground. Snow-covered ground isn’t an issue for the vines this time of year. The snow acts as a blanket and can protect the vine’s root systems from sub-freezing temperatures.