In these unusual times, we all need a lift from time to time. As a change to my usual wine reviews I’ve decided to start a fun and irreverent series on matching wine and music. The basic idea is that I give participants:

A piece of music –> they suggest a wine to go with it, with an explanation
A wine –> they suggest a piece of music to go with it

It’s all for fun, so please don’t slag off anybody’s taste music (or wine!) Thanks to Michelle Williams for the inspiration – she has been matching songs to wine for years on her Rockin Red Blog.

Part 8 of this series is in the capable hands of James Hubbard, a fellow wine tweeter who also wrote a guest piece for me in 2017. The track I chose for him is a modern blues-rock classic from the onetime Thin Lizzy guitarist Gary Moore (who I saw “support” BB King in 2006). Parisienne Walkways contains the lines:

I remember Paris in ’49
The Champs Elysee, Saint Michel
And old Beaujolais wine

which was a chance for James to run with a Beaujolais, but he resisted the easy score as you will see below.

James posts up some cracking Australian wines on Twitter and Instagram so I though I’d go with a real big-hitter: Penfolds Bin 707 Cabernet Sauvignon, one of their very top red wines and named after the Boeing 707. The 1998 707 is still the best red wine I have ever tasted.

Gary Moore – Parisienne Walkways

So when Frankie contacted me to ask if I would like to take part in his Wine and music series, I jumped at the chance. What fun! I’ll get a piece of Italian opera, maybe. Easy, right?

Then Frankie sent me the song: Parisienne Walkways, by Gary Moore. Mind. Blown. What on earth can I pair with this?? A 9-minute opus (well, live anyway) full of ridiculously long guitar notes. I mean it’s iconic, it’s brilliant but at the same time rather self-indulgent (or at least that’s how I remembered it).

However, as I listened to it several times, it all fell into place. I could easily have gone with a Beaujolais – Paris, steak frites and some bojo, right? I mean he even mentions it in the song, for goodness’ sake! And my goodness I love Beaujolais. Gamay rocks, as apparently does Gary Moore. But that would be too easy. Come on, James. Work a bit harder than that. As I delved deeper, I realised that what I used to think of as self-indulgence is actually self-knowing. Yes it’s a serious piece of music but it’s actually not taking itself too seriously. Then the penny dropped.

Bonny Doon ‘Le Cigare Volant’, from the amazing Randall Grahm.

Bonny Doon Le Cigare Volant

Just like the song, there’s a bit of everything in there (usually about 5 different grapes, a real Rhône Ranger) but the blend is just spot-on. It opens up so early and so well and it hits all the right notes throughout (unlike Morecambe and Wise, in the right order as well). This is an incredible wine. It’s earthy, rich yet playful, full-bodied yet perfectly balanced. Above all, it’s a wine that demands your attention but ultimately doesn’t take itself too seriously.

Penfolds Bin 707 Cabernet Sauvignon

For my music choice, I was invited to find an appropriate accompaniment to Penfolds Bin 707 Cabernet Sauvignon. Wow. This is a wine that can live forever and is somewhat in the shadows of its more-famous sibling, but sorry Oasis you’re not coming in on this occasion. I need something more refined. Bin 707 is Tom Finney to Stanley Matthews’ Grange. Less lauded but the professionals always knew who was the greater.

Step forward the one, the only Bob Dylan. ‘One More Cup of Coffee’.

A song about unrequited love, taken from one of Dylan’s lesser-known albums. As with wine tastings, this is best enjoyed live and the version from Dylan’s Bootleg Series 5, The Rolling Thunder Revue is my personal favourite. Just like the 707, this has such a rich tapestry. It’s long and hauntingly beautiful. Once heard, never forgotten yet rarely spoken about in the same breath of some of Dylan’s other work.

Oh and whilst you’re at it, come for one more cup of coffee and stay for the entirety of the Bootleg live album. Just like delving into Penfolds’ catalogue and discovering other incredible wines you’d never realised were there, you’ll discover genius that truly will live forever.

James Hubbard

James Hubbard is a passionate wine amateur with an eclectic collection and a vastly inferior palate to that of his wife. A Europhile, he works for a major FMCG company as their EMEA Head of Talent Acquisition (a fancy way of saying ‘recruitment’). Lover of virtually all sports (particularly cricket, rugby union and American Football). You can follow him under @jameshubbard113 on both Twitter and Instagram.

The Frankly Wines & Friends Wine & Music Series
No.	Guest Name	Music to pair	Wine to pair

14	Lee Isaacs	The Rolling Stones – Gimme Shelter	Domaine Jones Fitou
13	Sharon L	Souls Of Mischief – 93 ‘Til Infinity	Penfolds RWT
12	Tim Milford	Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man	Nyetimber Classic Cuvée
11	Mags McKee	U2 with BB King – When Love Comes to Town	Pittnauer Zweigelt Heideboden
10	Cara Rutherford	The Cure – Just Like Heaven	Suertes del Marqués ‘7 Fuentes’
9	Melanie May	The Cult – She Sells Sanctuary	Sipp Mack GC Rosacker Riesling
8	James Hubbard	Gary Moore – Parisienne Walkways	Penfolds Bin 707 Cab Sauv
7	Paul Moran	Underworld – Rez	Suertes del Marqués Trenzado
6	Nirina Plunkett	Jamiroquai – Space Cowboy Club Remix	Wolfberger Crémant d’Alsace
5	Penny Sadler	Fleetwood Mac – Dreams	Bollinger Special Cuvée
4	Jim Dunlop	The Beatles – The Long And Winding Road	Man O’ War Valhalla Chardonnay
3	Avril Kirrane McMorrough	Norah Jones – Don’t Know Why	Joseph Cattin Riesling Reserve
2	Tim of Soliciting Flavours	Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings	Viña Tondonia Blanco
1	Sinéad Smyth	Stardust – Music Sounds Better With You	Mullineux Syrah

Opinion, Single Bottle Review, Tasting Events

Spearmint Rhino [Frankie’s Single Bottle Review #26]

December 2, 2019 admin

Cabernet from Napa and Sonoma is a key part of California wine’s reputation – big, bold, ripe, and not for the faint hearted. Some wines have almost become parodies of the style, with too much oak, too much extraction and too much alcohol. Thankfully, they aren’t all like that, and balance is becoming more fashionable again.

Silver Oak Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2012 (14.2%, RRP €80 at O’Briens)

Silver Oak Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 3

The Alexander Valley AVA is part of Sonoma County and was purportedly named after the first man to introduce vines to the area in 1843, Cyrus Alexander. After prohibition it remained a bulk wine area until the late ’60s when innovative, quality winemaking returned to the area. For all my talk of balance above, the wines here are still powerful and voluptuous. Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot are the leading black varieties and Chardonnay for white.

Silver Oak was set up in 1972 by business partners Raymond Twomey Duncan and Justin Meyer. They originally set out to make just top notch Cabernet Sauvignon, matured in American Oak and able to repay decades of cellaring. Napa Valley Cabernet and this Alexander Valley Cabernet are the twin kings of the winery, with other varieties released under the related Twomey label.

The 2012 vintage of this wine consists of 98% Cabernet Sauvignon with just a 2% splash of Merlot. Seven years after vintage it is settling down nicely and ready to drink, but should develop for a further 15 years if kept well. The nose has powerful blackcurrant and red fruit aromas with vanilla from two years in oak. Cassis is also present on the muscular palate, along with a distinct spearmint streak and cocoa powder. Fine grained tannins seal the deal.

This is a very well made, enjoyable wine. It may look expensive without context, but for this quality in the Médoc even more money would be exchanged. Due to its heft this should be saved for a treat (who drinks €80 bottles on a weekday, anyway?) to be shared with fellow wine lovers. And what a treat!

Disclaimer: there is no link between this wine and the Spearmint Rhino clubs

Tasting Events

DNS taste North America

February 9, 2019 admin

One of the recent themes we explored at DNS WineClub was North American wines. Barefoot and Blossom Hill represent the very commercial face of North American wine, manufactured in huge facilities in accordance with simple, fruity, easy-drinking recipes. At the top end, Cult Cabernets can be spectacular. However, there is fairly thin coverage in Europe of the wines in between these two extremes – and they’re the ones which offer most interest to winelovers.

California is the powerhouse of the USA and therefore the whole of North America; even though wines are made in the other 49 states, together they make up just 10% of the USA total. In these parts the most available outside of the Golden State are probably the wines of Oregon and Washington State – we see very little from elsewhere, not even the hip wines of New York State’s Finger Lakes region.

Here are the five wines which shone the most at our tasting:

Pine Ridge Napa Valley Chenin Viognier 2014 (12.5%, RRP €24.95 at Baggot Street Wines and other good independents)

pine ridge chenin viognier

If you ask a fairly knowledgeable wine drinker what grapes they associate with the Napa Valley, Cabernet would undoubtedly come first, followed by Merlot and Zinfandel, with possibly Chardonnay thrown in as a token white. So here we have something quite unexpected in Napa – a blend of the Loire’s Chenin Blanc and the Rhône’s Viognier. The blend is consistent from year to year at 80% Chenin and 20% Viognier, and a little residual sugar is left in to round off the acidity. Most importantly, it really works as a wine – fresh green apple with a little rich apricot as a counterpoint.

Ovum Wines Oregon “Big Salt” 2017 (12.9%, @RRP €33.95 at Baggot Street Wines, Le Caveau and other good independents)

ovum big salt

Ovum are named after the concrete egg fermenters they use, reflected in the shape of the label of this Alsace-style blend from Oregon. The grapes used are Riesling, Muscat & Gewurztraminer; the relative proportions are not stated, but the fact that spicy Gewurz doesn’t dominate the nose makes me think that it is probably 10% or less of the blend, with fresh Riesling taking the lead at around 55% and the aromatic Muscat being the balance of around 35% (all my own guesswork, happy to be proved wrong!)

Again referring to my beloved Alsace, a blend of this quality would be from a Grand Cru vineyard, with the fascinating interplay of three fantastic varieties. The name of the wine also rings true, with lovely saline elements. This is an unusual wine which is in fairly short supply in Ireland, but it is worth seeking out.

Au Bon Climat “Wild Boy” Santa Barbara County Chardonnay 2017 (13.5%, RRP €39.95 at Baggot Street Wines and other good independents)

au bon climat wild boy chardonnay

Jim Clendenen is the star winemaker and owner of Au Bon Climat, one of the best producers in Santa Barbara County. ABC is famous for its Pinot Noirs And Chardonnays – Jim is a Burgundy devotee – which come from a variety of different vineyards in the area. The “Wild Boy” is less subtle than the regular wines, with lots of funk and noticeable oak, spicy pears and citrus. Whatever magic he uses, this is a highly impressive wine!

The Four Graces Dundee Hills Pinot Noir 2014 (13.1%, RRP €40.00 at Sweeney’s and other good independents)

the four graces pinot noir

Perhaps because I’d only tried a couple of lesser quality examples, my preconception of Oregon Pinot Noir was that it could be a bit thin and weedy, rarely living up to its price tag. While this is no Central Otago clone, it nevertheless has plenty of body and an amazing velvety smoothness to it. Dundee Hills are one of the best subregions of the Willamette Valley – on this evidence I will be looking out for it again.

Inniskillin Niagara Estate Sparkling Ice Wine 2015 (9.5%, RRP €56 (375 ml) at Sweeney’s of Glasnevin and other good independents)

inniskillen sparkling ice wine

And now for something completely different – something I didn’t even know existed before I put together the wines for this tasting. Yes, Niagara is famous for its Icewine, often made with the hybrid grape Vidal (which has a very complicated heritage that I’m going to skip over), but a sparkling version? I didn’t know there was such a thing! Once pressed, with the ice removed from the juice, specific yeast is added to the juice in a charmat tank so that the CO2 produced from fermentation is dissolved into the wine. This is such a treat of a wine, with amazing tropical mango, guava and peach notes. For many tasters, this was the wine of the night. I really liked it but would probably prefer the still version for myself.

Make Mine A Double, Opinion

Make Mine a Double #16 – California Dreaming

July 5, 2016 admin

Wine is produced in all 50 of the USA’s states, and many of them are now seeping into the wine drinker’s consciousness – New York State (Finger Lakes), Oregon (Willamette Valley) and Shenandoah Valley (Virginia). Despite this, California still accounts for around 90% of the USA’s total production, and is almost synonymous with American wine from a European point of view.

Central and Northern California — Credit: www.discovercaliforniawines.com

Of all the regions within California, the most well known are Napa and Sonoma in the North Coast (at the top of the map above). The Central Coast also has a lot to offer, including Santa Barbara (the setting for Sideways). Below are a couple of fantastic reds hailing from Santa Maria (area 71 in the map above) and Napa.

Cambria Estate Santa Maria Valley Tepusquet Syrah 2010 (14.5%, €24.95, O’Briens)

2016-05-19 22.02.09

This 100% Syrah is the sister wine to the Cambria Estate Julia’s Vineyard Pinot Noir which I reviewed recently elsewhere.

Well, not quite the sister, as Julia’s sister Katherine has her own namesake vineyard next door. The Tepusquet Vineyard is in the far south of Cambria Estate as it is the most protected from the elements, and is therefore a little warmer.

Internationally, the choice of synonym normally denotes the style – spicy and savoury Northern Rhône Syrah or big and bold Aussie Shiraz. In common with many US versions of the grape, this wine is labelled Syrah no matter what the style, but as it happens this is somewhere in between the two – as though Saint Joseph had a very warm year. This spicy, savoury edge to the dark juicy fruit gives it versatility – lovely to drink on its own but would pair well with red meat dishes without overpowering them.

If you like South African Shiraz or Hawke’s Bay Syrah then this is definitely worth putting on your list.

Atalon Napa Valley Merlot 2004 (14.0%, €27.45, O’Briens)

2016-05-19 21.55.49

And so to the wine that dare not speak its name. Merlot often gets a bad press, with the influence of Miles from Sideways still felt…

Jack: If they want to drink Merlot, we’re drinking Merlot.
Miles Raymond: No, if anyone orders Merlot, I’m leaving. I am NOT drinking any fucking Merlot!

Napa is rightly famous for its Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel and Chardonnay, but Merlot, Pinot Noir and Cabernet Franc are also planted there. Atalon aim to produce Bordeaux-style wines from the different parts of Napa which exhibit elegance and complexity – words not always associated with Californian wine.

This is almost a varietal Merlot, with just a 3% dash of Cabernet Sauvignon, so this is right-bank in style – think Pomerol or Grand Cru Classé Saint-Emilion. At 12 years of age it is still in its prime, with lots of black fruit, and still a little tannin. I’d imagine it spent well over a year in American oak while maturing, but that oak is well integrated now, leaving just a little vanilla and spice.

This is a Merlot for people who don’t think much of Merlot – it is indeed elegant and complex, with far more going on than any other new world example I’ve tasted.

This is the finest varietal Merlot I’ve tasted in many years!

This Summer’s BBQ Wines #5

July 23, 2015 admin

In the summer months, such as they are on the Emerald Isle, drinkers tend to leave their bigger red wines to one side apart from when firing up the barbie and devouring half a cow.

If you’re a determined red wine drinker, what should you be looking for on the warmer days? I put it to you that Pinot Noir might well be the answer. I will make my case:

Byron Santa Barbara County Pinot Noir 2012

It’s lower in tannin so can pair with poultry and meaty fish (such as tuna steaks) as well as red meat.
Among black grapes it’s relatively high in acidity which makes it refreshing.
It’s lighter in body and can take a light chill – 30 minutes in a domestic fridge before bringing out to the patio will add some zip!
You can choose a savoury edge from the old world (esp Burgundy or Germany) or a fruitier style from the New World depending on your fancy.
Miles drank Pinot Noir in the cult wine film Sideways.

You know it makes sense!

Here’s a Pinot Noir that I recently test drove at a barbecue and really enjoyed:

Byron Santa Barbara Pinot Noir 2012 (€25.49, O’Briens)

Santa Barbara County is the original home of quality cool climate Pinot in the States, and is indeed where Miles and Jack from Sideways went to try some delicious wine.

If you’re not familiar with the area you might not place it as an American wine at first; there’s minerality on the palate and a lightness of touch that can be missing from some US wines. The winemaker’s notes state that it spent 8 months ageing in 100% small French oak barrels, but the oak is already well integrated and does not jarr.

Redcurrant, red and black cherry, strawberry and raspberry fruit compete for your attention. Although very smooth and approachable, there’s a serious side to this wine – the acidity and savoury notes give it some gravitas.

Although this delicious Pinot Noir would be great for a drink outdoors at a BBQ, to be honest it would be a treat in any season and setting!

Disclosure: Sample was provided, but opinions are entirely my own

This Summer’s BBQ Wines:

#1 – Bellow’s Rock Coastal Region Shiraz 2013

#2 – Château Michel Cazevieille Origine 1922 AC Saint Chinian 2012

#3 – and #4! Domaine de Maubet IGP Côtes de Gascogne 2014 & Venturer Côtes de Gascogne 2014

#5 – Byron Santa Barbara County Pinot Noir 2012

#6 – Lot #01 Mendoza Malbec Cabernet 2013

Tag: American Wine

The Frankly Wines & Friends Wine & Music Series #8 – James Hubbard