Update: Picayune Cellars has moved locations and no longer offers the wine and music experience. However, they still make great wines and offer pairing dinners and live music. And Claire, the winemaker owner, is still French.
Hot, tired, and in dire need of a bathroom, I had been circling the Calistoga train depot hoping to find some relief. A tiny building located behind the depot that I had never noticed beckoned. I wandered inside and immediately forgot about the bathroom. A vintage dining table was set with glassware. Wine bottles were artfully displayed. A low-slung upholstered chair invited me to sit and stay for a while. I had stumbled on Picayune Cellars. This was my kind of place, and I had almost missed it.
Love Claire’s sense of style
Claire Ducrocq Weinkauf, owner, and proprietor of Picayune Cellars, welcomed me to relax and asked if I’d like to do a wine tasting accompanied by a preset musical playlist. She usually has several different genres, from jazz to rock, but that day she had only a Parisian soundtrack. Hmmm, why yes! I would like that.
A view of the mercantile aspect of Picayune Cellars
Pairing wine and music
As I made myself cozy in the window seat Claire explained that she believes pairing wine and music is an excellent way to help peoplewho perhaps are uncomfortable with wine to understand it better. Or, in her words, “I want to break the elitism of wine tasting and connect people to wine.”
She suggested that along with each of the four wines I would taste, I should pay attention to how the music made me feel. Being a creative person, I love a full sensory experience.
Wine #1 Sauvignon blanc
The first wine I tasted was a Sauvignon Blanc while listening to Charles Trenet singing Ménilmontant.
I closed my eyes and imagined I was on a terrace overlooking the Cote d’Azur. It was a very festive atmosphere, like a party. People danced and sipped Sauvignon Blanc paired with fresh oysters. The wine tasted slightly of tropical fruit and citrus and finished with a hint of salinity.
The fabulous Cote d’ Azur, France
Wine#2 Rosé
The second wine was the 2016 Picayune rosé paired with the sounds of Edith Piaf singing Mon Manégé. I felt like I was traveling or perhaps sailing, as I listened. In my mind, I paired this wine with langoustines.
Manégé means carousel in French, however, I didn’t know the song at the time, nor did I know the translation of the word manégé.
Yes please!
Sounds wonderful, doesn’t it? A nice glass of wine paired with the right music is like that. It can take you places that you’ve been before, and even places you’ve never been, but would like to go. That’s exactly what happened to me. In my imagination, I was at the Cote d’Azur. In reality, I was sitting in a cozy window seat in Napa Valley.
Imagine you’re in France at Picayune Cellars, Napa Valley, California
Wines #3 PInot Noir
Wine #4 Bordeaux blend
I tasted two red wines, the 2014 Pinot Noir and the 2014 Padlock, a Bordeaux blend.
Pinot Noir is one of my favorite red wines because it pairs well with many different foods, including fish. It has good acidity and the tannins are usually very soft.
Claire chose La Bohéme, (sung by Charles Aznavour with great emotion), to pair with the Pinot Noir. The recording made me think of dining in a romantic café by a river with a full moon providing mood lighting. A lovely ruby color, the wine had a fragrance of blueberries and strawberries with a hint of the forest floor.
Padlock—a Bordeaux blend of Merlot, Malbec, and Cabernet Sauvignon exhibited the best of France and California, with bold California fruit on the nose but it is restrained on the palate. A nicely balanced wine, it was ready to drink, unlike many California Bordeaux blends which need some age to be palatable.
To be honest, the music pairing, Les Copains d’abord by Georges Brassens, seemed incongruous to me. It felt playful and fast-moving. Typically, but not always, Bordeaux blends are better with a little age. So I would probably have paired something a little sexier and slower with the Padlock.
photo adapted for Adventures of a Carry-on
Who is Picayune Cellars?
In 2006, Claire arrived in Napa Valley via renowned winemaker and consultant Paul Hobbs, whom she had met and worked with in Argentina. After gaining international experience and expertise in the wine world, (she also worked the harvest in the Rhone Valley and St.Emilion), Claire naturally wanted to try her hand at making her own wines.
A native of France, Claire wanted to capture the fruit flavors of California but with more restraint on the palate, combining the styles of France and her adopted home.
She also wanted to make wine that was exceptional and affordable. To that end, Claire decided to become a negociant, meaning she would purchase the fruit or the juice, from high-quality producers and vineyards, but the blend would be her own. In this way, she could produce the wine she would like to share with her California customers, at what she believed was a fair price point.
It seems Claire is onto something. Her wines have been on the wine list at some of Napa Valley’s best restaurants including Press and the French Laundry. Claire has also been featured in the Wall Street Journal as a woman to watch in the wine world. And, in 2017 Wine Enthusiast named Picayune Cellars a top tasting room experience.
photo courtesy of Picayune Cellars
Picayune Cellars is also a great place to pick up a unique memento or gift. Here you can find handmade leather bags, colorful scarves, linens, and other gift items made both locally, and in France. The concept of Picayune embodies its name, which means, a little bit.
Whether you do the music pairing or not, you must visit Picayune Cellars. I think my experience illustrates that wine is subjective. You can listen to the same music but you may not have the same experience I had. However, the music may help you to appreciate the wine more. Either way, you’re sure to enjoy this beautiful boutique tasting room where you’ll find a little bit of France in Napa Valley.
The Parisian playlist
Listen to the Parisian playlist and decide for yourself. In the top left corner of the video is the list in order of the wines they were paired with. Simply click on the icon that looks like three bars and the list will appear. I’d love to hear about your experiences pairing wine and music in the comments.
