Sounds for Sauvignon Day
I’m celebrating International Sauvignon Blanc Day with a wine and music pairing that blends tradition and innovation on both sides.
The wine is A Thousand Gods Giara 2022, a Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc that deliciously highlights what a spectrum of Sauvignon New Zealand can produce. Made with Sauvignon and a soupçon of Viognier grapes from the expressive organic/biodynamic Churton Vineyard, these have been left on their skins in a Tuscan terracotta amphora. The result is a lightly amber-hued, fuller bodied, highly textural and intriguing example of the variety, whose richness and roundness is counterpoised with its fresh chalky minerality. As noted by its makers, Lauren and Simon Sharpe – who spent years making wine in France – it’s “Sauvignon Blanc through the lens of ancient winemaking practices”.
My music match is Paerangi, from New Zealand musical treasures Phil Dadson & Rob Thorne’s Paerangi, which echoes the wine both conceptually and sensorially. This collaboration between experimental artist, Dadson and taonga pūoro improviser, Rob Thorne fuses contemporary performance of traditional Māori instruments with the “gloop”, a multi-voiced instrument created by Dadson. The rhythmical energy of Dadson’s gloop and the rich textural tone Thorne’s pūtātara - a conch shell trumpet - creates beautiful synergies with the Giara.