Wine and Food – Cabernet Franc and Snacks for this Week’s Sports Events

Great choices: the NCAA Championships or Paris-Roubaix. Both are coming up this week. (Paris-Roubaix is an ultra-tough pro cycling race through cobblestone roads, and the scene of a classic movie, “A Sunday in Hell,” 1976.) Either way,  I like to watch them with a glass of wine and a bowl of snacks. That way I feel as if I’m in a box seat.

In a good vintage, Cabernet Franc is very, very good, and 2010 on Long Island was such a vintage. This year I’m very excited to be releasing two North Fork Cabernet Francs – a dry wine and a rosé. Cabernet Franc a great party wine – with bright berry aromas, some earthiness, fresh acidity, light-to-medium body, and moderate alcohol. The key aromatics associated with Cabernet Franc are raspberry, strawberry, red currant, violets, tobacco mushrooms, leafy notes and lead pencil.

Wine and Jazz – Vibes

Lalo, by johnmazlishphoto.com

Imagine playing vibes outdoors on a Brooklyn sidewalk, the resonators pulsing, a gentle breeze flowing. I’d love to do that.

The vibist in this picture, Lalo, discovered an unused set of vibes tucked away in a storage closet at her high school. She attended Berklee School of Music, developed into a sophisticated jazz-rock musician and released two albums, “Half Moon” and “Lalo,” both available on www.lalovibe.com. A native of Savannah, Georgia, vibist-composer-arranger Lalo settled in New York City and has performed in concert halls and jazz clubs throughout the US and Europe and received superb reviews.

Listen to these tracks from some of the most famous vibe players in jazz history — Lionel Hampton (1909-2002), who played with Louis Armstrong’s big band, in Benny Goodman’s Quartet and Sextet, then formed his own band in the 1940s; Milt Jackson (1923-1999), a member of the very cool and classically elegant Modern Jazz Quartet, and Cal Tjader (1925-1982), who played with pianist George Shearing before starting his own Latin Rock/Acid Jazz band.

“Flying Home,” by Lionel Hampton when flying from LA to Atlantic City with Benny Goodman, 1939.

“Softly as in Morning Sunrise,” played by MJQ. Music by Sigmund Romberg, Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, 1928.

“A Night in Tunisia,” played by Cal Tjader (vibraphone), Mongo Santamaria (conga), Willie Bobo (drums and timbales). By Dizzy Gillespie, 1942 while playing for the Earl Hines Band.

Now hear the top vibists in Downbeat Magazine’s 59^th Annual Critics Poll — Bobby Hutcherson (b. 1941), Gary Burton (b. 1943), and Stefon Harris (b. 1973).

“Stolen Moments” by Oliver Nelson. Bobby Hutcherson (vib), Herbie Hancock, (p), Ron Carter (b), and Tony Williams (d).

“Rhumbata (Part 1),” Chick Corea (p) and Gary Burton (vib).

“Body and Soul,” Music by Johnny Green, lyrics by Edward Hyman, Robert Sour and Frank Eyton, 1930. Jacky Terasson (p) and Stefon Harris (vib).

A vibraphone has a 3-octave range, is struck with two or four mallets, and its notes are amplified by resonators (aluminum tubes), and an electric motor that opens and closes the discs (or fans) inside the resonators to sound like a wide vibrato or tremolo. A xylophone is similar, but has a wooden bar keyboard. A marimba, which is tuned an octave lower, has a mellower sound, thinner bars of wood, plus resonators. All three play the role of harmony or melody.

The vibraphone was first marketed in the US in 1921, and joined the percussion sections of dance bands in the 1920s and 1930s. It is far more commonly played in jazz than classical ensembles, but there are a few classical pieces written for these instruments. Saint- Saëns used a xylophone in Danse Macabre (1874), Milhaud wrote a Concerto for  Marimba, Vibraphone and Orchestra (1947), and Alban Berg used a vibraphone in his 1934 opera, Lulu.

I love this picture of Lalo, and would be very happy to sit on a lawn chair, sip a glass of wine, and listen to her play.

Wine And Jazz – Interview With Singer-Songerwriter-Trombonist Elizabeth!

You can’t miss the exclamation point! Jazzy pop artist Elizabeth! has two albums to her credit, “Brainchildren” from 2011 and “hot and silver” from 2008, and one of the songs from her latest album, “Memphis Mix-Up,” was nominated as a finalist for best jazz composition in the 2012 International Songwriting Competition. She now travels the world with artists such as Michael Bolton, St.

Wine and Jazz – Interview with Singer-Songwriter-Guitarist-Voicetramentalist Lipbone Redding

I was intrigued by a photograph of Lipbone on my friend, John Mazlish’s website, who photographed him standing on a train platform wearing a fedora and carrying a beat-up old suitcase.  John told me that Lipbone has the unusual talent of making his voice sound like a trumpet. So I went to hear The Lipbone Jazz Orchestra perform at Bar Tabac in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn.  It’s true, Lipbone has this talent, and is so resourceful that he can use a wine glass as a mute. He also plays guitar very well, but above all, Lipbone is a gifted singer-songwriter and connects to his audience with tremendous ease and warmth.

Lawrence “Lipbone” Redding arrived in NYC on a Greyhound Bus from North Carolina in 1998 as a singer-songwriter-guitarist. But it was on the northbound platform of the #6 train at Spring Street that he turned into a vocal instrumentalist when he accidentally

Wine 101 – Wine Racks

My criteria for small wine racks: they should be sturdy and beautiful, and if they’re made from recycled materials, foldable or easily storable when not in use, even better. There are many options offered at department and home furnishing stores, but I especially love the tabletop and wall-mounted wine racks sold at museum stores and Etsy, an online handmade marketplace. I found some great racks for under $100:

2-Bottle Rack: Wall mounted cork rack, designed by Deger Cengiz, found at South Street Museum Shop.

Cork Wine Rack

4-Bottle Rack: Modular and foldable, made of high tensile strength coated wire, designed by Ed Kilduff, found at Museum of Modern Art Shop in NYC.

Houdini Wine Rack

6-Bottle Rack: Made of bamboo, designed by M26 Studio, found at Etsy.

Mod Six-Bottle Wine Rack

9-Bottle Rack: Modular, injection-molded from transparent ABC recycled polymer, designed by Dagan Design, found at SFMOMA Museum Store.

Puzzle Wine Rack

Wine 101 – Decanters and Decanting

Baccarat Oenology

In a nutshell: decanting is pouring wine from its bottle into a pitcher, and “letting wine breathe” is exposing it to air.  Decanting removes sediment, and aerating gets rid of certain odors.

Port and older red wines (10+ years), sometimes develop sediment, and benefit from decanting. Sediment, which comes from the wine’s tannins and pigment, is natural and won’t hurt you, but it doesn’t look or taste good either. Once it’s rid of sediment and displayed in a decanter, an older wine looks particularly elegant.

Wine 101 – Bottle Shapes, Colors and Closures

Wine has to do with trust. If you saw wine in an olive oil or balsamic vinegar bottle, you would probably be surprised and confused. While their shapes would stand out on a shelf, they would not meet your expectations nor stimulate the appropriate aromatic or taste sensations.

 

 

Bordeaux

When I was choosing bottles for my wines, I wanted to do everything possible to offer an aesthetic experience. I was very mindful of creating an honest product that the consumer could trust. I didn’t want the consumer to feel misguided. I didn’t want the consumer to feel embarrassed about choosing the wrong wine.