Hello!

The holidays have hastened to us -- and even though I've been singing songs of the season (one that's brand new and some not) for what feels like months, I'm still somehow surprised that we're here!

I hope you find yourself with a slackening workload and some time, and a glass or two, to fill in the coming week. I think you'll find this pairing perfectly suited to the moment.

Juice

Even after years of reminding anyone within earshot that not all rieslings are sweet (or too sweet for that matter) it's still the first thought for most when I mention the grape. A grape that has so much variety to offer often gets overlooked from this assumption -- but argument and words don't change minds and palates. Only the wine itself can do that.

I can think of no better way to bring ourselves to the riesling grape, in affordability or enjoyability, than Gunderloch's 'Jean Baptiste" Riesling Kabinett Feinherb 2023. It's a wine that could find itself in any season, but at this time of year it's luminescent energy, easy alcohol percentage (a gentle 9.5%) and lip smacking balance couldn't be more welcome.

That inimitable petrol on the nose is accompanied with apricot and lime, ripe and bright. There's a floral-lychee touch and a finish that keeps going into your next glass. Is it dry? Is it sweet? This wine is so in tune with itself, I promise the answer to that question won't really matter to you as you pour another glass.

German wine terms are pretty fascinating (and challenging for the studious somm) but "Feinherb" -- a loose term for 'off-dry' is a special one. If you've got a few minutes and would like to know more, I very much enjoyed this article about it.

Oh, and you can find the wine with our friends at Free Range Wine & Spirits in Brooklyn!

Jazz

I'm pretty allergic to saccharine music of any kind -- the things I don't like (a cloying children's choir, or a overly-sappy lyric) leave me cold. And this is the season of sap, of tears jerked at the suggestion of a jingle bell -- it can be overwhelming.

So when we were choosing songs for the holiday album I recorded with Ted Nash, it was of utmost importance to me not to go there -- keep things energetic, brisk and honest. His arrangement of the classic 'Sleigh Ride" (Holidays, Sunnyside '23) is one of my favorite moments on the album, especially for the introduction.

Tension is the key to what's so magical about this season -- anticipation and celebration all the same time. It's all I can do not to jump out of my skin when I hear the opening, nor when the trumpets sound exultantly before the melody returns. The song doesn't end, it just seems like the music is journeying to its next destination, just out of earshot.

At times dense and active, at others spare -- what results, to my mind, is a perfect arrangement that earns its jingle bells and refreshes in a season that can sometimes get a little heavy. Maybe you agree?

Sleigh Ride Ted Nash, Kristen Lee Sergea... PREVIEW   ​

Did you get a chance to hear "No Room at the Inn?" It's about the last moment to give it a timely listen here, or on streaming:

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Happiest of holidays to you and yours.

Truly,

Kristen