Two items for this post.
We recently visited, for the third time, a new wine bar on upper King Street (700B) in Charleston, SC. Graft Wine Shop and Bar is a very comfortable space. Their owners, Femi Oyediran and Miles White, have been recognized for their both their palate and their approach to marketing wine. The recognition is well deserved.
Graft is a wonderful place to try new and unique wines. The list changes regularly, and they often use a Coravin system to offer ‘high end’ wine wines by the glass. For those of you living in the Low Country, or for those of you visiting the ‘Holy City’, consider visiting this wine bar surrounded by a bevy of excellent restaurants.
Graft also offers a small, but carefully selected, collection of wines available by the bottle.
One of the wines is the Matthiason Napa Valley Chardonnay. We purchased a bottle of the 2016.
Good choice.
Produced from vineyards organically farmed for 25 years (and biodynamic for 20). The Matthiasson Chardonnay is carefully picked in two batches. The first batch, about 80% of the fruit “was harvested to capture natural acidity”. The second harvest sought the richness and fruit driven grapes that would frame this wine. The winery utilizes 100% malolactic fermentation. However, this is a wine that is very lean. They age for 11 months in French oak.
Look for pear and apple on the nose, and melon that evolves on the palate and through a lingering finish.
Great wine. Not cheap…$40…but, a wine worth the price.
The second item is the South Walton Beach Wine and Food Festival.
Joy and I (and a close friend) are on our way to the Gulf Coast of Florida to enjoy four days of wine, food, seminars, and conversation. The folks at Chan’s Wine World have done a marvelous thing in creating and growing this event.
This is an extraordinary experience (including one of the finest charity wine auctions), and no matter where you live, if you are interested in wine please consider traveling to the Fort Walton area of Florida for this event.
I look forward to sharing insights on this experience when we return.
We’re near Destin, Fl not Ft. Walton Beach. We are in Walton County, Fl.
South Walton Wine and Food Festival, according to Wine Spectator #3 out of the top 10 Charity wine festivals in USA
Last year $2.7 million for kid’s charities. Thanks for the mention.
Sorry, Jackie. The marvelous ‘Winemakers and Shakers’ sponsored by Wine World and hosted by the Wine World location in Destin was the first event of “The South Walton Beaches Wine and Food Festival”. This is certainly one of the largest (according to the Wine Spectator) auctions in the nation, and as indicated, generates more than $2.5 million for Northeast Florida children’s charities, and for Napa and Sonoma fire relief. Great wine and a great time all in the name of charity! The Wine World management and staff is dedicated to making this an extraordinary weekend for both the many professionals offering tastes, and for the many thousands of people who make a spring pilgrimage to the panhandle region of Florida. It is certainly an experience to ‘savor’.
There are still tickets available for the Saturday and Sunday Grand Tastings held at The Town Center of Grand Boulevard of Sandestin, Florida (Miramar Beach). More than 800 wines will be available for tasting. Although a bit last second, if you have an unscheduled weekend, consider hitting the road for this beautiful region of Florida. The weather will be marvelous for tasting wine and meeting new people.
At last evening’s Winemakers and Shakers event, I had the pleasure of tasting many new wines and spirits, and some new vintages of old favorites that I look forward to sharing with you over the next few weeks.