Strawberry Wine

"Strawberry Wine" is a song written by Matraca Berg and Gary Harrison, and recorded by American country music artist Deana Carter. It was released in August 1996 as Carter's debut single and the first from her debut album, Did I Shave My Legs for This? The song became a number 1 hit on both the US Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks (now Hot Country Songs) chart and the Canadian RPM Country Tracks. "Strawberry Wine" is Carter's most successful single overall, and is considered a signature song both for her and for songwriter Matraca Berg. Content "Strawberry Wine" is a sentimental ballad, backed primarily with steel guitar and percussion. As the narrator remembers a summer spent on her grandparents' farm, she nostalgically recalls herself as being naïve and youthful in pursuit of love. She compares her first love to strawberry wine, considered to be sweet and intoxicating, but ultimately bittersweet in aftertaste. As she grows older, she returns to the farm to find that everything has changed. Carter originally performed this song in the key of D-flat major with a vocal range of A3–D5. It has a 6/8 time signature and the main chord pattern is D-G-D-A-D. The lyrics were inspired by Berg's own coming of age as a teenager outside of Luck, Wisconsin. She recalled, "We used to go to my grandparents' dairy farm in the summer. My aunt, who's six months younger than me, and I would try to score some wine. And I met this boy..." The title references Boone's Farm Strawberry Hill, a wine cooler popular with teenagers at the time.