Happy Friday!

Wherever you're headed this weekend, I hope you enjoy this pairing of wine & song that looks to the western skies...

Juice

Traditional, low intervention winemaking can sound intentional and serious, (which it is,) but for all that Martha Stoumen’s “Post Filtration Red" 2022 is just plain fun to drink.

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Stoumen is making wine from lesser-sung areas of California — not the wild west, but not the usual places either. She acts as a négotiant, which means she buys grapes from growers and then vinifies from there.
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It’s a zinfandel based blend, a quintessentially American grape (by way of Croatia.) It's bright, translucent red in the glass, with tart cranberry and ripe pomegranate fruit that gives way to a just dry finish. It has snappy, fresh sophistication that just makes it all the more quaffable. (Always wanted to write that word.)
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This bottle is around the $30 mark — if the idea of a chilled light red like this is appealing to you, I’d check out a pais from Chile for less $ and a little more rusticity.

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Jazz

I couldn’t resist going to the not-so-wild west in another way with this week’s music — we’re listening to “Song of the Sierras” by Jimmy Wakely on Hilary Gardner's new album “On The Trail with the Lonesome Pines” (Anzic Records.)
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Gardner is a musician who forges into lesser-sung territories with intelligence, clarity and taste. Here, she's bringing her purity of tone, wit and verve to the songbook of the American West -- which might’ve gotten as dusty as the ol' trail otherwise...

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Her choice of ensemble is top-notch and she’s made a blend that is seamless, like any good négociant or bandleader. The result? We get to have all the fun of a pioneering fantasy with no brambles or burrs — she's made it that easy for us to join her on the journey.

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Song of the Sierras Hilary Gardner PREVIEW   ​

Thanks always for reading and listening. 'Till next week!

Truly,

Kristen

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