As part of the cultural season of the city Flower and the Arts & Wine theme, I proposed a Musical Tasting with a duo of outstanding musicians: François Pascal with the clarinet and Gregory Daltin the accordion. On the programme, a theme on Spanish wines, and a Hispanic musical tour!
Spanish wine selection
- Domaine Giro Ribot – Adivinis – Brut Nature Reserva – AOP Penedès – not vintage
- Area Simbiosis – Cuvée Bobal Sincero – Vino de la Tierra de Castilla – 2022
- Domain Ondarre – Gran Reserva – Rioja – 2010
- Bodegas Barbadillo – Levante – D.O. Manzanilla – Sanlúcar de Barrameda – solera
Musical agreements by François Pascal and Grégory Daltin
In this version, the musicians offer a tailor-made repertoire: the accordion, the clarinet and the bass clarinet raise freshness, illustrate bitterness, demonstrate elegance or spread the power of the wines offered to the tasters. Thus, the transcriptions of hispanizing classical music and the original repertoire with jazz and folk sounds, shape 4 wine-music chords, for an extraordinary hearing and taste experience to which the improvisation of musicians will add a woody, silky or spicy touch, who knows...
Back in image of the evening
The tasting sheets of the Soenologist
Wine #1 – Cava, champagne with Spanish!
Area : Giro Ribot
Large house, among the 3 largest producers in Spain. A resolutely family estate, run by women for several generations.
Name: Penedès = Vineyard of Catalonia, southwest of Barcelona, towards Tarragona
Terror : Mediterranean climate, protected by Montserrat Massif. It is hot, but altitude brings freshness as well as proximity to the sea.
Grape(s): 90% Chardonnay, 10% Parellada
Cuvée: Adivinis – Brut Nature Reserva
Vintage: NM
Service: 6 – 7 oC
Alcohol: 12%
Cava: traditional method, 9 months on line at least, but the best go further. Traditionally local grape varieties (macabeo, xarelo, parellada) were used, but in recent years Chardonnay has been allowed = polemic on the loss of identity.
Description : 30 months on slats / 2gr of sugar / method champenoise / shape bottle Krug
Nose : Fresh, tropical fruits, pear notes, floral, lemon. Aromas toasted and brioches, pastries.
Tasting : In the palate there is a lot of freshness, a "creamy" side, it is structured, elegant. Tropical fruits, a slightly vegetal side. Lemon. Nice acidity.
Music & Wine Agreement : Festive, sparkling, bubbles, effervescent, delicate, brioche, buttered, tense, lively
– Siete Canciones populares Espanolas, Falla Manual
7. Polo (Classical Andalusian song, lively, flamboyant, sparkling, it starts the evening well and leaves a Spanish musical decor)
– Nights in Spain, Jules Massenet (delicate, light, but also link between France and Spain with a French composer Hispanizing his music, like the Cava, made in the Champagne method)
Wine 2 – In Spain you can also make a delicate wine marked by freshness
Area : Simbiosis
Name: Vino de la Tierra de Castilla (west of Valencia). Half of the Spanish wine production is located in the DO Castilla Mancha
5 ha, very small estate, 3000 bottles produced each year. We're on a hidden nugget that I'm glad to introduce you.
Grape(s): 100% Bobal (endemic pike = native, meaning bull head)
Cuvée: Bobal Sincero
Vintage: 2022
Service: 18°
Carafage: 2H
Alcohol: 12,5%
Description : What is remarkable is the fluidity of wine, on a very hot terroir (south-SE)
Eye: Light ruby dress
Nose : Red fruits well ripe, cherry, raspberry (it almost looks like pinot black)
Tasting : Nice acidity, freshness. Mineral tram, almost chocolatey notes. Alcohol is present but not exuberant. Tannins are still a little tight, it is due to the young wine, but they will loosen.
Food & Wine Agreement : Very mediterranean wine, which will go perfectly with the cuisine of the same name.
Music & Wine Agreement : elegance, crunchy red fruits, easy to drink, guleyant, boyfriend wine, holiday, aperitif, acidity, freshness, looks like the Pinot noir de Bourgogne
– Siete Canciones populares Espanolas, Manuel de Falla (short light pieces evoking different regions of Spain,)
3. Asturiana (light, meditative)
– Passegiata, Gregory Daltin (a 5-stroke, fresh, fluid, rhythmic) – popular music
Siete Canciones populares Espanolas, Falla Manual
5. Nana (Berceuse, always light, to finish at a calm moment before the next chord...)
Wine #3 – Ondarre: The complexity of old wine, the wine of the evening!
Area Ondarre (founded in 1985 by Bilbao investors)
Name: Rioja
The Vineyard is in Navarre, at the entrance to the Rioja. The best known region of Spain, for its red wines based on Tempranillo.
Grape(s): 85% Tempranillo / 10% Carignan / 5% Grenache
Cuvée: Gran Reserva (5-6 years of breeding) – upscale
Vintage: 2010
Service: 18°
Carafage: 2H
Alcohol: 13,5%
Description : 28 months in barrels + 32 months in bottles = 5 years in total! GRAN RESERVA = the TOP OF GAMME in the image of our first wines classified in Bordeaux.
Nose : Oak, vanilla, chocolate
Tasting : Silky, soft tannins, velvet, complex
Music & Wine Agreement : complex, powerful, tannic, old, silky, chocolate, tobacco notes, vanilla, powerful, carpentry, class, fireworks
Improvisation time leading to >
– Tribute to Manuel de Falla, Bela Kovacs (only clarinet piece very Hispanic, trumpets, flamenco, in the heart of the arena...)
Wine #4 – Mutated wine from Andalusia. Manzanilla
Area : Bodegas Barbadillo
Name: D.O. Manzanilla – Sanlúcar de Barrameda (only village that can produce)
Terror : Its geographical location, next to the Strait of Gibraltar, brings heat by the Mediterranean east winds in summer and the ocean west winds cool and humidity in winter.
Grape(s): 100% Palomino Fino
Cuvée: Rising
Vintage: System Solera (5-6 years old)
Service: 8-10°
Carafage: Not necessary
Alcohol: 15% (drinking of wine)
Description : At first the winemaking of white wines is traditional, then an addition of 15% alcohol is practiced after fermentation, the wine is then kept in barrels filled with 80%, where a veil develops on the surface which prevents the oxidation of the wine. The drums are stored in superposition, called solera, the youngest at the top.
Dress : straw yellow
Nose : Nut notes, almonds, fruity, curry
Tasting : Salinity, do not lose the veil
Music & Wine Agreement : Perfect to finish, a classic of Andalusia and Spanish culture. You can smell the long-growing, the timeless side of the wine, the complexity. A form of freshness, while it is in one of the warmest regions of Spain. Nut notes, oxidative side, salinity. Very original wine! Polarized (you like or hate)
– Our Spanish Love Song, Charlie Haden (Spanish jazz play, very light, melancholic)
– El Vito, Popular air of Andalusia (very festive, starts the evening well, plants a Spanish musical decor, improvised beach inside, it lends well)
and to conclude:
– Astor Piazzolla – Libertango (1977)
leading us even further south, in Argentina, opening to something else..!)
