Cardinals and Vampires

My wine for this post is a 2006 version of Cardinal Zin; a Zinfandel distributed by Underdog.winemerchants.com.  I've paired it up with the soundtrack to the Japanese TV series Hellsing, which goes by the title "Raid".

I spent a lot of time tasting this Zin and have found it to be very enjoyable.  I was initially caught off guard by this wine.  Although dark cherry ruby in color, it has almost nothing to offer in the way of nose.  Mostly mild berry if anything. 

The lack of first impression was quickly made up for in tasting.  It hits you almost immediately with cherry, plum, and sweet fruit flavor.  This initial burst of flavor left me completely unprepared for the wave of heat that almost immediately followed.  The punch of spiciness fades slowly into a mix of dark berry and smoke flavors that linger delightfully on the tongue. 

I can't help but think this wine would benefit from another year or two of aging.  I also think it would excellent with a nice robust meal.  I plan on getting at least another bottle or two of this wine in the near future.  I gave it a solid 90 out of 100.

I'm not sure if it was the creepy cardinal on the bottle, or the forceful attitude of this wine that made me immediately want to listen to the Hellsing soundtrack. 

The album features a blues/rock forward sound, mixed with quirky vocals and a smattering of creepy Dracula style horror music throughout.  The first track "Logos Naki World" which also serves as the theme song for the show features these qualities well.  The vocalist is a Japanese speaker singing nonsense English lyrics over top of blues driven organ and a hard driving rock beat.  The result is an unavoidably catchy groove and words that you think you could almost understand if you could just hear better.

The album isn't all punch though, the occasional tune is soft and subtle sometimes nothing more than a guitar.  These often beautiful melodies usually have a quality that sends a tiny shiver up your spine.

"Raid" is an album I've come back to again and again, years after watching the original television series.  I suspect the Cardinal Zin will be a wine I find myself coming back to again and again in the future as well. 

Dan

What I'm doing here, disclaimer included.

First the disclaimer.  I am not a "wine-professional".  Sometimes I pick out wines I drink based on reviews, and regions, and varietals I know I enjoy.  And frankly sometimes I'll give a wine a try because of really cool bottle art.  Marketing is half the battle friends.  That being said, my tasting notes may not always fall into standard categories, standards are for boring people.  I don't think wine should be boring.

Each month or so, I pair a wine I have tried. Not with food, but with albums.  I tend to like full-bodied red wines, and have a special place in my heart for Jazz and hip-hop.  So don't be surprised when these things turn up. 

All that being said, I hope I can inspire you to find and try a new wine or two, and check out some albums and artists you might not otherwise.  Or at the very least, try some match-ups of your own. 

If you have a wine album combination you'd recommend E-mail me and let me know.  Even better, mail me the wine and I'd be more than glad to sample and review it here on my site. 

This is all in an infant experimental stage, so we'll see where it goes, and hopefully grows.

-- Dan

Ok, Let's get things started. 

The first wine I have to offer you is a Chateau Reynella 2004 Grenache.  Reynella vineyards is located in the South of Australia and is one of, if not the oldest vineyard in the country with vines dating back to 1838.

In the glass, this wine had deep red colors that almost begged to turn purple.

The nose smelled strongly of blackberry's and had a very jammy quality.

The first taste to hit my pallet was a rich smokey flavor with hints of spice and oak, which rounded into a nice full blackberry flavor.

It ended with a very long pleasant finish which brought out lots of tannins and a leathery flavor.

Over all I found this to be a very satisfying wine especially to my tastes.  I gave it an 84 out of 100.

While not the most complex of wines I've ever tasted, it hit with some real punch in all the places it needed to.  I purely followed my instincts and the first album that came to mind was the most recent offering from off the wall hip-hopper MF DOOM.  His 2009 release - Born like this

With over 60 albums and numerous guest appearances under his belt, it never fails to amaze me how many people have never heard of this MC.  As a kid, and even today I LOVE Dr. Suess books.  They didn't always use real words but Suess always used words that SOUNDED good together.  DOOM uses the same technique in his rap style.  For example a quotation from the track "Microphone Mayonnaise"

Collection of brats, timbs and hats
Had no time for the pitty pat, I'll give em that
The rhythm hit em back with a right hook
Shook it off, quarter shiner, thought it was a aight look
Depends on the shades, the end of days fades
Pretenders lay in dazes on stages
DOOM malaise
Eat it up, microphone, microwave mayonnaise 

While I think the tongue twister quality of the lyrics are good enough to stand on their own.  DOOM does them all in perfect time over top of what could easily become classic hip-hop beats.   It was either Duke Ellington or Count Basie who once said, if It makes you tap your feet, it's good music.  While the music behind the rap is simplistic and fairly unadorned.  It makes you want to tap not just your feet, but your hands, while nodding your head and shaking anything else god gave you. 

Simplistic beats combined with a rap style that can be appreciated for it's sound more than the meaning of individual words makes for a listening experience even Mozart would give the nod too.

As an album I gave Born Like This a rock solid 95 out of 100.

Perhaps you've never tried a little Grenache with your Hip-hop.  I think it's about time, don't you?

Do what you love till I see you again,

      Dan

P.S - Like I said, this is very experimental and I'd love to hear your feedback about what you dig, and what you don't.  Peace.