Focus wines for City Vino this week

Flora and fauna are stretching awake, and at long last we can see the honest brown mud beneath what was once a stubborn sheet of snow. Virginia’s gloriously wet, unapologetically muddy spring has arrived. The earth is breathing again. The streams are gossiping. The first green insists on pushing through.
Let’s encourage it properly. Let the cider sparkle like thawing frost under sunlight, bright, crisp, alive with orchard energy. Let the honey mead hum with the soft buzz of bees already plotting their summer kingdoms. Apple and blossom, mud and nectar, thaw and bloom! This is the season of resurrection, messy and magnificent. Happy days are here again. And they taste like cider and mead.
Albemarle CiderWorks Goldrush Virginia NV 100% GoldRush apple. Rich flavors with tart lime and lime zest acidity, balanced with a spicy, sweetness, with background notes of toast, yogurt, and butterscotch. Dry and crisp with citrus overtones hinting of grapefruit. Its tartness on the tongue is smoothed by notes of honey and ginger.
Albemarle CiderWorks Royal Pippin Virginia NV 100% Albemarle Pippin. Notes of pineapple, grape well balanced acidity and lush apple. Crisp minerality with notes of green apple, birch, black tea. This one is a little dry, fun little funk, and a little tart. Creamy effervescent, with a medium body and finish.
Honey and Hops Scenic Drive Mead Virginia NV Slightly white flower floral with clover honey aromas. Honeysuckle, citrus, lemon on the plate with a touch of graham cracker and yeasty bread, medium-plus finish. This is off dry with medium acidity and body.
Honey and Hops Summertime Session #6 Blackberry Mead Virginia NV Fresh blackberry aromas with slight herbal, floral, and red hots, touches. This seccion style is off dry with additional flavors of dark berry compote, citrus, light earth. Fun tart finish. Best served with a slight chill.