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Health & Fitness

Muscadet and Blue Oyster Cult?

Wine geeks and music nerds

   I've been a music nerd for a long time. I almost can't discuss it in public anymore. I get excited about describing the last album I got, and I see the trapped look in the listener's eyes before they glaze over and trail off. I describe it as musical OCD. I read about it endlessly, and it's beginning to creep over to wine.

     At a tasting recently, the old "CD vs. Vinyl" debate came up. Which is better? Define better. One may be more pleasing to the ear because it is colored by the warmth of analog equipment. One might be more technically accurate. I was a DJ for years, and have crates and crates of records. I love the art work, the crackle, the involvement required of you to play a record. Sure, they skip and warp and, once you get over 100, are a huge pain to move! They are imperfect, and that's the beauty.

     There has long been a theory that wine geeks tend to be music nerds. There must be something similar about the two, that causes some people to become obsessive. When I first got into wine, I talked to a friend in the business in California. We were music nerds in high school, and he described it in music terms. I was confused about vintages and labels and countries ... everything really. He said, "Look, wines are like albums. You know what artists on Warp records in 1992 sounded like. You know kind of what the album art looked like. Wine is the same. The importer is the the record label. The winemaker is the artist. The wine is the album." Blahblahblah. It made perfect sense. 

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     Now, when I think about wine, I think, "Is this wine Bach or Britney Spears?" I'm sad to say that Britney is now my point of reference for any mass-produced, corporately endorsed goop. Coke? Britney. Cheetos? Britney. Yellow Tail? Britney! Now, I drink Coke and eat Cheetos. I might even hum along if Britney is on the radio. Sometimes you need junk food, but I can't drink "Britney" everyday. It might be tasty enough, but it leaves me feeling...um, what's the word I'm looking for here...cheap.

     All the traditional wine/music nerds will tell you that you must listen to Bach while drinking German wine, Debussy with French wine, etc. Wine tastes good with Marvin Gaye too. As with everything, wine is as good as the environment you are in when you drink it. Create your own musical pairings. I think Julian Lynch with Triennes Rosé is fantastic in the summer! When you want to get all heavy in the winter, Gavin Bryar's The Sinking of the Titanic goes well with Chateau Bellevue Peycharneau Bordeaux Supérieur. Or just go hang out by the pool with a box of Franzia and some Katy Perry. I ain't castin' aspersions.

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