shizfactor

I have been procrastinating BIG TIME in getting the Shiz Factor blog up and running. Fact of the matter is, I didn’t know where to start. Should I tell you all funny stories so you feel a connection with me? Should I just go balls to the wall with some crazy opinions and let the chips fall where they may? Eh, nah… I’m just going to dive right in, and Wine Blogging Wednesday is the perfect time to start.

Wine Blogging Wednesday - which rolls around on the 2nd Wednesday of every month - has been going strong for over a year now. Each WBW, a wine blogger designates the month’s topic and the rest of the wine blogging world writes about their experience on that particular topic - resulting in some pretty cool, diverse perspectives on everything from German Riesling to “Wine for Breakfast” to today’s topic: wine and music.

This, my friends, is right up my alley. I’m responsible for writing all the wine pairings for the Wine+Music site (http://www.wineplusmusic.com), so I have had a little head start in this exploration. Also, as a former competitive pianist and current aspiring wine aficionado, I couldn’t have asked for a better topic with which to start my blog.

Reader: Enough preamble already! Would you talk about the wine?

Me: Keep your skirt up, geez!

I’m getting married this summer (don’t worry, this fact will prove to be relevant to the topic) - and my fiancee’s gloriously talented sister will be rocking the keyboard throughout the prelude and ceremony. As she shares my love of the vino, we chose to do a “wine and wedding music” night - my responsibility was keeping the glasses full, hers was to regale me with the sweet tune-age that will be setting the mood for our big day.

I brought over two bottles of wine: the Bonny Doon Vineyard 2007 “I, Aurora” and a 2007 “The Originals” Riesling from Magnificent Wine Company. I’ve had both on previous occasions - I thought this might be a good “control” for the “wine and music experience” experiment.

The “I, Aurora” is a Roussanne-based white blend, perfect for the summer months, full of zesty grapefruit flavors and a little bit of minerality that makes it quite refreshing. The piano at my future-sis’s house is newly tuned, and 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.

We move on to the Debussy Arabesque - one of my favorite pieces from my piano playin’ days - but I am disappointed. Not with the music - its still as gorgeous as ever. With the wine. When I taste the wine over the round tones and flowing melodies of the Arabesque, Aurora sort of goes soft on me. Everything that I loved that the Ginastera was bringing out in the wine is now gone, and the wine takes on a flabbiness, a dominant peach flavor that just can’t compare to my first few sips. The “Arabesque” doesn’t do Aurora justice.

I’m struck by the fact that a wine I have truly enjoyed in the past could be even BETTER when accompanied by melodies that share the same characteristics as the wine - and then within moments become lackluster. Who switched my glass? I’ve gotta try something different.

I don’t want to diss on Debussy - lets see how he does with the Originals Riesling.

This is another great summer wine - but where the Aurora brought the summer refreshment with zesty flavors, this Riesling brings the cool on with its effervescent body and “fruit salad upset” of flavors. Not overly sweet but full of peach flavors, a touch of green grapes (huh!), what’s that? Green banana? And as Arabesque hits the repeat for me, notes cascading, then busting out some church like chords - well, the Riesling actually opens up. I’m able to better pin point the flavors - no more fruit salad upset, where each flavor could easily be the other. Distinct peach. Distinct kiwi. Distinct pear.

So Debussy is not, in fact, death to wine. When the soft tones and sweet melodies are partnered with a sweet wine with soft effervescence, well, all is right with the world. And that Riesling is pretty easy drinking.

These were the most interesting phenomenon of the evening. As I previously mentioned, I write the wine and music pairing content for Wine+Music (http://www.wineplusmusic.com) and felt pretty confident going in to this experiment that each wine would be enhanced in different ways by the music, as has been my experience with my previous pairings. Such is not the case. Just like you probably wouldn’t pair a big juicy steak with a light, floral viognier, it is important to be on the lookout for dissonance between the structure and flavors in your sippage and the structure and melody of your tune-age.