The Death Whisperer Series

The Death Whisperer Series
The Death Whisperer Series available at https://www.amazon.com/author/dmichaelolive

Friday, October 25, 2013

Doug Smith & Catena Zapata High Mountain Malbec


Doug Smith is a former winner (2006) of the Winfield International Fingerstyle Guitar contest and also a Grammy winner. “August Rush”. Doug's music has been heard on radio and T.V. stations throughout the country, including The Discovery Channel, Martha Stewart Living, CNN, TNN, ESPN, and Encore. He also played guitar on the soundtracks for the recent movies " Moll Flanders ," " Twister ," and “August Rush.”

His style combines folk, classical, and jazz into a style that reminds me of Leo Kottke and Chet Atkins. In fact, in the early years of his guitar career, he saw Chet play with the Boston Pops, after which he focused exclusively on fingerstyle guitar. Later in 1970, he heard John Renbourn’s album, “The Hermit,” which caused him to further focus on steel strings and introduce altered tunings into his repertoire, although he credits Alex de Grassi and Michael Hedges as major influences that also led him in the latter direction. In February of 2005, Doug and the several other fantastic guitarists from Solid Air Records, won a Grammy Award for "Best Acoustic Pop Album" for the album, " Henry Mancini - Pink Guitar.” For those of you guitar techie geeks, Doug plays James Goodall and Lance McCollum guitars.

His music is beautiful and a great means of relaxing from the work week. Enjoy!

Ave Maria/Can’t help falling in love: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHI5npcL15I

I’m pairing Doug with a 2011 Catena Zapata High Mountain Malbec ($18.00). I’ve grown to really like Malbecs. Not as sweet as Merlot and not as heavy on oak and tannins as a Cabernet. This one is deep violet purple with aromas of red and dark fruits, and mocha overlaid with nuances of violets and vanilla. The taste is full of blackberries, blueberries, and a touch of coffee tinged with chocolate and cinnamon.
The tannin’s are mild and the wine has nice acidity and minerality that leads to a long finish. It’s the perfect compliment to the guitar artistry of Doug Smith.

Cheers! 

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