Happy Friday!

Happy to be with you again and sharing some hedonistic delights to send you into the weekend...I hope you have a great one, and that today's pairing helps it along!

Juice

Viognier is one of my favorite white grapes. It simply doesn’t know how to hold back: generous in body, aroma and fruit; it’s simply impossible not to love.

François Villard is an artist with this grape, working in an area where it grows best — the Northern Rhône of France. This bottle, “Les Contours de Deponcins” Viognier 2022 does not hold back on charm: it bursts with gardenia and jasmine florals, ripe d’anjou pear and cantaloupe, all embraced by it’s naturally viscous texture.

This bottling is sourced from young vines -- it’s his gateway viognier. If you like this one, get ready since even greater pleasure is in store for you as you journey into this region, tasting older vines of more rarified soils.

If you can’t find this viognier (somewhere in the $30 range,) finding another varietally labeled bottle from the area shouldn’t bee too difficult. And if you want to just go for it, A Condrieu will be pricey but give you the ultimate expression of viognier (especially, of course, Villard's.)

Jazz

Hearing Samara Joy sing is a total pleasure — her sound is impossibly rapturous, so generous, and so liquid it’s impossible not to fall under her spell. Go ahead and see with her version of “I’m Confessin’ (That I Love You)” from Linger Awhile (2022.)

Texturally, sonically, she simply embodies musical line. And her lush tone is accompanied by rhythmic acumen, a sense of adventure and improvisational flair. She somehow leans into the extreme beauty of her instrument but is never overindulgent.

I’ve been thinking about how her youth (a scant 20-something years) infuses her live audiences with another level of adoration. Her talent alone is a marvel, but there is something extra special about enjoying an artist so much, while knowing that even greater achievements are yet in store with age and experience.

Savoring one wonder knowing more are to come is a special kind of pleasure and this week, we get two at the same time. Lucky us!