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.)

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 week’s blog from City Vino discusses the topic of “food-friendly” wines. What makes a wine “food-friendly”? According to Dave McIntyre of the Washington Post, in his article titled “What does it mean for a wine to be ‘food-friendly’? Here’s what to look for.”, Dave states “A truly food-friendly wine plays nicely with a wide variety of foods, from sweet to savory to spicy, from meat to fish to veggies — not a unicorn wine for a ‘perfect pairing’ with a specific dish.”

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!