Get ready for DOUBLE the “fun” as we tackle two of this week’s Academy Award nominated docs, both of which are sure to make you question humanity and especially America’s criminal justice system.
On that note, be sure to read Decarceration’s write up of THE ALABAMA SOLUTION, too. His post many months back is what put this doc on our radar!
This Episode’s Chapters
0:00 The Perfect Neighbor
4:58 The Alabama Solution
7:38 Intro to the Show
10:41 Wine Trivia Question of the Week
13:55 The Perfect Neighbor, Act 1 + Wine Thoughts
26:53 The Perfect Neighbor, Act 2 + Wine Thoughts
34:30 The Alabama Solution, Act 1 + Wine Thoughts
40:52 The Alabama Solution, Act 2 + Wine Thoughts
57:20 Santa Julia Natural El Zorrito Orange Chardonnay 2024
1:03:04 La Bascule “Babushka” Rose of Syrah 2022
1:05:56 Elwood Prison Wine, South Carolina
1:08:44 Les Vignerons d’Estézargues Alma Viva 2023 (Pet Nat Orange)
1:15:11 Outtake
Wine Trivia Question of the Week: Irish Prison Wine?
Highlight: Cruel and Unusual
The Wine Pairings
Santa Julia Natural El Zorrito Orange Chardonnay 2024
DALLAS: Bodega Santa Julia was created in honor of Julia Zuccardi, part of the third generation of leaders from the Argentinian Zuccardi Family. The Santa Julia winery represents the family’s commitment to producing the highest quality wines through sustainable practices that protect the environment and uplift the local community. And ultimately that’s my hope for the institutions and communities featured in both of these docs.
For Julia, and the Zuccardi Family, sustainability is not just about working in harmony with the environment, rather it is a comprehensive approach that supports the land, the farmers, and the overall health of the local community in terms of educational, physical, and financial health.
Zorrito, The Little Fox, by Santa Julia is an impressive orange wine. This organic, natural wine from Mendoza is made from 100% Chardonnay, fermented on the skins for 45 days. Unfiltered, vegan, and made with minimal intervention, it checks all the boxes for a “natural” wine while maintaining clean flavors and refreshing acidity.
Expect an amber-colored wine with aromas of apricot, lemon, orange peel, and a distinct floral blossom note. On the palate, it shows a bold structure, medium to full body, and a tannin-like texture from the extended skin contact.
La Bascule "Babushka" Rose of Syrah 2022
DAVE: For THE PERFECT NEIGHBOR, I chose a wine that was all about a father-daughter / parent-child relationship. This bottle here is the La Bascule “Babushka” dark Rose of Syrah. La Bascule is a natural wine project created by Fifi (a renowned New York City natural wine importer) in collaboration with Stéphane and Caroline Morin of Domaine Leonine in Roussillon, France. Fifi always wanted to make his own wine but knew he would never be able to own his own vineyard. So he was able to team with the french Domaine and created La Bascule. “Babushka” is Fifi’s pet name for his daughter, Maya, who also designed this wine’s label!
And even better, this dark rose, it’s a halfway point between a red wine and a white wine, a “Blanc de noir” which is what they call a white wine made with a red skinned grape. So it’s a halfway point between white and black, and that’s to celebrate the mixed race neighborhood that came together to make justice happen in the wake of Perfect Neighbor’s tragedy.
The wine is chillable, with some wonderful dark red fruitiness, blueberry and hibiscus, with a touch of spice and earth and white pepper. It’s an Vin du France because it bucks certain rules to be labeled as from Rousillon, but the grapes are all from the Rousillon region.
Before I get to my specific wine pairing for THE ALABAMA SOLUTION, I do need to shout out the truest, best pairing but it’s one that won’t be possible for most. And that’s what our Wine Trivia Question of the Week was about: PRISON WINE.
BUT DON’T MAKE YOUR OWN! Not because you have to be in prison to do it (you don’t.) But because authentic prison wine runs the risk of botchilism. So don’t do that.
However, there is a winery in South Carolina - Elwood Prison Wine
Their mission is to raise awareness about the injustice in the judicial system and to support programs that help children of incarcerated parents. They believe that every glass of wine can make a difference. Their wines are carefully handcrafted in South Carolina and their fruit is locally sourced from select farms within the state to ensure a consistent taste and high quality.
Their origin story is quite unique. After Justin Fox, learned that his incarcerated father was making wine in prison, he thought he’d give it a try at home. And what began as a curiosity has now turned into a fully realized business with one fantastic ethical core. Elwood Prison Wine. The label does, in fact, feature his father’s Prison ID number.
https://www.elwoodprisonwine.com
Les Vignerons d'Estézargues Alma Viva 2023
But for my main wine pairing, I selected a wine from a co-op winery, to represent the collective action at the core of THE ALABAMA SOLUTION
From the Rhone: Les Vignerons D’Estézargues (Este-zarg) is a co-operative cellar in the small town of Estézargues, very close to Avignon and the Pont du Gard in the southern Rhone valley. Now Co-ops typically receive grapes from their members and then make wines from them in large batches, not mentioned vineyards or winemakers. The wines are sourced from many different vineyards from all over the region and typically the focus is on quantity. Not quality. These are commonly some of the most technologically and chemically produced wines in Europe.
Estézargues was established in 1965 and, as early as the 1980s, shifted towards natural winemaking thanks to the arrival of Jean-François Nicq, a talented winemaker influenced by the ideas of natural wine legends like Marcel Lapierre. Nicq put the co-op firmly on track towards respectful farming and practically no additives in the cellar. No commercial yeast, no enzymes, no gum arabic, no acidifiers, and also almost no sulfur. “We use a minimal amount of SO2 at bottling if needed, to make sure the wines are safe even when exported overseas, but that’s it,” says Armelle Rouault, current winemaker at Estézargues.
Another feature rather untypical of a coop is Estézargues’ focus on vinifying many of their terroirs separately—a practice promoted by Nicq’s successor Denis Deschamps. Deschamps even had the cuverie doubled in 2018, thus making it possible to showcase the unique personalities of the grower’s best plots even more. These wines proudly bear the name of the particular domaine on their labels (such as Genestas or Grès Saint Vincent), and represent “a great way to valorize the work of each grower—we vinify the wines in almost the same way so it’s really up to the grapes to show what’s in them.”
This here is their Alma Viva pet nat orange wine.
28% Grenache Blanc, 22% Clairette, 22% Bourboulenc, 22% Roussanne, 6% Viognier
Partial skin contact during fermentation. Delicately textured, so some friction, plus the light fizziness. The skin contact lends a touch of bitterness but the wine remains elegant, notes of apricot, mandarin orange, yellow floral aromas, and beautiful minerality. It both matches the content of the doc while also contrasting the heaviness of the material and especially the weight you’re left with at the end - and note it’s a heavy ending. So I needed a wine to counter that, not weigh me down additionally.
I wanted some friction (skin contact, fizz) but nothing heavy. I paired to match the protagonists of the doc, not the villains. So collective action, personable, uplifting, with some astringency but nothing actually offputting.
Thoughts on the movies? The wines? Thhe pairings?
