Pinot Noir
Giant Steps is a winery located in Australia’s Yarra Valley. With their first release in 2001, the company focused exclusively on the production of  premium, terroir-driven, single vineyard wines. The name was taken from the first solo album by John Coltrane.

The Innocent Bystander label came about when the Giant Steps team decided to produce wines made from fruit of the many great vineyards they came across in the Yarra Valley – and beyond. These wines  are made to be drunk while watching the world go by.

2008 Innocent Bystander Pinot Noir
Bright red color. Aromas of cherries, raspberries and a hint of spice.Full flavors of ripe red berries, with a hint of flowers and some minerality. Balanced, with a smooth, long finish. Love the screw cap. A hand-crafted wine at a value price point! Try it before it’s gone! At Costco and K & L for $15.

Check out their website: Giant Steps

Mick Fleetwood Private Cellar Collection
When he’s not touring with original band, Fleetwood Mac or his Mick Fleetwood Blues Band or his Island Rumours Band, drummer Mick Fleetwood is blending wine in California’s Lake County. Mick’s latest release is a series of wines made at Langtry Estate & Vineyards, formerly known as Guenoc winery.

Contract winemaking is common in the wine industry, where people who own neither vineyard nor winery can pay someone to make a single wine or an entire line of wines.

When Mick debuted his first wine, Mick Fleetwood 1998 Cuvee, in 2004, he turned to well known Santa Ynez winemaker, Mike Brown to produce his first release. A blend of 75% Merlot, 25% Cabernet Franc, it was noted as an all-occasion wine, and considered an all-American red.

The Wall Street Journal did a blind tasting of more than 50 celebrity wines and awarded Mick Fleetwood Private Cellar “Best Wine by a Living Musician,” stating “Very Good. Smooth, velvety and elegant, with great fruit and nice acidity. Real stature. Great with a rare steak.”

Fleetwood and his wife, Lynn, became interested in wine because Lynn loves to cook and they enjoy trying different wines to match the food. When asked what his favorite wine was, his answer was an emphatic “Merlot. A 2002 Frog’s Leap,” to be exact. At their home in Lahaina, Hawaii, Mick and Lynn have a 3,000 bottle wine cellar. Now that’s a serious collection.

You can find the Private Cellar Collection at Costco $19-$20.

Music to match the wine:
Blue Again (Live) Mick Fleetwood Blues Band
Recorded live at the Sheldon Concert Hall in St. Louis, Missouri in February of 2008.Fleetwood, who has teamed up on this recording with guitarist and lead vocalist Rick Vito, bassist Lenny Castellanos and keyboardist Mark Johnstone.

Yellow Tail Sample Sessions aims to match a genre of music with a style of wine, the company said today (29 April).

Senior Yellow Tail winemaker Emma Norbiato and Australian DJ Rob O’Neil have created eight matches for the promotion, including Yellow Tail Rosé with R&B, Yellow Tail Bubbles with Classic Pop and Chardonnay with 80s Rock.

The Sample Sessions will be on the road this summer at shows in Edinburgh, Brighton, London, Yorkshire and Bristol.

Yellow Tail is also offering the chance to win one of 30 Yellow Tail remixing kits, which includes a six-pack of wine and CDs. $8.84.
Source: just-drinks.com

Many in the wine industry are always experimenting to find the perfect atmosphere that provides the ultimate wine tasting experience. This is the first of a 3-part report.

Part 1:  Can Music Influence the Taste of Wine?

Adrian North, a university professor from Edinburgh, working with Chilean winemaker, Aurelio Montes have published a “psuedo-scientific” study which concludes that different types of music stimulate different parts of the brain to change the way we taste wine.

The Idea:
The idea for the study was triggered by winemaker Montes, who already uses music in the production process, playing monastic chants to his maturing casks of wine in his Feng Shui-optimised barrel room.

The Study:
The study consisted of 250 college students who were offered a free glass of wine in return for answering questions about its taste.They drank the wine in one of five rooms, each of which played a different style of music – or no music – and were then asked to rate the wine’s taste according to set parameters.

The Results:
When a powerful piece of music such as O Fortuna from Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana was played, the Montes Alpha Cabernet Sauvignon was perceived as being 60% richer and more robust than when no music was heard.

Similarly, the Montes Alpha Chardonnay seemed 40% bolder and fresher when it was accompanied by pop.

The study recommends Blondie singing “Atomic.” I like listening to Blondie when I’m driving in the car, but Diana Krall singing “Peal Me a Grape” is so much nicer while sitting and enjoying a good Chardonnay. Below are some recommendations from the study. You decide.

MUSIC RECOMMENDATIONS FROM THE STUDY

Cabernet Sauvignon:
All Along The Watchtower (Jimi Hendrix), Honky Tonk Woman (Rolling Stones), Live And Let Die (Paul McCartney and Wings), Won’t Get Fooled Again (The Who)

Chardonnay:
Atomic (Blondie), Rock DJ (Robbie Williams), What’s Love Got To Do With It (Tina Turner), Spinning Around (Kylie Minogue)

Syrah:
Nessun Dorma (Puccini),
Orinoco Flow Celtic Woman, Chariots Of Fire (Vangelis), Canon (Johann Pachelbel)

Merlot:
Sitting On The Dock Of The Bay (Otis Redding), Easy (Lionel Ritchie), Over The Rainbow (Eva Cassidy), Heartbeats (Jose Gonzalez)