Summer is coming, and with it dinners on the patio, parties on the beach, cookouts with friends, rose wine.  But what’s happening to all of the rose wine that people did not drink last summer during COVID?  It’s a very sad story.

With everything that’s going on in the world right now, why would scientists sending wine into space?  It turns out there is a very down to earth reason. And wine lovers should care.

Nestled on a comparatively tiny 12-hectare parcel in the heart of the Côte de Blancs, Agrapart et Fils has been family run since 1894. The current patriarch, Pascal Agrapart, is a man who is as passionate about the earth it’s grown on as he is about the wine.

Certain foods are best enjoyed in the cold winter months — hearty stews, heavy soups, thick slabs of meat. Others are better on sultry summer days — cold gazpacho, leafy salads, sautéed fish. And then there are those foods that can be enjoyed regardless of the turning of seasons. Indeed, one of them literally translates as “turning” — shawarma.

By now, most people have had the opportunity to enjoy tapas. Though invented in Spain, the popularity of small, shareable plates paired with wine or sherry has gone global. Some countries have their own twist on tapas, like botanas in Mexico or Pica-Pica in the Philippines.