Wine pairs wonderfully with food, and as a guitarist, I’ve found certain bottles pair quite nicely with music, too. Here, three bottles to drink this weekend – and three tracks to play while you sip:
1. The Rolling Stones are rock gods, and The big bold flavors of this killer Big Table Farm pinot noir from Oregon’s Willamette Valley go perfectly with the energetic Stones’ track, Sticky Fingers. Enjoy hints of smoke, wood and rock ‘n’ roll.
$42, available at Cork & Rind
2. Like all jazz musicians, saxophonist Charlie Parker has had a huge influence on me. His rich melodic palate and incendiary rhythmic freedom created some of the most complex, bouncy jazz around. Download the remastered version of Charlie Parker with Strings, The Complete Master Takes and note how Parker’s saxophone floats like bubbles over a pillow of musical complexity – just like Champagne. Dig this great record with Pierre Moncuit Blanc De Blanc Hugues de Coulmet.
$48, available at Parker’s Table
3. Some times that three-minute radio format (or a single glass of wine) is not going to cut it. You need something longer, more brooding, something that develops in richness over time. You need classical music. Gustav Holst’s The Planets musically interprets the seven planets known at the time of its composition (1916). At nearly an hour long, Holst’s masterpiece requires a bottle you can ruminate over. Try a sweet wine from the Roussilion in southern France. The 1970 Domaine de Rancy Rivesaltes – a sweet amber nectar stunning in its richness and complexity – is an ideal wine for listening and pondering the universe.
$135, The Wine & Cheese Place
Ben Wood has more than 10 years experience in the wine industry. He currently works as shop manager of Cork & Rind.
This article appears in September 2015.