Last week, we tried the 2007 Chateau Vary, a white Bordeaux from Cotes de Duras, while listening to Mumford and Sons "Sigh No More." Nick set out to find this pairing himself, and bought the wine at Festival Foods in Onalaska, per recommendation. We chilled the wine for about fifteen minutes. This wine hadn't been rated that we knew of, and from what we could tell it was a pretty obscure wine. At a price point of $7.99, we were searching for a good value. We were already fans of the big, citrus-y taste of savignon blanc, but were excited to try a wine from southern France, known more for it's subtlety and minerality.
As we unscrewed the cap and poured the first glass, we noticed that the wine's pale color looked fresh and inviting. The first sniff found typical sauvignon blanc hints of grass, lime and a bit of cat pee! The first sip was exciting with the wine transforming from sour apple to sweet apple. It was as if the fruit was ripening in your mouth.
We started to listen to the first track on "Sigh No More". The music was vibrant with lots of vocal harmonies, something Maggie really enjoyed. The driving instrument was the guitar, but the group also experimented a lot with the fiddle and mandolin. Many of the tracks accelerated throughout the song and went from somber lows to energetic and pulse-raising highs. The music would probably be categorized as folk, and the band had definate influences of British/Irish folk music. The banjo in track four gave the music a more American folk feel. Think "Deliverance", but with more appealing vocals!
Amber couldn't wait to get started with this one! |
We continued to drink the wine and noticed the nose start to dull and give off hints of cigarette smoke (and I don't think this was from the people below us who's smoke always blows into our apartment). The citrus apple flavors mellowed and the minerality of this white Bordeaux started to come out. The wine began to feel bland after a while and left a bit to be desired.
Interestingly enough, so did Mumford and Sons. The emotional swings of the earlier tracks became predictable, and like the name of track five, "White Blank Page," this album became a bit of white noise.
Nicks Final Reviews
Audio
When first looking at this album I was drawn to the instrumentation and thought it had a lot of potential. I was drawn into the initial tracks and their range of emotion and complex vocal harmonies. The pseudo-Christian lyrics didn't necessarily turn me off but the blah finish of the album did. Title track "Sigh No More" and track three "Winter Winds" were definitely worth listening to again. Track three had a nice trumpet line that may remind you of Chumba Wumba's "Tub Thumping". Probably won't be spinning this again anytime soon.
6/10
Vino
At $7.99 I didn't have huge expectations from this wine, but was excited to have something different in my glass, being that I don't drink white Bordeaux on a regular basis. The wine had great promise to start with interesting apple tones that seemed to transform in the glass. The clean minerality in the finish wasn't a turn-off; I just couldn't quite grasp what it was trying to do. The best thing about this wine is that it makes me want to put down a little more money and find another white Bordeaux that hopefully enhances the traits that Chateau. Vary was putting forth.
80 pts. (worth 8 bucks)
Maggie's Final Reviews
Audio
I know Nick didn't really care for this album, but I actually didn't think it was that bad. Yes, it was predictable by the fifth track. Yes, if listened to for an hour straight it may seem a little "blah." Still, the lyrics were inquisitive and interesting, and the emotional dynamics were ever-changing and always anticipatory. I loved the folk influences and the instrumental experimentation. Maybe it's because it reminds me of the UK, but I found this CD to be interesting, nostalgic, and thought-provoking. It's definitely an album that I will import into my iTunes.
8/10
Vino
My disappointment today was definitely the wine. As a learner, most of the wines we've tried have inspired me to learn and taught be about how a wine can evolve within the space of an hour. I have come to realize that good wines taste different with each glass, and that wine has a definite life-cycle, progressing from one stage to another throughout a short span of time. This wine evolved from the first pour to the last sip of the first glass, but then it began to stagnate. I try to understand the concept of "subtle complexity," but for me, this one was just too subtle. By the end of my second glass, I had been drinking the same exact wine for quite a while. I know it's a bargain, but we have tried a lot of low-budget wines that were better than Chateau Vary.
73 pts
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