Now Hear This – Sony Walkman W & The Grateful Dead

When I share product reviews they are exclusively food & beverage related. This week I will depart from that truth to tell you about the experience I've had with the Sony Walkman W Meb Keflezighi Edition.

I received my Sony Walkman W as a perk from Klout.com. I’m not a runner, one of the intended audiences, but I do walk a lot, hike and work out in the yard & gardens quite a bit. And working out in the yard is where I found the Walkman W to be a fantastic product.

I've been on a binge with the yard-work in the last couple of weeks. Between getting the existing gardens prepped & planted, clearing for new gardens, new landscaping in the front yard and some spot seeding I’ve probably spent almost an entire work week out there since Memorial Day weekend. Margot has helped with the work quite a bit, but during the times where we have worked in separate parts of the yard or when she was working elsewhere I've enjoyed taking my music with me as a work.

The Sony Walkman W is a about the side of a normal pair of headsets, with small modules at each ear for the electronics and a rubber coated cable connected the two. It has a USB plug for charging and to transfer music. It is designed to be water resistant, not swimming waterproof though, but more so sweat and rain-proof. I've tested both of those scenarios successfully.

The sound quality of the unit is exceptional. My music of choice the last couple of weeks has been live recordings of The Grateful Dead and the Jerry Garcia Band. Some of the audience recordings have good sound quality on their own and others have a bit more of the ambient noise. Even at the max volume the Sony Walkman W does a great job of making the music sound great. I don’t know exactly what the battery life is in practice (the web site says 8 hours), but I haven’t run out in between chargings which have been sporadic since I have been using it.

( A glimpse of what some of all the hard work has been about. )

I'll take a quick detour to share an observation specifically about my choice of music. The pairing of audience recordings of the Grateful Dead and yard work turned out to be superb, bordering on ethereal. The Dead never played the same show twice so the improvisational and organic quality to any collection of live recordings is part of the allure. Working in the garden is connective exercise, human with earth, and that activity and the music seemed linked in a spiritual way.  I prefer to listen to live music outdoors, it just feels better, and I think the experiences I have had in the yard these last few weeks are an extension of those feelings. With the added rush of the physical labor I was genuinely happy even after long, hard days of labor.  

I would highly recommend the Sony Walkman W to anyone who I active and would like to take their music on the go. It is light, comfortable, powerful and has enough storage (2GB) to listen to unique tracks for at least a few hours. The product retails for $69 at Sony's web site. Don’t worry about it getting sweaty or wet, it will keep on truckin'!

Cheers!

Jason

Tasting De Loach Pinot Noirs

On Thursday night I participated in the #earthdaywine Live Tasting Event with De Loach Vineyards, Bottle Notes and the KloutPerks team.

I hadn’t gotten my wine sampler kit (shown in the picture above) yet, but I watched live as Jean-Charles Boisset described the approach De Loach has taken, their success with organic and sustainable practices and his vision of where Pinot from vineyards in Sonoma county can become.

Alyssa Rapp from Bottle Notes hosted the tasting and had questions for Jean-Charles. They both otherwise helped folks taste through the 6 bottle sampler kit available for the event. During the live tasting folks were tweeting away about their wines and impressions of the tasting. I noted several things that if you watch the taped #earthdaywine video from the session you might also pickup. Here are some of my tweets and related story:

I saw confidence and passion on the part of Jean-Charles.

"he (Jean-Charles) is clearly passionate in his pursuits. never a bad thing. #earthdaywine (live at http://ustre.am/x7jc)"

Jean-Charles was talking about bring wine to market in small barrel like dispensing systems for the home and restaurants. I immediately thought of our recent trip to France.

"we saw 10L boxes in France. idea++! RT @mwangbickler: Love the idea of selling wines in barrel. #earthdaywine (live at http://ustre.am/x7jc)"

During the chat Jean-Charles mentioned “Little Burgundy”. He was referring to the sampler and how it allowed a taster to survey what Pinot from Sonoma can be. The term “Little Burgundy” is one he uses to describe it. I think this notion is a powerful one to consider. The wine can take you to a place, and not the one it is from, but one it evokes. Pretty heavy stuff!

Bottles Notes used their Daily Sip e-mail newsletter yesterday to recap the event. Check that out at http://www.bottlenotes.com/the-daily-sip/wine-tips/earth-day-live-tasting

With my wines coming in after the event, they arrived the next day, I was able to live taste several of them for myself. I have been playing with video blogs a bit. What I came up with is linked below. I am still working out the video production bit. I had a couple of stutters in there with pronunciation or at one point the tannins of one of the wines had my tongue twisting. I need better lighting, but I need a lot of other things too! Otherwise it was a fun way to recap the event and try some of the wines.



Here are my detailed tasting notes from all six of the wines. It really is a great example of breadth from one wine portfolio!

Le Roi

This wine definitely had the most tweets about it amongst all the wines. I found it dry and sleek with wonderful grilled fruit flavors. I picked up cherries easily and a hint of gameyness, something like the aromas of goat cheese perhaps. I could easily recommend this wine to folks of all stripes, including those who don’t drink a lot of red wine. The balance and middling tannins make it a great occasion wine and a food pairing wine with braises and meats cooked in wine!

Masut Valley

There is diversity in this flight and this wine is the proof. Much more spice and earth is found in this one from some of the others. I picked up some root essence within those spices, much like the skin of fresh peeled ginger. The mouth on this wine is full of dark cherries with a dried fruit twist. The tannins are also a little wilder in this wine. I also felt this was the darkest of the six wines.

Van Der Kamp

This is the one I found the wildest aromas and flavors in. It is balanced, a tad high in alcohol, but has fruit, earth, herbs, and some natural funk that is the foundation of many great wines. The tannins in this wine are a little bolder, but don’t overwhelm. Margot tasted this one and remarked at how smooth it was. It reminded both of us of some of the Pinots in Washington/Oregon last year.

Maraboshi
The wood aromas come through on this one. I got more tannins, and both wood and grape types during my first sip. It is dry and much more austere than the Van Der Kamp, but not as focused as the Le Roi. I picked up cherries again and something floral, although this time it smells more like wild flowers or greens. There is some pepper and just a hint of pine on the finish.

Sonoma Stage

This wine is one of the lighter ones with light red berries, some cherry and some earthiness expressed in leather. The tannins are again restrained, but present. The fruits also seem slightly cooked, rather than ripe and fresh. Excellent dinner wine and another one for those notorious non-red drinkers!

Green Valley

This is another selection I saw a lot folks talking about. I smelled raspberries and what came across like flowers, maybe rose. This wine has restrained tannins and would be a pairing partner with a wide range of dishes from lightly season steaks, to salmon and some game meats. The acidity in this wine does a good job of cleaning up. With the alcohol at the high end (14-15.5) all of these Pinots leave a little heat on the finish. I actually enjoyed it, much like a fine cognac or bourbon leaves the smolder behind as it exits.

The price point on these wines range from $40-60 per bottle. The performance (taste/price ratio) on these wines is only OK when you factor in the price. Getting the tasting kit gave me many ideas that I would specifically pick up a single bottle to pair with a meal made for it. It isn’t an everyday for me, with the winery in my basement!

I really enjoyed this opportunity and would recommend others check out the sample packs from TastingRoom.com and the events sponsored by BottleNotes.com. Travel the world, one bottle at a time!

Cheers!

Jason

{ I was given a free product or sample because I'm a Klout influencer. I was under no obligation to receive the sample or talk about this company. I get no additional benefits for talking about the product or company. http://klout.com/perks/disclosure. }