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!
City Vino’s weekly tasting on Friday, November 19, and Saturday, November 20, features two wines labeled as “old vine” wines; one wine that is not labeled as such, but is; and one, just for fun. Let us delve into the meaning of “old vine” winemaking.
This weekend, Friday October 15 and Saturday October 16, City Vino travels the world with a destination of South Africa—specifically the area known as the coastal region. South Africa is the ninth-largest wine-producing market in the world. The country has about 230,000 acres of vines, producing 1.5 million tons of grapes (2021 harvest) of which 45 percent are red grapes and 55 percent are white grapes.
Travel right now happens to be quite restrictive, but that doesn’t mean that you cannot explore a far away place, right at home, in your glass. This week, City Vino takes you to South Africa with four wines from the country. Let us embark on our wine trip.
Our blog has featured discussions of red blends over the past year or two, like this one on Red Blends and this one Red Blends Redux. Red blends are very popular-selling wines because of how they are intentionally made to give your palate a full experience. What do we mean by "full experience?" Read on.