My Mind has been blown on a Wednesday Night!

This song is KILLER. It's Death, in fact. There is plenty of legend and lore out there about this mid 70's Detroit power trio. In fact, Mos Def is planning to produce a documentary about them. Anyway, though this song runs a bit long on the outro, it is sick. Period. The terrific intro, the bass, reminiscent of Afrobeat, the furious and steady drums, the guitar stabs, perfect, the hardcore breakdown, followed by the the early Funkadelic meets Black Sabbath rocking out...what an amazing tune! I'm trying to imagine going to a local party in a black neighborhood in mid 70's Detroit, everyone expecting to hear some Earth Wind & Fire or Philly Sound type stuff, and instead getting a dose of Death.

Typicité in Cour-Cheverny; another Tessier CC experience

How would you describe Romorantin? The ancient grape variety which composes the Cour-Cheverny appellation, Romorantin is definitely a varietal near and dear to the heart of the Loire valley wine lover.

Somehow I've yet to experience a bottle made by the master of Romorantin, Francois Cazin, though I do have a few bottles of '02 Cuvee Renaissance (a demi-sec which includes some botrytised grapes) currently en route from New York City. The only romo I know-know would be that of Philippe Tessier. I am drinking another bottle of his 2004, and I would describe it as intensely pithy and citric. Bitter oranges and lots of pith. But also distinctly mineral and showing this weird root vegetable aspect towards the finish that his Cheverny Rouge also shows.

I know it sounds like I'm luke-warm towards the wine, but I do rather enjoy it. It makes me think about what I'm drinking, and I've probably drunk this wine half a dozen times in the past year.

Addendum

My girlfriend just asked me if any of my co-workers would ever describe a wine as 'fun.' I said that yes, I occasionally have used such a vague, promissory, lame descriptor as 'fun.' Seeking something more inventive and descriptive to redeem myself, I offered that the wine I was currently drinking (i.e. the 04 Tessier Cour-Cheverny) was a real mind fuck of a wine. To which she replied, "No, it's a skull fucking wine!"

That'll work for me. You should try it sometime - the Cour-Cheverny, that is.

And the 90's Indie Revival Continues: Polvo jams at Slim's on Friday 10/9

Polvo was one of those bands I really enjoyed listening to some years ago while I was exploring indie rock for the first time in my mid-late teens. But I never had an opportunity to see them live. A product of the thriving early-mid 90's Chapel Hill, NC scene, Polvo always had a unique sound: sprawling, psychedelic and laid-back, but with more than a hint of indie slacker aesthetic, experimental guitar interplay and pop sensibility thrown in for good measure.

At long last I righted the wrong of not having seen this very solid quartet. After a nearly ten year absence, Polvo first reunited to perform in 2008 at All Tomorrow's Parties, and like so many other bands have leveraged the reunion to begin recording and touring together anew. Given the competence of their performance, both of new material and re-worked older songs, I definitely would encourage both those who are familiar with the band and the uninitiated to check them out when they head your way next.

Friday night at Slim's, for a focused hour and a half or so, Polvo primarily combined older songs from their Merge Records output with material from their Touch and Go years, with which I'm honestly not as familiar, in their inimitable style. Yes, it is a bit "Sonic Youth-y" as I overheard one concert goer explain to his friend, but there is also a real 70's classic rock element at work here as well, not to mention an Eastern influence which flavors the guitar based compositions and improvisation. While I enjoyed both guitarists' contributions, leader Ash Bowie's songs and riffage really stood out. As did drummer Brian Quast's efforts, especially on some particularly complex and jazz inspired fill-ins. Sparse vocals, usually buried fairly low in the mix, along with some seriously extended jamming, highlight the fact that Polvo is at their most comfortable when they are rocking out, exploring the balance of consonance, dissonance, distortion, bent notes and vibrato at their own leisurely, mid-tempo pace.

Row, Fisherman row

How I haven't posted this in two years of blogging and youtube re-posting, I am not sure. At any rate, this is obviously the beautiful vocal stylings of the Congos, the production genius of Lee "Scratch" Perry, and, in short, this is reggae.

Enjoy.

Testing out the restorative powers of sherry, Equipos Navazos Manzanilla Pasada in particular

What a busy week! Hopefully the overall level of activity and sales at work is a good sign of economic recovery, because if that is indeed the case then it might be a strong holiday retail season after all, and maybe 2010 will see lower unemployment and even some modest economic growth. Then again, we count amongst our customer base some of the wealthiest zip codes in the country, so I will take with a grain of salt the fairly strong September and early sprint out the gates of October.

Today, in particular, we were so busy that I needed a good 10 minutes of lie on the couch time just now as I returned home from work. In my glass, to hopefully revive the senses and ready the appetite, is some Equipo Navazos La Bota de Manzanilla Pasada #10. Manzanilla, because it is fino style sherry from the town of Sanlucar de Barrameda, in this case from a top quality solera at La Guita. Pasada, because this is no typical, young Manzanilla solera; rather it is from wine averaging 12-14 years in age, whose barrels were topped off sporadically to prevent the manzanilla from becoming an amontillado.

I've been working through the bottle over the past several days, and it is quite the killer wine. For $30 retail, I think it is the best buy in dry sherry out there, and arguably one of the best wine buys, assuming you dig sherry, of course. Not a simple, salty, straw colored Manzanilla, the #10 shows a color more akin to 18K gold. Aromatically intense, you can catch marcona almonds, sea salt, lemons, butterscotch, and even some yellow triaminic cold syrup (that is not necessarily a good thing in my book, as pungent as that stuff was as a kid), but focusing on the former aromas I forget about barely palatable childhood cold remedies. On the palate, there is a similar depth, complexity and shifting quality to the flavors that this wine shares with some of the wine world's greatest. It brings to mind really good sous voile Jura wine, without quite the crackle of acidity or liveliness. There is a salty, broth-like savory element as well, not unlike that of a good dry amontillado or palo cortado. Very nutty and savory on the finish.

As you can see, I struggled with that note, but at any rate I do feel revived and ready to go on with my evening. If ever you're feeling tired, lacking in appetite, or otherwise feeling not up to doing much, I would suggest drinking a small amount of good sherry. And if it's one of the best, such as the Manzanilla pasada from Equipo Navazos, so much the better.

For very good quality, production oriented information on this particular sherry, see Peter Liem's excellent post on the topic. You can also explore his blog for posts about other Equipo Navazos bottlings.

Syrah BRIX at harvest, or Jim Barr, why must you pick your grapes so late?

Photo courtesy of Tablas Creek's blog

Not to out him, or shame him, but Jim Barr, my (mostly) respectable colleague insists that his Sonoma (forget exactly where in Sonoma) Syrah grapes must be picked at 24 brix or above. That way, the seed is likely to be nice and brown, or "physiologically ripe." They have already achieved "sugar ripenes." That happens first in warmer, sunnier wine growing regions. California, even in the so-called cool, Type I climate growing zones, is a warmer, sunnier growing region. The harvest was 3-4 weeks later than usual, and the pH of the grapes around 3.40. All exciting things, says Barr.

Barr knows grapes, he knows winemaking and, occasionally, he even knows wine (joking, Jim). He has been making wine for around thirty years. He is also a creature of habit - to put it mildly - and I imagine that he looks for these indicators in his grapes year in, year out. However, I know for a fact that Barr really enjoys more moderate alcohol wines, Loire reds, for example. Nonetheless, he insists that if his grapes aren't "physiologically ripe," i.e. brown pips, his wines will not only be hard, but bitter as well.

I'm no winemaker. Never tried it. In fact, I might as well come clean and admit that I've never even helped to harvest. Hell, you know what, I just taste, spit and judge wine for a living professionally. I much prefer maker's and coke... All joking aside, I come across more and more California wines from growers who purposefully pick earlier than their neighbors (see Hirsch Pinot Noir in the Sonoma Coast). Another example would be the terrifically balanced, fresh tasting 2007 Bartolo Minerva, a southern France by-way-of Santa Clara County inspired blend of Mourvedre, Syrah and Grenache, all heat loving grapes that typically do need to be ripe enough so that they ferment to at least 14%...except this particular wine comes in at an amazingly low 12.5%! Both of these are examples of wines that I would say do show ripe phenolics (in other words, they come from physiologically ripe grapes) and do not show green, astringent tannins.

I know this topic is oft discussed, maybe people are sick of it, possibly rightfully so. But I'd like to ask a few winemakers some questions:

What's the lowest brix you think California Syrah can be picked at to taste good? How much earlier would you estimate the harvest date would be than that of Syrah picked at 24.5?

The lowest brix that southern Rhone or Languedoc-Roussillon syrah can be harvested to still be good? Northern Rhone? How ripe are Allemand's syrah grapes? What about Chave's? Guigal's La La syrah grapes?

For a great post on ripeness, with a similarly educational thread to match, might I suggest you check out this June 2009 post from the Brooklyn Guy.

Souls of Mischief - Medication

Hip-Hop friday returns with a special late night edition from the mighty Souls of Mischief. This is one of those put you into a trance type classic beats. Hypnotic and highly addictive. Mmm hmm...