Wine-blogging Wednesdays: Music + wine

We wanted to try several wines for Wine Blogging Wednesday (WBW), so we started with Champagne from Georges Lacombe. The Grande Cuvee is a tart, food-needy Champers. It’s bright, floral, with coarse bubbles. There are other bubbles that you can get for this price ($25) that might score higher, but this is a good value for an actual Champagne.

Kathy paired the bubbles with Roller Coaster Blues sung by Diana Dors from the CD Sex Kittens in Hi-Fi. Michael said the wine and song reminded him of a mid-level lounge act that could break into Burlesque at any minute. Both the Champagne and the song were sexy in that five-and-dime kind of way. Neil paired the Georges Lacombe with Sweet Dreams by Armik, from the CD Café Romantico. The bubbles and tartness paired well with the melancholy romance of Armik’s Sweet Dreams. Champagne should not only be used to celebrate the sweet life—sometimes you drink it just to celebrate life.

We then moved on to a 2006 Von Buhl Riesling ($17), which was medium-dry at 10.5%. The back of the bottle says that Maria Schneider, “one of Jazz’s finest arrangers and composers,” helped hand select the grapes for this wine. In the glass, the wine displayed overripe peach, the beach, and petroleum, which makes one think of Glen Campbell’s “Galveston”. Rachael thought the wine was interesting with a nose full of smoke and gasoline with hints of sweat and overripe peaches. This may sound less than enticing, but it’s pleasant in its own way and hits a spot on your palate you may not even be acquainted with. For this reason, Neil paired the wine with Coltrane. It has got to be something from past decades, preferably vinyl and covered in formidable dust.

Next was the Girard 2007 Sauvignon Blanc ($11), at a whopping 13.9%. Right out of the bottle, the WineEnabler.com crew felt that the alcohol in this wine was slightly too apparent. In the mouth, there was a hint of grapefruit but all in all it tasted a bit like cold, thick water. In general an inoffensive wine, but in our group being an inoffensive wine is an offense. The best wine paring came from our music critic, Rachael (see her music reviews at the Austinist.com). She paired the Girard with Richard Buckner’s “Gauzy Dress in the Sun”—a good tune from a talented musician that was playing it safe.

The favorite white for WBW was a Cotes du Rhone from Domaine de la Becassonne ($12). Made from 50% Roussane, 30% Grenache, and 20% Clairette. For Rachael and Michael, it was love at first sniff—caramel, sunshine, and pastry dough. Youthful but very sophisticated, like an Italian moped, and all this for only $12. This wine would go great with Au Revoir Simone, “Only You Can Make You Happy”

With that we moved on to the red wine part of the program starting with Lange 2007 Pinot Noir from Willamette Valley. Showing smoldering paper, light red fruit, and earth, this is an Oregon Pinot with just a touch of Northern California thrown in for good measure. We rocked out with this wine listening to Low, “It’s the Drugs”. Keep an eye open for this one—it sells for about $25.

The favorite wine we tried for WBW was a 2005 Chateau de Carles Fronsac Bordeaux. With our steak au poivre, the Fronsac was almost perfection—enough said. The music pairing for this one came out of a collective “a-ha moment” as we listened to “Leaf House” by Animal Collective. Sometimes it seems like good taste is universal.

We closed WBW with 2006 Chateau Montelena Zinfandel. After all the old world wine, this one came out of the bottle like a dessert wine. Dark with sweet fruit, this one manages to escape being overly-oaked. The European wine snobs seemed to unanimously approve of this CA wine, but only at the end of the night. I’m thinking I would pair this with an Iron and Wine song, maybe “Flightless Bird, American Mouth.”

This was our first WBW, and it was a blast but perhaps a little long for a school night. We particularly liked the choice of paring music and wine—it offers infinite possibilities.

Check out these related posts:

1. For lower priced sparkling wines, think outside of France
2. Food and wine pairing: oysters with Champagne, Prosecco, and Cava
3. Mixing wine bars and the Austin City Limits (ACL) 2008 Music Festival
4. Prosecco and white wine with the Preakness
5. Wine, food & friends – better than Valentine’s day