Price supports rarely benefit small farmers.
Punk Wine?
My first real (aka not local musicians playing the Dairy Days barn dance) concert was a big deal. A really Big Deal. Too many kids crammed into a too-small vehicle, most of us lacking parental permission, heading off to St Cloud to see…Prince.
I remember thinking, ‘Wow-he is TINY’. And, ‘I have never met a guy who dresses like that’. But then he picked up his guitar, started playing a funky riff, and everything dissolved except that amazing, mesmerizing, electrifying music. Where did music like this come from? And why hadn’t I known about it? It lit up the night, lit up sensibilities, and opened minds.
Music can do that. Books can do that. Movies. People-definitely people-can do that. And wine. Wines can do that.
The first wine that ever rocked my world was a Sancerre, a Sauvignon Blanc from France’s Loire Valley. I had only tasted SB’s from California or New Zealand, and did not particularly love them. But this? This was a revelation. Cool, slithery, mineral-laced, achingly crisp-it was like sucking on stones. It was so thirst-quenching that one glass naturally led to another. Where had this been all my life?
If that Sancerre was expressed in musical terms, it very well might be Prince playing R & B for a bunch of teenagers from small town Dakota. Like Prince, it transcended definitions and expectations. The wine I had been drinking-the wines any impoverished college student would be drinking-suddenly seemed like liquid REO Speedwagon: catchy, convenient, but a little lacking in soul. I wanted more funk, more verve. I’ve been seeking those sensations ever since.
The current issue of Food & Wine puts a different spin on this concept. In an article titled, ‘How Punk is Your Pinot?’, Ray Isle describes cool wines of the moment as “having a whisper of the transgressive….punk, indie, alternative…”. He also provides a shortlist of “The World’s Coolest Wines”, heavy on small indie producers, once-humble grapes like Gamay, and obscure regions like the Jura. Some of them are pricey, but many are not, especially as compared to a big-name Napa Cabernet. or major Bordeaux estate.
We have (in some cases had-small production means limited quantity) a few of the wines on that list. We also have a lot of other wines in the same vein: delicious, a little left-of-center, decidedly different and fun. If you’d like a little more Punk and a little less Corporate in your glass, just ask us. We’ll be happy to share.