Idolator: Wine

Operation: Winecrime

Dan Gibson — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 11:00:00 EDT

Following in the footsteps of Maynard from Tool andLil Jon, Geoff Tate from Queensrÿche is now producing wine, and his reasons for starting the project were somewhat amusingly told to the Salt Lake City Tribune. Plus, Friday seems like an excellent day for some "Silent Lucidity"!

Hush now, wine drinker, don't you cry: you can be assured Geoff Tate has only the most oenophilic intentions with his new venture.

Tate's touring to promote Insania, a Bordeaux-style wine he developed at Three Rivers Winery in Walla Walla, Wash. "I'm a wine collector but not a wino," Tate said in an interview from his home state of Washington. "I've tried it in so many countries that I've come to appreciate it."

Several years ago, Tate met Holly Turner, a winemaker at Three Rivers Winery. They struck up a friendship, and eventually Turner offered the singer the opportunity to try his hand at crafting a wine blend.

After trial and error, Tate said, he found a flavor that "expresses how I feel about wine," which he said was a great dark fruit, with a nice, long finish. "When you taste it, you'll know why it's called Insania," Turner said.

Insania. A wine called Insania. Just take a moment and take that in.

In other Geoff Tate news, his solo touring band features a member of Third Eye Blind. (Guess which one!)

I wish I could have my own wine brand. I don't drink a lot of wine, but I do cook with it sometimes. They don't seem to just hand those things out, however—you might need to have had a No. 1 Mainstream Rock single to qualify. Bad news for me, but great news for the members of Shinedown.

Geoff Tate uncorks new wine and music projects [Salt Lake City Tribune]

Wine: It's Not Just For Pairing With Classical Music Anymore

Maura Johnston — Wed, 14 May 2008 12:00:00 EDT

Research funded by a Chilean winemaker has revealed that certain types of music actually pair well with certain types of wine, with various sonic qualities allegedly enhancing certain aspects of the wine's taste and body "up to 60%." Cognitive priming theory—in which music preps the brain to react to other aspects of a person's environment—results in cabernet sauvignon's taste being apparently well suited to "powerful and heavy" music; Chardonnay pairing well with "zingy and refreshing" music; syrah going nicely with "subtle and refined" songs; and merlot being well-matched with "mellow and soft" selections. (Unfortunately, Boone's Farm wasn't mentioned in the study's findings, perhaps because any classic rock automatically makes it taste "totally freaking awesome" to all the college students embarking on long, dark nights of the soul who were surveyed.) After the jump, a few recommended pairings via my music collection and knowledge of wine:

Cabernet Sauvignon (powerful, heavy):
• Soundgarden (1990 vintages only)
• Andrew WK (be sure to use plastic cups)

Chardonnay (zingy, refreshing):
• DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince's "Summertime" (pairing the ultimate summer jam and jammy fruit flavors)
• Miley Cyrus (but only the alcohol-free kind) (unless you're her MySpace friend, right?)

Syrah (subtle, refined):
• Broadcast (because it's better than freaking "Orinoco Flow" and/or Vangelis, which were the BBC's picks)
• Nick Cave (according to some wine magazine editor, and really, when do you need an excuse to listen to Nick Cave?)

Merlot (mellow, soft):
• Feist (not only does the description match, I don't like merlot much either)

I hope to replicate these pairings (well, except the Feist one) at my upcoming DJ night, "Put This In Your Glass And Drink It." OK, so said night will probably involve me swapping my iPod in at my local wine bar and ordering a flight, but we all have to start somewhere. I wonder if there's a companion study about music and cheese?

How Guns & Roses can change your taste on wine [Times Online]
Music "can enhance wine taste" [BBC]

Thanks to ProHipHop for doing the legwork ...

Maura Johnston — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 12:45:15 EST

Thanks to ProHipHop for doing the legwork and finding out that Little Jonathan Vineyards is, in fact, a winery belonging to Lil Jon, who's smartly realized that the energy-drink market has hit its turn-of-the-millennium peak and that it's time for him to diversify his beverage portfolio a little bit. What with this wine and similar efforts from Miranda Lambert, Maynard James Keenan, and Vince Neil, my dreams of opening up a music-themed wine bar may actually happen! (We can cheat a little on the food by modifying recipes from Rachael Ray's cookbooks.) [ProHipHop]

Miranda Lambert's Wine: Sure To Class Up Your Local Honky-Tonk

mjohnston — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 13:40:05 EST

Rock-writer-beloved country singer Miranda Lambert has a bunch of wines named after her songs—like Kerosene, pictured—thanks to her family, who started the Red 55 Winery in conjunction with another winemaker down in Texas. Two new blends are scheduled to come out this month, and while I do quite enjoy both the songs they're honoring, I have to wonder about the logic of naming wine after either "Gunpowder & Lead" (a description of the flavors, perhaps?) or "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend" (especially since it's a sweet wine—hello, girl-drink drunks who are feeling a little frisky!). Since said wine isn't available for shipping to New York yet, I can't evaluate them properly, but I hope for her sake that she doesn't let Maynard James Keenan get his hands on a case. Dude is more vicious than Robert Parker!

Wines [mirandalambert.com; HT AP]

Tool Singer Thinks Vince Neil's Wine-Making Techniques Are Better Suited To The Deli Counter

mjohnston — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 17:17:52 EST

Little did we know that Tool's Maynard James Keenan made wines in Arizona under the name Caduceus (warning: the site is a little Myst-y). As a celebrity who makes wine, he's also sampled the wines of other celebrities, and he did a little dishing for The Onion:

AVC: Any celebrity wines you recommend? Supposedly Francis Ford Coppola's line is worth trying.

MJK: Oh, yeah—the Coppola wines are actually pretty good. I haven't had anything this year, but what I remember having, it actually was relevant. I would avoid at all costs anything resembling Vince Neil's wine...

AVC: Vince Neil has a wine?

MJK: Oh, good God—you can't even get near the glass. You pour it, and you're like, "Oh, my fucking God—are there pickles in here?"

Yes, this is what rock feuds have come down to in 2006: sniping over a wine's nose. Actually, we're a little disappointed by this news—we really thought Vince Neil was interested in wine because of its taste, not its effects.

Maynard James Keenan [The A.V. Club]