Skip to main content

Music and Wine Pairing: Gilbert Cellars 2009 Allobroges Wahluke Slope with Rodriguez - Inner City Blues


Today I am pairing the music of Rodriguez with the wine of Gilbert Cellars.

Pairing Music with Wine is obviously a personal opinion, biased just like recommending a favorite wine. Either you get it or you don't. This week I've been telling friends and posting on twitter and facebook about a musician I just discovered. My buzz of the week. Actually, a lot of people this year have been "discovering" the music of Sixto Rodriguez, aka "Sugar Man." On Sunday, 60 Minutes feature story was on Rodriguez, and a 2012 Sundance Film Festival awarded movie about his life "Searching for Sugar Man." His music is 40 years old.


FYI: Rodriguez, aka Sugar Man, is on tour. He's playing in Seattle tonight and Portland, Oregon tomorrow. Sadly, I can't make it to either performance. I have a link to his Tour Dates, maybe you can go. He's touring the U.S. and then Europe.

Gilbert Cellars 2009 Allobroges red wine is also a recent discovery for me. I knew nothing about them before this summer. The first week of July, I visited family and friends on Bainbridge Island and Seattle. One of the treasures I returned home with, was the bottle of 2009 Allobroges my cousin José gifted me. It was surprising we did not open it, well maybe not, tequila featured rather prominently that visit. I took the bottle home and put it away in the wine fridge. When I opened the bottle a month later, I was so enamored of it, I completely neglected to take notes. It happens. Thank you José, loved the wine.

It seems an appropriate pairing then, that I bought a bottle of Gilbert Cellars 2009 Allobroges and enjoyed it while listening to the music of Rodriguez. Both, new to me discoveries: serious, meaningful music and wine.

Gilbert Cellars is on my must visit list. If you have the opportunity, I strongly encourage you to visit Gilbert Cellars. They have a tasting room in Yakima, Washington. About an hour drive for me. Established in 2004, their production is at 5,000 cases annually and they have 70 acres of Estate Vineyards. Browsing their website, I see many wines I want to taste. They even have a Washington Pinot Noir. Really.

Photo wine
Photo: Gilbert Cellars 2009 Allobroges, Wahluke Slope.
Gilbert Cellars 2009 Allobroges Wahluke Slope
Gilbert Cellars describes their 2009 Allobroges as a medium bodied wine, inspired by the Celtic tribes of the Rhone Valley.

Tasting Notes
Deep garnet color and pretty tasty at opening. It had pepper, pencil shavings, blackberry, blueberry, a nice mouth feel, slightly dry, with dark fruit and cola on the finish. Balanced and tasty. After only 30 minutes, this wine opened up, with a fuller mouth feel, more intense flavor, tannin and acidity. Dang, wonderful and enjoyable. Open and drink if you want, it will be good. Open and decant and you will enjoy a rewarding Yakima, Washington wine experience. A suitable wine to drink now or to cellar for a few more years. Recommended.

Blend: Grenache, Syrah, Mouvedre, Counoise.
21 months in 21% new oak barrels (80% French & 20% American).
Closure: natural cork.
ABV: 14.7%
Paid: $19
Justin Neufeld, Winemaker

The Gilbert Family has been in the Yakima Valley since 1897, when Horace Mark Gilbert moved his family from Geneseo, Illinois and started farming apples and other produce. H.M and his wife Marion's home place is owned by the Yakima Valley Museum. The family business has passed down from father to son since then and Gilbert Orchards is owned and operated by brothers Curtiss and Cragg Gilbert today.

Tasting Room
Monday - Thursday 11am - 9pm, Friday Noon - 11pm
Saturday Noon - 10pm, Sunday Noon - 5pm
(Closed Sundays Jan 1 until Spring Barrel Weekend in April)
5 North Front Street
Yakima, WA 98901
509-249-9049
www.gilbertcellars.com
vino@gilbertcellars.com

HAPPY HOUR
Monday - Thursday 4pm-6pm
$2 off wines by the glass!

Albums of Sixto Rodriguez
Rodriguez only released two albums. Cold Fact in 1970 and Coming From Reality in 1971. Now available is the release of the Soundtrack to the movie Searching for Sugar Man. These are albums worth owning. I purchased Cold Fact and Coming From Reality on iTunes.

"...Going down a dusty, Georgian side road

 I wonder

 The wind splashed in my face

 can smell a trace

 Of thunder"   Artist: Sixto Rodriguez lyrics, Title: Inner City Blues

Cheers.

Popular posts from this blog

Review: Sho Chiku Bai, Unfiltered Sake

Last month in Seattle, I purchased a bottle of Nigori sake at Uwajimaya. Uwajimaya is one of the largest Asian grocery retailers in the Pacific Northwest. I’ve been visiting Uwajimaya for almost 40 years. When I was much younger, I’d buy model ship and plane kits, Japanese comic books (manga) and I never left without at least one steaming Humbow in hand. Today I buy the manga for my son; while I still enjoy the tasty steamed Humbows, now I never leave without at least one bottle of Sake in hand. Uwajimaya has a terrific selection of imported sake. This most recent visit, I left with a bottle of Sho Chiku Bai Nigori sake. Nigori sake is generally the sweetest of all sakes, with a fruity nose and a mild flavor, making a great drink to complement spicy foods or as a dessert wine. Typical sake is usually filtered to remove grain solids left behind after the fermentation process; however Nigori sake remains unfiltered, resulting in a cloudier beverage. Before serving, the bottle must

Spirit Review: Ole Smokey Tennessee Moonshine White Lightnin' @OleSmoky

Today I have crossed the line from wine to spirits. At 100 proof the Ole Smokey Tennessee Moonshine is definitely turning up the volume (ABV 50%). "Moonshine, white lightning, mountain dew, hooch, and Tennessee white whiskey are terms used to describe high-proof distilled spirits, generally produced illicitly...The word "moonshine" is believed to derive from the term "moonrakers" used for early English smugglers and the clandestine (i.e., by the light of the moon) nature of the operations of illegal Appalachian distillers who produced and distributed whiskey." Source Wikipedia My family is no stranger to Moonshine.  That is, my great-grandfather and grandfather were not strangers. Evidently the family occasionally produced their own spirits on their Oregon ranch. My grandfather told me about his younger brother getting into his dads stash with predictable results. Grandmother also told me stories about midnight runs and secretive deliveries d

Col Solare Cabernet Sauvignon. The style has changed.

“There is something special going on at Col Solare." In mid-June 2022, I began working for Col Solare winery on the Red Mountain AVA in Washington state. The Red Mountain AVA and Col Solare are famous for stunning Cabernet Sauvignon. That I knew going in.  We are not here to make more wine... We are here to showcase place. At the end of June 2022, Col Solare winemaker Darel Allwine retired. Darel had been winemaker since 2013. Prior, he had been Col Solare assistant winemaker for Marcus Notaro. Marcus had been Col Solare winemaker when the Red Mountain facility opened and was winemaker before we had our Red Mountain facility.  On July 1, 2022, Col Solare assistant winemaker, Stephanie Cohen, was promoted to Col Solare winemaker. I was present for this change. It was the end of one chapter and the beginning of a new one. Col Solare is the third winery I have worked for. I chose well.  Often, I am asked by Col Solare guests, as I was last week, “Tell me about Col Solare. Who are you