There are wine varietals that you find to be most common, when you plunk down at a restaurant, open the menu, and turn to the wine selections. The normal, everyday suspects that grow anywhere and whose names just roll off the tongue—Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Riesling, and Pinot Grigio. Sure, there are differences by regions, and even differences by producer. But do you get bored by the same five or six kinds, regardless of where they are from? Is the world only in eight-bit color to you? There are more than 10,000 grapes in the world that have successfully fermented into wine, most even produced commercially. This week at City Vino we are exploring the obscure varietals.
There are grapes in the world that are planted in a wide range of environments. This is an absolute understatement. Of this vastness is a small number of varieties that have easily traveled from their homelands and have been planted around the world. Why? Because they are proven grapes that can produce high-quality wines and are not too fussy about where they are planted.
Good Day, City Vino, fans! Your somewhat humble (sorta, kinda) blog writer, Kathy, is glad to be back writing after a several week health hiatus. Yes, it started with mild COVID, which I had managed to elude for two and a half years. Then on its heels, a severe sinus infection chaser. My sense of smell and taste were altered for a good three weeks, but it’s all coming back to me, so let’s get to it and talk wine! Woo!
The 1974 tune by Mac Davis, called “Stop and Smell the Roses,” has been hijacked by City Vino for our themed rosé tasting this weekend, which shall now be known as Stop and Smell the Rosés. Of course, our City Vino staff were not even a twinkle in our parent’s eyes in 1974 , so this song was played for us as an “oldie” in the 1990s, during our formative years . That’s our story, and we’re sticking to it.