Lassus and Wine - Part 1

Orlando Lassus wrote a staggering number of pieces about wine, covering all genres from sacred to secular and everything in between. They tell us much about life, trade, and feasting in Munich in the second half of the 16th century, but also show that Lassus was quite the wine connoisseur: not only in drinking the best wines across Europe, but even his knowledge of wine production.

For this first of two programmes, Hannah French is joined down the line from New York by wine historian Ron Merlino to explore the music of Lassus while tasting some of the types of wine he encountered at the Court of Duke Albrecht V in Munich.

Today, the two wines featured in the programme are both white wines known to have been available in Bavaria in the 16th century:

Trimbach Muscat from Alsace

and

Rueda Verdejo from Spain