Artist Wines No. 35

ARTIST WINES! - Uncorking musician-priced cellar secrets

Le Grand Ballon - Sauvignon Blanc, Loire, France 2023

Price: $15.99  SBH Rating: 🍐♬🌼🍯☀️🐝

This is wine to share with friends on a hot late summer evening. It's full of pears and honey with just a hint of something bittersweet.  You taste so much denial about nearing the end of your summer holidays that you almost feel like you're in Egypt. A wine that transports while avoiding the airport chaos!  

♫ Drink with:  Cuckoo in the Pear Tree by György Ligeti

Artist Wines No. 34

ARTIST WINES! - Uncorking musician-priced cellar secrets

Barton & Guestier Merlot - Cabernet Franc - Cabernet Sauvignon, Bordeaux, France 2020 Price: $15.44  SBH Rating: ♬🌼🍳☀️🧳🥔🍇

I love me a Bordeaux. I can't say this one is particularly thrilling, but if you're sipping this while calculating how many underpants to pack for tour, perhaps it's just thrilling enough. Life is all about balance, isn't it? I think this wine would pair well with a foie gras terrine, (Just a theory. This is an ARTIST wine column folks!) Still, it fared fine with poached eggs, warmed tomatoes, and PEI cobbler potatoes roasted with kalamata olives,. Slightly earthy, light on the tannins and dangerously fruity. Remember that rolling is often better than folding!

♫ Drink with: “Come Fly With Me” sung by Frank Sinatra

Artist Wines No. 33

ARTIST WINES! - Uncorking musician-priced cellar secrets

Boira' Pinot Grigio, Veneto, Italy 2022 Price: $14.99  SBH Rating: ♬🌼🍋☀️🍳💛

There is nothing I enjoy more than lunch wine. This one is zesty and fruity and pairs perfectly with your pink (faux) fur coat. What could be more glamorous than luxuriating over this light, citrusy wine with Risotto all'uovo in the early afternoon? Even on a grey January day, you'll feel like you're in a sunny sidewalk café in Venice. Saluti!

♫ Drink with: “Summertime In Venice” sung by Jerry Vale

Artist Wines No. 32

ARTIST WINES! - Uncorking musician-priced cellar secrets

Georges Vigouroux Gouleyant, Malbec, Cahors, France 2019 Price: $16.95  SBH Rating: ♬ 🍇 👯‍♀️ 🌺 🍷 🎶

This wine tastes grape! Gentle, but complex, this is what you drink when you are trading secrets on a Saturday afternoon with a good friend. Savour especially the cheeky tartness. It's what makes this wine both fresh and ancient as only a French malbec can be. 

♫ Drink with: Beethoven: Das Glück der Freundschaft, Op. 88 (The Happiness of Friendship), performed by Peter Schreier & Walter Olbertz

Artist Wines No. 31

ARTIST WINES! - Uncorking musician-priced cellar secrets

Domaine Jean Bousquet, Organic Cabernet Sauvignon, Mendoza, Argentina 2020 Price: $14.95  SBH Rating: ♬ ❄️🚗⛄🌲🍷🌟 🎶

This is traveler's wine! Take this resilient little number on tour all along Highway 16 in northern BC and have a small glass every night to cheer you on your way. When the temperature is below -20, this screwtop wonder responds well to the chilly trunk of your rental. Pleasantly jammy like the little packets of smuckers they offer at the motel breakfasts. Hot tip: a paper cup really brings out the earthy flavours.

♫ Drink with: Anne Murray singing “Snowbird”

Artist Wines No. 30

ARTIST WINES! - Uncorking musician-priced cellar secrets

Finca La Solana Las Hermanas, 100% Monastrell, Jumilla , Spain, 2020 Price: $17.48  SBH Rating: ♬ 💨 🍒🌧🌲🍷  🎶

Surprisingly zesty, with a pleasant sourness on the nose, this is one of my favourite optimistic and satisfyingly sarcastic wines. Behold the cherry on top! This is the wine you drink post-hurricane while you’re “enjoying” yet another night of cooking random things in the wood stove after figuring out what might still be safe in the fridge. Pairs well with tinned sardines roasted on a branch.

♫ Drink with: Claude Debussy playing “The Wind on the Plain.”

Artist Wines No. 29

ARTIST WINES! - Uncorking musician-priced cellar secrets

Rymill The Yearling Sauvignon Blanc, Coonawarra, Australia 2020 Price: $14.89  SBH Rating: ♬ 💚🌱👌🏼🍈🍐🌱  🎶

Open this for a taste of July in January! I bought this because of its magical pale mint colour. And the flavour, well.... How do you like them melons? Not to mention lime, pear… and then a hint of dill! What a surprise.

♫ Drink with: Kristina Vårlid playing 'The Old Lime Tree' by Sergey Rudnev.