Wine + Music – the new perfect pairing
There is a phenomenon that exists in the wine blogging community, known as Wine Blogging Wednesday. The 2nd Wednesday of each month, there is a new topic for wine bloggers to explore, recording their discoveries and musings via their own blogs. The result? A very interesting collection of perspectives across the “blogosphere”!
The topic for the 58th installment of Wine Blogging Wednesday, as designated by Katie Pizutto over at the wonderful Gonzo Gastronomy blog, was the exploration of wine and music pairings. Ms. Pizutto’s challenge for this WBW?
The challenge I put forth to the wine bloggers out there for this month’s Wine Blogging Wednesday (#58) will involve a little more than just finding a nice wine, a lesser-known varietal or an emerging region to write about—it will involve sitting with a wine or two, tasting them, playing different types of music, and taking note of how your experiences change. This is NOT about sipping and spitting. It is NOT about a few scribbled tasting notes. And it is most definitely NOT about objectivity. And please, for the love of all that is holy, if all you have in your music collection is Michael Buble, go borrow some CDs from your head-banging neighbor, your hip-hop-loving relative, and your stuck-in-80s-alternative college buddy.
Some of us will be posting WBW entries of our own on our various personal blogs, which we’ll of course provide links to. Here’s a peek at Stacy’s wine+music pairing pick.
Anaal Nathrakh – ‘In The Constellation Of The Black Widow’ + Orin Swift 2006 ‘The Prisoner”:
If you follow me on Twitter, you recently witnessed my obsessing over the new album from this infamous “kvlt” UK duo. Blackened death crustcore with absolutely seething ferocity. We’re talking sizzling vitriol all over the place, from the stellar production to the uber-necro vocals, these guys go for the jugular with blast beats, nihilism, evil riffage, and a dose of melodic dynamics to help sink their teeth in even further. What do you pair with something so cacophnously delicious? Orin Swift’s 2006 ‘The Prisioner’….more
Erica went with a lighter music and wine pairing:
the first notes of Ginastera’s “Danza de la Moda Donoza” fill the living room, I take a few sips of the Aurora. Now – I already like this wine, but there could not be a better pairing than the Ginastera. The left hand plays, steady and mellow, in contrast with the piquant melody, creating harmonic tension that is right in balance with the tensions of flavors and structure in the “I Aurora.” I find that the more lively flavors in the I Aurora are standing out – more lime, a touch of bay leaf…more
Sasha took a different approach:
While judging a wine or pairing it with food, we attempt at objectively identifying the combination of flavors, the way wine hits our mouth and integrates with the flavors of the food, where we taste sweetness or bitterness, acidity or tannins, spice, etc. There is no equivalent science to music, no theories about how high tannin levels mold well with a 2/4 time signature or the piano. Wine does, however, share a characteristic with music that I believe can be paired in a non-traditional manner. Be warned, it is extremely subjective in nature. I will make no attempt what so ever to justify this combination with objective descriptors. I choose the music I play based on my moods. Certain moods that I believe work best for particular types of music are based mostly on MY experiences…more
Pairing wine and music is something we at AmericanWinery.com are really excited about – we recently partnered with Sony Music to launch Wine+Music, a site dedicated to the fine art of pairing music with American wine. Currently on the playlist? “El Rey” (the King) Tito Puente paired with Ceja Vineyard’s “El Trio” offering of three wines. Check out the site, where you can download the album and order the wine direct from the winery with 1¢ shipping.
We all had so much fun doing wine and music pairings, we thought we’d get our readers involved, too. Does music make your heart sing? Does wine make your toes tap? Crank up your computer’s volume and play a few numbers from the widget embedded below – then, in the comments, tell us what wine you’d pair with your favorite selection.
We could go all day.
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