WINE & MUSIC: MORRISSEY AND JEZEBEL

I’ve always been one of those peripheral fans of The Smiths. Not because I don’t like, because I do, but because I kinda missed the boat. I wish I would have heard them when they first came out, but I was too busy listening to Judas Priest and Iron Maiden. It would be a decade later that I’d discover them, and a lot of the other Brit pop (The Cure, Stone Roses, etc.) and find a more kindred sound. The Smiths were always a bit controversial in their lyrics, which I seemed to gravitate toward, having grown up on horror novels and the poetry of Ginsberg and Bukowski. One of my favorite Smiths’ songs is “Meat is Murder” – a pro-vegetarian tune (despite the fact I am one of the biggest carnivores I know). Just the title alone is enough to bring a chuckle (no offense to my vegan friends).

Something a bit more apropos is their single “Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want,” which comes off their compilation disc “Louder than Bombs.” Check it out here:





In thinking of The Smiths, a wine I think that would pair nicely with listening to one of their CDs would be the Jezebel Pinot Noir 2007 from Daedalus Cellars. I had to carry Daedalus wines in the stores just because of the whole tie-in with “Ulysses”, my favorite book. Of course the blokes in The Smiths are English, and James Joyce was Irish, but hey, it’s all the U.K. right?

The Jezebel Pinot Noir gives you some soft, smoky, red fruit notes with hints of earth and toasted hazelnut for a seductive, brooding Pinot Noir that would fare well with the sounds of tracks from “Strangeways, Here We Come,” or any song from The Smiths, or even Morrissey himself.

(Reports came in that Morrissey collapsed onstage and was taken to a hospital. We at UTGT hope for a speedy recovery. Cheers, mate.)