Greetings from Santa Barbara, where I've been doing some tastings on behalf of Two Notes, and getting the next vintage in order -- this wine and song have been great company during the journey.

I hope you enjoy your pairing this week!

Juice

I like an unsolvable riddle — a koan if you will — and this week’s wine is like one of those.

What is both heavy and light? What is both viscous and edgy? Both tart and ripe?

I’m sure there could be a more philosophical answer to these questions, but today I have a concrete answer for you: Domaine Chante Cigale Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc 2023.

This wine is so fresh, and yet so rich, and comes out of a loooong and fascinating tradition of winemaking in this appellation (I’m no historian, but having a spot closer to this wine might be worth a schism here and there.)

Alexandre Favier, the winemaker, hails from a long tradition of winemakers in the area. Out of a place and people with such storied gravitas, its remarkable that the wines are so energetic, so fresh, and so now.

This bottle, a blend of many grapes from the region (most notably a cameo from the reclusive barboulenc) has a spiced baked pear quality to the nose — on the palate delivering green apple essence, candied pineapple, and a lengthy finish that prickles with minerality. As I write it, it seems all these elements couldn’t be in the same wine. But yet, here they are — a riddle that cannot be solved, only sipped.

Jazz

Unanswered questions are also called mysteries. And where there are mysteries there are mystics…

“A Certain Continuum” on Kurt Elling’s “Secrets are the Best Stories”(Edition, 2020) is a song written by Jaco Pastorius, and the lyrics added for this recording by Elling.

The song is one of depth — both in musical legacy, musicianship, harmony, and spiritual implication. All of these ingredients may be weighty but on this track, they soar. The song carries you on a wave, cresting and breaking in Román Díaz’s rhythm, Elling’s seamless voice and harmonies, and Danilo Perez’s tapestry of piano.

It’s a song that delights in the unanswered, and finishes with a concluding entreaty worth taking to heart.