Your Twin Peaks Season Three Wine Guide: Wine Pairing Episodes 3-4
Drink Features Twin Peaks Wine Pairing
Episode 3: “It’s not about the bunnies! …Is it about the bunnies?”
Episode 3 is a paean to itself and to Lynch’s own freaky-deaky metaphysical sense of humor, with Kyle MacLachlan playing three separate iterations of himself, and without giving away the whole massively multilayered affair, ends with a contemplation of the chocolate bunnies Cooper logs as evidence in the very beginning of the first season. So, in honor of multiple entry points and definitely chocolate:
Alexandria Nicole Cellars 2009 Destiny Ridge Vineyard Estate a2 Cabernet Sauvignon, Horse Heaven Hills, $24
Like the episode, this wine has a lot of layers, many of them a little kooky. In addition to the traditional Cab Sauv notes of blueberry, blackberry and vanilla, you will also detect… candy. Definitely milk chocolate, but also… some kind of weird candy note that is hard to pin down (“Cherry Jolly Rancher” occasionally comes up in Pinots, but that’s not what this is. It’s not sour-juicy; it’s powdery and sugary, almost like cotton candy but… less pink? Anyway.) There’s also a light cherry note-not black cherry, a muted yellow-cherry thing, like a Queen Anne cherry versus a Bing (or, given the Washington terroir, I suppose Ranier is probably the varietal in play). Red currants, oregano, thyme and tea show up, but for me the dominant note in all this delightful dissonance is chocolate.
Episode 4: “Blue Rose?” “They don’t come any bluer!”
Fan Theory Alert: Lynch’s character, FBI Director Gordon Cole, uses the designation “blue rose” for paranormal cases, rather like “X-Files.” It’s never explained why, and it’s possible that it’s random (except Lynch never does random if he can do referential) or that it’s as simple as the fact that blue roses don’t occur in nature. My guess is that this is actually a reference to Tennessee Williams’ masterpiece The Glass Menagerie in which a mis-hearing of the word “pleurosis” becomes a weird southern-gothic motif of “Blue Roses.” Director Cole is hard of hearing and shouts things like “Cossacks? Cossacks are in Russia!” when someone says “Car sick.” And the southern belle in distress in Williams’ play is named… Laura. Oblique? Sure. But we already know Laura Palmer is named after Gene Tierney’s character in the Otto Preminger noir Laura-I don’t think it’s all that far-fetched. Anyway, in honor of the Blue Roses, and the general whackiness of the episode, I give you…
Memaloose Idiot’s Grace “Whimsy” ($18)
“Idiot’s Grace” should probably speak for itself when you see the episode. As Should “Whimsy.” But I picked this Cabernet Franc-Sangiovese blend for its tint – deep red with violet-blue reflexes-and its rose-heavy bouquet. An elegant field blend of high-elevation fruit, this wine displays the lively aromatics of Cabernet Franc and the shapeshifting qualities of Sangiovese. This wine is a treat with or without Michael Cera’s Brando riff as an accompaniment.
If you’re binge-watching this season of Twin Peaks, check out our wine pairings for the first two episodes.