Greetings and Welcome! 7.5.24

Hope those of you in north america are enjoying a post 4th lull, and everyone else your Friday.

On to the pairing...

Juice

The movie "Sideways" didn't get everything right (merlot is awesome), but Giamatti's monologue about pinot noir ever rings true. It's a finicky grape that requires a lot of care, and I generally avoid any under $20 -- the math doesn't support the likelihood of success in winemaking given the care required.

But this is not a usual Friday, because this week's wine is the snappy and scrumptious "Pour Ma Gueule" ("For my Face") pinot noir from Clos des Fous 2022. And it's at that almost chimerical price point.

The French name gives away -- it's made by a quartet of gents steeped in a European tradition of winemaking, bringing what they've learned from Burgundy and beyond to the thrilling landscape of Chile's wine regions.

Red currants, cassis and fresh eucalyptus persisted in my tastings over a few days, the finish dry and earthy. Sure, it's an easy wine to put "in your face" but it also has admirable polish, and refreshed my interest in this country's wines as well as my palate.

Jazz

Tenderness might just be one of the more challenging feelings to access in music. It so easy gives way to cloying mawkishness, or a patronizing kind of inauthenticity. (If you can't tell already, I'm the first one to eye-roll when a children's choir gets carted out most of the time.)

Leave it to Anat Cohen to achieve the difficult, and then some, on her latest album Quartetinho (Anzic, 2022.) It features four exceptional musicians led by Cohen who is a phenom clarinetist. Although Israeli born, she is deeply fascinated by the music of Brazil in her work, which this album further explores with zeal and elegance.

The album is a joy start to finish, but I had to pick one track for you. Egberto Gismonte's "Palhaço," ("Clown") is arrestingly tender in its approach, and also energetic. It feels like healing water. What else is there to say?
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Palhaço Anat Cohen PREVIEW   ​

Hope you enjoy listening, and sipping...

Till the next,

Kristen

P.S.: If you have a wine lover, or a jazz lover, or a wine/jazz curious person in your life, feel free to send 'em along to the main page where they can check out the archive, and maybe subscribe! Thanks for sharing.:)