Happy Almost Spring,

I’ve been enjoying the milder weather here in NYC, working on tunes and getting out to hear some things, including “Moby Dick” at the Met a few nights ago – what a time to be reminded that venturing on a boat led by a maniac only leads to ruin!

Hope you love this week’s pairing as much as I do.

Juice

France’s Loire Valley is famed for its white wines (hello Sancerre) and also its reds, where, to me, cabernet franc finds its most authentic expression. I could also make the argument that beyond that, Chinon is the place within the Loire where this is most true – and the wines of Domaine Olga Raffault have long stood as one of the region’s most shining examples.

I’ve had vintages of this wine going back decades am always stunned at how composed yet rustic they are. You cannot mistake the grape, or the place, for anything else. Its idiosyncratic character makes me slightly more understanding of a few of my loved ones who don’t like this grape – intense personalities can be polarizing.

The grape’s unique personality makes me love it more fervently and this bottle even more so. The 2018 “Les Picasses” has an unmistakable personality while still being a transparency of the place from which it hails: dark cassis fruit is punctuated by cinnamon bark, licorice and a hint of mace on the nose. On the palate, an etched graphite minerality leads into the the dry finish, like fallen forest leaves; at once both strict and wild.

You can find the wine here.

(make sure to indicate your state on the site to see availability, and thank you -- your purchasing it this way supports the newsletter!)

Jazz

Andrew Cyrille has been at the forefront of avant garde jazz for his entire career and continues to make ageworthy music while ever evolving in mastery and message as a composer, drummer, and bandleader.

His album “Lebroba,” (ECM, 2018) made with the incomparable Wadada Leo Smith and Bill Frisell, is a shining example of restraint, transparency, and invention. Cyrille's song, “Pretty Beauty”, is evocative and exquisitely focused. The trio allows sounds to begin and decay freely, embracing subtlety in texture, feeling expansive yet disciplined.

When venturing into unfamiliar territory, best be in the hands of greatness.