Guest Post: Pairing Wine & Beats: Donwill & Murphy-Goode’s 2007 The Fume – Sauvignon Blanc

Rai-mon Nemar Twitter: @raimonnemar

I “pair” wine and beats, not wine and cheese. If you’re looking for someone to tell you about how the spice of a pepper corn steak perfectly matched the spices in a particular Zin, you’re in the wrong place.

You’ll hear me compare wine varietals to genres of music, how the context of time affects both wine and music, or even how a rumbling baseline was similar to tannins that floated over taste buds. My real goal is to keep it fun!

So how do you pair wine and beats?

For the first pairing I’m going to make it easy for you, as I’ve already cracked this bottle and played this track for a group of friends. We all decided that Donwill’s “Shake it Easy” and2007 Murphy-Goode The Fume – Sauvignon Blanc went hand in hand.

The first thing I do if I’m trying to match a bottle and a song is to put the song on and let it get me into a mood. “Shake is Easy” featuring Peter Hadar is a great for setting the mood and makes you sit up and listen from the second you press play. “The Fume” was also great right out of the gate. I love wines that are approachable, the kind of wines I know my non-wine drinking friends will love as soon as they’re poured and this was one of then. “Fumé”, or “Fumé Blanc”, a term coined by Robert Mondavi in the 1960’s, has been adopted by many California Sauvignon Blanc producers. It literally translates to “smoke” in French, and pays tribute to the great Sauvignon Blanc producing region, Pouilly-Fumé.

Donwill is the kind of emcee who is easy on the ears. You won’t hear him yelling or talking so brash your niece and nephew has to leave the room. You also won’t hear him get so complicated with his flow or delivery that you need a thesaurus or “dumbing down” his lyrics so that 5 year olds can sing along.

This wine and beats pairing hit the sweet spot. Enough about what I think; Listen to “Shake it Easy”, take a sip, and see if you agree.