Wines to Match Holiday Fare… and The Nutcracker

The ballet, The Nutcracker, is a perennial holiday favorite for its recognizable melodies and a touching storyline set during the Christmas season. This story is an introduction to a multisensory concept that I just put to the test, and with delicious results: Does pairing Tchaikovsky’s sweeping music with wine heighten your enjoyment of it? Or vice versa? Or both?

WineMusic (winemusic.org, @winemusic.la) was founded in 2022 to explore the power of thoughtfully pairing specific pieces of music with specific wines. My sister Meriette Saglie – a classically trained pianist – and I, an observer of the California wine industry for more than 20 years, were inspired by a recent study by experimental psychologists at Oxford University that suggested people can increase their enjoyment of wine by 15% if they pair it with the right type of music. Our nonprofit venture, which aims to provide solo musicians with unique opportunities to perform, has produced several private events since its launch, culminating with a pair of intimate concerts at the legendary Greystone Mansion last month. The sold-out events, presented by the City of Beverly Hills, featured Nutcracker melodies transcribed for piano, performed by Meriette, and wines from Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Napa counties, paired to each musical set by yours truly. 

At the heart of the experience was our WineMusic Box, an innovative tool that led attendees through the four musical sets that were paired with wines presented inside 100-ml tubes. Guests poured wines into their glasses at their leisure, as the music played. And they were invited to ponder, as they sipped, how the wines enhanced the melodies, and vice versa. 

This is, at its core, a purely personal, subjective experience. There are no wrong answers. The idea here is to open up your senses, and to open yourself up to the possibility that blending sound and taste can generate a thought, an idea, an emotion, even. Worst case, you’ve taken a moment to listen to beautiful music and savor beautiful wine!

Here’s a snapshot of our wine-and-music pairings.

2020 Le Vigne “Isabella” Blanc de Noirs ($52) 

This was our pre-concert mingling wine, the scene-setter of sorts, before the main event. Much like an orchestra tuning its instruments ahead of a live performance, this estate sparkling from Paso Robles-based Le Vigne refreshed the tongue, perked up the taste buds and prepped the palate for the experience ahead. Made using the traditional méthode champenoise methods and Sangiovese grapes, this is a super fresh sparkler, with stone fruit aromas, rousing effervescence, a light fruitiness, subtle flavors of yeast and nuts, and a quenching finish. Named for the granddaughter of owners Walter and Sylvia Filippini, this is a perfect celebration wine for the holiday season. Le Vigne has a destination vineyard and winery in Paso that’s open daily, as well as a tasting room and Italian market in L.A. that’s open Thursday through Sunday. levignewinery.com

2014 Grimm’s Bluff Reserve Sauvignon Blanc ($48)

This dynamic white wine – serious and playful at once – was paired with the first of four music sets, which featured the famous “Overture” to The Nutcracker, the familiar “March of the Toy Soldiers” and the sweeping “Journey Through the Snow.” Most whites we buy are young – one, two, maybe three years old – so this decade-old sauv blanc is a rare opportunity to see how time can enhance flavor profile and mouthfeel, and how it makes a premium white wine more complex. Like the evolving moods of the three musical pieces, this wine was bouncy and playful, structured (like a march) and complex. And it was pervasively crisp, much like the chilly winter’s night depicted so beautifully in the Nutcracker story. Made by winemaker Ernst Storm from biodynamically grown grapes, this wine exhibits flavors of tropical fruits, green apples and lemongrass, with awesome minerality. grimmsbluff.com

2020 Foxen Pinot Noir, Bien Nacido – Block 8, Pommard Clone ($70)

Our first red – a gorgeous pinot with red fruit flavors buoyed by earthy spice – was paired with three Nutcracker dances: the “Waltz of the Snowflakes,” the super well-known “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy” and the recognizable Russian dance, “Trepak.” The strict syncopation of these dances mirrors the structure of the wine. But it’s the balance in the wine that matched the delightful balance in the music pieces – from jovial to sober – and in the image of the Sugar Plum Fairy herself, who’s simultaneously playful and majestic. This Santa Maria Valley pinot – with a garnet hue in the glass that screams Christmas – is fresh on the palate, thanks to its bright acidity, while also grounded, thanks to a refined tannic structure; it’s rich, but also elegant. With the crowd, I leaned into the suggestive element here – flavors of plums? Sure! – while noting a prevalence of red fruit – red cherries, red currants, red berries – and a scrumptious finish. foxenvineyard.com

2020 Dovecote Redtail ($65)

This is where the music gets more exotic – four dances inspired by what would have been far-flung cultures to Tchaikovsky, with interesting flavors to match: the “Spanish Chocolate Dance,” the “Arabian Coffee Dance,” the “Chinese Tea Dance” and the “Dance of the Reed Pipers,” inspired by marzipan. The Dovecote Redtail, made with fruit from the brand’s estate, and storied Thompson Vineyard in the Los Alisos Canyon AVA near the town of Los Alamos, is a blend of four grapes: syrah, grenache, mourvedre and petite sirah. Like the music, this wine is, indeed, exotic, as well as elegant, robust and balanced, and it exhibits plenty of verve. And you’d better believe there are flavors of chocolate and coffee a-plenty. Named for the beautiful redtail hawks that soar regularly above the vines and that provide pest control during the grape growing season, this wine is a perfect holiday table topper, as it’ll match myriad holiday dishes beautifully. My wife Renee and I recently spent a lovely afternoon touring Dovecote’s Thomson Vineyard with assistant winemaker Cameron Porter, followed by an escapist night in one of several overnight stays available for private bookings on the 250-acre ranch. dovecotewine.com

2022 Ehlers Estate Cabernet Franc ($80)

This final pairing took us to the St. Helena appellation of the Napa Valley, with a just-released wine that showcases how delectably a meaty, muscular, masculine red wine can taste in its infancy. Just two years old, this premium red wine is fleshy yet refined, hardy yet velvety, layered yet wonderfully approachable. The energy that comes from its youth is matched in the music paired with this wine – the famous “Waltz of the Flowers” and the very emotive, romantic Pas De Deux. Again, leaning into the suggestion: flowers on the nose? Sure! Violets, I’d say, followed by buxom flavors of pomegranate and chocolate.  This wine is mouth-filling, and its intensity flows beautifully with the very emotional nature of these two pieces of music. Both are rousing and brooding, and – especially as the denouement of a beautiful series of melodies, and a beautiful series of flavors – both are wonderfully satisfying. Ehlers Estate, first planted in 1886, has a small portfolio focused squarely on the world-class Bordeaux grapes, cabernet sauvignon mainly, that grow on-property. ehlersestate.com

Now, it’s time to play your own favorite music, pop the cork on your own favorite wine, and open up your senses to the possibilities!