Jewels Wine Pairings with Browne Family Vineyards

Last weekend, PNB supporters enjoyed an evening of artistic insights and thoughtful wine pairings at our Jewels Opening Night Wine Tasting, in partnership with Browne Family Vineyards. Elizabeth Tornabene, manager of the Seattle Browne Family Wine Tasting Room, and PNB’s Associate Artistic Director Kiyon Ross led the discussion. Today on the PNB Blog, we’re sharing the highlights of the evening. Keep reading to dive deeper into Jewels, and get some great wine recs along the way!

Mural Collection Viognier

E: We’re going to start with our Viognier. Like the first piece in Jewels, Emeralds, it’s French in style. The wine is from the northern Rhone area. It’s very delicate. You can smell a stone’s fruit aroma.

K: Emeralds really is all mystery and all French elegance. The port de bras in the piece are very soft and elegant, probably like this Viognier.

E: A little romantic.

K: A little romantic. And you also mentioned aromatics. Balanchine was inspired by French perfumes. And so, as you see the dancers wisping around the stage in Emeralds, you can almost see their arms wafting beautiful and tasteful French perfume around.

E: We want that mesmerizing quality with the wine as with the performance. On the finish of this wine, if you let it linger long enough, you’ll taste a little black pepper. There’s is a little bit of a surprise at the end there.

K: Well, there’s definitely going to be some surprises tonight as we move through Balanchine’s Jewels!

Mural Collection GSM

K: From the green mystery of Emeralds, we move into something fierier and more playful. Let’s talk about this next red wine.

E: Rubies pairs really well with our GSM. This is one of my favorite wines to talk about. What does GSM stand for? Grenache, Syrah, in the Mourvèdre. Similar to any performance, this wine has to have all the grapes working together to make it that sassy, medium bodied, beautiful tasting wine.

K: It’s like you’re in Balanchine’s head right now. That’s exactly what he did for Rubies. Just like the GSM, Rubies also has three parts. You have the Tall girl, you have the pas de deux couple, and then you have the corps de ballet. Grenache is kind of juicy and playful…

E: A little silky…

K: That’s like our pas de deux couple.

E: Oh, 100%. Very romantic. It brings that versatility.

K: The Syrah is spicy and punchy.

E: She’s sassy.

K: That’s like our Tall girl. Our Tall girl in Rubies brings flirtatiousness to the stage. She’s the second principal, so look for that on stage as well. Then, we have the Mourvèdre.

E: The backbone of the wine, the structure.

K: This is like the corps de ballet in Rubies. It’s the structure, it provides the grounding force of the entire work. In Rubies, we get Balanchine at his sassiest, and I think this GSM has a little sass to it with all these parts.

E: It does. It has a little bit of that red fruit. It has spice, it has a little licorice, a little tobacco on the end. It has versatility and silkiness, but it all comes together.

K: The spice and tobacco remind me of being in a jazz club. Rubies has that jazz feel to it. Balanchine was inspired by Americana and Broadway and jazz, and so this wine pairs perfectly with it.

Bitner Estate Cabernet Sauvignon

K: Now from sass and sparkle into pure grandeur with Balanchine’s Diamonds. How are you going to pair this one for us, Elizabeth?

E: We chose our Bitner Estate Cab Sauv. Cabernet Sauvignon is the crown jewel of Washington!

K: How can I top that? Crown jewel?

E: Mic drop. This one in particular is from Columbia Valley. 99% of Washington’s wine comes from Columbia Valley. Cabernet Sauvignon has beautiful characteristics of full body, dark black fruit, a little bit of that tobacco, a little bit of that smoke. You can age it, or you can drink it right now. It has this everlasting quality similar to…

K: Would you say that it’s majestic and timeless?

E: Absolutely. Absolutely.

K: Because that’s how I would describe Balanchine’s Diamonds. It’s completely timeless. It’s one of those works that you can watch over and over again. When you see all our dances on stage, it takes your breath away. It’s majestic. It not only shimmers, but it anchors. This wine anchors all three that you presented tonight, like Diamonds anchors Jewels. It provides that grounding force to the end of the evening. It gives you that big, bold finale.

E: It is. It’s the classic wine, and it brings it home.

K: This has been so wonderful. I have loved going through these wines with you and sipping our way through Jewels!

BONUS: Artistic Insights from Phillip Neal

K: Now, while you’re enjoying this wine, I want to introduce someone very special. We have Philip Neal, a repetiteur from The Balanchine Trust and future Assistant Artistic Director of Boston Ballet, with us. AND like Peter Boal, Philip Neal was one of my teachers at School of American Ballet when I was young.

PN: You were a good student.

K: This is a full circle moment! Philip would you like to say a few words?

PN: I’m thrilled to be here. It’s also personally very satisfying, because Peter Boal and I were roommates at New York City Ballet for 13 years. There were many times Peter was doing Rubies and I was either doing Emeralds or Diamonds.

Jewels is one of my favorite ballets to dance and to stage. PNB has a wealth of talent in the company. There are three cast that we’ve been enjoying, all week long, which is a testament to PNB. One of the things that’s so great about Balanchine’s ballets is they are new with every cast.

Your orchestra is also very, very good. Those Balanchine ballets are full of tempo shifts. When you get to that first rehearsal on the stage with the orchestra, it just brings something else out. Like wine, live music pulls something out of you. Enjoy the performance because this fine wine of a ballet has been breathing and it’s ready to be served!