A Dog’s Tale

Lubanzi Wines
Red 2023
Shiraz
Certified organic Ecocert
Swartland, South Africa
Charles Brain & Walker Brown and their team

Deep purple pour with maroon glints. Sniffing raspberry, rosehips, cherry, blackberries, boysenberry, dried Mission figs, plums & their blossoms, and  a little smoke. Sipping and there’s plums (bright & dark with pits, skin & all), cherries, blackberries, boysenberry, singed orange peel, dates & dried fig, again that smidge of smoke, and at last black pepper tingle.

Pairs with Cheez-Its: Party time!

You have to love a wine named after a dog. The story told is Charles Brain & Walker Brown (originally from USA) while they were exchange students in South Africa (2014) went on a backpacking adventure. On their second day a “wandering dog” joined their trek. Locals called him “Lubanzi” and he followed alongside them for 6 days/100 miles until one night he just disappeared. Was he really a dog, their protector, or a spirit animal? It’s fitting that their kindred traveling friend’s name is now emblazoned on their wines. In 2016, they moved back to ZA with a plan. They brought the right people & grapes into their lives, and wanted to give back to the country they so loved. Lubanzi Wines “pledged 50% of our net profits to back the Pebbles Project, a Non-Profit that works with the low-income families who live and work on South Africa’s wine farms. They focus on growing families by providing resources and improving access to high-quality health care & educational services.” Charles & Walker are truly not only making great wine, but also making positive impact for people, offsetting their greenhouse gas emissions, and making our planet a better place. As they say, “We believe in the power of business to change the world.” ❤️🍷

Grooving Into Fall

Jauma
Disco Special 2020
Grenache Noir & Shiraz
Grapes sourced from McLaren Vale
Organic, indigenous yeasts, unfined & unfiltered
Winery: Lenswood, Adelaide Hills, Australia
Owner & winemaker: James Erskine; Farmer: Fiona Wood

Maroon-violet chilled beauty. Pop the cap, pour, and a whiff of Oreo cream center heads out followed by pine needles, juicy plums, cherries, blueberries, and a little natural funk on day one that blends out to a dark foresty fairyland. Ok, so here’s all the flavors that are dancing and grooving around in my mouth. There’s cherry, forest floor and pine needles, citrus peel (mixed bag), blueberry, blackberries, a big boom of raspberries, boysenberries, tart plums, dried brown figs, and moroccan dry cured olives. Just juicy delicious but a dry bit at the back and has me craving salami and of all things onion rings. Perfect easy drinker to slide into Fall.

Pairs with Cheez-It’s: Smooth and bright

Hmmm what music pairs up with “Disco Special”? My first thought was Blondie’s “Heart of Glass”, but the more I sipped, nope…It’s Faithless or rather Maxi Jazz. Needle is dropped on “God Is A DJ”.

This is my church

This is where I heal my hurts

It’s in natural grace

Or watching young life shape

It’s in minor keys

Solutions and remedies

Enemies becoming friends

When bitterness ends

This is my church

This is my church

This is my church

This is my church

This is where I heal my hurts

It’s in the world I’ve become

Contained in the hum

Between voice and drum

It’s in the change

The poetic justice of cause and effect

Respect, love, compassion

This is my church

This is where I heal my hurts

For tonight

God is a DJ

For tonight

God is a DJ

This is my church

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