When is National Wine Day?
May 25th is National Wine Day.
What is National Wine Day?
Wine appreciation used to be an elitist domain. Those days are long gone. Now, with a little practice and some search engine savvy, most of us can pick out the notes of ‘cigar box’ in a classic Bordeaux. In honor of the democratization of wine, we lift our goblets and celebrate the fruit of the vine on National Wine Day.
A chalice of golden Chardonnay and the deep reds of a Malbec have the same effect. Wine lightens our hearts. We sip it at home and swig it at weddings for the cheer it brings to our lives.
As with many wines, there’s more to winemaking than meets the eye. The wine world separates the fruit into black grapes and white grapes. White grapes wear green, yellow, gold, or orange hues. Black grapes have red and blue shades. Both types produce clear juice though, so winemakers have to ferment black grapes in contact with their skins to create a red wine.
Look for mint notes in a Syrah, or a light petrol fragrance in a dry Riesling. National Wine Day is a chance to develop your palate, kick back with the people you love, or do both at the same time.
Fun facts about National Wine Day!
- White wines promote healthy tissues in the lungs, and they have fewer calories than reds.
- Wine grapes do better in sandy soils or soil with a lot of clay, not the loamy soils that most other plants prefer.
- The most common kind of twist-off cap is a Stelvin enclosure.
- Grapes are botanically classified as berries.
How to celebrate National Wine Day:
Share a bottle of your favorite wine with friends and family. Look up the tasting notes for that varietal to see if you can pick them up. Be sure to serve whites in taller glassware and reds in wide glasses. And remember the classic order of fine dining: whites before reds, young before old, and dry before sweet.
What’s the hashtag for National Wine Day?
Share your wine exploits on social media with #NationalWineDay.