Archive for the ‘Wine and Jazz’ Category

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Farewell to The Big Man ….

June 20, 2011

The world lost quite a musical force of nature on the 18th of June. Clarence Clemons, the Big Man in Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band, passed due to complications from a stroke. An irreplaceable loss, indisputably.

Now, I’ll confess that Springsteen and co. haven’t done much of worth to me in many, many, many years, but the early works remain powerful and beautiful to me, and they remain a part of my life, and my soul. Bless you Clarence, for contributing so many heartrendingly excellent melodies to the canon of our sonic lives.

But why note all this here, on a wine blog? Accruers of Springsteen arcana will know, but in case the rest of you don’t, you’ll have to come with me all the way back to 1974. When The Boss looked like this:

as opposed to this:

And Big Man Clarence rocked like this:

It was Liberty Hall, in Houston, Texas, and Springsteen had a problem; a broken guitar string. For not the first time, and certainly not the last, The Big Man was right there to save the day, as he would do time and time again over the decades. The Big Man went to the mic, and called the tune, a little slab of jazzy soul by the legendary vocal trio Hendricks, Lambert, and Ross. The band hit it, and Clarence dropped the lines; some of the both funnier and more pathotic spins of viticultural prioritization ever committed to record. For example (lyrics approximate, as they were delivered live):

Well one day when I was laying down napping
When I woke up everything was burning with a snap, and a crackle and a pop
You know the fireman chopped up my TV set and tore my apartment apart
But when he raised his axe on my bottle, Jim, I had screamed with all my heart

Gimme that wine
Gimme that wine
Gimme that wine
Let me take one toast before I roast

Or:

Well one day when I was walkin’ home, staggerin’ home to bed
A bandit jumped from the shadows, put a blackjack upside my head
That cat took my watch, my ring, my money and I didn’t make a sound
But when he reached in for my bottle Jim, you could hear me scream for blocks around

Gimme that wine
Gimme that wine
Gimme that wine
Beat my head out of shape, but leave my grape

Wherever your journeys may take you now Clarence, here’s to hoping you’ve got your wine with you! You’ll be very, very missed, but we appreciate the gifts you left us. The rave-ups and rockers were groovy, but it’s the long, slow, elegantly stately and soulful ballads that continue to move me Clarence. They’re beautiful.

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Posted in History, Viticultural Salmagundi, Wine & Music, Wine and Jazz, Wine Quotes, Wine Tales | 1 Comment »

Monte Bello Jazz: Real Time, the Assemblage Monte Bello Band!

May 5, 2011

We enjoyed the Assemblage Monte Bello Event for so many reasons, and in so many ways; some of them expected, some of them surprising. The music was a little bit of both: expected, in that we knew how good it was going to be ahead time and surprising in that I don’t think we quite realized how much you were going to like it! I mean, we knew you would like it, but …

In the aftermath of the event, we have received so many positive comments about the music that I thought I ought to just give the artists their due for a moment. The band is called Real Time, and here are the musicians that comprise this fine ensemble:

Tim Jackson-flute

Jerry Shanahan-guitar

Marshall Otwell-piano

Scott McKenna-bass

Mike Shannon-drums

Needless to say, we’re already looking for another opportunity to bring these gents back to Monte Bello, but in the interim, I have very good news! We have secured the swinging services of Real Time for our upcoming Spring Release Celebration at Lytton Springs on May 14th! For more about this fantastic event (and to purchase tickets), please click here, and to enjoy a pair of quick video samples of the band in action at Monte Bello, please see below!

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Posted in Events & Photographs, Lytton Springs, Monte Bello, Wine and Jazz | Leave a Comment »

Assemblage Monte Bello: What An Event!

April 28, 2011
 Still gasping for breath … still crazy after all these days …

And what an event it was!

From the food …

Cowgirl Creamery Co-Founder Sue Conley Sharing Her Wares!

 

Charcuterie from Fatted Calf (including special event-only Sausage and Pate made with Ridge wine!)

 

My hometown heroes! Gayle's Bakery brings the grains!

 

To the music …

The very excellent "Real Time" dropping swing like Gallieo dropped an orange!

and the setting …

And a cheers to you too, Mr. Man-Who-Noticed-I-Was-Taking-A-Picture!

plus the extra special guest hosts …

Bodhi holding court!

to the wine (can’t forget the wine!) …

No, MY Ridge wine is better!

it was just almost too good to be true!

But of course what TRULY makes an event like this so special is not just the beauty of the place …

"Monte Bello" indeed ...

 the chillaxedeness of the hang …

Chillaxedness ...

 or the extra-special Production Team Hosts …

Karen Schmidt, Director of Quality Control/Chemist, Monte Bello ...

 it’s YOU!

Whether you were in the Old Winery Barn tasting library wines and barrel samples …

Tasting barrel samples and library Monte Bello in the Old Winery Barn!

 or in the picnic area enjoying our wines with your friends and family over delicious picnic lunches …

Heyy Boo Boo, I think I see a picnic basket!

 or vibin’ to the jazz on the knoll …

Alphabetic Excellence: J,K,L =Jazz, Knoll, Love!

 you were great. Wherever you were, you were great. Even when you were parking your car on the ridge behind the vines …

Now, THAT'S a parking lot!!!

 you were great.

You were great to pour wine for …

Shun "Francisco" Ishikubo, Assistant Production Manager ...

 you were great to feed …

Omigod, cheese platter!

 and you were great to perform for.

There ain't no wrong notes on Marshall's piano!

 

Really. You were great. But I have to say, you may have worn us out!

Dang! My Ah So broke!

From all of us at Ridge, thank you so very much for attending Assemblage Monte Bello, 2011!

Posted in Events & Photographs, Food & Wine Pairing, Monte Bello, RIDGE Staff, Special Offerings, Tasting Flights, Tasting Rooms, Wine and Jazz | Leave a Comment »

Things I’m Thankful For …

November 23, 2010

On November 23rd of 2009, I posted a “Things I’m Thankful For …” list on this blog, in the spirit of the coming Thanksgiving holiday. I’d like to offer a new list for 2010 (though there may be the occasional overlap!) …

Things I’m Thankful For:

That despite a list of shortcoming that rivals the biblical begats, the gods and fates and powers-that-be have nonetheless chosen to bless me with an absolute miracle of a delight of a wonder of a wife, and a daughter who is to me perfection and miracles and magic …

The blessing of great parents, who are young, healthy, vibrant, and close by, and who love their children and their grand-children …

That the 1993 Monte Bello, in 375ml format, has really come into its own …

Friends near and far …

John Coltrane …

Lambchopper cheese, which is just SO good …

Han-Shan’s Cold Mountain Poems …

That the collective wisdom of Ridge Vineyards is just bent enough to have bestowed upon me the honor and opportunity of hosting this blog …

Pizza … especially mushroom and jalapeno pizza. Especially when I’m putting a piece of it into my mouth, when my mouth still has half-a-quaff’s worth of Ridge Vineyards Geyserville in it …

The new wireless surround-sound speakers that Chuck O’ Connor helped us get for the Monte Bello Tasting Room …

The book Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind …

Decanters with a rounded glass lip instead of cut glass …

That just about everyone who visits our tasting room knows not to rinse their glass with water between tastes …

Monterey Bay, and the whales who breach up from its depths into the murk and mist of a winter dusk when you’re standing on the beach with your very pregnant fiancée, wondering what on earth is going to become of you all …

Acidity, and the palates that love it …

That the 2008 Pagani Ranch just sings, and sings, and sings …

That Paul Draper and Eric Baugher and David Gates and Caleb Mosley  have all  been so kind with their time, slowly ushering me into the vast halls of their collective knowledge of vineyards, wineries, and all that Monte Bello mojo …

That everyone else at Ridge has been so equally kind to me …

Lloyd’s Tires in Santa Cruz, and the Mazda company; without them, I’d never survive the Capitola-Monte Bello commute …

Haig’s Hummus. Not only because it’s the greatest hummus in all the world’s long history, but also because it pairs so well with our chardonnays …

That Ryan Moore and his lovely missus Dulcie have joined the Ridge family …

Flat-bottom glasses and the third-day Monte Bello I drink from them …

Moleskine notebooks …

That my daughter, at 22 months, can already play a bit of piano, and a bit of saxophone, and that, when she wakes up from a nap, she turns to one of the posters on her walls and says, “Wake up, Miles Davis!” …

Head-trained and dry-farmed vines …

Every single member of the Monte Bello Tasting Room Staff …

That Sandy Johnson has been named the Lytton Springs Tasting Room Manager … and every single member of the Lytton Springs Tasting Room Staff …

That we double-decant every wine before we serve it in the tasting rooms …

Pesto …

More pesto …

That those who got a tattoo (permanent) just because it was a trend (not permanent) will in some way or another eventually get their just desserts …

Sportcoats …

Champys …

Champys and Salt & Vinegar crisps …

That I own a piano …

Drinking wine and playing piano …

Drinking wine and listening to someone else play piano …

Drinking wine …

The phrase “evidencing secondary maturation characteristics” …

All the wine bloggers who’ve been a part of our Wine Bloggers Tastings …

That almost everyone who works for Ridge has really groovy footwear …

Indian food, specifically Punjab Choley, paired with Ridge Vineyards Buchignani Ranch Carignane …

Listening to Perry Farrell of Jane’s Addiction sing “Comin’ Down The Mountain” when I’m comin’ down the mountain …

The Pneumonia’s Last Syrah campaign …

Non-sequiturs …

Horizontal tastings of a wine in multiple bottle formats … especially when I’m in charge of decanting and tasting everything before the wines are served … and particularly if it’s Lytton Springs …

Manual typewriters. Particularly Underwoods, Royals, and Remingtons …

My daughter’s giggle …

My wife’s giggle …

People who read both Rilke and Bukowski …

People who drink both Three Valleys and Monte Bello …

Chelsea Boots from Wales and PF Flyer Tenny-Runners …

Drinking Ridge Vineyards Carmichael zin while wearing Chelsea Boots from Wales, or drinking the Ridge Vineyards Mazzoni Home Ranch zin while wearing PF Flyer Tenny-Runners …

Every work in charcoal that my very talented missus has ever made …

That someone believed in me enough to publish a book of my poems, and that a wonderful work in charcoal by my very talented missus graces the cover of that book …

That Nicole Buttitta didn’t think it was prohibitively weird that my first interview with Ridge was a phone interview, with her in her office at Monte Bello, and me in a 28 ft. truck at a truck stop in Wyoming …

That on Thelonious Monk’s birthday, we are able to play 8 straight hours of his music in the Monte Bello Tasting Room …

The magnum of 1989 Monte Bello that we’ll be having on Thanksgiving …

The 2006 & 2007 Monte Bello chardonnays that we’ll be having on Thanksgiving …

The couple that brought the last third of their bottle of 1964 Monte Bello into the Monte Bello Tasting Room for everyone to taste, the morning after they’d opened it and found it to be delicious …

Wine nerds who keep handwritten tasting notes for years …

My new  Ducti Duct-Tape wallet that my missus got me,which is a replacement that the company provided when she mailed my raggedy old one back …

Film noir …

William Faulkner …

Every word between the first word of Winnie-The-Pooh and the last word of The House at Pooh Corner …

California; specifically the northern part …

The view of Northern California from Monte Bello …

That the Rattlesnake Sign is real …

The half-bottles of 2006 Santa Cruz Mountains Estate Cabernet that I still have, and that I’m going to be drinking and sharing more than one of them on Thanksgiving …

Tasting Room staff who stick by their guns and always ask for proper ID …

Unorthodox food and wine pairings, like Cabernet Franc and Enchiladas …

People who understand why real funk players hated disco …

People who like to argue about vintages of Monte Bello while smiling …

People who wear black-frame sunglasses, and don’t wear white-frame sunglasses …

People who understand Coupe glasses, and why they’re the only way to drink champys …

Wine Bars that don’t play rock n’ roll OR electronica …

Ridge Vineyards wines …

Ridge Vineyards …

That I have a job at Ridge Vineyards …

And every single other thing I could mention, including Watsonville Sourdough, the poems of James Wright, well-played pratfalls, the elegance of the 1992 Monte Bello and the funky muscularity of the 1994, books, Sketches of Spain, what a really important wine tasting looks like when you’ve set up all the glassware but no one has arrived yet, the sound of cork extraction, my gorgeous amazing wife and my beautiful astonishing daughter, people who not only write poetry but read it, fog, mist, and rain, long black wool winter coats, people who nod knowingly when I quote Robert Pete Williams, burdock and wasabi, wine-colored socks, people who can wear suspenders and get away with it, a great hat, sediment in wine, wine in my mouth, cars that don’t have bumperstickers, e-mails sans emoticons, and the persistence of love and faith and belief in the face of hurt, danger, illness, age, and violence.

May your lives be full of things to be thankful for, and may you be thankful for the fullness of your lives. May you have a chance to stop, breathe, and appreciate. May you have lots of wine in your home, and lots of beauty to toast. May you use the word love in more than one context very soon. May you have a very happy Thanksgiving.

Posted in Bordeaux varietals, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Carignane, Chardonnay, Food & Wine Pairing, Geyserville, History, Lytton Springs, Monte Bello, Paul Draper, Rhone varietals, Ridge Memorabilia, RIDGE Staff, Santa Cruz Mountains Estate, Social Media, Tasting Rooms, Varietals & Blends, Vineyards and Oenology, Viticultural Salmagundi, Wine & Poetry, Wine and Jazz, Wine Blogs, Wine Tales, Winemaking, Zinfandel | 2 Comments »

Sunday Morning Rain = Red Wine Drinking Weather!

October 24, 2010

Against a blurred and shimmering backdrop of misted slate,
the green-black boughs of stalwart mountain trees
whip and dance in the muted frenzy of autumn’s fraying passions;
in the rivulets that run to the puddles one can see reflections
of the gray turbulence above,
and as a gnarled palm can tell its open tale,
so too do thin and running threads
evoke a narrative of steadfastness and insanity
–if sanity be giving in to odds
and disbelief–
that bears a telling over claret, with a lover,
on a mountain; wind the brushes
gently striding on a snare, aching barn
the ponderous bass, the spackling rain against the panes
suspended fourths on the piano,
and the sound of sincere solitude
just a hiss along the brass
out through a mute
into a Sunday.

Posted in Monte Bello, Wine & Poetry, Wine and Jazz | 1 Comment »

Thelonious Monk!

October 10, 2010

On this day in history, one of the true heroes of my life was born; the inimitable Thelonious Sphere Monk. There is simply no sound on earth like the sound of his piano playing; no groove more perfectly, elegantly swinging; no melody more eccentrically soothing; no harmony more angularly, insightfully compelling; no music more idiosyncratically brilliant; Monk.  

  

    

“There ain’t no wrong notes on the piano.” As good a mantra for life as any.  

Listen, if you haven’t already, to Monk’s solo piano reinvention of “Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea.” I defy you to come away unconverted.  

Monk is, for me, the archetype of everything I adore in life. My Grandfather Gene Logan, after careers running the gamut from USC football trainer and author of texts on anatomic kinesiology, to Navy man and bluegrass musician, ended up making his money in life as a sculptor; one of his great inspirations was a quote from Francis Bacon (the 16th century English philosopher, not the painter of, among other masterpieces, Study after Velázquez’s Portrait of Pope Innocent X, though the quote could certainly apply to Mr. Bacon’s work):  

Francis Bacon By Francis Bacon

  

By Francis Bacon

There is no excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion.  

Which is the sound of Monk. It is also your lover’s face, and your child’s tummy; it is a perfectly imperfect haiku, and Bukka White performing Shake ‘Em On Down; it is a hand-harvested, wild-yeast-fermented, unfiltered, well-matured, gently and perfectly decanted bottle of wine, and it is the friends you share it with; your glorious, imperfect, strange, and wonderful friends.  

You and everything around you is imperfect, and beautiful. Drinking wine and listening to Thelonious Monk is a meditation on this, an awareness ritual of the profoundest sort.  

That oh-so-equally profound, and perhaps most spiritually intense of jazz musicians John Coltrane, once said of Monk, “When you learn one of Monk’s pieces, you can’t learn just the melody and chord symbols. You have to learn the inner voicings and rhythms exactly. Everything is so carefully related.”  

John Coltrane

 

Everything is so carefully related. The Buddhist cosmology.  

Complexity for complexity is nothing, just noise in the air. And simplicity for simplicity is just that; simple. But multi-tiered sheets of complexities upon complexities upon complexities; seamless integrated, and inter-related; am I talking Jazz? Or Wine? Or Life itself?  

And speaking of mantras, the Monk quote I probably dig the most, because it’s an instruction for anyone engaged in the creative act; musician or poet, winemaker or chef, architect or engineer, painter or photographer, any and all of us for whom an act of any kind is an exercise in creativity, to us all, Monk’s reminder:  

Everyone is influenced by everybody, but you bring it down home the way you feel it.  

Bless you Thelonious Sphere Monk, on this, the anniversary of your birth on this earth, for bringing it down home the way you felt it.  

 

 

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Posted in Wine and Jazz | Leave a Comment »

10.10.10, Thelonious Monk, and You!

October 9, 2010

To all you numerologists, cosmologists, fatalists, virusists, marathoners, protesters, documentarians, and whomever else may be celebrating the singular synchronicity of tomorrow being 10.10.10, my apologies to all, for to me, tomorrow is nothing other than the birthday of Thelonious Monk, that great and eccentric compositional genius of the jazz piano. And that’s what I’ll be celebrating.

Look for a special post tomorrow all about Jazz , Wine, and Monk, and if you happen to be in the vicinity of our Monte Bello Tasting Room, please join us for a great day of great wine, and nothing but Thelonious Monk coming through the speakers!

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Posted in Monte Bello, Special Offerings, Tasting Rooms, Wine and Jazz | Leave a Comment »

To Louis Armstrong: Happy Belated Birthday!

August 5, 2010

I was out of the office yesterday, so I’m accordingly a day late in posting this, but I wanted to take the occasion to celebrate, with you, the birthday of the very, very, very great Louis Armstrong, who was born on August 4th, 1901!

 

The man and his music, his character, his influence, his life; these are all reasons enough to celebrate, but courtesy of our viticultural bias on this blog, I of course want to make sure we’ve a tie-in, and in this case, mine comes in somewhat funny, timely, and rather coincidental form.

I was reading a quite fine essay in the New York Times last night (from this past Sunday’s edition) over an asparagus, red pepper, mushroom, and fresh mozzarella pizza (with a glass of 2007 Carmichael, followed by the 2007 Lytton Springs), and the link popped into my head; the essay in question was sort of an extended investigation of the idea that all the various aphorisms related to the art of writing (“write what you know”, for example, which gives the essay its title) can oft be equally applied to the act of drinking — just substitute “drink” for “write”, and off you go — and it occurred to me that if one applied this same idea to some of Mr. Armstrong’s quotes, you could really come up with some doozies as regards wine. For example:

“What we play is life” becomes “What we drink is life”

“If you have to ask what jazz is, you’ll never know” becomes “If you have to ask what good wine is, you’ll never know”

 ”There is two kinds of music, the good and bad. I play the good kind” becomes “There are two kinds of wine, the good and bad. I drink the good kind.”

and “You blows who you is” becomes “You drink who you are.”

 

(You can read the full essay, by Geoff Nicholson, here.)

 

Now, if that’s not enough for you, I’ll offer up one more wine-and-Louis Armstrong connection; which comes courtesy of a story told in Louis Armstrong: An American Genius By James Lincoln Collier:

Sometimes in this house, they’d have contests, like they’d put a jug of wine in the center of the floor and cut figures around it. “Cutting figures,” that’s what it was called. They’d dance around this jug of wine, a whole lot of steps, dance as close to it as they could and still not touch it or knock it over. The man who touched it, he’d have to go out and buy another gallon, buy more wine for everybody, the musicianers too — and then there’d be more dancing.

Now that’s wine the way I love it!

I’ve written laments on this blog before about how narrow the world of wine drinking has in some ways become

(see most recently Heimoff, The Bums, The Snobs, and #WBC10  from which comes the following: “I learned to drink wine from The Beats. Wine went with wild poetry readings, and mountain meditation sessions. Wine went with trains, and camping. Wine sometimes went with nothing other than, well, wine. Just wine. And mainly, wine went with people. It was living with people, in a memorable way. Being where you were, and demanding nothing less that an exhilarating devotion to the moment …”)

and I think this story is just an exquisitely perfect expression of that “other” world of wine …

Anyhow, that’s all, Happy Birthday Mr. Louis Armstrong, and thank you for everything. I’m going to enjoy my 2007 Santa Cruz Mountains Estate Cab, and listen to you blow and sing St. James Infirmary, just the way it ought to be … and I might just dance a bit.

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Posted in Viticultural Salmagundi, Wine and Jazz | 3 Comments »

Another One On Why The Wine And Jazz!

April 14, 2010

Every drink has its own vibe; whiskey may make you both loquacious and combative, while gin may provoke both visions and forgetfulness; beer may be for back-slapping, hi-fiving, and salty snacks, while rum can make for writing poems while watching pelicans; tea can be meditative, coffee aggressive, just as root beer brings the smooth and the creamy, while Rockstar is, well, Rockstar… and don’t get me started on Vodka and Red Bull …

But then there is wine. Wondrous, contemplative, conversational wine. Groovy and chill, foodie and fun, serious and stylized, witty and winsome …

And then there is music. Ministry is for tapping your inner serial killer, while The Clash taps your faith that being wrong is right …  Stones vs. The Beatles? Don’t even get me started. Muddy is for dancing, The Wolf is for drinking. Portishead is the champion, and Monk is the best …

The point is, everything done well has an effect on you, and when it’s done well, you invite the effect, because you trust it, and you love it. That’s why, when you know you’re going to be in fine, fine company, be it romantic, friendly, civilized or funky, you’re going to want wine. Especially if food is involved. And wondrously languid yet insightful conversation. And lots and lots of sighs of satisfaction. And perhaps comments about the moon. And asides that someone hears and says, “you’ve got to write that down!” This is a Wine Hang. It’s loose, but intelligent, gluttonous yet appreciative, decadent yet stylized, artisan yet raw. Mostly, it’s subtle. It’s not tequila, or whiskey, or vodka, or beer. It’s so very, very fine …

Which brings me to the fact that today is Gene Ammon’s birthday (born in 1925, passed in 1974). Gene Ammons, jazz saxophone titan. I first discovered him via an album called “Brother Jug”; this was also his nickname. And in rooting around on-line today, hard-scrabbling for facts about Mr. Ammons, “Jug,” and wine, I came across a quote from a freelance music journalist by the name of Derek Taylor, who wrote something so wonderful about Mr. Ammons that I just had to share it, because it not only perfectly captures the juju of this player, and not only does so via a wine metaphor, but because it inadvertently captures exactly what is so fine, fine, fine, about wine, wine, wine …

Mr. Taylor writes:

“… In each instance the emphasis is on feeling over technical display. Filled with amorous intentions, Jug isn’t interested in breaking the door down when he can just as easily gain entry with a gentle knock, a bottle of wine and a bouquet of roses…”

Exactly!

Happy Birthday Brother Jug! I lift a glass of wine to you.

–

For more about Gene Ammons, please click here, and for more about Derek Taylor, please click here.

Posted in Wine and Jazz | 2 Comments »

A Belated Jazz Birthday …

January 28, 2010

What with so many other things to write about recently, I inadvertently let slip by a very important anniversary, a sin of omission for which I wish to atone for now; on January 23rd, the world celebrated the hundredth anniversary of the birth of the legendary guitarist Django Reinhardt, and I too would like to join the ranks of those honoring the life and works of this great man, and this great talent.

But first, some justification, as the question may already be in your mind as to why a wine blog would focus on this man and his music.

Given my firm belief that the consumption of wine is a deeply experiential endeavor that fully transcends the boundaries of the simple taste experience, I can confidently assert that I am hard pressed to conjure up reference to any another body of musical work that so flagrantly evokes the experience of drinking wine, or is so suited to it; perhaps it’s simply the French-ness of the music, or the mysterious Gypsy origins of the genius sewn into the code of the compositions;

perhaps it’s something in the curiously addictive dichotomy of hot-cold vibes, the blistering paces matched against the sensuous tones, the melancholic melodies against the buoyant techniques, the sex and the sorrow; or perhaps it’s modern conditioning, endless hours in wine bars spent sipping, sampling, and savoring to the soundtracks that have become now so standard.

Perhaps it’s a timelessness born of a specific time; something about the devil-may-care passions of a post-war Europe trying to rediscover its soul in the fevers of wine and song, the clouds of smoke, the loves and furies of Gypsy Jazz, the poems, the romances, the jazz in the cafés …

this headiness seems to speak through the decades to all of us; who doesn’t find it somehow strangely and spiritually decadent to sit with friends and loved ones over wine and bread and cheese talking deep into the early morning hours about anything and everything, as if everything said mattered more than anything in the world, as if a revolution of emotion were being born.

In the end, I don’t know what it is, I can only say that somehow, the sound of Django Reinhardt is the sound of drinking wine.

Tonight, my missus and I will raise our glasses (Syrah seems most appropriate; perhaps one of our few remaining bottles of the 2005 Lytton West Syrah), and toast to friendship and love, to passion and vision, to the old world and the new, to wine, to Django, and to each other, and we’ll do so as the last flickering rays of the setting sun light the bellies of the bay-cloaking clouds with their epic flares, to the strains of “Nuages.” If you’ve not already done so, I encourage you all to put a little Django on tonight, and have a glass or two of wine. There’s a revolution in the air …

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Posted in History, Syrah, Viticultural Salmagundi, Wine and Jazz, Wine Tales | 2 Comments »

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