This weekend, City Vino, invites you to taste wines to pair with a Spanish-inspired picnic!! “Picnic” often conjures up a pretty blanket on the ground in a beautiful setting, surrounded by a cooler, straw basket, and straw hats shading one’s head from rays of the strong sun above. Or, perhaps, a beach towel on the sand and sandwiches. These days, there are companies that will set up a fancy table with a vase of flowers low to the ground, surrounded by ample pillows and glorious food and wine. Not quite “glamping,” aka “glam camping,” but very close. These days, for me, my joints prefer that I not sit on the hard, because I may not be able to get up off said ground, so I’d surely opt for a nice table under and awning or large umbrella.

Have you ever heard the phrase “money doesn’t grow on trees”? If you would have asked the Mayans and the Aztecs back in 250 AD, they would have said, “Yes, it does!” The cocoa bean was their form of currency, and only the upper class could afford to drink their money. What they discovered then is what we still love about chocolate today, Its perceived ability to increase stamina, endurance, mood, romantic arousals … LUST!

We’ve all heard of someone having a piercing glance, but have you heard about a piercing white wine? In the case of glances, the term piercing often means that a person is looking especially intently at someone or something, to the point where it can make others feel uncomfortable. In the world of wine, piercing references those wines with high acidity. High acidity in a wine may make your salivary glands go into overdrive, jaw joint feel like it’s gripped or locked for a split second, or maybe it makes your lips pucker

When we think of certain grapes, we may immediately think of the specific country, region, or specific city, and it is often the place where the grape originated or first attained notoriety. The Albariño grape may lead you to think of Northwest Spain’s Rias Baixas region, and Pinot Noir may bring you to Burgundy, in France. If you shop wine store shelves, often you may see the name of a familiar grape, but from a place far away from the grape’s origins.
This week City Vino’s tasting will feature wines made with the grapes that will perhaps lead you to say (or at least think) “I didn’t know they grew that there.”