To a harmonious 2023!
New Year’s greetings, match, and plans for Oenosthesia – Blending Wine and Music
I hope you all had a sensational festive season with plentiful delicious wine and music pairings. While my own Christmas break felt like it was all over too soon, I enjoyed some great wine and music over the period. Now I’m back at my desk, preparing some exciting new features for this substack.
To avoid the tedium of Trivial Pursuit and other extended bored games, I decided to create my own quick fire game for Christmas Day. 80s Pop Trumps was the result – ‘a biased game of no skill’. In this, various attributes were rated for the decade’s best and worst artists from originality and integrity, to 80s pop cool and hair (very important in the 80s).
Those familiar with my wine writing philosophy may know how ridiculous I feel publicly rating wine to be (too reductive, so I don’t do it). My ratings of pop stars were then unsurprisingly, impartial and even spurious, as some players would attest. Much amusing debate was provoked over what made for great 80s music, or the best kind of bouffant mane. While the rounds were accompanied by a playlist of top tracks from the featured artists, wines are yet to be incorporated. I’ll work on that for next Christmas, but might not go the retro route with the pairings. Bronski Beat and Blue Nun anyone?
On a serious note, I want to thank everyone who has supported Oenosthesia – Blending Wine and Music in its first year. Without paid subscribers in particular, the service wouldn’t have been able to reach this milestone. It’s this support that will help it grow in the year to come, as more subscribers mean being able to devote even more time to making new posts. Substack is one of too few platforms today that actively support truly independent specialist writing. So if you’re a paid subscriber, or pondering one for yourself or a gift, that monthly modest sum will play a crucial part in sustaining this substack in 2023.
NEW THIS YEAR!
Monthly wine and music zoom
As promised to paid subscribers, monthly online wine and music matching get togethers are starting! Apologies that this has taken a while, but we needed to gain momentum. The first sessions will be held evenings in the New Zealand timezone. However, if you want me to host sessions in your timezone, let me know and I’ll do my best to accommodate. A zoom link will be sent shortly to subscribers.
App Chat
Substack now has an app that enables easy discussions between members of the group that can be downloaded here. I’ll be sending specific details on how this works in a separate post. I’ve kicked things off with the question, what would you like to see on Oenosthesia – Blending Wine and Music in 2023? Add your thoughts on the app, or leave a comment under this article. I’d love to get some dynamic discussions going!
NEW YEAR’S WINE & MUSIC MATCH
And finally, an appropriately-themed pretty guitar pop tune paired with a fresh pet-nat to toast in 2023 on Oenosthesia.
A vibrantly herbal pet-nat rose, predominantly made from Sauvignon Blanc, the Tettonica Marlborough Pet Nat, New Zealand 2022 has the light, bright and crisp characters that match the airy pop of Belle & Sebastian’s New Year’s Resolution with its pure-toned female vocals, guitar, and effervescent cymbal. Cheers!