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THIS WEEK IN WINE:

Vocalist sings praises of her Chilean wines

BY CHRIS KASSEL
FREE PRESS WINE WRITER
July 5, 2005

WINE OF THE WEEK

Solterra, Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve, Colchagua Valley (Chile), 2001; about $10.

Typical of high-quality but easy-to-drink Chilean cab, this wine is potent and fleshy, saturated with mint, black currant, olive and pumpkin pie spices.

SERVE WITH: Backyard barbecue and indoor beef-centered dinners from burgers to prime rib.

AVAILABILITY: Bush's Market of Farmington Hills; Whole Foods, multiple locations, and Papa Joe's of Rochester.

"Wine, women and song" is sort of a dated-sounding Victorian paradigm -- until you consider Marlena Studer. Studer is a venerable Ann Arbor diva, currently vocalizing with the Cliff Monear Trio and specializing in sultry jazz standards.
But in 2001, when she visited a vineyard in Colchagua Valley on a trip to Chile, the light bulbs of inspiration began popping, leading to a rake-hell career turn.
Ever lyrical, Studer phrases it in wine metaphors: "The idea began to ferment in my mind during that trip, though it was a year's worth of work before it actually came to fruition."
The idea was marketing her own label of Chilean wines. The year was spent finding a distributor-partner, nailing down the precise vintage and product she wanted to feature and wading through the ocean of regulations associated with this sort of enterprise. Finally, in 2003, she released a single wine, a reserve cabernet, hand-selling it to local retailers.
"I thought it was safer and smarter to focus on one product at first, and grow from there."
And grow she has. By the end of the month, a wide array of her Solterra wines will hit local retail shelves, including a more ambitious portfolio of reserve wines -- merlot, chardonnay and a luscious, unusual carmenere.
Renaissance woman is another dated-sounding (if less Victorian) ideal, but add to Studer's resume that she moonlights as a sociology professor with a particular interest in gender studies. Wine, women and tenure.
If you can expend that sort of energy, you've more than earned your glass of wine.

Studer's upcoming concert dates can be found at www.marlenastuder.com.

E-mail Free Press wine columnist Chris Kassel at chriskassel1@aol.com.