While Mark was matching wine to Graham Parker, Little Feat, Peter Gabriel, John Coltrane and Radiohead, on our side of the puddle 68 people from our Slow Food group were experiencing wine with some more classical repertoire, sung by LAUDAMUS VOCEM, a trio led by a soprano winemaker.... BTW, when you say Kronos, you mean the quartet I suppose ? I really enjoy their music.
Champagne Cuvee de Reserve by Franck Pascal "Viva viva" by Antonio Salieri Off to a great start with a champagne that is really seductive yet complex and floral, I went for the regular Brut as I thought the Non dose' might be harsh on palates unaccustomed to a purist champagne wine, and the added mellowness was well matched to the joyful simplicity of this piece.
Zeltinger Spaetlese trocken Sonnenuhr 2001 by Selbach Oster "Alles schweiget", F.J. Haydn A straight rigorous riesling that pleased even those who said "I don't like Alsace wines" and also said "c'est vrai, they make rieling in Germany?". In the match, I think the wine was too powerful for the piece, next ime a more mellow choice will be in order. But the riesling is in perfect shape here, no petro-exagerations.
Vouvray 2002 by Marie-Annick Lemaire "Under this stone" by Henry Purcell Brilliant match, everyone found this to work well, a lively Vouvray with good minerality and a piece whose title could have just as easily described the terroir.
Morgon Cote de Py 2002 by Jean Foillard "Due Pupille Amabili" by Mozart Subtle red with good flowery aroma and discrete tannins keeps things sufficiently light during this transition to red and our first Mozart piece.
Pommard La Chaniere 2000 by Claude Marechal "Helas que c'est un grand remord" by anon. Ah, too bad, this wine needed to be opened 24 hours earlier, some people resorted tu using a 5 eurocent piece to try to wipe out the reductive smells, so we ended up paying more attention to the music this time.
Lagrein aus Gries, Dunkel 2000 by Josef Niedermayr "Terzettino" by Mozart (Cosi Fan Tutte) A bright airy piece accompanied by what I hoped would be an ethereal red from Suedtyrol, and it was almost that. The wine did not quite live up to expectations, it was good with pleasant bouquet of black berries, but it was overwhelmed by the music.
Ruster Ausbruch "Am fuess des berges" 2001 by Robert Wenzel "Panis Angelicus" by Saint-Saens "Passione" by Rene Dupere Superb rich complex sticky from Austria, brought by a friend of the Wenzel family living in Marseille, a perfect match for these two more recent pieces, one even contemporary. Hard to keep up with an Ausbruch, but Saint Saens has its own complexity to match, and this was a fitting conclusion to this experiment in simultaneous stimulation of all 5 senses.
Mike
Mike Tommasi, Six Fours, France email link