We celebrate many things tonight. The occasion: ‘Talks & screenings (on various forms of queerness) — part 1: Tony Cokes, “Mikrohaus, or the black atlantic?” (2006–2008)’. MELK magazine for queer culture launch their music edition MELK is a magazine for queer culture, tonight launching their ‘Musikk’. — Can music be queer? And if so, how do queer music circulated in popular culture, both today and in a historically perspective? And in the search for frameworks: How do context define what is queer or not? These are only some of the questions you can read about in this edition of MELK. They also present a mini concert by the amazing Murmur. How lucky are we?! You might have seen her at Pride Park this year, and she is also among the writers in this edition of MELK. We can promise beautiful electronic synth-scapes. A beautiful view, as well. All followed by a DJ set by Ida and Tonje from Too Many Girls. These two are Karma* veterans, and more to come! This DJ-collective have played for several years, all over the country. Tonight there will be — of course — House music. All night: A selection of ‘queer juice’ from Eastern Europe, perhaps also France, presented by Grapeland — for tonight only (menu further down). Pizza slices from Lofthus Samvirkelag as long as there is. Enjoy!

Wergelandsveien 17, Oslo. ID: 20. CC: Free.

Tonight’s ‘queer wine’ presents five alternatives, curated in collaboration with Grapeland aka Vegard Kleven and Martinus and Bendik at Lofthus Samvirkelag. Today we go for the orange! ‘To the moon and back … or, ‘dry and dusty’? Synopsis of the wine here:

• ‘Bela 2015’, Cotar, Kras, SVN; 11.8 % ABV; sparkling — bubbly orange! In it: Malvasia and Vitovska; from red clay on top of limestone; skin contact for 1 week, spontaneously fermented; neutral oak barrels for two years; unfiltered. Appears like: Something as unusual as orange bubbles. The maceration makes is rather yellow. Fruity and tropical, but very fresh, crisp, and extremely well balanced with its dryness. Loads of small bubbles. A hybrid of a sparkling wine that opens up for an eclectic set of connotations … worth mentioning is old paint caskets from the 90s, cured ham, and candy. Still very elegant.
• ‘Gran Pa 2016’, Nachbil, Beltiug, ROU; 12.5 ABV; white — pale orange. In it: Fetească regală and an eclectic blend; from clay with sand on top; hand harvested, skin contact for a couple of weeks, spontaneously fermentation, and neutral steel tanks. Looks like: Orange, cloudy. Feels like: Gummy bears and apricot! Extremely tropical with peaches, pineapple, and vanilla. Even cloudberries. And oranges! Still fresh and a lot of that clay and sand. Miami, or Liguria, off season … But, give it some air; makes it happier and much more balanced.
• ‘Vitovska 2015’, Cotar, Kras, SVN; 12 ABV; white — pale orange (2). In it: Vitovska only; soil and process more or less as the sparkling one. Appears like: Straw yellow, cloudy. Feels like: Tropical. Luckily, much dryer and chalky according to the tongue. Or else this could have been way too much. Tannins morphs into silk and velvet … A complex creature. It changes for 30 seconds! The ‘Bela’ is a regular favourite of ours, but let us push some more orange tonight! Tastes like sea, late July on the rocks, clear blue sky. Sexy.
• ‘Blaufränkisch 2016’, Nachbil, Beltiug, ROU; 12.5 ABV; red — red, almost violet. In it: Blaufränkisch only; from same soil and method as the one ibid, except old barrels for ten months. Looks like: Deep red, almost violet. Feels like: Definitely needs a lot of air (please!); black pepper, sour cherries, wax, too, even some herbs, and very dryness. This is a funny one. The pepper wine. Try.
• ‘Beaujolais-Villages 2015’, Château de Bel Avenir, Bourgogne, FRA; 14.5 % ABV; red — deep red, like berries. In it: Only Gamay. Ecologically made, thirteen months on amphoras. Soil is chalk and granite. Looks like: Very red. Feels like: Ripe berries, in every sense. Slightly smooth, varnish and wax touch the tongue. This is very easy to like, not very challenging, still good company, always elegant.