What happens when you pour three Bells Up wines for a professional French horn player and ask her to play what she tastes? We found out on episode 317 of Wine Time Fridays, hosted by Shelley Webb and Phil Anderson.
This “Wine Is Like Music” episode brought Dave back to the show, one year after his first visit on episode 264. In these episodes, Shelley and Phil invite a musician to improvise, playing the flavors of the wine as they experience them.
For this episode, Dave shared the table with Gonzaga University Professor Jennifer Brummett. She’s a Juilliard graduate, holds a master’s from Southern Methodist University, and has played principal horn for the Spokane Symphony since 2002. She even played principal horn on Frank Sinatra’s Diamond Jubilee tour.
It turns out Jennifer and Dave landed on the horn the same way. In middle school, the flute and drums were “too crowded” for Jennifer, so she picked the “sparkly” instrument. For Dave, 35 kids had signed up for trumpet and he didn’t want to haul a tuba around. The horn won both times, luckily for us.
The Lineup: What We Poured, and What Jennifer Played
Every Bells Up wine gets a personality, and each personality is tied to a composer or a piece of music. Dave says it’s about how a wine makes you feel, not only how it tastes. Here are the three wines they tried on the show.
2024 Rhapsody Pinot Blanc
Pinot Blanc is a natural mutation of Pinot Noir. A vine can grow red grapes for 15 years and then start growing white ones, and that has happened to a few vines in our own vineyard. Dave likes Pinot Blanc because it keeps more of Pinot Noir’s complexity and texture than its cousin, Pinot Gris.
Bells Up’s Rhapsody Pinot Blanc is named for Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue. The music is jazzy, but a classical structure holds it together. The wine works the same way: bright citrus and zing, held in place by a creamy texture that lets it finish on fruit instead of acid. After a sip, Jennifer improvised a solo on the spot, which isn’t something French horn players get to do very often.
2022 Titan Pinot Noir
Titan is inspired by Mahler’s Symphony No. 1, which Dave calls a horn player’s best friend. Like the symphony’s rises and falls, the wine builds in a gentle wave from the tip of your tongue to the middle, then finishes soft and long.
2022 was a cool vintage, and we harvested in mid-October instead of mid-September like we did in 2021. That makes for a softer, more elegant wine that’s still coming into its own, so it will reward a few years in your cellar. Jennifer answered with the triumphant horn finale of Mahler’s First.
2022 Maestro Pinot Noir
Maestro is only in its second vintage. This wine is composed to highlight Pinot noir Dijon Clone 943, which reminds Dave of Petit Verdot, a Bordeaux blending grape Dave calls the “soprano” of the grape world. He notes that its mouth feel is high on the palate. Dave wanted to know if he could make a Pinot Noir that sings in that same upper register, but with more depth and length than Petit Verdot usually has.
The name honors John Williams, whose horn lines soar above the rest of the orchestra. Jennifer came in punchy and with authority on this one. “When you’ve mastered the flavor of something,” she said, “you kind of want to shout it out to the world.”
More Bells Up Moments We Loved
- Why every Pinot tastes different here. Plenty of Willamette Valley tasting rooms pour three or four Pinots that are hard to tell apart. Dave builds each of our four Pinots around a distinct “shape”: how the wine moves across your palate, whether it builds, fades, or circles. You don’t need an expert palate to notice.
- Where the name “Bells Up” comes from. Yes, we live on Bell Road. No, it wasn’t named after us. For horn players, “bells up” means lifting the horn’s bell to project a bolder, brassier sound, as Jennifer explained.
- Wine word of the week: attack. In music, attack is how a note begins: sharp and punchy or soft and gradual. In wine, it’s the first impression on your palate. Dave said the attack is the first thing he thinks about when blending.
- The Judgment of Paris turns 50. Looking ahead to the show’s anniversary episode, Dave said that without the 1976 tasting that put American wine on the world stage, he’s not sure Bells Up could exist.
- A future wine to watch for. Dave hinted that a new wine honoring a horn piece by Camille Saint-Saëns is coming in the next couple of years.
Taste Along at Home
Dave put it best, saying, “You don’t need to know everything about either the wine or the music to be taken on a journey.” That’s what Bells Up is about. Wine should be fun, never intimidating, and we’ll meet you wherever you are.
A big thank you to Shelley and Phil for having us back, and to Jennifer for expertly playing what she tasted. We’re proud to sponsor Wine Time Fridays.
Want to try the lineup yourself? We’re heading into Fall Shipping Season now, and have all of these wines available. Call 503.537.1328 or email info@bellsupwinery.com to order or book your next tasting appointment.
