Sharp suits are now beginning to pair wines with music as well as food, write Joe Breen
Why, when wine is mentioned in the same sentence as music, do we expect to hear cool jazz or polite classical but not pop? Terry McBride, whose company manages Dido, Avril Lavigne, Barenaked Ladies and many others, believes that wine marketers have missed an opportunity. He told a gathering of masters of wine in California that "lifestyle products" such as wine and music have much in common but that the wine business has, wrongly, stuck to a largely traditional approach. "That was all very well until the 1950s," he said, "but then along came Elvis, and you lost it. That's the moment when consumption of wine became generational."
McBride's idea that wine appreciation is generational strikes a chord. It used to be accepted that people listen to pop or rock when they're young, then graduate to more sophisticated music. The same with drink: beer first, wine and spirits later. Music, at least, has changed: many genres have become so diffuse that parents and children can swap CDs with ease - think of Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen and U2. That means rock and alternative-music fans are continuing to listen to contemporary music as they get older. Their other tastes continue to change, however, and even though the increasingly broad range of beers available here makes drinking beer more interesting, wine is an infinitely more complex drink.
Perhaps this accounts for the rise of wine-and-rock enthusiasts, such as Tony Fletcher, a veteran music journalist who has taken to wine in a big way. On one part of his website (www.ijamming.net/Wine/Wine.html), Fletcher says of Domaine Roger Perrin's Châteauneuf du Pape 2001: "This is a special wine, to be saved for the best of musical occasions. And it's a classic wine in all senses of the word, offering immediate pleasure upon release but clearly built to last. Try it with the newly re-released Echo and the Bunnymen back catalogue."
Inevitably, some very sharp suits have also become involved in exploiting the links between wine and music. Rock 'n Roll Wine (www.rocknrollwine.com), a Las Vegas company, warns: "Remember, although what's in the glass is undeniably important, Rock 'n Roll Wine is about the wine experience first and wine second. Given the right atmosphere your wine appreciation will be elevated."
The company is poised to release Reggae Rhapsody, its first wine, through its Oregon winery (www.amplifiedwines.com). It describes it as "a tempting blend of Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Gris and Chardonnay - a couple of glasses and you'll be transported into a state of elated sun-soaked bliss - Reggae Rhapsody has the balance and complexity of a Bob Marley protest anthem, coupled with the blissful "Life is Good" zest of a Jimmy Cliff serenade. Serve well chilled paired with Marley's Stir It Up cranking out on the loudspeakers - you'll know exactly what we mean." We certainly do.
STAR LABELS
There are two kinds of wine-rock relationships: one that says "we're in it for the money" and one that says "we're in it for the glory". Pride of place in the money category might go to the Rolling Stones, who teamed up with www.celebritycellars.com to offer a "highly collectible, limited-edition, star-tribute wine bottle" featuring the band's tongue-and-lips logo. A bottle of the Etched Classic Tongue 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon will set you back $100 (€78). There were also bottles featuring Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon logo, but they have sold out. In the glory category, vineyard owners include , in Tuscany; Cliff Richard, in Portugal; Simply Red's Mick Hucknall, in Sicily; the
US soft-rocker Dave Matthews (www.blenheim vineyards.com); and Vince Neil, singer with Mötley Crüe, whose Vince Vineyards Napa Cabernet Sauvignon and Sonoma Chardonnay are said to be good.
JAILHOUSE HOCK
Even though he is more often associated with fizzy drinks than with wine, Elvis Presley is celebrated with a series of bottles from Graceland Cellars (www.signaturewines.com/elvis). Recent releases include Jailhouse Red Merlot, the King Cabernet Sauvignon, Blue Suede Chardonnay and All Shook Up, a Sauvignon Blanc. "There's no reason why good wine can't also be fun," says the company's chief executive.
Bob Dylan put his signature on the label of Planet Waves, a wine named after one of his albums that was made by his fan Antonio Terni, in Italy (www.fattoria leterrazze.it). Another of Terni's wines is called Visions of J, after the Dylan song Visions of Joanna. Berry Brothers & Rudd distributes his wine in Britain.