Vibes + Vino: Humble Beginnings - Don’t Be A Wine Jerk

Don’t Be A Wine Jerk - For Educators & Learners Alike:

Start. Start somewhere, but start. As an educator, take someone under your wing. As a learner, ask about that wine term you always hear but can’t place. I have friends and colleagues on both ends and in-between, but one commonality we tend to come back to is the presence of wine jerks in the industry.

As with any industry, there are specialists in their field, people more skilled, more versed, more focused. The wine industry isn’t any different in that. So tell me why people find it okay to scoff at a guest who doesn’t understand Red Burgundy identifies Pinot Noir? This is a wine jerk. When your computer crashes and you take it in for fixing, the IT consultant should have zero expectation you understand IT verbiage, no matter how elementary some concepts may seem.

As a wine educator repetition is your BFF. You might find yourself internally eye rolling that you have to go through the Champagne is a sparkling wine, but not all sparkling wine is Champagne; Champagne is only made in the Champagne region of France song and dance of an explanation, but like the IT consultant, have zero expectation your customer knows even ⅓ of what you know. Be ecstatic to teach someone the very distinction! I love the glimmer in someone’s eyes when they learn a wine fact for the very first time. Wait, can you tell me again why this Montepulciano is Montepulciano but not Montepulciano? I’ve been there!

One time I even explained the impact and social reach of a particular wine house by pointing out the pair of Jordan XI Concords this taster was wearing. For those of you who don’t speak in shoe like yours truly, this is a highly coveted pair of iconic Nike Air Jordan sneakers. I cried like a baby when I couldn’t have these in grade school. Now as a working professional I have two iterations of the shoe. People can geek out about wine in the same way.

Sometimes you have to bring yourself down to a level you were at before getting all wine geekazoid. I’ve never forgotten that. If you stripped away my years of experience working with a wine buyer, an importer and a distributor, what would be left in my wine knowledge locker is observing the ice wine in my parents’ cabinet has gone untouched for years (now in an unpleasing color and likely heavily oxidized). I didn’t glow up on my own, that’s for sure! If people were not patient with me, I probably would’ve never gotten into the beverage category to begin with.

It’s a two-way street though. Wine jerks work in the other direction, too. Sometimes learners only learn to one-up others with no regard for kindness or conversely, use their lack of wine knowledge to belittle those who have even the slightest. Then there are those learners who might even berate the sommelier, tasting room attendant or brand ambassador, using those opportunities to offer a parade of tongue-in-cheek commentary and sardonic smirks. Rude. Educators are seemingly like coaches, but people can forget they are also learning alongside the learners. The world of wine is layers upon layers of material, with changes in jargon popping out of the blue. New AVA? New varietal percentage requirements? Change is constant.

The implied chasm between educator and learner isn’t as dissonant as it may seem though. For both educators and learners, have an imaginary open-door policy. Be open to teach, be open to learn. Be open to pick things up from one another. Have the confidence to lead, but to also back down. We’re all in this together!

Vino: What Makes A Wine Vegan?

I do not have the capacity to be a vegan myself. I am definitely the pro-Porterhouse the size and weight of the bench press I curse at the gym type. But it’s definitely a niche I’ve been asked about more frequently in the last few years, one I’m still continually learning about.

Below is a piece I contributed last month for Shall We Wine's Regine Rousseau, and her monthly newsletter (which you should subscribe to bt-dubs, link here). It only covers the topic broadly but it’s cool to get into conversations about this despite my inner workings which scream anti-vegan most of the time.

What makes a wine vegan? It may seem like a weird statement but the truth is, not all wine is vegan or even vegetarian friendly.

“But isn’t wine just made of grapes?” is the common response I get. Wine is usually not vegan similarly to how Jello is not vegan - part of the process of making either wine or gelatin involves an animal component even though the final product is notably manipulated. In Jello, gelatin acts as a binder just as it does for other products like shampoo and even marshmallows. In the modern process of making wine, “fining agents” are used. They help rid of everything from a cloudy wine appearance to harsh, distasteful tannins and are eventually filtered out. There are other agents, but some of the most common clarifying agents are egg whites, which is quite prevalent in old school Bordeaux.

Lack of a fining process makes wine production much slower because you're waiting for it to fine naturally without the help of agents. And with the modern taste palate evolving and increasing market demand to produce more wine, including a typical fining process may seem like it's customary, but it's definitely not the only option.

For starters, there is unfiltered wine available on the market. But if you're uninterested in the yo-yo guessing that can come with serving unfiltered wine, there is an answer to this in the vegan realm… there are vegan fining agents! This all may seem a bit confusing and even overwhelming, but as we become more educated about beverages as consumers, the more of a shift in the type of helpful information available will morph into the norm. Don’t be afraid to utilize your sommeliers and local wine shop people to help point you in the right direction!

Vibes + Vino: Vibe Sommelier - Sweat Reprieve

Pair with: Applying The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up philosophies to non-material things, Googling a 2005 version of yourself, and a meditative Cab - think warm climate, crazily veined, and fruit heavy (vs. earth or vegetal). Side of oak. And if it happens to be one of those weeks where you say “eff it” and want a one-upper – the kind that makes you afraid to look at your bank statement later – Howell Mountain AVA fits the bill.

Vibes + Vino: 4 Producers, 4 Regions

The record producer: The experience architect, the idea-lobbyist, the ditty boss.

J Dilla - The Sherry Triangle I don’t know what my life was before J Dilla. I don’t know what my life was before Sherry. My first wine mentor was obsessed with Sherry and, in my naive adolescence, I followed like a Hypebeast lemming with no initial context, because who was I to voice a real opinion when my understanding of wine comprised of not knowing Malbec’s origins were in France and pronouncing Xinomavro wrong. (Plus, Sherry was having its boom with hipsters at the time so I was inundated with questions at least 3x daily.)

In retrospect, this no-quantifiable-preconception crash course to Sherry was the best way for me to fall in love with it. It’s essentially a scrappy, off-beat drink if you think about it, and transparent in showcasing distinct soil characteristics, especially by the Albariza soil. #JDillaIsBae because of the same scrappy, off-beat production. Even in the very beginnings as Jay Dee evolved into being a full-time producer, he reminds me of the transparent, against-the-grain nature of the sax & percussion somersaults of 1940s bebop. He constantly built upon his blended style and didn’t overhaul it for anything or anyone. Kind of like the blended nature of Sherry itself, and how new oak isn’t really a solera thing when it comes to Sherry because the tannins would impede the development of flor. Or, even the fact that barrels are preferably fixed instead of replaced/discarded. After J Dilla, everything I thought I knew about hip-hop changed. After Sherry, I opened a new door to beverage geeking. Both run-ins are IRL examples of the often imitated, never duplicated two.

No I.D. - Burgundy My love affair with No I.D. is severely skewed being from Chicago and by my love affair with No I.D.-touched Common albums, specifically 1997’s One Day It'll All Make Sense—which is yours truly’s personal Holy Grail reach for soul searching, psyche demon slaying, and figuring-life-out moments. In the world of hip-hop production as a whole, on the surface it may not seem like No I.D.’s kudos is even comparable to James Yancey levels, but beneath it all it is… and then some. It's real easy to seperate the diehards, casual fans, and curious listeners of No I.D. when the masses only attribute his success to being a master sampler. (Not to discredit the latter by any means, because his artistry of the sample is his muscle—often euphonically ambitious yet golden.)

No I.D.’s music touch is practically sacred. Hell, he’s like the trillion dollar CPG industry in producer form—reputation in a broad space and honing his craft to flow with and stay relevant in current and future markets. He’s what Burgundy is to the wine world, and Burgundy’s domination comes in its own variant of CPG: Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Gamay. Yet outsider looking in, a snapshot of Burgundy in population and size might provoke assumptions that the region’s reach would barely make a dent in the world of wine. However, its influence has proven otherwise—and it’s a hell of a lot to examine. It’s to a point where I have to stop myself from feeling defeated when sinking into any Burgundy topic because I constantly feel a million steps behind in the the elaborate, convoluted technicalities. Much like how some winemakers have set Burgundies as a benchmark for influencing their own style of wines, No I.D.'s production style has taken other production artists to new heights. He’s a Veteran for a reason, infiltrating nearly three decades of music.

One No I.D. standout for me in the last five years would have to be "Higher" on Rihanna's ANTI - and it's barely 2 minutes long. In its slurred, vampy nature, it is profoundly focused. That's kind of how he bulldozed even through this next gen of artists - not taking the big shots right away, making punches where it mattered, and leveling up himself. He took time off, got inspired. Even simply relating back to Rihanna as a brand powerhouse, if you think about how influential the Fenty brand has combated the CPG sector of cosmetics when people felt the market was already saturated by celebrity releases, that's No I.D. as a producer. Preeminently, he’s been in the thicks of it, the cornerstone of it, molding a stockpile of careers.

Babyface - Willamette Valley These two scream the clashing dichotomies of the Old School and New School. On one side we have a marveled producer, the master of the dramatic R&B hook and sometimes dubbed the Quincy of my generation (although no one will ever be Quincy). On the flip side we have a region just as dramatic in its moist climate and consuming diurnal shifts, yet it's also a region compared to the likes of Burgundy probably more often than social media sees a contouring vid posted by a Kardashian (although Willamette will never be Burgundy).

Willamette Valley not only is an significant player in Oregon, but the Pacific Northwest as a whole. It's one of the larger American Viticultural Areas and as a New World region, it may not get enough of its due credit when the comparatives are hypersensitive to Old World traditions and fixated on what Willamette Valley is not in comparison to those Old World counterparts. But to me, Willamette is a mélange of the most intriguing characteristics of both Old World and New World wines. Minerality, mutually rustic and earthy - all with a nominal but distinctive fruit personality that is essentially the anti-Burgundy. Babyface initially was met with similar caution in the beginning of his production career - meeting a new generation of R&B listeners while the genre's core at the time could, in essence, be a genre quarterbacked by nobody other than Quincy Jones. Alongside L.A. Reid, he became the bridge to the New School from the Old School in the age of 90's R&B.

Bob Thiele - Tuscany Can you even put your finger on how many times a jazz recording has been sampled? Even if you drilled down to just one work, the gold standard of A Love Supreme, you'd be met with a hefty list. That influence is just one piece of the pie, and only takes sampling use and one album into account. But Bob Thiele's reach stretches much further - Thiele is one of the great names of jazz. His technical proficiency was ahead of his time, and the influence of his work has criss-crossed across generations of listeners and genres.

This kind of intertwining evolution makes me think of the Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc lovechild: Cabernet Sauvignon. As widely acknowledged as Bob Thiele is in jazz, Cabernet Sauvignon grapes are the most planted wine grape worldwide. It’s French in origin, but Italy and its history with the grape is very Bob Thiele - eqsue compelling, in particular. The initial rise of what is now the "Super Tuscan" was met with much controversy as wine laws pre-1980s did not accommodate the foreign grapes then. Eventually grapes like Cabernet Sauvignon would round out the red blend in following years -- winemakers saw it as a way to improve wine quality -- but if emjois existed during the time, any befuzzled/sneering look emjoi would’ve fit right into the reception of the Super Tuscan prior to actually coining the term "Super Tuscan".

In a world of countless Bob Thiele chartmakers, the "What A Wonderful World" project with George David Weiss and Louis Armstrong was not as honored upon release, and was received in similar fashion to how a Super Tuscan was viewed in Italy in the 1980s. Just like how the intention of adding foreign grapes to indigenous Italian varieties was to improve wine quality, "What A Wonderful World" was a tune set out to bridge gaps in race and culture at a time when race relations were beyond heated. Instead, the song faced criticism for simplistic lyrics and for an ignorance toward the world's state at the time. It would take years before the song was even seen as a standard.

Vibes + Vino: Vibe Sommelier - Stop, Reset

Pair with: Rebooting after consecutive attempts at a mock service exam at home while not being fully moved in. Balikbayan boxes = tables, an iPhone flashlight = candle for decanting. Recommence later. (Help!)

Vibes + Vino: Vibe Sommelier - A Fashion Week Substitute

It's that time of year when I get super nostalgic about New York City and New York Fashion week. Facebook "On This Day" notifications are just the icing on top. Aside from all the varying degrees of certifiable madness in the tents, backstage, or even the blocks of running in-between shows [in heels] to bypass the traffic jam spiderwebs, the city would morph into this behemoth of cultural fashion hunger – more than even by NYC standards. NYFW is equal parts reception, equal parts motivational architecture. All beyond the scope of just ready-to-wear and couture. It infiltrates street style, even menu choices and wine lists, to under-the-radar technology. To break down the week in as few words possible, it's a week of storytelling. Visual, kinesthetic, auditory. The latter being the largest imprint on yours truly in the culmination of mood-building events. Song selection to me is pretty much just as important as the spectacle itself – it often frames receptivity even before the lights are hit on. As the days have already closed in on NYFW and I watch the ending Milan coverage from afar, I'd like to add to the olfactory and gustatory of the senses and bring to you a special version of the #VibeSommelier playlist! Here are some booze & tunes pairings as cool & psychoneurotic as Fashion Week itself to go with 24 looks for the SS 18 season. And a few interlude-esque fillers in between. Peace and chicken grease ✌️

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Vino: Assyrtiko Decoded

Looking at the Mighty Grape to Understand the Distinctive Personality of Greece and Its Wines

More often than not, Greek wines are lumped into such an ambiguous wine category akin to the kind of mystifying grade school tongue twisters teachers use as icebreakers to classroom tension. It’s probably not much help either that to the novice eye, Greek varietal names can seem intimidating to pronounce like “Sally Sells Sea Shells by the Sea Shore” might be to a 1st grader.

It shouldn't be this way! Reevaluation after early years of scarce information and surging interest from modern tastemakers have kept the wines from being completely overlooked. But even as Greek wines make headway and have been repeatedly on the cusp of the new and improved, they still somehow hold the same perplexing quality as some of those grade school tongue twisters. As a new generation of wine lovers become enthralled with discovering the multitude of styles Greece has to offer, backtracking to the square-one of it all may help diffuse some confusion and get both traditionalist and avant-garde supporters alike to fall in love with Greece all over again.

Understanding Greek wine begins with decoding the Assyrtiko (ah-SEER-tee-koh) grape and its character.

Assyrtiko Grapes (source: I Love Greek Wine)

The basics: Assyrtiko to Greece is what Chardonnay is to France – white, native, and significant enough that it’s been replanted in other areas aside from its native upbringing. Its origins are in Santorini and is, by nature, a tough and sassy grape to a point that it is unaffected by disease. Assyrtiko also is vinified to produce variations of dry and sweet wines, including Vinsanto. Greek Vinsanto is completely different and not to be confused with Italian Vin Santo.

The profile: Assyrtiko is a powerful white – loads of acidity, high alcohol, and detectable tannin. It preserves acidity even in the peak of ripeness. It is one of the few white grapes of the region that also has the potential to age. Think of it like the grape of irony, like the huge German Shepherd dog whose name is "Teeny" or you slipping on a banana peel after making fun of someone who just did kind of irony.

The effects of Phylloxera that Assyrtiko is naturally able to dodge (source: Alamy)

The Soil: The Assyrtiko grape acclimates well to soil types. Even in Santorini alone, the soil which markedly reflects its volcanic history is easily observed in the glass. Sommeliers impelled by showcasing distinct examples of terroir can have so much fun with Assyrtiko as it exhibits terroir especially well. The soil is a product of the region's past volcanic eruptions, some of the greatest recorded in history.

The Coil: This looks like a work of art. To withstand long drought seasons and the aggressive Aegean winds, vines are trained to grow circularly and upwards, like a basket. Roots grow deep, almost 30 to 40 feet down to capture enough H2O. Grapes then hang in the middle, guarded from the sun above by the leaves. The volcanic soil make it so its naturally resistant to Phylloxera. So unlike most wine regions of the world where vineyards are grafted to defend against disease, the vines here are generally ungrafted and many are on their original roots. It's amazing how Assyrtiko thrives in this desert-like state but it does due to a combination of both natural element and innovative approach.

The round, "basket" shape vines are trained to grow in (source: Society of Wine Educators)

Assyrtiko is just 1 of more than 300 indigenous grape varieties in Greece. Understanding the origins of the grape helps put into perspective the wonderfully complex but significant expressions of Greece as a whole. Greek wine has been around for over 4,000 years and the world's just scratching the surface. It is worth having that wine conversation about Greece, even if it means being tongue-tied for a moment or two.

Greek Wine Regions (source: All About Greek Wine)

Vibes + Vino: Domaine des Berthiers 2014 Saint-Andelain with Ctrl

Vibes: Ctrl - SZA Vino: Domaine des Berthiers 2014 Saint-Andelain

Quick Notes: Pale yellow, green tints. Inorganic earth to the guts. Citrus, hazy herb notes, medium+ acidity.

Comparatives: Ctrl is an authoritative, validation of the power behind the smoky, wavering shadow of the unknown. It’s honest, abrasive self-actualization in album form. Filled with dodging-the-hard-reset-and-using-keyboard-commands-to-keep-from-crashing anthems, Ctrl portrays the marks of emotional growth and the dimensions of how losing control catalysts into gaining control.

[Ctrl] The Modifier

Some people treat Loire Valley like that seemingly fluffy piece on the news that’s actually pretty right on and serious. Or they exhaust its name drop much like restaurant diners do with manager names they don’t even know. The nature of “being in control” is exactly this – ambiguity is its trademark.

In Ctrl, SZA takes a much more literal approach to tackling the cloudy smoke of fear, especially when compared to her Z release. (I personally was a fan of Z’s metaphorical anatomy, much in the same way I hang on to Frank Ocean-isms, but that is a whole other conversation). The modus operandi in Ctrl drips in a raw, aimless yet methodical, self-scrutiny process you would derive from the bluesy wails of an Otis Rush record, or addressing flaws and paranoia similar to how Koko Taylor did in her “Just Love Me” and “Insane Asylum” days. It’s blunt. It takes jabs. It has moments where something probably could be illustrated more “eloquently”, but then it would no longer be the DNA of Ctrl if it did. The crudeness here is honesty, the modifier of anxiety and phobia into assets.

[Alt] The Agent

Acceptance in even the most vulnerable encounters is the key here. I mean for goodness sakes she makes being sidechick status sound especially liberating in The Weekend. I feel the smoky shadows of the unknown interpreted in Ctrl help me understand how the smoke-like qualities of Pouilly-Fumé (from the smoky color in its maturity to the nose associated with the terroir) distinguishes Sauvignon Blancs coming from this region. For this Domaine des Berthiers in particular, vamped with the cult following of the first family of Loire, Dageneau, its overall composition embodies the type of hide-and-seek emotional heft present up to the closing statements of Ctrl. Its bare-all, but not in a barbaric, grass and veggie New Zealand Sauvignon kind of way.

Ctrl is framed by making distinctions between being in and out of control, whether it’s haphazardly, or sound, or in the kind of rolling-eyes aggravation similar to an unhelpful wine smarty pants who doesn’t want to go through a few seconds explanation to highlight the simple difference between Pouilly-Fumé and Pouilly-Fuissé with someone. Ctrl resonates with her heartfelt, offbeat narratives, all while reaching a genuine vulnerability level without getting to (ahem) crybaby Drake territory. (Yep, I said it.) Ctrl challenges emotional stability and isolation from the trolled “Drew Barrymore”, to dabbles in several 90s incarnation elements while stripping the idea of “perfect” tone with SZA’s stunning scratchy, nasally articulation, to fighting insecurities and desires in love wanting to be a “Normal Girl” (“the way I pump my fist / or how I bust my hip / for your affection / tryna be down”), to following illusionistic fades and pauses but rising amongst her mother’s spoken-word interludes, to “20 Something”s flat out growth realizations (“honesty hurts when you getting older”). It’s a catching yourself dumbfounded memoir, yet gaining the maturity to have an acceptance of how much can’t actually be controlled.

[Delete] The Slayer

There’s a lot of attitude on these tracks. Grounded in this art of openness without going for a straight-edge summation, but instead seeking reminders in the trademarks left behind in from-the-ashes accounts. This is most apparent in ““Broken Clocks” and “Garden (Say It Like Dat)”. In one she addresses “I've had a thing for dirty shoes since I was 10” and she poses “Can you remind me of my gravity?” in another. In both accounts the backbone is being driven by being able to look back, accept, to even return to the source/s of those exact fears to be able to grow.

It’s like returning to the gunflint characteristics of a wine like this Pouilly-Fumé… there’s no disconnection from it. And like that trademark, needing validation and wanting to take control doesn’t just span one timeframe of twenty-something life. It takes on different forms past one block of time – it lingers like smoke and fateful like internet browsers + having multiple browser tabs open.

The narrated passion results in battle scars and messy consequences but Ctrl breathes life to rolling-up-sleeves stamina. There is a purpose and place for each misstep, each a building block to the big picture idea of control. And Ctrl does one hell of a job defining the noun/verb duo.

“Forrest Gump had a lot goin' for him”.  But so does SZA.

End session.

Vibes + Vino: Vibe Sommelier - #CLOUDS

Pair with: A pre-overcast sky + an Italian Aglianico for some oomph.

When you’re a bit in your feelings and reaching out for quixotic groove. A little midday gravity before shifting to #NBAFinals autopilot hysteria. Enjoy!

Vino: Sensory Eval ~ Herb Cues + Then Some

My affinity for wine is deep-rooted in smell. I cling to it in the same pining vein as me remaining on the Yoshi’s mailing list despite not living in Oakland -- there is a pleasure/pain ratio in doing so but the kaleidoscopic marriage of each keeps me in the loop and stimulates evolving interest.

Not gonna lie, some sensory notes floating out there are bull. But as a whole, they are helpful pieces of information. I just find it fascinating how particular nose cues can take you to specific destinations, specific timeframes, specific actions. It's crazy how something can seem so random and off the cuff at first but can be pretty formulaic and predictable over time.

This week I'm trying to expand my smell memory bank on some primary aromas, which are the fruit-driven, herbal, and floral notes in wine. I feel like I'm better at picking out fresh or cooked fruit elements but I'm a bit of a slug on the dried stuff, so that's my first plan of attack. Herbs and flowers are close seconds.

Here's what I've gathered together to get the ball rolling (L-R,T-B):

Strawberries, Rose Buds, Rhubarb, Vanilla

Black Tea, Sweet Oolong

Paprika

Star Anise, Cinnamon, Cloves, Orange Peels

Oregano

Maté, Red Rooibos, Cocoa

Peach, Pineapple, Chamomile, Lemon Verbena

Jasmine Dragon Pearls

I will take some serious advice from the last blind tasting seminar I attended though: DON'T OVERTHINK IT. Observe the smells as standalone, separate entities and what each smell equates to. A lot can be deduced from the wine by smell and sight alone. No need to get lofty, hold your horses!

I'm involuntarily an over thinker so this comes as a challenge; it needs to be emblazoned on my forehead in big, red, downright annoying Comic Sans font. But the point was definitely made as we went through a few exercises and by the end of it we had mistaken a Chenin Blanc for an Albariño (missed the botrytisish notes Chenic would have and mistook it for peaches/green herbs, then basically threw in the non-existent terpene cues that an Albariño would have) and somehow imagined another wine blend included Mourvèdre, which it in fact did not.

So if nothing else was going to get me in gear, that definitely did it. Let me throw on Missy Elliott circa the This Is Not a Test! years over the speakers and refocus.

Vibes: Notes Over Poetry

Reflection mode. Giving up not in the sense of actually "giving up" but giving up in a positive light. In a you know when to stop, drop, give up your defenses, lie across the basketball court in Steph Curry fashion in order to move forward and stimulate growth. And maybe harbor some artistry for a subliminal alley-oop later.

Inspire and be inspired everybody - Happy Saturday.

Vibes + Vino: Vibe Sommelier - City of Wind

Pair with: Midday creative juices + an absurdly easygoing Gamay A little bit of homegrown Chicago character mixed in with the inspired-bys. Enjoy!

TRIAL AND ERROR, curate your own story, pave your own way - STOP trying to look for other people to tell you exactly how to do it... Be gracious and kind, stay open, TEACH AND BE TAUGHT.

Kristen Kish, Top Chef

Verve + Vibes: KENZO SS17 Campaign Branding x “Music Is My Mistress”

This KENZO drop is everything I geek out about as a rooter for the arts and a disciple of marketing. A powerful, collaborative branding exposé.

The campaign features a short film by director Kahlil Joseph, a name which has become ubiquitous with boundary-pushing narratives over the years. It does not feel supplemental or like an afterthought. It feels like a true extension of the KENZO brand.

He uses the moving soundtrack of Kelsey Lu and Shabazz Palaces like a symphony to mood chasm, capturing a bizarre collective of abstract, impressionistic spaces and subjects comparable to his catalogue of work, including those with Kendrick Lamar, Flying Lotus, and Beyoncé.

Vibes + Vino: 1 Album, 4 Wineways: Sonicology

The psychedelic comfort of winter brings me to The Laurels. Sonicology in particular turns onto a street of slightly upbeat, 90s stoner grunge rock (there's a paradox if there ever was one) interfusing lachrymose guitar wails and melodic hip-hop beat persuasion in a Seeing Sounds - N.E.R.D  kind of way. The difference is in this airy evolution in their production, but almost adultureated texture which warrants blankets to moody Mondays and TGIF piety.

Domaine Thierry & Pascale Matrot Les Chevalieres Meursault 2013

Some people think white Burgundy is this big intimidating thing that's difficult to understand, but it's not. It's just a pedestal effect. Kind of like a starstruck kid and Beyoncé. Beyoncé is this goddess, but at the end of the day she's probably Netflix and chillin' like the rest of us humans. Well, at the end of the day, white Burgundy is just Chardonnay from France.

Pair with Sonicology because... it's a weighty white that stands with the weight of the winter season. While Meursault whites tend to lean toward meadows and white flower influences, the Les Chevalieres exhibits just that with a side of toastiness and a mineral finish that doesn't clobber it down.

Barone Pizzini Naturae Franciacorta DOCG

The leafless trees, brown grass, and early days of sundown make it impossible for me to imagine the life behind the nature during this season. A little bubbly can do wonders to help put some pep in my step and funk in my soul.

Pair with Sonicology because... all the dense horns and its faint James Brown imprints liven me like this Italian bubbly and creamy cheese slathered on bread. Naturae is fragrant with no frills, soft and lush without being a wuss.

A to Z Pinot Noir 2014

There is no other warmth that's quite like opening a box of pizza on a frigidly cold night. Even more so a box of mushroom pizza and a bottle of Pinot. I'm a mushroom fanatic so the distinct earthy dominion of the fungi pulls me toward a wine style far less fruit forward than your average glass of California. Oregon is one of those places I get really enthused talking about because the wines produced here, while New World in makeup and classification, have rustic characteristics reminiscent of Old World beginnings.

Pair with Sonicology because... having chronic pizza cravings in the winter also means finding something cool-climate amplified to drink without having to spend more than an Andrew Jackson on it each time. A to Z is an interesting, solid wine sourced from all across Oregon, giving lift to an already more than adequate meal. Fits the bill and then some.

Tommasi Ripasso Valpolicella 2012

The SparkNotes version of why Ripasso wines are often called “baby Amarone” essentially boils down to the fact Amarone grape skins are refermented (with other awesome ish) in the Ripasso (“repassed”) version of the wine. Abstract, yet accessible.

Pair with Sonicology because... it’s an abstract, yet accessible version of Ripasso in musical form. There are moments when it confuses me in an Asylum for the Musically Insane - Tea & Symphony way, but brings me back to civilization like Fantasy - Johnny “Hammond” Smith would if it were wrapped up in Clint Eastwood - Gorillaz packaging. Plus, while ideally I’d love to have Amarone on a more consistent basis, it’s not financially responsible for me to do so. It’s similar to how friends ask if they can get a good Champagne for under 15 bucks so they can drink it more often. Hell to the no. And it’s not to be a snob, it’s just a truth. Move on to Cava or Cremant buddy, Champagne won't get you there. AND THERE'S ABSOLUTELY NOTHING WRONG WITH THAT. The Valpolicella Ripasso style is the same kind of accessible truth buster, entangled in a psych rock composition.

Verve + Vino: Wine Trends Branded by Fire Emojis

Being ahead of a wine trend is very much like any other industry’s crazes. Behind-the-scenes is a mashup of chaotic organization, theory exploration, methodical analysis and AB testing, yet the pretense is a long-running facade assumed by circumstances of hunches and luck.

The final result is almost never an aftereffect of that kind of absolute serendipity. (Think: the curation of the next Emilio Pucci runway for NYFW isn’t being decided by drawing straws.)  

A lot of staying ahead of the game is as simple as embracing the renegade spirit of the youth (moreover, the youth-like), and their confidence to be absurd, go against the grain and question everything.

Listed below – in no particular order – are a few things I’m calling out as points of interest for the upcoming year. One or two could even put someone like me out of a job.

Modernity is not a death sentence though. Like the Masego track “Shut Up and Groove”, you have to do just that -- shut up, groove, co-exist with the new. Evolution and curiosity is the oxygen of any industry, not stagnation. Onward and upward.

Lifestyle Marketing vs. Product Marketing While the industry has drilled the captivating background stories to a finesse, the "umph" will have to come from lifestyle representations. How does this wine fit into my life already? (Think: Nike) No discredit to current efforts, as storytelling has proven to be an effective, ginormous chunk of beverage commerce, vino notably -- simply looking at those already taking the model and running with it to the moon.

Wine Cloning: Wine Sans Grapes People like Joshua Decolongon are enchanting, yet terrifying. But the intimidation is cool all in the same. AVA is wine geeking in alien territory. Admittedly I was an initial skeptic, but fully mindblown.

Local Delivery Tech Expansion This is especially true here in Chicago, where we rightfully were named the best city to be a hermit. Have you been on the Foxtrot website or even the Grubhub app in your jammies and yesterday’s makeup? Totally biased, particularly falling into this demographic, but I'm flinging myself at it as close as a saxophonist is to his blues tunes.

CLIMATE CHANGE CLIMATE CHANGE CLIMATE CHANGE Whether it's an angel or a devil depends on what side of the world your winemaker resides. The all kinds of wacky weather is a challenge to say the least for an industry managed under predictable forecasting. What will Côte-Rôtie taste like in 2095?

There is No Season Sabbatical for Rosé While there are so much more fascinating styles, we can't run away from things like Google search data screaming rosé want-you-bad-as-evaaaaa fervor and the U.S. being the third largest producer of rosé next to France and Italy. The age of sommeliers bumping the wines off restaurants lists in the fall may be long gone.

Where Art Thou, Wine Info? Shoutout to the journalists heavy on the wine coverage -- you hold the gavel. The shift has moved from somm to behind-the-computer, very much like other industries. Whether this is a postive or negative thing, what you write determines the course of the industry narrative.

A Crime Drama Exposure of Rudy Kurniawan Protégés It's going to be like warming up the contrast on a Photoshop snippet -- at one moment the A-OK color is revealed. While the first recent, well-known account of wine fraud leads to Rudy Kurniawan, there will be a wave to follow that will not be pretty. The notoriety will either change hands or pass down. 1, there’s no way he acted alone. 2, there wasn't just one Louis Vuitton bag knockoff ever made. The gaggle of Ponsot (and other) villains lurking in the shadows is chilling.

Vibes + Vino: Vibe Sommelier - Jan 06 17

Pair with: Woo-girl status duck faces and an overtly meaty Northern Rhône Syrah

Just for galvanic measure on an otherwise tame Friday night, I’m making my Spotify playlists public to all of you lovelies. Yep, we’ve come a long way from OiNK forums and Last.fm scrobbles, y’all.

The #VERVEVIBESVINO nut in me will be testing out a Friday playlist segment called Vibe Sommelier. I mean, I know you are all capable of making your own playlists, but I also know sometimes you need a break from self-curating and letting someone else take the wheel for 40 minutes. (Or y’know, sometimes a week.)

It won’t be every Friday — just whenever it tickles my fancy to do so — but if you ever want to vibe with me on your commute, while you’re doing chores, or during the aforementioned woo-girl duck face inducing activities, holler at your girl and follow.

Let’s kick this off: