Diana Krall Likes Edmunds-St. John Reds

The Smoking Gun has posted about Diana Krall's touring requirements. It includes a list of acceptable wines for her dressing room. Under the heading "Any Red Wine from the Following Producers," we find our own Forum fave Edmunds-St. John!

See the rest of her preferences here: Diana Krall's Wine List

I'm impressed, not only with the breadth, but with the thought she's put into a list that is affordable and generally available.

I did some work years ago with the an opera house, and some of the wine demands were truly prima donna proportions.

Well done Steve.

Well done Steve.

As always.

But from what I can see he is on the far-end of the distribution of that list, in terms of style.

the thought she's put into a list that is affordable and generally available..

So you mean if I become a famous singer it's not a good idea to demand specific cuvees of Domaine Peyra gamay and Claude Courtois romorantin at the precise temperature where they avoid turning into vinegar awaiting my lips after each performance..

Well done Steve.

As always.

But from what I can see he is on the far-end of the distribution of that list, in terms of style.

Maybe not, Rahsaan. Did you see the Palacios Bierzo and Dom. Tempier on the list? If she's talking about the entry-level Palacios Bierzo, that's FL Jim territory, and Bandol rouge isn't exactly a crowd-pleaser either.

Mark Lipton
(taking a sweaty break from digging up bamboo and tree roots in the back yard)

Hmm, she certainly isn't doing much to promote her native BC wines!!

(taking a sweaty break from digging up bamboo and tree roots in the back yard)

I wasn't aware that bamboo grew in laugh-a-lot. Next thing you'll be spinning yarns about panda hunting in your backyard.
'Winger

Maybe not, Rahsaan. Did you see the Palacios Bierzo and Dom. Tempier on the list? If she's talking about the entry-level Palacios Bierzo, that's FL Jim territory, and Bandol rouge isn't exactly a crowd-pleaser either.

I guess in terms of widespread fame.

But in terms of ripeness, Tempier is quite the full-bore wine. But then I guess Steve does represent CA pretty-well. I just tend to think of him as the Elegant Version of CA, and all the other wines seemed So Hot Climate.

But perhaps not.

Good luck with the bamboo, I hear it is very prolific.

Apart from ESJ, Maculan and Tempier, a truly horrifying selection of "wine", if that's the right word to call something made by, say, Siduri (eeeeek!!!); it seems Mrs. Costello (or is it Mrs. McManus) likes them big and alcoholic...

Shame about her taste in wine. Still love her music.

Well done Steve.

As always.

But from what I can see he is on the far-end of the distribution of that list, in terms of style.

Maybe not, Rahsaan. Did you see the Palacios Bierzo and Dom. Tempier on the list? If she's talking about the entry-level Palacios Bierzo, that's FL Jim territory, and Bandol rouge isn't exactly a crowd-pleaser either.

Mark Lipton
(taking a sweaty break from digging up bamboo and tree roots in the back yard)

The "basic" Palacios Bierzo, called "Pétalos del Bierzo" wins the LL Grand Award for the fastest trip south in recent memory, being a very nice, light, pure expression of Mencía on the 2004 vintage and a full-on spoofulated soupish jam (or is it jammish soup?) in 2005.

I can't get over that the woman behind wonderfully elegant albums like The Girl in the Other Room and All for You drinks so badly...

[David M. Bueker]

I can't get over that the woman behind wonderfully elegant albums like The Girl in the Other Room and All for You drinks so badly...

She drinks perfectly well, just not to your (or my) taste. Personal stylistic preferences aside she's not bottom feeding.

She drinks perfectly well, just not to your (or my) taste.

Naaaaaaaaah! Ya think????

But seriously, I'm having real trouble reconciling a musician (most of) whose work I've loved with those kinds of "wines", is all. The whole "not bottom-feeding" thing, if I had to consider submitting to "drinking" in that register, reminds me of that old line: "I've been down so long it looks like up to me".

At any rate, I wonder if Mr. Costello drinks a little better...

I love her music and own several of her CD's, but... sheesh! What a freakin' diva! And opera singers are supposed to be the big divas, right? Pfuiii!!!

I also don't understand her drinking wine back stage when alcohol is a diuretic and completely dries out your vocal cords, and is the last thing you want to drink before singing - but - guess that is not an issue for her.

(taking a sweaty break from digging up bamboo and tree roots in the back yard)

I wasn't aware that bamboo grew in laugh-a-lot. Next thing you'll be spinning yarns about panda hunting in your backyard.
'Winger

Phyllostachys bissetii dwarf. Grows to 12-15' here and is cold hardy enough to survive winters, though it drops all of its leaves. I planted it about 12 years ago and it's still doing well. As Rahsaan says, though, all phyllostachys are running bamboos and invasive as hell. Having some prior experience with the phenomenon in my childhood home in CA, I installed a root barrier: 24"-wide galvanized sheet steel sunk into a trench that surrounds the bamboo. Even so, you have to be on guard for escapees over the barrier. That's what I was ripping up today. Lemme know if you want some and I'll dig up a culm or three for you.

Mark Lipton

But seriously, I'm having real trouble reconciling a musician (most of) whose work I've loved with those kinds of "wines", is all. The whole "not bottom-feeding" thing, if I had to consider submitting to "drinking" in that register, reminds me of that old line: "I've been down so long it looks like up to me".

C'mon, Mr. LL, you can't really be that naïve, can you? Why should there be any correspondence between artistic merit and personal taste, or for that matter between artistic persona and peronal life? (Remember Rock Hudson?) I'd think that the fact that she enjoyed wine enough to request it by name would be sufficient. What are the odds that she's even tried a Huet or Lopez de Heredia? Next thing you'll expect all your favorite authors to have the same political views as your own (I hope for your sake that you don't like Ezra Pound's poetry).

Mark Lipton

I love her music and own several of her CD's, but... sheesh! What a freakin' diva! And opera singers are supposed to be the big divas, right? Pfuiii!!!

*cough* Kathleen Battle *cough*

I also don't understand her drinking wine back stage when alcohol is a diuretic and completely dries out your vocal cords, and is the last thing you want to drink before singing - but - guess that is not an issue for her.

Yeah, that was my first reaction, too. Whoever her voice coach is (assuming that she has one) should be apoplectic. Who knows, though, maybe she drinks to get a certain timbre to her voice, like those singers who used to smoke for the gravelley quality it would impart to their voice? (Crazy, I know, but no one ever accused singers of being paragons of wisdom, right?)

Mark Lipton

At any rate, I wonder if Mr. Costello drinks a little better...

What if that wine list essentially reflects the tastes of her musicians? I it no secret that Athony Wilson (the Guitar guy) has participated on e-bob, so what do you expect?

I cann't quite picture Elvis Costello sipping Riesling...

Peter

C'mon, Mr. LL, you can't really be that naïve, can you? Why should there be any correspondence between artistic merit and personal taste, or for that matter between artistic persona and peronal life? (Remember Rock Hudson?) I'd think that the fact that she enjoyed wine enough to request it by name would be sufficient. What are the odds that she's even tried a Huet or Lopez de Heredia? Next thing you'll expect all your favorite authors to have the same political views as your own (I hope for your sake that you don't like Ezra Pound's poetry).

Mark Lipton

What the hell does naiveté have to do with it, Mark? And while I wouldn't expect Diana Krall to request Huet or López de Heredia for her dressing room, somehow all the wines on the list correspond to a type that is, frankly, pretty horrible. One can be as heavenly blessed and worldly wise as one wants and still find certain thngs a bit of a letdown...

Pound left me rather indifferent. Eliot, on the other hand, moved me. And he had some unsavory ideas (to me, at least), too.

What are the odds that she's even tried a Huet or Lopez de Heredia?

But seriously, Mark... Why must it be that every time I object to a wine selection I get the name "López de Heredia" thrown back at me?

[David M. Bueker]

Manuel,

Once again imposing your personal taste on the world at large is a fruitless (much like your favorite wines the general populace might say) exercise. While you clearly do not like the style of most of the tiwnes on her list, it does not change the fact that tey are properly made and popular with many folks as intelligent as yourself.

Paulo,

Perhaps she drinks the wine after the show?

[David M. Bueker]

I also don't understand her drinking wine back stage when ...

Paulo, I think this stuff is just for the roadies. She'd be drinking only Sierra Springs bottled water! Joplin (Janis, not Scott) had it right, Southern Comfort backstage. Think of the taxes she saved!

If one reads the rider it appears the single bottle of wine is for her dressing room. That's what lead me to presume that she likes to relax with a glass after the show.

Manuel,

Once again imposing your personal taste on the world at large is a fruitless (much like your favorite wines the general populace might say) exercise. While you clearly do not like the style of most of the tiwnes on her list, it does not change the fact that tey are properly made and popular with many folks as intelligent as yourself.

Paulo,

Perhaps she drinks the wine after the show?

Oh, I would never dare try to impose my personal taste on anybody. I share, and if, by chance, someone happens to discover a taste for what I'm sharing, fine. But it's clear you don't know me... Imposition has never been my style. Alas, I do believe I am allowed to feel disenchanted in terms of the wines that Diana Krall favors,whether for her own consumption or for her musicians (a bunch of very talented people whose session and live work I respect immensely, may I add). A lady I found talented, charming and quite, quite hot turns out to have a funny proclivity for the world of spoofulated "wine". It's sort of as if I were back in the dating world and found the perfect young lady who, when I asked her out to dinner, told me she would rather have Burger King...

As far as many of the wines on that ist being "properly made", if you consider pinot noir picked at almost 34 brix, then vinified using lab superyeasts, all sorts of enzymes, plus such wonderful techniques as alcohol adjustment through water addition (or reverse osmosis, etc.), acidification, as "proper", then what do we have to talk about, really?

At any rate, I wonder if Mr. Costello drinks a little better...

What if that wine list essentially reflects the tastes of her musicians? I it no secret that Athony Wilson (the Guitar guy) has participated on e-bob, so what do you expect?

I cann't quite picture Elvis Costello sipping Riesling...

Peter

True. But I shall remain shocked and horrified... [Sorry, I hit "Submit" before finishing my sentence:] Also, should I feel any better about the lot of them being pointy people?

[David M. Bueker]

At any rate, I wonder if Mr. Costello drinks a little better...

What if that wine list essentially reflects the tastes of her musicians? I it no secret that Athony Wilson (the Guitar guy) has participated on e-bob, so what do you expect?

I cann't quite picture Elvis Costello sipping Riesling...

Peter

True. But I shall remain shocked and horrified... [Sorry, I hit "Submit" before finishing my sentence:] Also, should I feel any better about the lot of them being pointy people?

They're only pointy if they actually read and slavishly follow pointy mags (at least Ms. Krall's rider doesn't specify copies of the Wine Spectator or Wine Advocate).

Of course there's the whole debate about points and pointiness: if I bought the 2005 Selbach-Oster Zeltinger Himmelriech Riesling Auslese 'Schmitt' in November 2006 (which I did - in quantity), and it received 96 points from Mr. Schildknecht in the Wine Advocate in April (which it did), does that make me a pointy person? I think not. Most of the non-Bodeaux/Rhone ratings come too late to get a jump on buying anyway, so it's very hard to be pointy, except for the supreme point wines.