This week’s tasting at City Vino features wines where there wasn’t really a particular theme in mind. I considered calling it a “Variety of Varieties,” until I realized that one of the wines was technically a blend of 85 percent of one grape, and 15 percent another. Though many places around the world, legally, the 85 percent means it can be labelled as the predominant grape variety without mentioning the secondary grape at all, but let’s stick to the non-themed theme, shall we?

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.

Similar to our climate here in Virginia, Italy is experiencing temperatures in the 45-to-60+-degree range, as spring is rapidly approaching both here and there. Join City Vino in-store this coming Saturday, February 26th, from noon to 4:00 pm for a taste of “Spring in Italy.”

When we think of sparkling wine, our thoughts focus on a coupe, flute or tulip glass, partially filled with a light to medium-gold wine, with bubbles rising in a stream to the top. Or perhaps, you think of a pink bubbly. City Vino is here to tell you that All That Sparkles is Not Gold (or Pink). Red sparkling wine exists, and has its place in your glass and on the table.