It may seem inappropriate, but my initial wine interest could have been summed up in a few lines from a song by Swedish punk outfit The Pricks: “I wanna be a wino, I wanna be a wino, rip off my shirt cause I wanna be a wino…”
Luckily things have changed somewhat since then, and nowadays I consider myself a curious and sophisticated explorer in the extensive and intriguing world of wine, rather than a simple bare-chested drunken punk.
Coming from a beer-soaked background in hardcore, metal and punk, it might be considered tricky to have a serious wine interest. But thankfully being a professional artist/painter balances it up a little, helped by the romantic and popular projection of us artists as red-nosed, red wine guzzlers.
Besides, many of our musical rebellions have grown up to have slightly more sophisticated tastes than what we started out with.
As for us artists, the halcyon days of opening a nice French vintage to celebrate a vernissage are long gone. That has been replaced by the ill-chilled and ill-tasting budget bag-in-box white from some mass producer in the so-called ‘New World.’
But this new-found rebellious sophistication is not about the latest PR tricks by the likes of Motörhead and Slayer, who started their own wine labels for their own dubious reasons.
Indeed, only a few rockers seem to take wine-making seriously – two that spring to mind are Tool singer Maynard James Keenan and Les Claypool of Primus, who both run successful own vineyards with a strong hand and delicate taste buds.
No, I’m talking about sincerity and honesty. I’m talking about all of us who moved from rebelling against government, religion and parents to rebelling against the large conglomerates and global mega players.
I’m talking about those of us who still love the independent, the punk and the underdog, but in a different package – the wine bottle.
This is one of the reasons I’d like to present a few of my favorite punk rock wine bottles right now.
The Morgon Cuvée Classique (nr 91150 at Systembolaget) is one of my current favourites, made from some of French farmer Jean Foillard’s impressive rock’n’roll selection of gamay grapes.
I had one of my best wine experiences ever at Restaurant 19 Glas (Stora Nygatan 19, Gamla Stan) over a bottle of his Morgon, Côte du Py 2009 together with my wine mentor and director of independent punk rock music labels Epitaph and Anti Records Roger Dorrestijn.
19 Glas is home to another wine hero that rocks. Peter Bennysson has served me fantastic wines that fell easily and comfortably on my palate.
Lately I’ve been enjoying two powerful female producers there. The first wine is Il Frappato, by Sicilian hardcore producer Arianna Occhipinti. It has a most intense long flavour and a lasting aroma, with a hint of salt liquorish as an unexpected yet delightful finale.
The second is the ever-so-swift and joyful En Rémont by Julie Balagny, with it’s distinct aroma and powerful bouquet. It is a wine I can truly recommend for someone that wants to taste the abilities of a strong French woman. Very punk, if you ask me.
The fourth wine I would like to recommend in this maiden column is the Chablis Premier Cru Fourchaume from William Fevre (nr 99457 at Systembolaget).
It’s a middle-of-the-road choice between the slightly more pricy, yet remarkable Bougrous (nr 95019) and the little less expensive standard version (nr 87642).
William Fevre cannot be described as punk, yet his wines have ingredients that reflect the art and poetry of this unique terroir in Chablis.
Other punks who like wine:
(French/English) http://www.thevintagepunks.com/
(Swedish) http://www.winepunk.net/
(English)http://www.thedictators.com/punksommelier.html
(English) http://www.punkdomestics.com/topics/wine-making
(English) http://www.claypoolcellars.com/
words: Pär Strömberg
