Wine and Music Pairing for June 2009

Anaal Nathrakh - 'In The Constellation Of The Black Widow' + Orin Swift 2006 'The Prisoner"

If you follow me on Twitter, you recently witnessed my obsessing over the new album from this infamous "kvlt" UK duo. Blackened death crustcore with absolutely seething ferocity. We're talking sizzling vitriol all over the place, from the stellar production to the uber-necro vocals, these guys go for the jugular with blast beats, nihilism, evil riffage, and a dose of melodic dynamics to help sink their teeth in even further. What do you pair with something so cacophnously delicious? Orin Swift's 2006 'The Prisioner'. It's richness and lush flavors work wonders with Anaal Nathrakh (get over their name third-grader) and the style and imagery of both are seductively dark. The music is like a hot knife through butter with this wine, helping cut through the layers of dense fruit from six unique varietals (mainly Zinfandel and Cab Suav based). The 2006 vintage is rumored the best Prisoner that winemaker David Phinney has produced to date (bear in mind, the 2005 Prisoner was listed as #17 in the Wine Spectator's Top 100 Wines of 2007 and awarded 93 points)! An intense wine for intense music.