Four Toasts for Independence Day and an American Wine to Fill Your Glass With
It was tradition to celebrate Independence Day with thirteen toasts. The series of toasts generally started with one to the United States of America, followed by several to our allies, one to General George Washington, and perhaps one’s home state. I suggest you help revive this tradition by making your own series of toasts. To help you out I have included four toasts from the 1779 celebration in Philadelphia. For those of you with fireworks it would be appropriate to light thirteen after each toast.
- The friends and patriots of liberty throughout the world.
- The memories of those heroes who have nobly died in defending the rights of their country.
- May American never forget that virtue, valour and science are the bulwarks of her independence.
- Peace, liberty, and happiness to all mankind.
While it would be very patriotic to toast with American beer or cider, this blog focuses in on wine so here is a Californian suggestion from The Withers Winery. This winery is the project of Andrew Tow with David Low of Anthill Farms Winery as the winemaker. Together they make wine with minimal intervention using fruit from cooler areas in the Sierra Foothills. This particular bottling uses fruit from the Eaglepoint Ranch located at 1700 feet on decomposed sandstone with veins of red loam. This translates to a wine lighter in body with clean fruit and moderate structure. In other words, your palate will not be fatigued after thirteen toasts! Definitely worth checking out.
2012 The Withers Winery, Cody, Mendocino County – $35
This wine is a blend of Grenache and Syrah. This wine is a blend of 70% Grenache and 30% Syrah. Alcohol 14.1%. There was a delicate nose that was attractive with ripe strawberry aromas. In the mouth were moderately ripe, cooler tasting, clean flavors of fruit. The wine was lifted with both strawberry and black fruit flavors, minerals, and with air, a little structure. The moderate amount of ripe tannins were followed by a rather persistent aftertaste. Needs two to three hours to open up. *** Now-2018.
