About 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 also became Carter's first 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.

"Strawberry Wine" is a ballad, backed primarily with steel guitar and percussion. The narrator describes a time in her youth when she lost her innocence, and compares her love to the sweetness of "strawberry wine". As she grows older, she returns to this place, to find that everything has changed. Carter originally performed this song in the key of D-flat major with a vocal range of A?3-D?5. It has a 6/8 time signature and the main chord pattern is D?-G?-D?-A?-D?. The song tells the story of co-writer 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..." Berg shopped the song to record labels around Nashville, but they passed, considering it overly long, controversial due to its reference to a teenage girl losing her virginity, and not memorable enough. Deana Carter heard Berg perform the song at a showcase and then recorded it for her debut album, Did I Shave My Legs for This?.