Here, Have a Wine (With a Soundtrack)

Sharing some recent natural wines I've enjoyed + musical pairings

Let’s all take a moment to enjoy a bit of puff, in the form of a few wines I’ve appreciated recently! To really help you get into the experience, I’ve offered musical pairings, because what’s better than having a gorgeous glass of wine while listening to the perfect song or album?

Matassa “El Carner” - paired with Nicolas Jaar’s “Piedras 1”

Do you love when a wine doesn’t quite fit into an existing category—it’s not quite red, not white, either? This one’s for you. “El Carner” is a blend of Grenache Gris (whose pink skins lend the wine its dark rosé color) and Macabeu fermented in amphora. The wine is is both berry-fruity and savory in profile, and I’ve paired it with Nico Jaar’s latest album because it similarly combines opposites in a way that surprisingly achieves harmony.

If you’ve never had a wine from Matassa, please just seek any of them out. Originally from South Africa, Tom Lubbe settled in southern France and began carefully farming old vineyards for making skin-contact whites and ethereal light reds. Each bottle is an experience you hold onto. If you can’t find “El Carnet,” look for “Cuvée Margeurite,” a vicacious, succulent skin-contact blend of Macabeu, Muscat d’Alexandrie, and Muscat a Petit Grains—it’s one of my all-time favorite natural wines. We published a beautiful feature on Matassa in Pipette Issue 10, with photos (including the one above, of Tom Lubbe) by Elizabeth Ervin.

Vino di Anna “Vigna Pirao” - paired with the White Lotus Official Playlist

There are few wines that compare to those of Sicily’s Mount Etna — they may not be as sought-after as Barolo, but with incredible slopes and mineral-rich volcanic soils, Etna wines are profoundly complex and vibrant.

This one from Vino di Anna, the project of Anna Martens and Eric Nairoo—the latter being founder of British importer Les Caves de Pyrene—completely fit the bill, with layers of dark-fruit notes, earthy tones, and a lifted profile. I’m going to Sicily in May and will be visiting Vino di Anna, which I’m extremely excited about.

Paired this Nerello Mascalese (from a single plot of old vines) with the White Lotus playlist for Season 2, which was filmed not far from Etna in the town of Taormina. (Once you’ve watched Season 2, do yourself a favor and watch Jennifer Coolidge’s Golden Globes acceptance speech for her role in the show. It made me cry.)

“Mon Blanc de la Haute” from Ça Boit Libre/Damien Bastien, paired with IAM’s 1997 album, “L’école du micro du argent”

Damien Bastien makes this heavenly wine and others in the cool, high-altitude French region of Savoie. This Altesse was perfectly pitched, a calm yet ethereal complement to a simple meal with its lemony and floral tones.

IAM is one of France’s most established hip-hop groups, specifically from Marseille. My partner and I discovered them while searching for records in a little shop just around the corner from Les Arlots, one of our favorite Paris spots. Shopping for records after a long, relaxing, wine-soaked lunch might be a dangerous way to blaze through what would be left of your savings post-meal, but I have to say, that IAM album we bought that day is constantly on rotation in our house.

Castagnucoli “Il Desertore #4” + Dente’s “L’amore non è bello”

Here’s a curve ball: A wine from the red grape Corbinella, made by a former archaeologist in the Colli Euganei, a group of volcanic hills in the Veneto region. So crunchy and yummy and fun, full of texture and earthy notes. Fermented in amphorae. I think it’s a very small project. I don’t know much about Corbinella but it’s clear from this wine that it’s a very dark-hued grape. I’d guess it was historically used for blending.

This wine, its rustic humility, feels like a good moment to direct you to one of my fave contemporary Italian musical artists, the lo-fi singer-songwriter Dente. The name of the album shared above means “love isn’t beautiful”!

Hope you can enjoy some of these wines and tunes, and that they bring you a little joy. Personally I’m pretty grateful for these moments right now.

Upcoming Workshop in Adelaide

If you’re in Adelaide/Kaurna Yerta (or can be here via a quick flight) there is still space in my 3-hour workshop ‘From the Kitchen to the Page’ on Feb 16th, via Writers SA. I’m really looking forward to this rare opportunity to teach in-person!

Feel free to like this post or share it with natural wine-loving friends or leave a comment if you have feedback! Right now I’m not doing paid content on this newsletter, but I do really appreciate those of you who support it financially (and it gives you access to older posts) so please know I do notice and feel encouraged by paid subscriptions. Thank you for reading.

xRachel