Wine, Women and Song: SG Radio feat. Garrett Pierce – A Very Special Wine and Song Pairing2

by Blogbot

This Sunday (Feb 27th) SG Radio’s very special guest will be Bay Area folk rock singer/songwriter Garrett Pierce. In town for a March 2nd Silverlake Lounge show, he’ll be playing songs live in-studio from his forthcoming album, City of Sand.

Taking SG Radio’s carefully cultivated ‘bring-a-bottle’ vibe to the next level, Garrett- who also happens to be a wine expert – will be pairing his rustic yet sophisticated, fresh and zesty songs with wines that best express his music, and will be leading a tasting live on air between songs.

We’ve posted the tasting menu below, so you can purchase the wine (or similar finds) ahead of the show and join in the fun at home!

“Everybody Breaks” – 09 Bisson Prosecco, Italy

As soon as I finished this song I knew it would start my album. It has a delicate, bright side with an underlining seriousness. It also has a bombastic side, not unlike popping open a bottle of bubbles. This is a serious Prosecco, which is rare because it is one of my least favorite grapes. Often with a slight bubble-gummy meets citrus side. The Bisson Prosecco is all about minerality and gorgeous, bone dry citrus.

“City of Sand” – 07 Monpertuis Counoise, France

I needed a wine for walking down the streets of San Francisco. I used to do that a little too much actually. There is no better wine for the price than this Counoise. It’s deep, dark, complex and still smooth. I think it pairs well with a song that is very lyrically dense, but still has “street-cred.”

“Why Oh Why?” – 07 Gahier Trosseau, France

A light, easy-drinking red from Eastern France. This is a gulpable wine that might have been consumed by the country soldiers fending of the Germans at the border. Champagne was one of the bloodiest sites on the French front along with Alsace, but I didn’t think Champagne or Riesling fit with the vibe of the song. I wanted a red wine to go with the seriousness of the lyrics. But once again, there is a lightness musically with this song that keeps me from wanting something that is too bold or tannic. I can see soldiers sitting outside their tents drinking some Trosseau from the nearby Jura Region.

“On Route to Antigua” – 06 La Boncie Chianti Classico, Italy

I knew this wine needed to have some tannin and an animal side as well. Antigua is a rustic song with trash can percussion and dark lyrics. I wasn’t drinking much more than Gallo Beer in Guatemala when I wrote this, but if you remove yourself from the damp jungle and put yourself in front of the speakers at your house there is nothing better than a hearty yet balanced wine that goes with this song. People have a sour memory of Chianti from the ’70s and ’80s when it was sold as bulk wine, but the La Boncie is sooo much better than this. I don’t really drink much Sangiovese, because it is often times overripe and out of balance. I think this is the perfect match to freshly hunted wild boar or whatever beast might appear to you in a feverish haze outside of Antigua.

“Home” – 06 Foreau Sec Chenin Blanc, France

This is a wine that warms my soul. There is a beautiful melancholy to the song “Home.” It is indeed about my home of Burbank/Glendale, CA and this wine pairs well, because all though it says “dry” on the label, which would work with the desert-climate of L.A., it’s actually quite voluptuous and has a hint of sugar. I’m not the biggest fan of sweet desert wine, but I love to drink Foreau or any off-dry Chenin as a replacement for my after dinner drink. “Home” is a song that I like to play at the end of my set and this is the perfect wine for the end of the evening.

Tune in to SuicideGirls Radio from 10 PM til midnight on Indie1031.com for two hours of totally awesome tunes, extreme conversation – and great wine – and don’t let your moma listen in!

And if you’re looking for a place to learn about and discuss wine, you might want to join SuicideGirls’ Wine Cellar.

About Garrett Pierce

Born and raised in the Los Angeles area, Garrett spent the last decade in San Francisco and Davis, CA where he delivered two full-length albums on Crossbill Records. His dedication toward his craft, and his confessional and honest storytelling, make him among the great young talents in the Bay Area right now. His new record, City of Sand, will be released later this year on Narnack Records, and is his most concise and striking work to date.

City of Sand was recorded with the help of producer/musician Eric Ruud, Tim Wright, and others in the January hills of Bennet Valley, a small wooded hamlet just up from Santa Rosa, CA. There is a confidence and calm that occurs in the record that can only have happened in such a place. The greens of those winter mountains helped Garrett and his team assemble songs that perfectly encapsulate the stories that flow through City of Sand. Stories that were inspired by Garrett’s real life experiences in the jungles of Guatemala, the streets of San Francisco, and the unending fields of California’s flatlands.

There will always be a juxtaposition in Garrett’s work that balances between the sweet and soaring melodic world and his stark biting lyrical commentary. There is purpose to this formula. He wants to draw you in with a radio-friendly tune, but challenge you with lyrics that explore that shadowy, hidden side of yourself.

Follow Garrett Pierce on Facebook and Twitter.