More than just wine

Discovering Koshu wine from Japan

2012-02-22T23:04:00.000+01:00

Koshu: a Japanese grape variety sometimesused for winemaking

I had not tried many wines made with the koshu varietyuntil earlier this week, when a tasting organised in Paris by the associationcalled Koshu of Japan gave me the opportunity to try about a dozen ofthem in an hour or so.

These pictures show the colour of the Koshu grape, its long bunches, and the little paper hats used to protect these from storms as harvest approaches. The trellising is the pergola system.

Koshu is an unusual variety in that its skin is apinkish-gray colour, but its juice is very pale, almost white. It hasapparently been known in Japan since the 12^th century (some sayearlier), where it may have been introduced by Buddhist monks coming fromChina. For most of the time since then it has been used as a table grape, butquite recently it has been vinified, at first as a sweet or semi-sweet wine,but now increasingly as a dry and rather lively (ie acid) wine with arelatively low alcohol level (between 10,5% and 12% in the case of the samplesI tried). Some sources say that it travelled to Japan via China from theCaucasus region, following Marco Polo. Others say it is in fact a hybridbetween vitis vinifera and some indigenous grape species. If anyone canenlighten me further, I would be grateful.

There are not a lot of wine grapes planted in Japan,although it is a considerable and sophisticated wine market. This is dueessentially to fairly unsuitable climate conditions, with rainfall at the wrongtime of year and risks from typhoons and so on. There are, I understand, about500 hectares of koshu grapes planted and about 90% of these are in the regionof Yamanashi, which lies around the lower slopes of Mount Fiji, about 100kilometres west of Tokyo. Whilst the use of Koshu as a table grape has declinedover recent years, experiments in altering traditional cultivation techniquesto adapt it better to wine making have gone forward. The old way can be seen inthe photograph below, using the pergola system where the vine ends up as thickas a tree and with very long stems. This is not the best way to control yieldsfrom the vine, so various vertical shoot systems, such as the Scott Henrytrellising method, have been introduced. Several consultants, from AustralieaNew Zealand and even France have been helping the producers with some ideas recently.

The traditional pergola training system and the paper hats to protect young bunches

Koshu is a robust grape with thick skins, which helps itresist during the wet periods that can hit the vineyard. The dry wines I tastedwere very pale in clour, mostly bone dry, with low alcohol and high acidity.The vast majority of them had been fermented in tanks and bottled young, fromthe latest 2011 vintage. The occasional one had received some barrel ageing andwas thus rounder and softer. On the whole I preferred the tanks ones, but Iwould not say that these wines would be to everyone’s taste. An idea? Well, akind of mix between a Trebbiano and a dry Riesling would be near the mark. In otherwords quite acidic, with delicate aromas, not a huge amount of character, but alightness of touch that I found attractive.

The wines I liked best from this tasting were the following :

Alps Wine, Japanese style Koshu 2011
Seems a bit weightier than the announced 11,5% alcohol and I also felt there was a bit more residual sugar than the announced 1,1 grams. Still was fine and vibrant. Good and relatively intense for the series.

Grace Wine, Koshu Kayagatake 2011
Delicat and floral, very lively. Pure and dynamic

Grace Wine, Koshu Private Reserve 2011

Just as perfumed as the previous wine, but more austere in its structure and with greater power

Yamanashi Wine, Sol Locet Koshu 2011
Fine, delicate and precise.

Yamanashi Wine, Sol Locet Koshu 2010
One of the few “older” wines available at this tasting, Ithought it showed more complexity and length than the others.

Suntory Tomi No Oka Winery, Tomi No Oka Koshu 2010
This has been aged in oak and so was rounder and seemedriper than the others. It has much lower acidity than most and would probablybe easier for international markets to appreciate. Very silky texture.

The champagne bath: ridiculous, shameful or just decadent?

2012-02-16T15:54:00.000+01:00

If you want to know my answer to the rhetorical question posed in the title, it is emphatically "all 3".

The idea of bathing in champagne an old fantasy that has been lugged around for ages, but it came to my attention recently, thanks to the UK trade web site called Drinks Business, that a London hotel has revived the stupidly decadent practise of filling baths with champagne for customers who have more money than good sense.

I should also mention that I have already published a version of this story here in another blog for which I write, in French. This blog is called Les 5 du Vin, and I write an article for it every Monday, whilst my colleagues deal with the other days of the week. I should also add that we recently won a prize for this blog (The Wine Blog Trophy see here) at a wine trade fair in the Loire Valley (Le Salon des Vins de Loire), partly thanks to an article that I had written a few months ago on a wine bar situated in this region and called Café de la promenade.

The Cadogan Hotel, in London's Knightsbridge district, has a bit of a history in the field of decadence (if one wants to call it that). It was here that Oscar Wilde was arrested for sexual practices that were, at the time, considered as reprehensible. It was also here that the future English King Edward VII held trysts with the actress Lily Langtree. Given that the then Crown Prince, son of Queen Victoria, was known by some of his contemporaries as "Dirty Bertie", I can leave you to fill in the gaps.

According to Drinks Business, the Cadogan Hotel is offering its weathier clients to fill their baths with champagne, as from the 14th of February (Saint Valentine's day in case you missed it) and for the rest of this year.

For the modest sum of £4,000, someone will pour 122 bottles of a champagne celled Louis de Custine, vintage 1998, into the bath of your hotel room and even heat it to the desired temperature. I do not know whether you are allowed to add lemons and spices before drinking the stuff. If you like cold baths, probably not. What is certain is that you will need a good shower afterwards to avoid stinking like an empty wine vat, and probably feeling a little sticky from the added sugar that is part and parcel of most champagnes.

To add insult to possible injury you can even request a "bath butler" to come and serve you one of the six "gift" bottles of the same brand of champagne in which you are wallowing, accompanied by strawberries coated in chocolate (yuck!). We do not know if the bath butler is blindfolded to protect your intimacy on this wonderful occasion. Maybe he'd fall over and send the tray crashing into the bath, turning the great event into a blood bath!

I have never heard of Louis de Custine Champagne but I see that it retails for around £25 per bottle in the UK. Looks like thay may have a bit of stock on their hands. If bathing in an unknown brand of champers doesn't tickle your fancy, then the thoughtful people at the Cadogan Hotel have other solutions on hand. For £6,000 you could opt for vintage Perrier Jouet. For £8,000 you have the choice between vintage Veuve Clicquot and vintage Perrier Jouet Rosé (bathing in the pink!). But the ultimate has to be a bath of Dom Perignon 2002, for the incredibly modest sum of £25,000. If you can find nothing better to do with your pots of money than this, I have several suggestions for you, so please get in touch!

Not sure that the bath in this photo is big enough for 2. Or that I would want to take a both outdoors at this time of the year.

According to the hotel, at least one client has paid the requisite deposit for the top option with Dom Perignon in this contest of indecent stupidity in the show-off stakes.

After considerable research, I have manged to procure images of the projects sent in by agencies invited to compete to produce a poster campaign to advertise this great idea. Some of them seem to need a little education as to the geographical origins of champagne, as indeed as to the types of cork necessary to keep its bubbles in the bottle. Here they are.....

It is perhaps to be noted that the last image of these three shows that the Champagne bath fantasy was probably at the origin of the product known as bubble bath.

Enjoy your next bath!

6 nations rugby, or is it 4 nations?

2012-02-13T19:21:00.001+01:00

The annual 6 nations international rugby tournament is back again in Europe, as is a snap of very cold weather that seems to have caught some with their pants down.

The last 2 weekends should have seen the first two matches completed between all teams from the six competing nations: England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. It didn't quite happen this way because the match that was to have been held in Paris on Saturday evening was cancelled at the last minute when the refereee deemed the pitch at the supposedly modern Stade de France to be unplayable because it was frozen in patches. The game was between France and Ireland.

Since then, the French have been playing their usual game of passing the ball very fast, as if it were a hot potato, to determine who is reponsible for this fiasco. One should bear in mind that the event involved aboit 79,000 spectators having paid good money to see a game (many coming from far away) which was cancelled at the last second despite the pitch having been covered all week under, apparently, heated covers.

A derisory last minute attempt to thaw the pitch in Paris. Seems to me like using an iron on a Christo wrap of Central Park!

Everybody knew that the weather was cold, and indeed had been for almost 2 weeks. Other games took place during the weekend, and the Stade de France is supposedly a modern stadium. Yet it is clearly ill-equipped, and one might add that the decision to play a key game at 9pm in Febuary in a stadium with no roof was not perhaps the most sensible choice initially.

Philippe Saint André, or PSA for short, the new French trainer

Now what about the games that have actually been played? It is interesting to note that 3 of the 6 teams involved have new trainers who have just taken over: England, France and Italy. Four teams have now played 2 matches (out of 5) each so far, so let's look at them first.

Leigh Halfpenny, the Welsh fullback, scoring one of his two tries against Scotland on Sunday. He also kicked a lot of goals.

England and Wales have won both their games. Wales just beat Ireland in Dublin and more convincingly beat Scotland at home. Both games were superb and have confirmed the considerable talents and promise of the current Welsh team, as revealed during the recent World Cup.

England were lucky to win both their games, each played away. Curiously they won each game due to a charge-down try made by their fly-half, Charly Hodgson, and in each case against the course of the game. Italy scored 2 tries against them and only lost this weekend's game in Rome because they do not have a goal-kicker. They lack a bit of depth in terms of replacement players but they have never been closer to winning against the other European nations as the narrowing score sheets show. Remember that they just beat France in Rome last year.

Charly Hodgson congratulated by Owen Farrell

a battle in the snow in Rome: the English team spent more time defending than attacking

the Italian winger, Venditti, breaks through for the first try

Sergio Parisse, the Italian captain and the best player on the field, tackled

Scotland were unlucky to lose to England at home, but were more clearly dominated by Wales. They are good to watch as their game is one of constant movement, but I have to say that their huge numbers of passes sometimes lack direction and they rarely manage to break through defenses.

We shall now have to wait for another couple of games to see who looks likely to win this year's tournament. I would pick Wales as my favourite, with France second. The game between these two should be a key match and a kind of revenge for the Welsh after the closely fought semi-final they lost to France during the World Cup. England lack experience, with a lot of young and promising players. If they win, it will be a considerable surprise, but at least they are building for the future and are not giving away masses of silly penalities all the time like they did during the World Cup.

Goodness knows when the France vs Ireland game will be rescheduled!

When someone dies

2012-02-10T17:55:00.000+01:00

People are dying all the time. Ones sees so many horrors when looking at what is known as "the news" that to mention the death of a single person seems derisory, maybe even indecent. When death takes someone close to you, one enters the realm of the intimate, be the event dramatically untimely or simply in the natural order of things, like for someone who has lived a long time. In any case, if the death is of that intimate nature, I usually do not feel inclined to talk about it in public. But what about someone that you barely know, just an acquaintance?

I heard just this morning that a guy I knew slightly because we frequented the same gym had been killed a couple of months ago, in a motorcycle accident. It shocked me. I had not seen him for a while, but then such things happen all the time: people move, or decide to go to another gym, or whatever. But I did find it strange that he had said nothing. This morning I happened to be in the changing room with another regular and asked him what had happened to Guillaume. He told me. I had to sit down.

I did not even know Guillaume's second name. He was a regular at the gym, very friendly and with the kind of light sense of humour that I enjoy. A really nice guy and the kind of person that, when you see him and exchange a smile and a couple of words, makes you glad that you have gotten up early to go and suffer for an hour or so. He was in good shape and used to running 10 kilometre races. We discovered that we were both bikers and talked a bit about this, amongst other things. From what I heard this morning he touched the edge of a secondary road on one of his weekend outings and lost it, going off the road. I know no more details and do not want to. He rode a Honda Fireblade. I never rode with Guillaume although we had discussed doing this sometime this spring.

Death has the definitive edge to it that nothing else can have. I don't believe in any form of life after death. I read, also this morning and in an excellent book that I have just finished, the following line, spoken by one of the characters right at the end of the book and after the death of one of them: "you are alive, so don't complain, for you anything is possible". For Guillaume this is not the case. Will I take more care when riding? Very probably. Will I stop riding bikes? No.

Champagne Jacquesson: care at all stages makes fine wine

2012-02-04T15:03:00.002+01:00

Champagne vineyards in winter. Smoke comes from shoots being burnt during the pruning operations. Here in the upper Marne valley, vineyards are limited by woods at the top end and by the river below. The limestone sub-soil often shows through (photo DC).

Champagne is a marvellous drink. It refreshes you in the summer, feels as cristal-clear as the air can be in the winter, and it improves your frame of mind at all seasons. But just saying "Champagne" is insufficient. Which Champagne? How is it made, and by whom? What results and impact does the whole approach of the producer and their process have on the wine's flavours, and so on, are just as important questions as with any other wine. Because, of course, Champagne is to be regarded just as any other wine, and definitely not simply as a sparkling substance that derives from a vaguely understood technical process having perhaps something to do with grapes at the outset!

There are considerable differences between the sizes of Champagne's many producers. Some are huge, like Moët and Chandon or Veuve Clicquot, and often very respectable too in terms of the average quality of their wines, even with annual production figures counted in 10's of millions of bottles. Some are of medium size and with perhaps a more focused style that may or may not be to the tastes of all drinkers. In this bracket I would spontaneously name Charles Heidsieck, Pol Roger, Deutz and Bollinger for instance. These lists being far from exhaustive, naturally.

The river Marne and vineyards bordering it, just downstream from Epernay (photo DC).

Quite a bit smaller, with an annual production of under a million bottles, is the family-owned house of Jacquesson, whose base is in the small village of Dizy, just across the river Marne from the town of Epernay. The scale of operations at Jacquesson is closely linked to their will to control each and every part of the process and to craft wines that are true to the raw materials they have in the vineyards and from purchased grapes. This is a fairly banal statement that you can read in many wine producer's brochures or hand-outs. But in this case it happens to be true, although means, or the lack of them, inevitably have a bearing as well, given the cost of acquiring vineyards in Champagne. Although the name of Jacquesson is long-standing in Chamapagne, this house has been under current ownership for about a generation. Despite the fact that Champagne seems to lie in a world of permanenant expansion, the Chiquet brothers, Jean-Hervé and Laurent, have actually scaled back the size of their operation over the past few years in order to be able to ensure a full control on the quality level of the bottles they produce, and to produce only the wines they themselves like, and with a singular approach to the range they produce. This is a craftsman-like operation where evry detail counts in the process.

The Chiquet brothers getting ready for a tasting in their cellars. Yes, it was frigging cold that day! (photo DC)

Most Champagne is sold without a vintage being shown on the label. This is necessary in such a marginal climate for growing grapes, since the quality of these grapes can vary so much from year to year. Wines from good years are held in reserve and then blended with a larger quantity of the latest harvest to ensure a certain constance in both quality and style. This blend acquires, over time, the seal of a "house" style, helping it to be recognised taste-wise and form a part of that producers's identity. Jacquesson has a slightly different approach to this matter. Considering that each harvest has its particular character, even when blended with about 30% of older wines, they allot a number to each blend, and that number changes each time the blend is made. Thus the current non-vintage blend from Jacquesson bears the number 735 (this numbering system has its origin in the house's archives), the next cuvée will bear the number 736, and so on. So, without bearing a vintage number, each cuvée has its own identity.

In the tasting room, the Chiquet brothers show, once again, their attention to detail by placing this glorious poster of the Willi's Wine Bar collection smack in front of where the journalist sits. This can only have a positive effect on one's thoughts about the wines being tasted! (photo DC)

We tasted 5 of these non-vintage wines, from the future 736, which will only be released at the end of 2012, back to the 732. The main part (67%) of the cuvée 736 comes from the 2008 harvest, and contains just over 50% chardonnay, with about 30% pinot noir and 20% pinot meunier. It is a splendid wine, very aromatic, finely textured, delicate and with incredible length on the palate. For me it looks like it will be the finest of the series that I tasted. The 735 (based on the 2007 harvest) is currently in markets. It is more powerfully expressif than its future successor, more generous but less tightly-knit. The flavours are broadly spread and yet precise. The 734 (based on the 2006 harvest) seems more chalky in its texture, as if it contained more chardonnay in the blend. It also shows a slight touch of bitterness and is less generously expressive than the 735. The 733 (based on the 2005 harvest) has lovely aromas, is taught and very fruity on the palate, with a creamy feel to it. Its seems simpler that the 735. Finally the 732 (based on the 2004 harvest) is firmly structured and a little austere, as was the nature of this vintage. Its flavours are restrained but pure and it shows no sign of ageing.

The other part of the range, which is only released in the best vintages, is a series of three single vineyard vintage Champagnes, each from different villages and separate vineyards owned by the firm. There is also, in some years, a very fine rosé with real colour to it.

We first tasted the three single vineyard Champagnes from the 2002 vintage.

Corne Bautray (the name of the plot), is from the village of Dizy. We visited the 1 hectare plot, which is right at the top of the hill with woods at the top end. It faces south-west and is entirely planted to chardonnay. The nose is airy and very fine. It is rich and broad in its flavours, starting well-spread on the palate, then becoming finer and more delicate on the finish. A savoury and very satisfying Champagne. I would have said that it contained some meunier, but it doesn't. (18/20).

Champ Caïn is from the village of Avize, the other side of the Marne river in the Côtes des Blancs. The plot, which I didn't visit, is a the foot of the slope, facing south and entirely planted to chardonnay. The nose is initially quite discreet then opens up showing floral and fruity aromas, with a marked hint of lemon. Very beautiful. The palate shows the precision, light and joy of a Vermeer. The feel is exceptionally fine, etched and harmonious. The flavours build gradually, always with finesse, and are very lingering. A truly magnificent wine. (19/20).

Vauzelle Terme is from the village of Aÿ, which borders on Dizy to the east. The nose seems much broader and perhaps less refined than those of the previous two wines. It has a smoky edge to it. The flavours are also broader, softer and less precise. Very ripe fruit that seems almost sweet on the palate. A very good wine but I was rather less enamoured of it than with of other two (maybe I took my eye off the poster?). (16/20)

Finally we tasted the rosé. Called Terres Rouges, it comes from the village of Dizy and is much younger, from the 2007 vintage.

I confess to a clear preference for rosés that assume their colour difference. In other words, I am less attracted to those pale, wishy-washy rosés that seem to be imitating a white wine, in fact as if they were apologetic for NOT being white. I feel that the whole point of a rosé is to be different from both red and white wines. More colour also equals more flavour in general, and this wine was no exception. Its beautiful deep pink colour leads to deliciously clear and fruity flavours. This did not seem hugely complex, and perhaps lacks a bit of ageing, but it is still very good. (15/20)

In the Jacquesson vineyard above Dizy (the Corne Bautray plot) looking south and west towards Epernay (photo DC)

Of course before getting the reward of tasting such a beautiful series of wines, one has to do the basics. That implies trying to understand what is the approach behind (or rather before) the wines. This clearly begins in the vineyards. We visited three different plots, two in Dizy and one in Aÿ. All are grassed over and cultivated under the vines, except for one, much flatter, which is ploughed almost entirely. The slopes in this part of Champagne are not huge, but given that the rock base is chalky limestone and the top soil is clay, it doesn't take much to encourage this top soil to head downhill. If one wants the soil to breathe and live, with some micro-fauna in it and so on, it is best to refrain from the all-too generalised practise of putting weed-killer everywhere and transforming the surface appearance to something close to concrete. But tilling the soil and leaving it uncovered exposes one to landslip. So grassing between the rows of vines is a good answer. Naturally one has to cut the grass, which means more work. What comes first in terms of your priorities?

Vines in Aÿ using the Cordon de Royat training system (photo DC).

Vines in Champagne can use one of two different training systems: Chablis or Cordon de Royat. The picture above shows the Cordon de Royat system, favoured by Jacquesson as it allows the bunches to be spread out wider on the vine, and makes it easier to remove leaves in the summer, thereby allowing air in and preventing rot from setting in during bad weather. All these details can count in reducing the need to spray anti-rot substances like sulphur and copper, or synthetic sprays. Jacquesson have a basically organic approach to their farming, without being dogmatic about it. And their holistic approach, which favours prevention over curing, has clearly created some emulation amongst neighbouring plots. Every detail counts, obviously, when one follows the process through.

From Russia, with love. Jean-Hervé Chiquet in the tank room

In the world of wine, a lot of bullshit is talked involving the hold-all term "tradition". What exactly people mean by "tradition" or "traditional" is never quite clear, but it usually implies an strong inference that "things were better before, and so we stick to old-fashioned ways". This is mostly rubbish, and often dishonest rubbish at that, but in some instances, tried and true old methods can be the best solutions for certain situations. In the case of pressing grapes to make wine in champagne, the old vertical presses which hold 2000 or 4000 kilos of grapes can be an excellent way of controlling the quality of pressing if the volumes are not too big. So Jacquesson use these traditional presses, and insist on the grapes they purchase to complement those from their 30 hectares of vineyards being crushed on their own presses.

In the wine-making process, Jacquesson uses a mixture of stainless steeel tanks, large oak vats and small oak barrels to ferment and hold their wines. The choice of which vessel to use will be determined by the type and the volume of the wine batch involved. Each batch will have its home, allowing precision in the final blending, not to mention traceability.

The fact that a former owner of the firm Jacquesson, and who gave it its name, invented the wire and cap system of holding Champagne corks in their bottles may or may not be of interest to lovers of Champagne. What seems more important to me is that the painstainking process of producing their wines has gradually, and quite recently, raised the name Jacquesson, as run by the Chiquet brothers, firmly amongst the very top quality rank in Champagne today. Their grapes come from Grand Cru and Premier Cru vineyards, either tended by their own teams or known to them as neighbours. These vineyards are farmed ecologically and thoughtfully. They press all the grapes, eliminating first and last pressings to retain the purest and most delicate juices. Then they take their time about making and ageing the wines: the current non-vintage has had four years ageing, and the vintages have had 11 years. All this, and many other details, add up in the end. You can see the results when you taste the wines. As always, the proof the the pudding is in the eating, not just the wrapping, even if the wrapping is most elegant in the case of the Jacquesson bottles. Attention to detail again....

all photographs by David Cobbold

Bach with gym

2012-01-31T13:47:00.001+01:00

What do you do while in the gym? That is apart for the more or less strenuous efforts you are making to try and keep your body in shape. I mean gym is really boring, isn't it? And who wants to listen to the mindless pseudo disco crap that some places pump at you whether you want it or not?

So I go the the gym most days with a set of headphones and an i-pod and listen to radio programmes or, mostly, to music. These are moments in the week when I can catch up with these pleasures, and doing so while pulling on ropes, pulleys, bars and weights makes me feel that I am using that time even better.

There are days when it is jazz, others when it is blues, others when I need a shot of rock to get me moving, days when I need the sound of a female voice, and so on. I had not, until recently tried classical music very much. But, the other day, I happened to press the button on a Glenn Gould recording of Bach's Toccatas and the English Suite number 4. And I now think I have found the perfect match for gym!

There is something about Bach's solo intrumental music, and its variations around themes, which makes it just right for the repetitious movements that one does on those machines in the gym. There is a relentlessness, a to and fro, a light and dark, a circling around the core of the effort that just makes it work. And the music is also incredibly solitary, just like you there trying to force your body to do stuff that it doesn't really want to, but somehow finding joy in the release once it gets into the stride. The effort of getting into Bach is very similar. The music, as played on the piano by Gould, is at first austere, then it gradually opens up infinite horizons and feelings. The same goes for your gym sessions, I am sure. Repetition is all, but every detail makes a difference.

If you cannot stand gym, try it with some Bach. if you cannot stand Bach (hard to believe but possible), try him with some gym. If that doesn't work, try something else. Meanwhile here is a gift...

Julian Barnes: The Sense of an Ending

2012-01-29T12:25:00.000+01:00

I have only read a couple of Julian Barnes' books to date, both of them containing short stories or essays, but I have just finished his brilliant novel entitled The Sense of an Ending, which won the 2011 Man Booker prize, and I must say I was very impressed and am now impatient to read some more of his work.

This is a very short novel which comprises barely 150 pages in the above edition from Jonathan Cape. But we are not about to confuse quantity with quality, are we?

Barnes' writing is perfectly matched to the suject: a gradually unfolding introspection on memory, the construction of self with its illusions and deceits, and the way life (even an apparently banal one) holds surprises in some of its nooks and crannies hidden by the filters that selective memory places between present and past. He writes with an apparent honesty in the first person, making us feel that he is the main character whilst keeping the necessary distance through this character's own constant self-depreciation. The style is pure and subtle, allowing irony to mix constantly into feelings that are subdued yet latent. Barnes' acute observation of human behaviour and memories of his own experience become indistinguishable: the raw material constantly shifting, allowing events to take unexpected turns and his characters come under different lights as they do so.

I know that most book reviews usually begin by resuming the story of the work in question. I am not interested in doing this as I find it either tiresome or unnecessary. I rarely buy a book on account of a of its story, and why spoil the reader's pleasure in discovering this anyway? Better to concentrate on the formal aspects that make the thing work or not, the style of the writing, the interest raised by the characters, and the emotions or thoughts that the work manages to induce in the reader (ie me). Books covers tend to give the résumé of the story anyway, but I always find this quite unsatisfactory.

Barnes divides this book into two parts: the first one dealing with the main character's life as a schoolboy and an undergraduate; the second with a section of his life shortly after retirement. Some 40 years separate the two periods therefore. And, as I said, the book is largely about memory, the construction of memory, its deficiencies and the ambiguities that these can produce as life takes its course. Barnes is acutely observant of the mores of those who grew up in the 1950's and 1960's in Britain and went to university. This is also his background (and was, to an extent, also mine). But we are not involved in autobiography here. His characters are what he wants them to be for the story. The rest forms the background, which he knows well enough to use it to its full.

The apparent frankness of the questioning that arises in the dialogues and the main character's recital of events are sometimes an illusion, hiding things that will only be revealed at the end. So the ambiguity of peoples' construction of their persona and their vision of those around them is shown for what it is : self-delusion and a form of protectionism that can only lead to misunderstanding, even if it does protect, momentarily, a small pool of tranquility.

Barnes is a master of this thin line between confort and acute pain. The Sense of an Ending is both refined and without pity.

Read on...

More creative motorcycle riding

2012-01-26T17:46:00.000+01:00

Almost a year ago I published an article, naturally with some pictures incorporated, about unusual ways of riding motorcycles. I called it creative motorcycle riding (click on the link to see it).

I have since come across a few other eccentric ways of practising the fine art of motorcycle riding and thought that I would share these with you.

I always thought that a hog rider meant someone on a large Harley-Davidson. The above picture gives me a new perspective.

I hope that nobody will accuse me of being "racist" if I say that, in all probability, this shot could only come from the USA. Apart from hoping that the guy loses a lot of weight soon, one has to sympathise with the monkey bike.

Australians are also pretty creative when it comes to 2-wheeled transport and its uses. Above is what they get up to in "the bush". Below is the urban mode when the barbecue needs moving from one place to another. Nice to see that he is wearing a helmet.

As to moving spare parts around on 2 wheels, here are a couple of interesting efforts.

I suppose the above picture would be construed as an attempt to adapt a bike to four-wheel drive. Or maybe he is a candidate for the Michelin man of the year?

In South-East Asia, moving food around is often the role of bikes as much as of 4-wheeled vehicules. In this case I just hope that the ride was not too long and the road very smooth. Imagine doing this on a firmly suspended sports bike?

Moving the family around can also be a problem....

Back in the west, people are not so much into basic necessities (maybe that is a point of view), so they tend to try the totally useless and silly...

And then wonder why they are prevented from pushing further in this direction. Quite obviously, the girl should have been wearing a helmet. How forgetful!

Sexism and advertising

2012-01-22T19:06:00.002+01:00

Some women complain that they are being used as objects in contemporary advertising. Maybe so. But then so are men, and in exactly the same ways these days. I don't really have a lot to say to defend advertising but it exists and does not actually harm anyone as far as I can make out. It also enables most newspapers and magazines to exist. If the "women's lib" extremists think that things are bad, maybe they should take a peep at some of these gems (?) from the 1950's and the US of A. I doubt whether any of them would be printable today. Who said that things were better in the good old days....?

The Postmistress, a good read

2012-01-12T11:44:00.000+01:00

I read this novel a month or two ago and enjoyed it. I have been wondering what to say about it since. It is definitely what I would call "a good read", and I can recommend it to anyone taking a long train or plane journey.

The book is well written and parts of it interested and/or moved me. Yet I also felt at times that some of the situations were too contrived to be credible, and also that some of the characters were not sufficiently developed to fill out the space that is alloted to them in the book.

I won't tell the story as I hate being told the stories of books before reading them. Suffice it to say that there are three main female characters whose lives manage to intertwine during the Second World War, with their stories being told alternatively from London, other parts of Europe, and a small seaside town on the north-eastern coast of the USA.

It has to do with small-town mentalities, American anbiguities about entering the war, life in a city under bombardment (London in the blitz), the Jewish tragedy, radio programmes (the famous Ed Murrow, the man who signed off with "good night, and good luck" is a minor character in the book and the boss of one of the main characters), love, loneliness and despair.

At times the book is powerful and hits just the right spots. At other it manages to seem a bit too neat and predictable. Almost very good, but not quite. Try it and see.

Read on....

More news from the Paris metro

2012-01-11T11:14:00.000+01:00

Following huge popular demand, I have a few more of Janol Apin's visual pun shots taken at various stations in the Paris metro...

White House (what else?)

This is a bit harder to translate. "Mon sceau" means literally "my bucket".

no comment needed I think

you know what a duplex is

there are no Paris metro stations called Fraternité or Egalité

no comment needed

just add a "k"

And a reminder of the source, which also happens to sell prints of these photos:

http://www.artgeneration.fr/acatalog/photo_art_Janol_Apin.html

Word plays in the Paris Metro

2012-01-10T00:04:00.002+01:00

Playing on words, or punning, is almost untranslatable from one language to another, but visuals can help, at least when the words have the same signification in different languages. Here are a few visual puns on the names of some of the Paris metro stations.
Janol Apin set up these shots and there is a link below if you want to see more. A friend just sent them to me. French speakers will be in a better position to fully understand some of them, but I have added the occasional footnote to help the rest of you....
http://www.artgeneration.fr/acatalog/photo_art_Janol_Apin.html

Gare du Nord is the metro that connects to the railway station whose lines lead to the north. We are in the Northern hemisphere.

You should manage the one above...

Ecole Militaire means Military School. This was founded by Louis XV in 1750 and looks like this above ground....no, the metro was not built by Louis XV. The tall bit in the middle is the top of the Eiffel tower, all of which lies about a mile behind.

Vincennes, on the eastern perimeter of Paris, is known for its horse-racing track.

I like this one. Pompe can mean a pump, but its other meaning is what you do before and during rugby training sessions, sometimes as punishment from the coach when you have dropped the ball. Do 20 if you haven't got it yet!

Alésia was the battle at which the Gaulois, under their chief Vercingetorix, were defeated by Ceasar. The Gaulois erected stone monuments called menhirs. Strange that they don't have a metro station called Crecy, or Azincourt, or Trafalgar, or Waterloo. Maybe I should suggest this to the authorities? Then again, maybe I shouldn't.

a "boulet" is a cannonball

Photographs by Mario Giacomelli

2012-01-08T14:37:00.001+01:00

Mario Giacomelli was an Italian photographer, painter and poet. He was born in 1925 and died in 2000. Anyone interested in more details about him can go to his official web site or to the Wikipedia biography. A few months ago I bought a book about him and his (black & white) photographic work and, looking at it from time to time, have been increasingly impressed with its formal beauty and its poetry.

He worked a lot with the landscapes of his native Italy, using high degrees of contrast and making these alternately look like fabric draped over a structure, and or else like an abstract and highly graphic composition.

Giacomelli also photographed people, usually, it seems, working in series and exploring a theme, like this astonishing one on priests and seminarists at play.

There seems to be a timeless and poetic side to the movement and superpositions the photographs manage to capture, and his framing enhances this...

And Giacomelli also appears to have immense tenderness for his sujects, who are definitely not the rich and famous of this world...

If you are interested, here are the references of the book:

Mario Giacomelli / The Black is waiting for the White (good title!)
edited by Alessandro Mauro, Contrasto
textes by various authors such as Christian Caujolle, Roberta Valtorta, Paolo Morello etc.

Japanese Beer

2012-01-06T10:55:00.000+01:00

A friend sent me a link to this amazing commercial for Sapporo, one of the major Japanese beer brands. Just think what one could do for a wine with this kind of money (and creativity)!

Vote for us please!

2012-01-03T23:36:00.000+01:00

I realise that it is an election year in several countries, and that this is a very small time appeal for a few votes for a blog (about wine) to which I contribute once a week here in France where I live. I should add that it is not this blog, which won a prize last year, soon after its inception.

Les 5 du vin (a sort of Fabulous Five of Wine) was founded 2 years ago during a trade fair devoted to Loire wines. An article I happened to write about a wine bar in that region has been selected for the wine blog competition that is run each year by the organizers of that fair. I would like it to win for my colleagues who have worked much harder than I to get it going.

We seem to be in the final and only just ahead in votes at the moment, so, if you happen to have a Facebook account and happen to feel like a quick click of the finger, please go for it! Here is the link:

http://www.wineblogtrophy.com/

Dennis Lehane

2012-01-02T09:51:00.000+01:00

I am reading a remarkable book by the American authour Dennis Lehane. It's original title is The Given Day, although this has curiously been translated in the French edition I am reading into "Un Pays à l'Aube", which, translated back to English, would produce "A Country at Dawn". I often wonder what goes on in the minds of the publishers/translators of book titles; even more so in the case of films! Another matter to deal with at some point perhaps...

Dennis Lehane

I have previously read a couple of Lehane's books : Mystic River and Gone, Baby, Gone. Both are excellent, and share with The Given Day the capacity to portray with realism an era, places, and a social/political/family situation whilst telling a good story. Lehane is sometimes classified as a crime writer, which he is not, at least in the usual sense of that term. Even if his books may describe at some point criminal cases or situations, their main theme is usually an event or chain of events that fit into a social and/or problem, usually historic, and which he denounces in a way that is, to me at least, far more effective than most political writing. I remember reading him for the first time because of an article somewhere that strongly recommended three contemporary US crime writers: Lehane, Michael Connelly and George Pelecanos. I bought books by all three, and have since read many by the last two, who are indeed excellent "crime" writers, amongst the best anywhere. But Lehane is different. I was moved by Mystic River, which was made into a very good film version by Clint Eastwood. Another of Lehane's books, Shutter Island, has recently been adapted to the big screen.

You need to be prepared for a long haul when you embark on one of Lehane's books. The Given Day is all of 850 pages long in the edition I am currently reading. In this book there are several characters whose destinies come together at various points. Real, like Babe Ruth the baseball player, or fictitious like Luther Lawrence and Danny Coughlin, they all gradually gather flesh and substance as the plot unravels, whilst retaining that shroud of mystery that keeps you wanting to know more. And the story tells me more about the USA in the period towards the end and just after the First World War than anything else I have read. Boston and its area forms the geographical base for much of Lehane's writing, as indeed for that of another author whose work I have also recommended in this blog, Robert Parker, who died early in 2010 and who was very much the true blue crime writer.

The way Lehane deals with the differents layers in his characters' lives, from the personal, through the family and the work environments, all the while fitting the whole that into a general social and political landscape is just masterful. Racial, social and economic issues are there all the time, entwined with the lives and struggles of the poeple whose stories unfold, gradually, carefully and often painfully.

Lehane is a seriously good writer, so read on...

Happy New Year to all

2012-01-01T09:15:00.000+01:00

I'm not a great fan of fixed-date celebrations, but it does seem like a good moment to wish all of you readers, and especially the brave and happy few who have dared to become members of this blog, a very happy year in 2012.

I started this activity late in October 2010 and, since then, over 185,000 pages of this blog have been visited. I had no idea, when starting, that it would lead to this, or indeed what I was doing. Still not too sure on the latter score!

I think I made the right decision to entitle the blog "More than just wine", seeing as how not a single wine topic has made it into the top 10 of the most visited pages! In this hit parade, a couple of articles on cricket come first (thank you India!), followed by articles on painting, travel, motorcycles, music and people. And, thanks to cricket, the country that has chalked up the greatest number of visits is India, ahead of the USA, the UK, France, Canada, Germany, Australia, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands.

I have not done a New Year card this year but here is the one from the rugby team (Stade Français Paris) whose varied fortunes I follow and sometimes relate. No, they're not very conventional, which is why I like them.

I'm off into another wine area (The Rhône Valley) for a week's work of tasting wines and talking to wine producers, so I may not have time to post much over the next few days. I will leave you an article in waiting perhaps.

Take care, drink well and selectively, and enjoy everything that is enjoyable

I quite like Marmite

2011-12-29T20:00:00.000+01:00

Some may say that I go from the sublime to the ridiculous in successively treating subjects such as the drawing of Rodin and Marmite, a very humble English foodstuff. But life is full of changes of scale and contradictions, so here goes...

Marmite is the name given to a food spread made in Britain, although New Zealand also produces its own version (unfortunately with added sugar; yuck!), and Australia as well (under the name "Vegemite" in the case of Australia, which is a country that prides itself on its individuality). The name derives from the French word for a specific kind of cooking vessel (either made of metal or earthenware) in which one prepares soups or stews, and the connection is that Marmite (the foodstuff) was originally supplied in an earthenware pot. I suppose another connection is that this stuff is seriously reduced and also very salty. The earthenware jars were replaced by glass jars in the 1920's. Although it looks like treacle, Marmite is salty and not at all sweet, but it is just as thick in its consistency. There is also a thinner version in plastic (re-yuck) jars, but that is definitely not the real thing: in fact it's rather like one-day cricket compared to proper five-day test cricket.

Unlike me, Marmite is vegetarian. It even says, emphatically, 100% vegetarian on the label. I am unsure as to whether one can be 99% or 75% vegetarian. Why not in a sense? The problem is that these poeple do tend to be a little extremist, so you probably wouldn't be considered as kosher. Marmite is made with yeast extract which started off, I believe, as a by-product from beweries. So we have Marmite thanks to British beer. Since it makes you pretty thirsty, I guess we should have a couple of beers on hand when eating the stuff. It also contains, apart from salt (about which I have already banged on a bit) the following stuff, according to the back label: vegetable extract (including celery, although they curiously mention celery in the bit on spices!), Niacin, Thiamin, Spice Extracts, Roboflavin, Folic Acid, Vitamin B12. Not sure than all this makes it more desirable to me, but such are the traps of modern health and foodstuff regulations.

I have yet to find a Frenchman who likes Marmite, but I am sure that such a person exists. I like it quite a lot, but in periods. As you might guess, I am in a "like-it-a-lot" period right now. The official web site for Marmite tries to divide you into two polarised categories : "love it", or "hate it". Bit extreme for me!

What does it look like? Essentially an apparently unappetizing sticky dark brown paste that oozes slightly when placed in a sloping surface (a bit less so than honey).

What does it taste like? Hard one this. If you made a kind of soup base from vegetable stock cubes and then reduced it until what was left was almost sticking to the saucepan, I suppose that you would be quite close. The strength of the flavours gives Marmite a lot of "bite", so I prefer putting butter on bread or biscuits before spreading the stuff on them. And I rarely eat butter.

And please don't ask me what wine to drink with the stuff...

I have recently heard of an interesting variation on Marmite, using yeast from another favourite dark-coloured substance: Guinness

If anyone cares to send me a pot of this (limited) edition, I would be eternally grateful

Rodin, drawing and the body

2011-12-28T11:45:00.000+01:00

The human body has been an inspiration for so many artists that it would be pointless to try to name them. Few men have represented the female body as well, nor in such an openly sexual manner, as Rodin. One could think of Picasso or Schiele, of course, but Rodin was in this respect a forerunner. If Rodin is best known as a sculptor, he clearly considered his drawing work as a "finished" part of his art, to the extent that he organised several exhibitions of his drawings, organised according to themes, during his lifetime: for example in Berlin in 1903.

There is a totally fascinating exhibition of about 300 of Rodin's drawings of the human body (mostly, but not exclusively, female) currently on show at Paris' Musée Rodin, to which here is a link.
http://www.musee-rodin.fr/en

Although accomplished draughstmanship was a necessary part of Rodin's skills as a sculptor, he apparently only started drawing more freely, and on a daily basis, towards the end of the 19th century when he was over 50. Rodin lived between 1840 and 1917, and so was a contemporary of the impressionists, yet his scupture, although often relatively free in its execution, was very much part of "official" art of his time, unlike that of impressionist painters or their immediate successors like the fauvistes. His drawing work (which includes pencil drawings, washes, watercolours and cut-outs) is another story. This was clearly a personal journey on Rodin's behalf. The subject matter and the treatment are there to prove it.

The eroticism of many of these drawings is evident and is been a large part of their attraction to many. But there is more to his looking at and representing the bodies of his models than this (one could perhaps ask, if one was of the Freudian persuasion : "is there ever more than this?").

For example, take a look at Rodin's treatment of the line as a major, but not unique, component of the draughtman's options. In the drawing above, Rodin has worked fast, gradually determined what is a defining line for a shape or succession of shapes. His reworking of the lines adds not only a sense of movement to the figure, but, as alternatives, depth and ambiguity to the forms. And the strengthened lines not only show his decisions, but add intensity to the subject. Forms are also enhanced by etchings and then rubbings of the pencil on the paper. The drawing technique is both fundamentally sure and occasionally hesitant, showing intensity of observation and sexual emotion.

This line drawing is a little different, and throws out echoing ripples to two other glorious draughtsmen : Matisse and Schiele. The line is synthetic, almost continuous, and, I supect, is derived from a series of previous drawings. Only the head and hairline have caused Rodin to hesitate and that may have to do with the very substance of hair. Below is a drawing by Schiele, who also took the erotic theme quite far. But Schiele seems more calculating, somehow less spontaneous in his excecution then does Rodin. This seems to be the case at any rate from the strength and sureness of his outlines

Comparisons with Matisse seemed evident to me at various points in this exhibition. Here is a Matisse drawing:

And here is one by Rodin, which happens to also use a technique involving cutting out around a watercoloured drawing, a technique that was also extensively used in various ways later by Matisse (usually with gouache I think).

This progressive refinement of line and shape also came to involve colour as well, and the freedom of Rodin's use of colour again sets him ahead of his time, at the same time throwing one back to certains aspects of wall paintings from Ancient Rome for instance.

What is very clear from this show is how much other 20th century artists owe to Rodin. And the fact that Ridin was a complete visual artist, not just the sculptot that has rightly earned him his fame. What is so impressive in the drawings is his constant and persistent searching for the right line, the line that can summarise the impossible: in other words an outline of a moving (in both senses of the word) human body. And the variations in his approaches to this one subject show that perseverance that amounts to an obsession.

For example the purity and refinement of this, which also seems very graphic for a sculptor...

Or the graphic invention shown here (not to mention the acrobatic skills of his model!)...

Then the more sculptural intensity of this:

Or the synthetic mastery of movement here...

Rodin's mastery of complexe shapes produced by several bodies together is well-known through his sculptures. But it all begins here, quite simply and with a pencil....

and continues here, with a large chunk of marble and a kiss...

How to get rid of undrinkable wines over Christmas and the New Year

2011-12-24T12:08:00.001+01:00

Usually wine writers use the festive period to try to persuade you to part with plenty of hard-earned cash by suggesting some wildly expensive wines, most of which are so rare that you can't find them anyway. I am going to adopt another approach and show you how this is in fact the ideal moment in the year to clear your cellar (or cupboard, or kitchen shelf) of some of those bottles of wine that have been hanging around and which you haven't yet resigned yourself to pouring down the drain.

Since many of you will be stuck with sizeable chunks of your respective families for a few days, and since the majority of these either do not care that much about wine, or else will be too pissed most of the time to pay great attention to the finer points of the vino that you are serving them, this is the time to get shot of those wines that you have kept too long, or are slightly ashamed of, or indeed those sorts of wine that you love in theory, but can never find anybody else who likes them enough to get around to pulling the cork.

Serve from the decanter and, if anyone asks you what it is, say that the label fell off but it was given to you by your grandfather, uncle, a cousin in the wine trade or whatever comes to mind.
Let's start with the case of a red wine that you have had for ages and which is well over the top. In other words its colour has faded to something close to an autumn leaf, its smell reminds you of old horse manure (or perhaps vinegar), and its taste is both watery and acidic. You need to find a decanter (or an empty bottle with a smart label on it) and grab a bottle of ruby port or other red fortified wine. Don't waste your vintage port on this job, but LBV or Ruby Reserve will do fine. You pour about 3 or 4 centilitres of port (this will amount to around 5% of the final volume) into the decanter and then add the red wine in question. Taste the result and, if it hasn't yet become palatable, add a bit more port.

Another situation could be that you have a bottle or two of wines that nobody ever drinks because they think they are too weird, too sweet, too acidic, or whatever. In this instance it is best to have two bottles, each one of a different category. For example a bottle of Vin Jaune (dry Sherry will do also), and a bottle of Sauternes (any sweet white wine will do here). These are two types of wines whose consumption is on the decline, presumable because fewer and fewer people like them, but you can substitute anything else you have lying around and whose taste does not suit your guests. Liebfraumilch is usually a good bet ! Anyway, find a large decanter or jug and pour both wines into it. Stir well and taste. If the result is awful then you can pour in down the sink and that settles the problem. If it is decent, then you have invented a new wine and your guests/family will either think you are a genius, or will just drink it without paying any attention (more likely).

Yet another situation, which calls for diplomatic skills beyond most of us, is the bottle that was given to you a year ago by mother/father-in-law (or out of law, as the case may be), or by some other significant and elder member of the family. You are not sure about the merits of the wine the bottle contains but you fear the worst. If the person who has given you this bottle is present, this is the moment you have been waiting for! Open the bottle with some ceremony, pour a little into your glass, and ostensibly sniff it. Smile (yes, you can), but say nothing at this point. Pour it for the guests (those that drink at least) and then carefully watch the person who gave it to you as they taste it. The scenario can go different ways at this point:

1). If the wine is awful, the chances are that they won't say anything. This is the worst option as you will be forced to taste it. If they then ask you what you think of it, you can kick for touch by saying that you "find it very interesting/complex/unusual" or "this wine takes me on a journey" (this will probably confirm their opinion of you as a pretentious twat). In any event avoid taking more than that first sip, since you can always drink some water and wait for better times.

2). If they are honest and say it is awful, then the problem is solved and you can pour it down the sink and find something drinkable.

3). If the wine turns out to be good, then the problem is also solved and everyone is happy. You then have the added option of going sycophantic and saying something like "I have been waiting since .... to share this wonderful present with you". This will win you brownie points.

There are many other situations that one can think of, but I am sure that you get the general idea. Be creative, and Happy Christmas to you all!

Get Closer to the Edge, fast

2011-12-23T15:26:00.001+01:00

A good friend recently gave me a DVD version of the recent documentary film, TT/ Closer to The Edge, also visible in some countries on the big screen and in 3D (now that could be scary!). Here is the official trailer, which, as usual, only gives you the shadow of the real thing...

All I can say, if you love motorcycles and motorcycle racing, is get your hands on this as soon as possible. It has to be the best-made film about bike racing that I have ever seen. And not just any race: Closer to the Edge is about the mythical and totally crazy Isle of Man TT. It focuses on the preparation for and the full racing week of the 2010 edition, which saw the likeable and highly individual Guy Martin, who has yet to win one of these but is a regular favourite, survive a memorable crash at about 170 mph that saw his bike literally explode. He says in the film, on his hospital bed: "I'll be back: he's just making me work for it." And indeed he raced there again in 2011, making a second and 3 third places in four races. I have mentioned Martin and the TT before, in this article which includes a film sequence of one of Guy's practice laps around the legendary mountain course.

The film is not just about one rider though. It's about the whole thing, including the drama, the people and all the rest. There is some very moving footage of the widow and children of Paul Dobbs, a Kiwi rider who was killed in one of the 2010 races. She says some strong things, such as "you can't change what you've got, but you can at least decide to enjoy it or not". Don't look back, but just remember, in other words

You may find it hard to follow Guy Martin when he is talking. This is partly because he talks even faster than he rides a bike! Someone said to me that he sounds like Donald Duck with a speeded up voice effect. But the man is funny, quietly determined, and does not run with any pack. I hope that he wins one of these soon, probably after listening to Otis Redding:

What is so good about this film?

The emotions
The contrasts
The speed
The madness
The drama
The work
The history
The people
The machines
The filming
The sound track
The editing

Go for it!

What's in a name?

2011-12-22T09:32:00.000+01:00

The short answer to this question is going to be "well, quite a lot actually", but let's not get ahead of the game.

On February 26th, 2011, I posted a rather snide, ironical article (you can see it here) on this blog about a French wine appellation in the Rhône valley that had recently changed its name from Côteaux de Tricastin to Grignan-les-Adhémar. Although I stand by my position as to over-long and hard-to-pronounce names for wine regions, I have recently visited this region in the central part of the Rhône valley, near the town of Montelimar, and I now understand much better why it was in fact necessary to change the appellation's name. So, mea culpa.

Sometimes images can be more efficient than words to explain a problem. They are certainly faster and easier to understand. Which of the two images below would you choose to symbolise your wine region?

I think the answer is evident. And it so happens that these images encapsulate the issue here. Tricastin is the name of a region just south of Montelimar. Its name, which goes back to an ancient tribe that lived around there, was duly bequeathed on the nearby vineyards. Then along came a nuclear power station which not only took on the same name, but also started having a few problems. The result on the image and sales of the local wines was dramatic. So the producers put in a request to the French wine gods (Institut National des Appellations) for a change in name. These vineyards actually lie on a rocky geological structure that has nothong whatever to do with the low silt land upon which the power station is built down by the river Rhône, so there is no possible risk of any "leaks" into the vineyard land. But French customers were clearly turned off by the mere association and few of these wines are exported to countries unaware of the situation and the associations.

The vineyards lie on hilly and plateau ground around the village of Grignan and its very imposing château (see above) where Madame de Sévigné dwelt, at the end of her life, back in the 17th century. The original idea was to simply name the wines "Grignan", but infortunately this name had already been taken by a tiny number of producers (one cooperative winery in fact) that turn out some fairly indifferent stuff in the lower vin du pays category. Despite the fact that Coteaux de Tricastin was a fully-fledged appellation contrôlée, and producing greater quantities of better wines, they were refused the right to call themselves Grignan and had to add on the rather ungainly "les Adhémar". French wine law can be anything but rational!

Grignan is a medieval village built on a rocky outcrop around its chateau, which was a fortress before being transformed in the 17th century

This southern part of the Drôme département lies on the left bank of the Rhône and forms the northern outpost of the huge southern Rhône wine region that stretches down to and beyond Avignon, on both sides of the river. The other main agricultural activities here are lavender and truffles. The red wines use a blend of the classic Rhône grape varieties : syrah, grenache, cinsault, carignan, mourvèdre, plus a newcomer, the metisse marselan (a cross between cabernet sauvignon and grenache). Syrah has to account for at least 30% of the plantings, but apparently the producers are free with their blends (thankfully). The white wines, on the increase, use viognier, marsanne, rousanne, grenache blanc, clairette and bourboulenc. Again, the viognier has to make up 30% of plantings.

Lavoir, or wash house, in Grignan

Because of the viognier ingredient, the white wines are quite aromatic. In some cases they can also be a bit too soft for my taste, but the best ones retain freshness and make a very good match for truffle-flavoured dishes, or probably asparagus, although I have not tried that. Being tender and perfumed, they are also very enjoyable on their own. The best producers are Domaine de Montine and Domaine de Grangeneuve.

The syrah component, and the climate, which is a bit cooler than in more southerly parts of the Rhône, provides structure and some degree of freshness to many of the red wines. Some producers even produce 100% syrah cuvées, but the majority use grenache as well and sometimes a bit of the other varieties. The best ones (at least according to the 40 odd wines I tasted blind) are Domaine de Grangeneuve, Domaine de Montine, Château de la Croix Chabrières, Domaine Ferrotin, Domaine Almoric, Domaine Saint Luc, and Baron d'Escalin (Château Destin). There is also some rosé produced.

Château de Grignan

So I wish this young appellation every success in its venture to refound itself, especially as this movement has been abetted by a more stringent set of rules applied to production in order to raise the level of quality across the board. I also hope that they will, in the end, be able to shorten their name to Grignan. The wines certainly offer excellent value for money since they retail for between 5 and 15 euros a bottle in France. I even bought some myself.

all photos by David Cobbold

1000 years of annoying the French

2011-12-21T11:01:00.002+01:00

Stephen Clarke is, like myself, an Englishman who lives in France. I have not read any of his other books, but I couldn't resist this one and read its 650 pages with considerable enjoyment.

The premice of the book is an exploration of the often complex relationships between our two countries (France and England) over the past 1000 years or so, as codified in the myths that surround key periods, events or symbolically weighted people or objects. For example and pêle-mêle, the invasion of England by the Normans, various battles, Mary Queen of Scots, the invention of sparkling Champagne, the guillotine, Napoleon, de Gaulle and WWII, the Channel tunnel, and so on.

Stephen Clarke

Clarke has clearly gone to some trouble to seek out source material and so the facts are clearly laid out, often side-by-side with the legends that have grown to shroud these facts, particularly in French history books or common lore. His angle is mostly ironic and often with an English bias, as indeed the title suggests, but the core of the book is actually quite serious and mostly solidly researched. Yet this book makes no pretence at any form of historical analysis. It tells stories, or snippets of stories, in a series of cameos to illustrate events, things or people which have acquired legendary status in history books on either side of the (English) channel. He has stated in an interview that he finds that the French do tend to distort or conceal facts of their history to a greater extent than the English, especially in school history books.

To illustrate how reality is often misconstrued or even hidden by some versions of historial events, the example of Joan of Arc is quite eloquent. In fact she was captured by French soldiers under Burgundian command, then abandoned by the French king Charles VII who refused to pay her ransom, then tried for heresy by French priests. When she avoided being caught out by trick questions during a very long trial, these priests condemend her to be burnt as a relapsed heretic, for wearing trousers and armour! They then handed her over to the English for execution. So the English got the blame for her death!

There are many other examples, including the little-known facts that sparkling Champagne was invented in England (I could have supplied Clarke with more evidence in this case) as was the guillotine. The book is often very funny, and Clarke tells a good story. He is at his best when he delves into the complexities of relationships and major events, such as the Hundred Years war, the Stuarts, or Napoleon. The book has its weak points and parts, as Clarke occasionally lapses into facility, as if he was getting a bit tired of his angle, but it is generally excellent. The ironical chapter on de Gaulle (who, by the way, was known as "Joan of Arc" by his British hosts) and his containment by the Brits (and Americans) during the war is most enlightening. I would liked to have seen a chapter on sports, and particulary on rugby, a game which seems to epitomise the feeling of rivalry, occasional admiration and frequent lack of fair play that are still so much a part of our slightly schizoïde relationship. "When fictions become facts" could have been its subtitle, so clearly does Clarke strip away the spin that has been put by some official French historians on events that have brought our two countries together, whilst keeping them firmly apart, over the centuries. It might be interesting to see a Frenchman living in England do the same thing the other way around, but would he find the same gap between the "official" versions and the facts?

Read on....

In praise of German rieslings

2011-12-19T01:00:00.000+01:00

I know that it is silly, and fairly nonsensical, to generalise as I have done in my title. But one has to start somewhere in a vague attempt to resume one thoughts and catch the eye. How many people would have opened this page had I said, instead: "I really like the Maximin Grünhauser Herrenberg Spätlese 2007, from the Mosel-Saar-Ruwer region of Germany"?

Few wine styles can be so clearly identifiable as rieslings from the Mosel. As if to serve as counterpoint to the delicacy of its wines, this often spectacular viticultural zone, which used to simply be called Mosel, has been clumsily renamed Mosel-Saar-Ruwer to enclose, with full political correction, two small tributaries (and their vineyards) which run into the southern section of the German Mosel river, which, further north, is in turn an affluent of the Rhine. This vineyard, just across the border from Luxemburg and southern Belgium, is one of Europe's northernmost and only the best exposed sites, on often very steep slopes, can fully ripen the finest grapes. On such sites, riesling is king.

This particular wine, to give it its full name, is called Maximin Grünhaüser Herrenberg, Riesling Spätlese 2007er. German wine names can be just as complicated as French ones, and sometimes even more so. At least the grape variety is mentioned, since the Germans are far less snooty than the French tend to be about such matters! But a few explanations might come in hand all the same. The "er" suffix in German merely signifies appartenance, or being made from something or somewhere: like a place or a vintage. Herrenberg means the hill of the Lord (Herr). This is therefore, in theory, one of the best vineyard plots on the estate. As in Burgundy, monasteries and the church played a key role in in preserving and developing the vineyards left behind by the Romans here. Maximin Grünhaüs is the name of this estate, which was inhabited during Roman times as the ancient city of Trier, the old Roman capital of the north, is close by. Later, during the 9th century, this land was given by Charlemagne's successor, Otto 1st, to Benedictan monks who founded the Abbey of Saint Maximin.

The German system of describing quality wines by the natural sugar content of the grape must is actually quite logical, once one has understood it. But its major drawback for the consumer is that it does not necessarily tell us whether the wine is going to be sweet or dry, nor to what extent, since it measures the sugar before fermentation. Most wines exported from Germany will be of Qualitätswein mit Prädikat (QmP) quality, which has recently been shortened to Prädikatswein, and this is the top classification level. This wine belongs to that category. But within the Prädikatswein category, wine types are then classified more finely according the natural sugar content of the grapes. By "natural", I mean that no chaptalisation (the adding of sugar to grape must) is allowed. Here we have a "spätlese" wine. The word literally means "late harvest". Legislation for this category imposes a minimum sugar density at harvest of 76 on the Oeschlé scale of measurement. This translates to a potential alcool level (if all the grape sugar was fermented out) of about 11%. But many German wines deliberately keep some unfermentend sugar (sometimes known as "residual" sugar) in the finished wine, as a stylistic choice. Since this particular wine has a total alcohol content of a mere 8%, we can deduct that its sugar content stands at a minumum of 50 grams per litre.

This label is so rich and so extensive that I am quite unable to represent it in its entirety with one image. One may or may not like this kind of very traditional imagery and graphics. Personally I love it (but I also love some very modern labels too). The quality of the engraving is amazing. I expect it represents a case of a label being so well-known amongst its regular clients that you would change it at your peril if you owned this estate. The owner, by the way, is Carl von Schubert, whose family have owned this estate since 1882. Being historically very well known, its name is allowed to appear alone on the label without being linked to that of a nearby town or village, which is a rare case in German wine legislation.

So what does it taste like?

The colour is a very intense shade of yellow-gold, quite deep and yet very bright with a greenish tinge. This is quite typical of late-harvested rieslings. The dominant smell, behind an overall impression of "sharpness" of the lemony kind, is one that reminds me of something close to paraffin. This does not sound very pleasant, and in fact I'm not sure that I like the idea much myself, but I find it hard to describe otherwise. This kind of smell tends to be characteristic of many rieslings at some stage in their lives. One can imagine other smells, such as white truffles or garlic, also. Perhaps the thing I love the most about the finest rieslings from the Mosel is the incredibly delicate feel that they give on the palate. This wine is both firm (by its pronounced acidity) and gentle in its application. It appears round and smooth like a steel ball-bearing, yet virtually indestructible. The acidity is wrapped in a light cladding of sweetness. It makes your mouth water and yet is free form any harshness.

I tried it with two different types of food, and it worked really well with both: a gently spiced terrine of foie-gras, then a fresh fruit salad made of white and yellow fruit (pineapple, peach, tangerine, apple and pear), with no added sugar.

And what does it cost?

Between 12 and 15 euros per bottle in Europe from specialist dealers. Quality does not necessarily mean very high prices!

Wine labels can be fun and even plain silly

2011-12-16T17:04:00.000+01:00

Wine is basically just a drink. It can often be a very good one too, and even, from time to time, produce, in some of those who drink it, the kind of esthetic experience that brings it close to others of fairly high sensual intensity. But a lot of wine geeks take this substance far too seriously, and I am not just talking about the snobs who want to buy only those rare and expensive labels. I find that this over-serious conformism shows clearly in the majority of wine labels, which are usually boringly conventional.

From time to time wine producers or retailers branch out a bit and try something different. This doesn't often happen in France, except to some extent within the so-called (and mis-named) "natural" wine category. Perhaps this is because so many of these wines seem, to me and to many of my professional colleagues, to be so totally unpalatable that they need to compensate by being creative with their labels?

But as soon as you travel, and especially to Italy, to the USA or to Australia, you can find all kinds of creativity, some of it quite off-the-wall, showing itself on wine labels. France tends to be far more staid, or else it sombers into vulgarity. Let's take a look...

Fattoria Le Terraze is a very good producer from the Conero appellation of the I Marchi region on Italy's Adriatic coast, to the east of Tuscany. The owner happens to be a great fan of Bob Dylan and called one of his wines Planet Waves, which is the name of a Dylan album (see left). I don't think that this was a huge commercial success and I believe he has abandoned this theme, but his current wine called Chaos has a very bright label that changes for every vintage. It also happens to be a very good wine (see below).

Other producers often take the route of making fun, using greater or lesser levels of sophistication. The most consistently creative and funny of these has to be the one and only Randall Grahm, whose Bonny Doon outfit, based in Santa Cruz, California, has consistently turned out excellent labels over many years now. This was probably one of the first, and it needs a bit of wine-knowledge to decode it, as it both pokes fun at and pays hommage to a couple of French wine regions.

Grahm has been responsible for many otherwise creative labels, such as this Steadman one for a Zinfandel:

Or this one, for his basic red wine, which is a little graphic and verbal masterpiece:

Getting even more powerfully graphic, he has also, more recently, produced this set, for a syrah:

Pure provocation is often a theme of some wine labels in the US or Australia. This is not often to be found in latin countries, with the exception of some French labels from the category I mentioned in my introduction:

or indeed this:

or this:

In the case of labels produced for specific markets, such as the English one, local sayings or quaint expressions tend to play a part in labels that use these to skew their message. The famous Fat Bastard Chardonnay is a well-known example, but there are also ones like this:

This one uses irony and the second degree to attempt to obviate the growing resistance to French wines in some segments of the UK market:

Occasionally somenone goes out on a direct line of provocation. This is usually sexual, and probably restricted to limited series wines:

And, just to ensure that nobody feels left out here:

As we are entering the festive period, it is worth remembering that the seasonal theme is also used at times :

As are all kinds of other strange themes with nothing immediately to do with wine, such as murder movies or novels:

Or strip cartoons:

And, occasionally, things even weirder and, perhaps, more poetical:

Do you really want a tattoo?

2011-12-10T19:52:00.000+01:00

I am not a great fan of tattoos. I know that making indelible marks on people's skin is an ancient practice and well respected in some cultures, particularly in Polynesia.

Tattoos found on Egyptian and Nubian mummies date from about 2000 B.C., and classical authors mention the use of tattoos in connection with ancient Greeks, ancient Germans, Gauls, Thracians and ancient Britons. Taking the above list, it should be said that all these people were renowned for their ferociously barbaric behaviour, with the possible (and highly debatable) exception of the Ancient Greeks who used tattooing simply as a means of identifying spies!

Tattooing was later rediscovered by Europeans when exploration brought them into contact with Polynesians and American Indians. The word tattoo comes from the Tahitian word tattau, which means "to mark," and was first mentioned in explorer James Cook’s records from his 1769 expedition to the South Pacific. Because tattoos were considered so exotic in European and U.S. societies, tattooed Indians and Polynesians drew crowds at circuses and fairs during the 18th and 19th centuries. English sailors adopted the practice and re-introduced it to Europe where even English kings and nobility apparently adopted it, probably to prove that they were as fierce as those against whom they fought.

In other words, there seems to me to be something very much linked to pretence and boasting about tattoos, and what I see today around me confirms me in this. Just go down to the local gym and look around! Or watch modern rugby.

Now, if you are still unsure about whether you want to take the plunge or not, take a look at this chart. Like a couple of other images that I have used on this blog in the past, I found it on the excellent Spanish collective blog called 8negro (see link in the list of blogs I enjoy in the margin). I don't know who designed it, but it is pretty smart. You will see that there are many more reasons not to get tattood than the opposite.

Stade Français is back!

2011-12-09T18:41:00.001+01:00

The good news on the rugby front, at least as far as I am concerned, and whilst English national rugby continues to flounder in the quagmire of unresolved contradictions, is the return to form of the local team that I support here in Paris: Stade Français Paris.

Stade Français is one of France's oldest rugby clubs, but not the oldest. That title goes to Le Havre Athletic club, founded (by Englishmen) in 1872, at a time when the game was played with 20 players per team, and not 15 as it is today.

The Stade Français was founded in 1883 by students from the Lycée Buffon in Paris, just a year later than its local rival, Le Racing Club de France, and 16 years before the Stade Toulousain, for exemple.

Between 1892 and 1898, these two Paris teams dominated French rugby, alternatively winning all the championships until rugby began to migrate to the southwest of the country, providing more competition. Nevertheless, Stade Français won a total of 8 national titles up to 1908, and was the first French club to play against an English one.

Brian Liebenberg, a key player in recent years, chaired by Paris team members on his retirement

With the occasional return to the top level of club rugby (a final lost in 1927, then a couple of years in the 1960's) Stade Français only climbed back from a more modest level of play and classification in 1994, almost 100 years after its initial days of glory. It gained acces to the elite division in 1997 and became French champion once again in 1998. Since then it has won the French championship another 4 times (2000, 2003, 2004 and 2007), a recent record that beats that of another great club, Toulouse, which has been champion 3 times since the turn of this century.

The two Paris centres (Burruchaga and Williams) attack during the game against Racing

Since 2007 and the departure of several key players and the trainer of that year, Fabien Galthié, the Stade Français has lost the brillance and the consistency of its play, and has even failed to qualify for the top European cup for the last 2 seasons. This difficult period was accompanied by growing financial difficulites. Things came to a head last summer with a change of presidency and a restructuring of the club's organisation. It is perhaps too soon to speak of durable and positive results, but, after a very mixed start to the current season, Stade Français is currently playing with all the spark and determination of its best days of a few years ago. They almost beat Toulouse in the away game in October....(18-15), and, since then, have won every game played, including comprehensive victories at home over Clermont and Racing Metro (the 19th century rival club, more recently revived but yet to win a major title) and away over Perpignan. During the same period they have also won their two games in the secondary European Cup, the Amlin Challenge. They are currently in 6th position in the championship.

Jérome Filliol scores a classic scrum-half try againt Racing after slipping through the defense on the blind side

We shall of course have to wait and see if this winning streak continues, but what is so good for a supporter is to see the Stade Français play once again with such fire and determination, as well as with skill and intelligence, varying their game according to the opposition and circumstances. The arrival of the new President, and a couple of key plays like the excellent Argentinean, Felipe Contepomi (at fly-half) has surely helped. The quality of players like Julien Dupuy (scrum-half) Sergio Parisse (8), Dmitri Szarzevski (hooker), Pascal Papé (lock forward) and Pierre Rabadan (flanker) is part of the story as well, but it seems unfair to pick out individuals in a case like this, so much the team spririt appears to be doing its thing.

Sergio Parisse takes the ball in a line-out

Stade Français Paris are renowned not only for their play, but also for being a highly original team, with creative kit (not all of which is in very good taste, it has to be said) the famous (or infamous) calendar that involves near-naked players, mainly from the team but also from other rugby teams and sometimes other sports, and the great shows put on at major games that have attracted hitherto unknown crowds and a new public to rugby. All this was the work of a man of vision, Max Guazzini, the former club President who took it from nowhere to the top. He has now, and with great elegance, passed his hand to the new President Thomas Savare, and can be seen in the aisles at matches as an ordinary supporter. What is really touching is to see the playersj when they recongise him at the end of a game, bow and take off their metaphorical hats to the man. This club has soul!

A forward and captain congratulates his scrum-half: Parisse and Filliol

I like this new team. I have never stopped being a supporter of Stade Français and have lived some great and also some sad moments with them. This weekend they play against Parma, in Italy, for a game in the European Challenge. I think I will eat some ham and drink some Prosecco to encourage them, although a trip to Italy would have been nice!

Allez le Stade!

Hey Joe, again

2011-12-06T17:31:00.001+01:00

I must say that I have been inspired to make this entry by a French colleague called Jacques Berthomeau, who made my day last Sunday by posting a series of versions of this song which was of course made famous by the one and only Jimi Hendrix when Polydor (I think it was) brought it out as a single back in 1966.

If a certain Billy Roberts is often credited with writing it, nothing is less sure. He was probably the first to record it though, in 1962. Then Tim Rose made a version in 1965 that inspired Hendrix when he came to England to start his meteoric career which had never really taken off in the USA until then.

I remember the time well, as I was a worker/student in London in those years. I heard Hendrix play this, his only hit at the time, amidst a mind-blowing and ear-splitting set (the room was small and Hendrix just didn't play quietly) at the Manor House club above the eponymous pub in Tottenham. I can still feel the blast in my solar-plexus!

Many other singers and bands have since made versions of Hey Joe: the Byrds, The Yardbirds, Deep Purple, Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention (a parody version, naturally), Patti Smith (her first single), and so on. But I think my favourite, after the Hendrix version, is this Latino one by the great Willy Deville.

Willy Deville - Hey Joe par cladstrife

Paris bike show

2011-12-05T08:51:00.001+01:00

Managed to get to this year's Paris bike show (Salon de la Moto for the French speakers out there) last Friday for a couple of hours. Despite the crowds which made it virtually impossible to get near some of the stands (MV Agusta, for example), here are a few shots of some of the machines that I found interesting. Too many bikes these days look cluttered to me. Even with some of the ones I show here, and which are probably amongst the least cluttered of the show, I often feel I would like to simplify their look and, probably, their gadgets. The other question I ask myself when looking at some of the extremely powerful sports bikes is when could you ever use all of that power on today's roads? Bikes are often paradoxical things. Impractical, dangerous and yet so desirable...

Here is a good example : the latest sports bike offering from Ducati, the Panigale 1199. This is one of the versions with all the bells and whistles on it and would set you back a cool 25,000 euros (at least, I haven't really counted properly). Beautiful, innit? Yet this machine, having ruined you, could almost never be used to anything near its capacity on roads, even with the peculiar French power limitation of 106 cv that is imposed on all bikes. Unlimited, the beast delivers close on 200 geegees! So it is made for production racing and the hands of some pretty good riders at that. Never mind, let's take another look at this piece of sculpture...

This left-hand view is a Ducati catalogue shot that shows the machine better than anything I could ever manage in the cramped conditions of a bike show. It also shows the standard all-red version which I think I prefer. Looks bloody fast even standing still! You will note that Ducati have abandoned the under-the-seat exhaust system that was a hallmark since the classic 916 on all their super-sports models. There are a few other technical things they have abandoned too on this model, like the tubular grid frame, but I won't bore you with that stuff here. Here is a close-up of the new exhaust system that reminds me of what the very creative Eric Buell did to his Harley make-overs (and to think those H-D idiots stopped production of his bikes...)

This looks pretty neat. It is also further proof that these bikes are not meant for waiting at traffic lights: just think of what you would be breathing sitting immediately above the orifices (one on each side to make sure you get the gas).

Now for something simpler and more accessible, in every sense of the term. I have been tempted by KTMs for some time, but have been put off by their (to me) ugly and boxy styling. The garish colours could be dealt with by a paint job, but the origami look is harder, and far more expensive, to get rid of. It looks as if they have calmed down a bit in this department and I found myself (almost) drooling over KTM's new big single, the 690 Duke. It appears smoother to the eye, with less clutter. I am sure it would be great fun to ride and you could certainly use most of its capacities on the road, provided you were able to keep the front wheel on the ground, as it is light enough and must have monster torque.

Another tempter in the increasingly rare road-going big singles category is this new offering from Husqvarna. Their recent take-over by BMW should make the bikes easier to find and have maintained, and I like the relative simplicity of the lines of this machine. Like the KTM, I expect this tool is useable about town and lots of fun on small roads.

Husqvarna have been making more media noise about this bike though. The 900 Nuda (yes, for nude, or naked if you prefer) doesn't look quite stripped-off enough for me and its bulky silencer is pretty ugly too. It uses the BMW 800 vertical twin engine that has had its capacity increased to 900 cc. Apart from the odd niggle about apperance, it could be an interesting proposition and they were also showing a version equiped with bags and all, so they may mean business in the sport-touring area as well.

Bitzas, or should I be using the more chic term "custom bikes", are now making appearances in regular bike shows. A sign of the vigour of this niche market I imagine, aided and abetted by the growing numbers of magazines devoted to them. This Italian one, from a producer called Borile, took my eye on the Paradise Motorcycles stand. With a Triumph engine in an special (and presumably light) frame, it looks fun, apart from the seat which looks just the opposite! Can you imagine sitting on that piece of board for more than 5 minutes? They say in their blurb that you can buy the frame and stick any motor into it. Not sure that that would work, but still, I might just get along to the people from Paradise and check this out. Paradise are also the French importers for Norton (the new ones), MV Agusta and Bimota. Mostly exclusive and expensive gear, and you couldn't even get onto to their stand as it was roped off and crowded round the edges. This may also have had something to do with the particularly beautiful model who was sitting on one of the bikes, crossing and uncrossing her short-clad legs. Quite fascinating (the bikes of course)!

While we are on the subject of "look but don't touch", and "specials", here is what Boxer bikes, an outfit based in Toulouse, were showing. It is apparently turbo-charged and could be a bit if a handful, if it ever gets on the road. Nice piece of work though.

To finish on a more optimistic note, in the sense that I at least have some hope of actually getting my leg over one of these beauties one day (the bikes, what else?), this is the new R version of the very successful Triumph Speed Triple. I still think that the new headlights give it a squinty look, and I still prefer by far the look of the old round-eyed version that it replaced (see below). But never mind, I have been promised a ride on this baby by the excellent Jean-Luc Mars, the boss of Triumph in France, and I will tell you all about it here, when the weather starts to improve perhaps.

Have fun and ride safely

A mysterious journey to Beirut

2011-11-27T22:35:00.001+01:00

I am currently on a mission in Beirut, the capital of Lebanon (I have been told after a previous article that one should not say "the" Lebanon. Not quite sure why though).

No, I won't say what this mission is just yet, but these pictures might provide a few clues. Then again they might just make you want to come here. Beirut is an amazing city, ever-changing, always on the move. Avoid driving here if you can! The wines are better and better. And the hotels can be exceptional, such as the one where I am staying.
http://www.campbellgrayhotels.com/le-gray-beirut

This is another world, quite magical, quite strange too. Come and see for yourselves.

From grey Paris to Beirut by night

Are we tasting wines under water here?

An incredible game of rugby, and 2 sides to a penny

2011-11-25T05:40:00.001+01:00

Last weekend in Europe were played a series of rugby games counting for the European Cup between club teams playing in the 6 major rugby nations of Europe. This is not, by the way a "latest news" story, as the results have been known for 5 days now. I just wanted to focus on one of these games as it illustrated several things that makes rugby such a magnificent sport to me: the ultimate and defining unpredictability of its results, and the role of courage and determination and not "giving up".

The game between the "other" Paris team, Racing-Metro (I happen to be a long-time supporter of Stade Français Paris) and Edinburgh was played on the ground of the home team, Edinburgh. On the paper, Racing were favourites, despite playing away. Their budget must be at least 3 or 4 times that of Edinburgh, and they are loaded with international stars, such as the famed Sebastien Chabal, alias "caveman" (see left).

Despite the odds being clearly against it, Edinburgh, whose team it should be said contains quite a few Scottish Internationals and has often produced good games in this competition, were leading by an impressive 17-3 after a mere 8 minutes of play. Then Racing got into their game, and, before half-time, scored 28 points to 3 for their opponents. So we have a score of 20-31 in favour of the visitors at the mid-term of the game. The second half saw Edinbugh score another 28 points to 16 for Racing, beating them at the post by a single point on the final score of 48-47.

The hard-to stop Edinburgh winger, Tom Visser

I unhappily did not see this game as no French TV crew saw fit to go and film it, but by all accounts it is likely to remain in the memories of the lucky few who were there as the heart-stopper of the season. And a perfect lesson of the old adage: a game of rugby is never finished until the final whistle is blown.

Back to Eton and the pottery of Gordon Baldwin

2011-11-23T15:55:00.001+01:00

Ambiguity about one's past, or some aspects of it, are probably our lot in this life. In other words, we cannot possibly choose where we come from and, when we make decisions to push our lives in other directions than those seemingly pre-determined for us by our social background, we sometimes have a problem dealing with some aspects of our history. And yet why should we be so reticent about, or even ashamed of, what has made us? Diversity is the salt of the earth and everyone keeps harking on about "roots". So we should in any case be capable of assuming what we are, and all or most of it, warts and all. And, goodness knows, there are some warts attached to the education I had, as well as a lot of very good things and some inspirational teachers.

For personal family reasons, and in order to see one of those teachers again, I recently decided, for what must have been the first (or maybe second) time in the 47 years since I left this school, to return to Eton College, where I spent the years 1959 to 1964.

The chapel of Eton College (my photo, taken in 2011), built in the 15th century and started when Henry VI founded the school. Like some other schoolboys who had a voice before it broke, I sang in the choir here (I do not think that I am in the picture below, but it gives you an idea of the thing)

A mid-18th century painting of the same chapel, from across the River Thames

There is something both magical and rather lugubrious about this Eton, as I felt again on returning there, just for one late summer's evening in September 2011. Of course things have changed a lot since I left the place in the mid-sixties. And very probably for the better. But atmosphere has a way of hanging around, sliding down the ancient buildings and seeping into and through our memory, even when much of this has been shuttered up for nigh on 50 years.

We had to dress up like penguins for most of the time (see above). Black tail coats, hard collars with studs and so-on. Even though I can respect some aspects of "tradition" today, you can maybe understand why this "T" word also can also annoy me a little. Fortunately there was also sport, and lots of it, and the Art School, of which more below.

The Eton rugby team

cricket at Eton

I should add that the buildings are often beautiful. I was struck with their calm perserverance on that evening in September, when I returned there to participate in the inauguration of an exhibition area for works of art, especially ceramics.

Lower School, on the opposite side of School Yard to the College Chapel, shown above (photo DC)

The tower of College Hall (photo DC)

and the dinner table inside the above building (my pic, and thanks to i-phone). The food was far better that what I remember from school days, but then times have changed and the occasion was perhaps special

One of the main reasons for my going back to Eton was to meet again, after a long interval, someone who had been a truly inspirational teacher for me. Not in the academic field (there were a few of those too) but in that of the so-called arts, and hence, to a large extent, a vocational inspiration, albeit not a very successful one in my case. The man's name is Gordon Baldwin and he is still making pots every day and is about to have a major retrospective exhibition in the UK. Here is one of his pieces shown in this tiny but well conceived exhibition room that lies just to the left of the tower shown above.

a Gordon Baldwin pot (my photo)

I find that this piece has that kind of broken tranquillity that attracts me to the best modern ceramics. As if the calm of ages and perfect shape, reaching back to the Song dynasty, had come though the horrors of modern "civilisation" and out on the other side, inevitably scathed, but still kicking and showing the layers of experience and diligent craftsmanship.

So yes, it was worth going back. And the man has not really changed. His sincerity and love of his work is intact. He goes to his studio and works there every day. A lesson to us all. Here is another work of Baldwin's and a picture of the man himself, showing all his enthusiasm which was totally contagious to his students. And, as you can see, his work is as as scuptural as it is about the medium of ceramics.

If you want to take a look at more of Gordon Baldwin's work, try this link:
http://www.galeriebesson.co.uk/baldwin.html

Good value sparkling wines: try Crémant de Jura

2011-11-21T12:25:00.001+01:00

With prices often rising from already considerable levels for top Champagnes (although it should be said that Champagne is far more accessible than it was 100 years ago, and the price gap with the most expensive wines from Bordeaux is even greater, in favour of Champagne of course), one often needs to look around for alternatives for sparklers.

Due to the progress in quality wine-making overall, which naturally includes the production of sparkling wines, such alternatives are becoming easier and easier to find.

On several occasions recently I have been particularly impressed with the sparking wines from the Jura region on France's eastern border, between Switzerland and Burgundy. Called Crémant de Jura, and produced using the same grapes and techniques as those applicable in Champagne (with the occasional minor variation on the grape side), these reasonable sparklers now account for about 25% of this small region's wine production. I think that this shows that they have something here, and certainly I have found that these crémants tend to show more character than those from many other parts of France. One should remember here that most regions of this country can produce sparking wines, either using the Champagne double-fermentation method, or various other techniques. But on the whole it is the coolest regions that produce the best results : Alsace, Jura, Burgundy and Loire. I would recommend that you look for those from the least well-known of these four, on account of their distinctive style, both lively and quite full on the palate, with just the gentlest hint of something resembling bitterness that kind of brings all the other flavours into tighter focus.

Crémant de Jura, Blanc Brut 2007, Domaine Rolet Père et Fils

Here is a particularly good example that I tried last night with a couple of friends. It comes from the excellent Jura producer called Rolet. This vintage crémant costs a very reasonable 10 euros per bottle (or even less from some retailers). Its flavours are delicious and its texture is fine and creamy. It probably shows slightly lower acidity than a Champagne, but has quite enought to be very refreshing. It made for a perfect aperitif and held up well when nibbling stuff that one nibbles before a meal.

My rather poor photograph of the empty bottle (it didn't take long to reach that stage, which is a very good sign!) could be construed to suggest that I consider this wine to be a work of art, if one regards the title of the book in the background. That is just bad framing and laziness on my behalf. No wines are "works of art", they are just drinks, some of them enjoyable ones, and some of them telling interesting stories. They are a produce of craftsmen or industrials, and are produced in multiple examples, hence not eligeable for "unique" status. And, even more important, one has to destroy them in order to enjoy them!

Bjorn Berge can play (and sing)

2011-11-15T20:25:00.000+01:00

I had heard of this (multiple) guitar and other stringed instrument player from Norway some time ago, but had not listened to any of his stuff until recently, when I bought one of his records. He is very good and can also sing, in a cigarette-husky kind of way.

He can play at being a bit heavy (just look at those tatoos), but he is a fantastic instrumentalist. I find that he is often at his best in the more delicate stuff that he does, although the fast ones can really rock.

Here is a clip that shows the side I think I like most of Berge, although he is indeed quite multiple. The song is called Louise. The clip acts like a promotion for all of his albums to date. Good stuff anyway.

Gascony for ever

2011-11-14T18:14:00.001+01:00

As I am about to leave this place once again (always a wrench, every time), here are a few pictures from this area, around the house where I stay and work for some (but not enough) of the year. I suppose this is more for my own pleasure than anything else, so let's just indulge ourselves a bit here while I try to keep a stiff upper lip on the long drive back to Paris.

But not all is contemplation here. Sometimes (in fact quite often) we work too, like getting in wood for the winter and a few other things like building walls, making and fixing in general. Here is a load of old vines that had been ripped out locally and will be used for firewood. The old van comes in handy...

Sometimes we take a little exercise too...

And then sometimes we just go and play in the dirt....

Meanwhile the owl watches over us

all photos by David Cobbold

A full moon?

2011-11-13T23:05:00.001+01:00

Sometimes an image is worth as much as many words. Last night the moon was full, or almost so, and golden over the village nearby.

British bikes in Lomagne

2011-11-12T20:36:00.001+01:00

Looking through some photographs I realise how mant of them are just sitting there not being put to any use. Here is an example.

At the end of last summer, when I was having trouble staring my Norton Commando (a problem since sorted by refraining from flooding the carbs before kicking and also using less choke and no throttle), I contacted a member of the Norton owners club who lives nearby where I spend my summer, near Lectoure. He kindly said he would ride over and take a look at the problem, helped by a few mates who also ride old British machines. Here is a record of their visit, for which I am very grateful.

The leader of the pack, so to speak

and his bike, a Fastback that matches his T-shirt (or is it the other way round?)

Four of the five machines that showed up that day at my place : left to right a Norton 88 (I think), a Royal Enfield of recent (and hence Indian) origin, a BSA 250 single, and the red Commando in the background.

Further to the right of the previous shot there was also this Velocette

One could say it was a Velo-cette for travel

The chief mechanic of the group seemed to be Triton man here below, a former policeman who, by the sound of things, has quite a collection of bikes, including a Laverda he was working on at the moment. The afternoon was fine, as you can see, and the local beer (Oc'Ale) very good.

The lady of the group was rightly worried about whether her BSA would start. Indeed her boyfrend had to kick it about 20 times before the thing fired up.

Thanks to all concerned for coming over and helping out. I hope to ride some with you next summer, or before then.

David Hockney and his painting (2)

2011-11-10T06:51:00.000+01:00

The man has been so prolific that it is hard to know where to start. In my previous 2 posts on Hockney's visual work, I first showed some of his work around the theme of water and swimming pools, when talking about the remarkable book of interviews with him, recently published: http://morethanjustwine.blogspot.com/2011/10/david-hockney-sees.html

In the second post, I showed both some very early paintings and, at the other end of the time scale, a couple of recent ones:
http://morethanjustwine.blogspot.com/2011/11/david-hockney-and-his-painting-1.html

So maybe it is time to start to fill the gap. Here is a double portait of the writer Christopher Isherwood (left) and the portrait artist Don Bachardy. It was painted in 1968 and so is part of the long "Californian" period of Hockney's life.

When reading what Hockney has to say about looking and painting (or, to use his more exact expression, "making marks") I am struck by the intensity of the pleasure he takes from looking and, then again, of making images. On the topic of the power of images he quotes David Freedberg who wrote a book called just that (The Power of Images): "People are sexually aroused by pictures and sculptures; they break pictures and sculptures; they mutilate them, kiss them, cry before them, and go on journeys to them; they are calmed by them, stirred by them and incited to revolt. They give thanks by means of them, expect to be elevated by them, and are moved to the highest levels of empathy and fear". Hockney goes on to make this comment: "And the point is, all these things didn't just happen in the past: it's still true today....and if the "art world" retreats from them, it becomes a minor activity."

Hockney is very open about his infuences and in fact works directly with them. Above is a painting from 1970 which is still in the precise, "realistic" style of the previous work. Yet, by showing a Picasso mural drawing in the backgound, it seems to me to announce a later period when Hockney would investigate closely the work of Picasso and use Picasso's way of looking, and some of his ways of painting. This shows in the treatment of both perspective and colours, as well as the apparent rapidity of the execution. The work below, from 1985, is an example among many.

Hockney has also regularly worked in several media (painting, engraving, drawing, theatre, computer media) and using different subject matter and approaches to his painting and graphic work. And this seemingly can occur during the same periods. His eccelecticism, in this respect, echos that of Picasso whom he greatly admires. The "realistic" style continued to be much used by Hockney through the 1970's, but not exclusively...

Contre jour, 1974

Divine, 1979

The above swimming pool painting, for example, from 1978, is made of compressed paper.

Speaking of influences, in the large (and often double) portraits, the presence of Edward Hopper can clearly be felt, in the atmosphere and the attitudes of the poses, even if Hockney's style and frequent toungue-in-cheek humour is always unique, as in the above (Shirley Goldfarb and Gregory Masurofsky) from 1974. Acrylics were often the medium for these.

Speaking of portaits, and to illustrate the openness of Hockey to a wide range of techniques, media and "styles", I will finish this article with another work from 1985 (the same year as the Picasso-like chair a few paintings above), this amazing portait of his mother using multiple Polaroid shots. Then of course, I suppose that we can also detect the presence of a certain Pablo P and the cubist movement here.

There will be more to come....

David Hockney and his painting (1)

2011-11-06T20:53:00.003+01:00

A short while ago I published an article about a book I read recently: a book which consists of a transcription of a long series of conversations between the art critic Martin Gayford and the artist David Hockney. For those curious, here is the address of that article, in the section of this blog that I have called "read on":
http://morethanjustwine.blogspot.com/2011/10/david-hockney-sees.html

As I promised at that time to return shortly to the subject matter of this excellent book, ie the painting and other visual work of Hockney, here goes.

I should state at the outset that I have always liked and been interested in (not the same thing, necessarily) this man's work. Way back in the 1960's, when still at school and actively involved in trying to paint and do other stuff in the college art premises myself, I managed to get David Hockney to come and talk to us about his work one evening. To my surprise, he accepted (I didn't realise at the time that he might just have had another interest in coming to talk to a bunch of schoolboys, but everything went fine and nobody seemed worried!). I also remember at the time his seemingly off-hand (and in fact probably modest and just down-to-earth) way of talking about some of his work. In particular of this painting, called Flight into Italy.

He explained that he had gone to Italy with some friends to look at paintings and architecture, and they had gone in a small van. Hockney told us that he was stuck in the back of the van (with the red coat, probably), and so could not see the mountains properly as they went through Switzerland, so he had to get a geology book to paint them when he got back, hence the layers.

This work from the early 1960's is quite typical of what I call his "semi-flippant" style, which is often allusive to everyday situations, including his own sexuality, and, to my eyes, paying some hommage to Francis Bacon and Jean Dubuffet, amongst others.

The painting below is called "We 2 boys, together clinging together", and it dates from 1961. His titles were often included in the painting at that time.

Hockney was born and brought up in Bradford, Yorkshire, and his early work from the 1950's shows a gritty, Lowry or early Van Gogh-like atmosphere that owes just as much to his own acute sense of observation, to which I will return.

I very much like this painting on the left, which dates from 1956, and which is called "Eccleshill Street".

The one below, from the same date, is entitled "Fields, Ecceleshill" and is doubly interesting to me as, in a way, and not only on account of it's subject matter, it forshadows something of David Hockney's current work since he has returned to live in Yorkshire, having for many years lived in Los Angeles, with periods spent in London and Paris.

Hockney has always been interested in the way we see things, and, just as much, in the way these perceptions are (or can be) transcribed into what he calls "marks". He is a brilliant and precise draughstman with "classical" materials, but is just as ready to use modern technology, such as the i-phone or the i-pad on which, or with which, to make his marks. Below left is "Still life with a book", a lithograph from 1973.

And here is a series of tiny drawings done on an i-phone in 2005

And, to finish this first part of my look at Hockney's work, here is an image of a recent painting done in Yorkshire, to show what I was getting at when I said that, to some extent, some of the early works from the 1950's make me think of his current work. Sure, the "marks" have become more sophisticated, and the technique and way of looking both more self-assured and personal. But if they hadn't, then what would his accumulated experience have meant?

This work is made up of 50 panels, and measures 180 x 480 overall. It is called "Bigger trees near Warter", and was painted in front of the subject, or, as is said in French, "sur le motif".

What I find so impressive is the man's constant, incessant curiosity and the pleasure he obviously takes from looking, organising and leaving his "marks". As well as his vast and in-depth knowledge of art as a whole. I will probably return to this particular subject soon, having in memory a remarkable film Hockney produced for television on the way painters used technical aids like the camera obscura from the 17th century (at least) onwards.

If you want to take a closer and longer look at his incredibly productive career, I can strongly recommend Hockney's very well-organised web site:

http://www.hockneypictures.com

Philip Kerr and war-time Berlin

2011-10-31T19:07:00.003+01:00

I have recently read the so-called Berlin Noir trilogy, in which the author, Philip Kerr, conducts his hero/anti-hero, Bernie Gunther, through and around the war years in Berlin. Kerr actually skips directly talking about the war period itself, although much reference is made to it in the third novel of the trilogy. In these three books, and in a fourth one that I also read called The One from the Other, which takes place mostly in Vienna, and follows on from the third book the Berlin trilogy, Kerr shows a main character, Bernie Gunther, who oscillates between jobs as a policeman/detective and that of a private eye. He shows, perhaps above all, considerable insight into the place and the period. I had not read anything by Philip Kerr before, and was very impressed by the sense of reality and detail that give these books so much substance, making them so instructive to anyone who is just a little it curious about this very strange part of recent European history that has been, to a large extent, swept under the carpet of past shame and infamy. And yet, as we all should know, if we are not able to understand recent history, we will be far less likely to avoid making the same mistakes as those who went before us.

These novels by Philip Kerr appear in fact almost like historical novels, with the mysteries solved (or not) taking a back seat to the reconstitution of what Berlin was like, for this kind of man anyway, immediately before the second world war, and so under the rising nazi regime, and then afterwards during the allied occupation and the struggle for power in a wasted Europe between Soviets and Americans. And, as an aside on this third novel, Kerr is totally realistic, as the English and the French occupiers are almost totally absent from the contest!

Scottish author Philip Kerr

What is particularly interesting, and unusual, in Kerr's novels, which I suppose one would have to classify under the "crime" tag (horribly simplistic, I know), is that Bernie Gunther, his character, is a little ambiguous and cannot be given a clear-cut "good guy" role. Gunther is clearly anti-nazi however and takes constant risks by regularly making fun of the nasties and their stupidity, but he is neither a suicidal resistant nor a total hero in any sense of the word. He encounters both Heidrich and Himmler and, to some extent, compromises his thoughts by lying low (morally speaking) during these encounters. Bernie is a survivor, and tries to make the best decisions in order to survive, without totally betraying his ethos or going under to those he despises. In other words, Bernie Gunther is very human, fallible and yet endearing, partially by his weaknesses.

The sheer detail of places, political and police organisation, and the events that set the framework for these novels makes me think that Kerr might have a training as a historian. Maybe. In any case I have not learnt as much about this period of German history since reading the wonderful and utterly revealing "Diary of a German" by Sebastien Haffner, which was published postumously.

The three novels have been republished in a single volume:
Berlin Noir" "Bernie Gunther" trilogy, republished 1993 by Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0-14-023170-0.

In order of appearance, and in their time sequence, their titles are:
March Violets. London: Viking, 1989. ISBN 0-670-82431-3

The Pale Criminal. London: Viking, 1990. ISBN 0-670-82433-X

A German Requiem. London: Viking, 1991. ISBN 0-670-83516-1

Read on.....

In praise of older Champagnes

2011-10-30T21:36:00.002+01:00

I have always thought that the advice occasionally offered to wine lovers (usually, it has to be said, by Champagne salesmen, and even more usually by salesmen of poor quality Champagne) to drink Champagne when it is young and "fresh" is a load of bollocks. First of all the wines of Champagne, coming from a very cool climate, have so much natural acidity that a few years (and, by few, I mean about ten or more) cellaring will do them a power of good, that is if they are good wines to begin with. And there lies quite a big "if" of course. In fact Champagnes should be regarded just as any wine. If it is good and well-built to start with, it should age gracefully if properly stored.

I was once again reminded, forcefully and most pleasurably, of this today when sharing with a few friends my last (help!) magnum of Veuve Clicquot Vintage Reserve 1995. This wine showed such heady and refined aromas, such depth of flavour, such plenitude of textures, such burnished and tapering acidity, that it simply enchated us all in the amazingly hot late October sun as we sat and contemplated the colours of rising autumn around us. Champagne, at least when it is as good as this, just has to be one of the world's marvels.

I must go out and get some more of this kind of stuff.... and then try to be patient for ten years or so.

Château l'Hospitalet, Grand Vin 2002, La Clape, Languedoc

2011-10-28T18:09:00.001+02:00

It has been quite a while since I posted on the subject of a specific wine, so I dare not call it "wine of the week" or any other title like that. Times have been busy (wine is my work), and then there seem to have been so many other topics that have urged me to attend to them in some little way.

I also have the great good fortune to taste quite a few really good wines, and yet seemingly not always the time to mention them. But then something comes along that takes you by surprise, going far beyond your expectations. Yesterday evening, to welcome a guest, I walked into my cellar with no special intention, and my eyes lit upon a Languedoc wine that I had been keeping for a few years. Time to try it, I thought.

Back in the house I pulled the cork and what I smelled and tasted just made my senses light up, instantly, ringing all kinds of bells that sounded notes of incredibly perfumed fruit, slightly sweetened, softened and yet somehow, magically, intensified and refined by close on ten years ageing, most of it in my cellar. It also gave equal and instant pleasure to the people with whom I shared it, who are not wine professionals. Hence I do not think that I can be accused of being in any way elistist in my taste.

Château l'Hospitalet, Grand Vin 2002, La Clape (Languedoc, France)

producer : Gérard Bertrand

As a first comment on the label designations of this bottle, I should say that the term "Grand Vin", often to be seen on bottles of French wines, translates loosely as "Great Wine". It has no legal or other significance, and can be placed by the producer on truly great wines or on very ordinary plonk. But in this particular case, I would say that the expression is justified.

Gérard Bertrand is a well-known and enterprising producer who specialises in wines from the Languedoc region of Southern France, from which he hails. He also used to be a very good rugby player. Those who read enough of my blog to follow some of my various centres of interest should realise that this could well be enough to endear him to me. But beware: I am capable of separating things enough to make my impressions of this wine quite free from bias, although I did not taste it blind. It simply tasted very good, and clearly showed that some wines from the Languedoc can age very gracefully, becoming more refined yet retaining the quintessential fruit flavours that make them so attractive in their youth. And yet it had clearly moved on from the infant stage, gaining in complexity, patina and softness. It lingered beautifully on the palate too. You simply wanted another glass of it!

This is not the first excellent top-of-the-range wine that I have tried from Bertrand, but I was curious as to the blend so I tried to glean some information from the producer's web site. Unhappily this is so badly designed that it was impossible to find any particular wine on the site's so-called search box. I should also add that the English translation is quite appallingly bad!

I have visited the estate of l'Hospitalet, just south of the town of Narbonne on the rocky limestone outcrop called La Clape, which used to be an island during Roman times and which overlooks the Mediterranean (see above photograph). The estate also harbours a hotel and a restaurant, several shops, including a wine shop for the producer's wares, and once a year holds a good jazz festival. In other words, here is a modern, go-ahead producer who has understood that tourism and wine go hand-in-hand and who is making the most of his assets.The company should pay a little more attention to their web site however!

Since he took it over, Bertrand's enterprise has been very successful, moving from a single estate in the Corbières region, inherited from his father, to a current vineyard holding of 325 hectares (some 800 acres), divided between 5 estates in different Languedoc appellations. The company also sells wines that they trade from other parts of the region. They have been pioneers in many respects, and I have rarely (never?) had a poor wine from them, each wine showing good to very good value at its specifc price point.

I dearly wish there were more producers in France of this scale and with this quality emphasis. Some wine snobs (and I am sadly tempted to include some journalist colleagues in this group) seem to curiously despise success and think along the sectarian lines of "only small is beautiful". If they had shared this bottle with me last night, they would definitely be rethinking this particularly silly piece of dogma.

AC Cobra: one of the few cars I would like to own

2011-10-28T00:08:00.000+02:00

427 AC Shelby Cobra

A few weeks ago I was in the Loire valley for the 2011 edition of a fun event, whose edition of last year actually incited me to start this blog about a year ago. I will say some more about it, and especially the place that generated this event, the magical Café de la Promenade in the small town of Bourgueil, quite soon.

The car above drove up to the Café de la Promenade during a Sunday afternoon early in October, when I came back there for a break between wine tastings. When I heard it and saw it, an improbable desire came back to me.
This is the first time in this blog (in over a year) that I have talked about a four-wheeled vehicle. It will probably happen again, but the first time is always a bit special (usually, at any rate).

Yes, I would love to drive, and maybe own (at least for a while), an AC Cobra. This car has always seemed to me to be a kind of essence of the minimalistic sports car, rather like a Lotus but with that extra grunt that can only come from a big engine.

Here are a couple of extracts from the Wikipedia entry on the Shelby Cobra:

"The AC Cobra, also known colloquially as the Shelby Cobra in North America, is an Anglo-American sports car that was produced during the 1960s."
"The Cobra was perhaps too successful as a performance car and reputedly contributed to the implementation of national speed limits in the United Kingdom. An AC Cobra Coupe was calculated to have done 186 mph (299 km/h) on the M1 motorway in 1964, driven by Jack Sears and Peter Bolton during shakedown tests prior to that year's Le Mans 24h race."

"AC Cobras had an extensive racing career. Carroll Shelby (the US partner) wanted it to be a "Corvette-Beater" and at nearly 500 lb (227 kg) less than the Chevrolet Corvette, the lightweight car did just that. It was February 2, 1963 at Riverside International Raceway that driver Dave MacDonald beat an impressive field of Corvettes, Jaguars, Porsches, and Maseratis to give the Cobra its first-ever victory. Later, Shelby offered a drag package, known as the Dragonsnake, which won several NHRA National events with Bruce Larson or Ed Hedrick at the wheel of CSX2093.""Although successful in racing, the AC Cobra was a financial failure, which led Ford and Carroll Shelby to discontinue importing cars from England in 1967. AC Cars kept producing the coil spring AC Roadster with narrow fenders, a small block Ford 289 and called the car the AC 289. It was built and sold in Europe until late 1969. AC also produced the AC 428 until 1973. The AC Frua was built on a stretched Cobra 427 MK III coil spring chassis using a very angular handsome steel body designed and built by Pietro Frua. With the demise of the 428 and succeeding 3000ME, AC shut their doors in 1984 and sold the AC name to a Scottish company. The company's tooling, and eventually the right to use the name, were licensed by Autokraft, a Cobra parts reseller and replica car manufacturer owned by Brian A. Angliss."

So much for its technical and racing history, albeit greatly abbreviated. I suppose that the thing that turns me on with this car is that is is so close to a bike in spirit, except for the fact that it has 4 wheels under its body.

Enjoy the ride....

New Zealand scrape to the title that they were promised

2011-10-23T17:00:00.002+02:00

Nobody would have bet much on France winning this Rugby World Cup final. In fact they were very lucky to get that far in the competition (the odds for this final game were 7-1 against them). But their performance in today's decisive game (8-7 for New Zealand, in what was by far the lowest scoring final of all seven Rugby World cups so far) was quite remarkable, and I say that despite not being a French supporter.

France fought every part of the game and every inch of the field in what was a sterling battle that showed all the qualities of combat, sacrifice and solidaridity that fill the often over-emphatic prose of rugby coaches and sports writers.

The All Blacks won, but only just. They could have won by a higher margin has they not lost their goal-kicker and playmaster, Dan Carter. But then that is the law of this kind of team game: the issue cannot just depend on just one player. New Zealand were out and out favourites for this contest, playing at home and, it has to be said, with a refereree who was, to put it mildly, often quite lenient with them in some criticial phases of the game. Yet nobody can possibly contest their victory. They have totally merited becoming the current world champions, not only on account of their overall perfomances during this competition, but indeed over the sum of their games in the past ten or more years in international games of all kinds

The All Blacks just had to win at home, but my goodness they had to fight hard to make the final slot and take the little gold cup. All credit to the French team for their performance and for making this a fantastic game of rugby that moved me deeply. I had thought, along with many, that France would lose by 20 or 30 ponts. Not at all, and so much the better for rugby, as this game has shown, once again, that every team has its chance if it has willpower and a certain level of skills (the latter being a a given at this level). All the players on the field today can be entirely proud of their performance, and this game has probably left its mark on many, and not just on the wounded of the day. It is also very good news for rugby, even if there were not 10 "hoorah" tries in the game.

(And all shame on the pathetic New Zealand gutter press for their miserable perfomance over recent weeks! They can join their English equivalants in whatever abject hole anyone cares to dig for them).

David Hockney sees

2011-10-22T10:29:00.002+02:00

I recently read a fascinating book that has taught me more about the way a visual artist operates and thinks than any other that I can remember in a long time. The book is called A Bigger Message, Conversations with David Hockney, and the author (who engendered and transcribed the conversations) is Martin Gayford. I strongly recommend anyone interested in painting or any form of graphic art, and not only those who enjoy the work of Hockney, to get hold of this book and read it.

The conversations between Hockney and Gayford, in their various forms, spread over a decade and concern all the periods and multiple aspects of Hockney's work and career, from his work as a student in the 1960's to his current work on landscapes in Yorkshire, via his long spell spent in Los Angeles, and including his work for theatre and opera, his graphic and photographic work and his "paintings" on contemporary Apple supports (i-phone and i-pad), Hockney has been consistently eclectic as to his media, whilst constantly sticking to his insatiable curiosity about how we (he) see(s), and then how this can be transcribed by gestures and marks into something coherent and perceptible by others. He also has investigated the work of other great artists with considerable perspicacity (you can therefore deduct from this comment that I happen to think very highly of Hockney as an artist).

Here are just a few examples of his work, all of which happen to be on the theme of pools and water, with or without swimmers, to whet (or wet) your appetite for more, hopefully. I have deliberately played about with the relative sizes of these images, compared to the originals.

A Bigger Splash, 1967

I will return to some of the many subjects touched upon in this fascinating book very shortly. In the mean time, please read on....

Happy birthday blog

2011-10-18T17:49:00.001+02:00

I am not a great one for birthdays myself, and anyway this blog was actually started on October 6th 2010, but I forgot to do this article then as I was too busy.

In just over a year's existence, I have posted 235 articles and 150,000 pages have been visited. How much has been read, I cannot tell. Neither can I tell how many people have just taken a quick look or stayed for a longer while, or been encouraged to return and/or read other things than whatever first attracted their curiosity.

The highest number of visitors so far has been from India (thanks to cricket), followed by the USA, France and the UK. People from many other countries also regularly visit.

For all these visitors, very few leave comments and only 25 of you have become members so far. Maybe I should think about this, but then again, I am doing this blog for fun, so maybe it is not so important.

If one looks at the most popular posts, below is the hit parade, with cricket (in connection with India) clearly leading the field for the moment. After that there is a good diversity of themes involved: painting, travel, bikes, music etc. As no single article about wine appears in the top 20 most popular subjects, I have to conclude that my title for this blog, More then just wine, is a suitable one!

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16 févr. 2011, 7 commentaires

1 888 Pages

Rugby World Cup Final: who can doubt the issue?

2011-10-17T07:21:00.002+02:00

Perhaps some of you readers are wondering why I have not published any recent articles on the Rugby World Cup, now nearing its ultimate stage. Am I totally depressed following the fairly mediocre performance of England (the country in which I was born)? Or the equally, and in some cases even more so, mediocre performances of France (the country in which I live)?

France quite easily beat England in the quarter finals, playing by far their best game so far (and England their worst). All the top teams, with the sole exception of New Zealand, have played poorly in at least one game so far. And even New Zealand have occasionally had the odd hiccup, mainly because of having to adjust to losing their fly-half Dan Carter.

Having watched both semi-finals this weekend, I have no doubt as to the issue of the final that will take place this coming weekend. (I know, there is no such thing as certainty in rugby!)

In the first semi-final, France only beat Wales by the tiniest of margins (9-8) having played for about 60 minutes with 15 players against 14 for Wales, following the expulsion of the Welsh captain, Warburton, for a dangerous tackle. Wales clearly deserved to win this match. Their courage and their calm were both admirable. They simply lacked one player, and a key one at that. They missed essential points in the kicking departement, with Hook not being regular. This was a clear moral victory for Wales, which will not console them I fear. France proposed virtually nothing in terms of play, turning this into a purely defensive game of wait and see. The suspense was total (and at times stifling), but the beauty of the game was at the lowest level of any world cup final stage game that I can remember watching.

Many people in France are saying now that only victory counts. I find this attitude miserable! How can anyone be proud of such a timid perfomance? The only image I will retain of this game is that of the excellent Vincent Clerc, the French winger, comforting Shane Williams, his Welsh alter-ego, after the game. This is one of the things that I like most about this strange game of rugby, when adversaries totally respect and feel empathy for each other, having fought a fierce battle for 80 minutes.

In the other semi-fianl, New Zealand played a very impressive game against a valorous Australian team, totally dominating them in virtually every aspect of play: scrum, touch, offensive and defensive organisation, inspiration, individual skills and speed. The All Blacks, at least for the first 25 minutes, turned this game into a demonstration of how to play rugby. Then they controlled the situation, showing also that their courage in defending was total as well. All they needed was somebody to succeed in the goal kicking and their victory would have shown a margin of 30 points, rather than the 20-6 of the final scorecard.

Can anyone now doubt the issue of the final against France? The only question worth betting on is the margin of the NZ victory. I think I will go for 30 points or so. In any case, let's hope at least for a game of some beauty, where both teams try to play the game of passing the ball and creating space, and not some kind of rugby ping-pong. New Zealand deserve to win this World Cup, on account of their record over the past few years, but also on the strength of the play they have shown during all their games in this competition. Let's hope that they achieve it in style as well. Good luck to the French, as they will indeed need it!

Casey Stoner champion

2011-10-17T05:52:00.001+02:00

This blog is not about what is hot in the news, in any field, and I am usually pretty late in commenting sporting events anyway, these being just about the only part of what is called "news" with which I have decided to deal in any form. But I was very pleased to learn that Casy Stoner (the motorcycle GP rider, for those not into bikes) yesterday won the Australian GP bike race. Yesterday also happened to be his birthday, and the race took place on his home circuit of Philip Island, thus also making him world champion before the end of the current season. His rival, Jorge Lorenzo, who was the only other rider that looked capable of beating him this year, crashed in the race, thus losing his last chances of retaining his title.

Although Stoner has at times seemed fragilised, both in body and in mind, when riding for Ducati in past seasons, he brilliantly won the championship in 2007 for them and has clearly dominated this season for Honda, coming from behind to lead the championship table after only the fifth race, and having been sent to the floor by Rossi in one of the early races.

Although Valentino Rossi has been the dominant rider over recent years, for some reason I do not like the persona I perceive of this man. Too much the star for me. Stoner on the other hand appears more modest, and his victory with Ducati in 2007 was a hell of a performance as most people said that the bike was virtually unrideable. Not for Stoner apparently!

He is clearly a brilliant rider. His best win this year was probably at the Californian circuit of Laguna Seca. I was out riding my own everyday Ducati then, so I missed the race on TV. Here is an official video clip of it. To help you spot the guy, Stoner wears the red, yellow and and black kit (pretty nasty colours) of the Repsol Honda team, and his number is 27. Anyway he is the one doing the victory wheelie at the end, so it is not that hard to pick him out after watching this one time.

And here is his fastest lap, seen from on-board his bike.

Bikes over water

2011-10-11T00:00:00.000+02:00

Accidents, in the sense of coming across things accidentally and enjoying the surprise and the discovery of them, can be good. This is one of the serendipitous joys of the web I suppose. I was researching recently for a future article on the painter David Hockney when, by plugging in a search request for an image of one of his paintings celled "A bigger splash", I came across a whole range of stuff about motorcycles and water.

Now I have always disliked riding a bike in the rain. I do not go fast under these conditions (I lack confidence when cornering on wet roads) and I hate getting wet when I have not chosen to do so. One puts up with it, to a point. But the idea of riding a bike across water I find quite exciting. And of course people have tried it.

So here are a few still images and videos of bikes in, over and through water...

This is my favourite.

It is by the Hungarian photographer/journalist, Martin Munkacsi, who died in the USA having fled the nazis and becoming also a photographer of Hollywood stars. He inspired, amongst others, Henri Cartier Bresson. This was taken in the 1920's or early 1930's. Impossible to recognise the bike, but I am surprised that the rider hasn't slipped his goggles over his eyes. I expect that is why he has closed them.

This is the weirdest. It looks like it has been rigged, but who knows these days? People can do the funniset things. Bit of a waste of a Bonnie if the picture is for real.

This one is clearly rigged, but the idea is nice...

But to see what a sports bike can really do through a bit less water, try this one ...

http://youtu.be/EE-K10BeXtg

Below is a shot of a stunt man doing his stuff on a lake. Not sure how this one ended, but it looks like he is wearing his lifejacket so he was prepared.

Then I discovered that some people do actually manage to ride over water with a bike. Jesus riders maybe ? They call it aqua-planing and we try to avoid this on the road. Here is one shot and then a couple of videos

Feel like having a go? Better choose your spot carefully... and your bike as well

Bad service and attitude lets Bordeaux down

2011-10-10T14:48:00.000+02:00

We all know how important is good and friendly service in any service industry, and especially in the field of food and wine. And when a restaurant, wine bar, winery or shop lets customers down in this respect, it is not only the place itself but the whole region that suffers in terms of image. When this place also happens to be the "official" showcase for the wines of the most famous wine-producing region in the world, I feel that the fall-out from such a bad experience is multiplied by at least 10!

Here is a true story that I experienced last week in the Bar à Vin (Wine Bar) attached to the BIVB (Bordeaux Wine Council) offices, right in the centre of Bordeaux, a city I love and admire (see other posts on this blog listed at the bottom of this article).

Last week I was teaching, for 2 days, a group of students from several countries at the Bordeaux Ecole de Management (BEM). At the end of the first day of my seminar, I suggested to them that we meet up in the evening in the centre of Bordeaux to share a glass of wine: wine just happened to be the subject of my teaching! Quite a few of them accepted my suggestion and so I selected the Bar à Vins of the BIVB as the site, since it is both central and reasonably priced. In addition, I thought that it was only fitting to introduce them to some more of the wines of the region where they were studying.

I got to the place first, at about 8 pm, since my hotel was right next door. I sat at a small table for 4 and mentioned to the waiter that I was expecting quite a few people to join me, although I couldn't be sure at what precise time they would arrive as they lived some way out. He warned me that the place was quite full (which I could see), so I said that I quite understood and that we would adapt to the situation. Four students arrived shortly afterwards, then 2 or 3 more. So, as a small second table next door had become free, we asked if we could join the two together. This was no probelm and we ordered a round of different wines by the glass that I selected. All were good and well served in excellent quality glassware. Then another group of 4 or 5 students arrived, and I asked if we could either bring up more chairs or add on another table. This was met first with silence, then by a clear refusal as the head waiter brought me the bill and slapped it down on the table in front of me with no explantion (I had not asked for it). I asked him if this signified that he was throwing us out.

I should empahsize that all the students were well dressed and well behaved. I believe that I was too, although quite surprised and annoyed by the waiters' attitude. The waiter did not reply, so I asked to order another series of wines by the glass. I had in fact previously asked a girl server whether I could order a bottle, given the number of guests. She has very curtly replied "we do not serve bottles" (why ????). Anyway, as there were no free chairs, but a vacant space around some low tables just next to us, we attempted to move these low stool-like tables into our area so that the freshly arrived guests in our group could sit down. The staff then intervened and moved them back. So I suggested to our new group of guests that they sat themselves down in this vacant area, next to three people who were not members of our party, but who seemed very happy with this arrangement as there was plenty of room (we naturally asked them first). From then on, not a single waiter came to take our orders and I had to go to the bar and place these.The girl waiter previously mentioned continued to do the opposite to smiling, and the others clearly considered that we were just annoyances, although we were perfectly well behaved and polite, although somewhat surpised and disappointed by their attitude.

When I went to pay at the end (they were switching the lights on and off rather than coming and explaining that it was closing time) nobody thanked us for our custom or (fat chance!) apologised for their behaviour, lack of space or lack of amenities (and willingness) to look after customers. I should emphasize that the place was half empty by the time all our party had arrived and when we left, since there was a danse performance going on just outside the bar. In other words, we were not taking anyone else's places, just marginally adapting what is anyway a modular space to our needs as customers.

The wines were all good, by the way, and the prices, I can confirm, are quite reasonable, although with a curious gap (apparently) between 3 and 8 euros per glass within the range.

Bordeaux (the city) has done a great deal to make itself attractive and welcoming to the visitor. But the wines of Bordeaux, and especially their official promotional body, still have a lot to learn about how to make visitors welcome and wanting to try their wines. Proper staff training does not appear to exist, or does not include any notion that the customer is the most important person in any business.

These photographs, with very low definition I fear, are all from the web site of the Bordeaux Wine Bar
http://baravin.bordeaux.com

Other articles and photo essays on Bordeaux and its region are to be found here on this blog:

http://morethanjustwine.blogspot.com/2011/05/gironde-estuary-near-bordeaux.html

http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6219646897587177986#editor/target=post;postID=2608636613852971855

http://morethanjustwine.blogspot.com/2010/12/bordeaux-magnificent.html

Ladies night

2011-10-05T14:48:00.003+02:00

Thought this might amuse some of you. I saw it in a rugby bar in Paris, about which I will speak more soon (Le Comptoir, in the 15th). I am quite sure that the person who designed it was entirely without any second thoughts...

A look at the wines of Corbières

2011-09-28T20:34:00.002+02:00

The Languedoc part of southern France in its ensemble hasbeen considered for some time by many specialists as a sort of eldorado forwinemakers in France. Vast, varied in its relief, and with a generallymediterranean and therefore friendly climate, it also offers the possibility toproduce a fairly wide range of types and styles of wine, depending on thespecific vineyard site and the grape varieties used. If one opts for theappellation system, the varieties are selected for you, but one also has thechoice of using the less restrictive vin de pays system (soon to beknown as indication géographqie protégée) and planting more or less whatyou like, although it cannot then be named Corbières.

Corbières is by far tha largest single appellation withinthe Languedoc region. In fact it is the 4th largest French wine appellation,covering some 17,000 hectares (almost 43,000 acres). It lies just south of animaginary line between the towns of Narbonne, to the east, and Carcassonne, tothe west (not shown on this map, although you can see roughly where the place is within France). From this line it stretches south into and around the foothills ofthe eastern part of the Pyrennees mountain range, climbing as it goes, andstopping when it meets the Roussillon region, more or less along a linesketched by those magical Cathar ruins that perch on craggy mountain tops. TheFrench adminstrative département within which Corbières lies is calledthe Aude. In the higher parts, winters can be quite severe, but summer isalways hot & arid. Rock clearly dominates the soils in some places.

As this is an extensive area, its wines correspondinglyvary quite a bit in quality, although over the past 20 years or so they haveimproved enormously. I recently had the opportunity to taste this for myself ata small tasting organised to celebrate the 20 years of the creation of theofficial appellation Corbières. A year or so ago, the central area around thesmall town of Boutenac created a seperate designation for itself, called Corbières-Boutenac,since they consider themselves to be the best area within the larger one. Iexpect that some other sub-areas will follow in due course. I personally doubtthe wisdom of this tendancy to create ever smaller place appellations for winesin France. And I am not entirely convinced that one can actually systematically recognise asignificant difference in quality, as I discovered in a recent blind tastingwhen Minervois and Minervois La Lavinère wines were mixed, and I found as manygood (and less good) ones in each appellation. There are already far too many wineappellations in this country, and all this does is to confuse theconsumer even more, making him turn to wines that are a little easier torecognise, and whose names they can memorise.

Grape varieties in Corbières

Carignan, often from very oldvines, is the main variety here. It cannot legally exceed 50% in the blend,although this is not always fully respected I understand. It used to have a poorreputation, but this was probably due to poor farming and/or wine-making. Itcan taste a little rough and ready, but the best wines from carignan can havesensational, brooding intensity and great freshness to boot. Other varietiesauthorised are: Syrah, Grenachenoir, Lladoner Pelut, Mourvèdre, Piquepoul noir, Cinsault, and Terret noir.

Wine types, styles andprices

Reds account for 90% of production,followed by rosés, rather fashionable here as elsewhere. Whites are rare butcan be interesting from the cooler parts. The young reds are often producedusing the carbonic maceration technique, of which I am not a geat fan as I findit makes them small very similar and not very pleasant. The best wines havesome barrel ageing to them, which helps to refine their tannins and calm theiryouthful ardour a bit. These wines manage to combine intensity of dark fruitflavours with smooth, inky textures and great freshness.

Privces are, on thewhole, very reasonable. One can find decent to good wines at levels between 5and 10 euros (prices here in France), and the best cuvées may go up to 20euros. Higher prices that this are not always justified. In particular, avoidanything in a heavy bottle. These are unnecessary and wasteful and only ensurethat the wine is sold above its real value.

Some good wines from Corbières I have tried recently

Prieuré Sainte Marie d’Albas, Saisons 2010

This was my favourite of the younger and less expensive winesthat I tried. It had plenty of clean fruit and was crisp and fresh to thefinish. Only 6 euros.

Château Grand Moulin, Terres Rouges 2008

A wine that is regularly amongst the very best fromCorbières. This is deep in colour and aromas, with good fruit flavours andquite a refined texture. I loved it and its price is very reasonable for thisquality level (around 10 euros).

This producer also makes a delicious white wine from Vermentino, Grenache blanc and Maccabeu grapes. Called La Tour du Grand Moulin, it is available for around 8 euros (see below).

Domaine Serres-Mazard, Altitude 2006

Fine aromas of spices and aromatic plants like citise, over an intense core of cassis. Deliciously fruity, softly textured and chewy, this has depth, length and freshness. Very impressive at about 15 euros.

Like the colours of this place in the autumn too

More Norton Commando pics

2011-09-23T15:14:00.000+02:00

I promise that I will get back to writing soon, but, in the meanwhile, here are a few more photos taken of the Commando by my photographer friend Christophe Goussard (http://www.goussard.net/). Could have put this in the "looks good" collection, but she is a bike after all...

For those who want some technical details on this slight transformation of a classic bike, I would refer them to several previous articles on this blog (see links below). I can see from the top picture that I need to hide that tail-light wiring somehow to tidy things up a bit. Otherwise this is a great success, thanks to Frank Chatokhine.

http://morethanjustwine.blogspot.com/2011/08/my-norton-commando-and-its.html

http://morethanjustwine.blogspot.com/2011/07/norton-commando-rebuild-work-in.html

http://morethanjustwine.blogspot.com/2011/03/my-eleventh-bike-was.html

http://morethanjustwine.blogspot.com/2010/12/new-years-bike-resolution.html

And, if you want a glimpse of what else goes on at the Chatokhine workshop near Chartres (this will be another kind of pilgrimage that you can make before of after the cathedral), here is the link :

http://www.atelier-chatokhine.com/

Ride well and in safety

Portraits of famous people as children: the work of Louis Boudreault

2011-09-21T11:36:00.001+02:00

I had never heard of the painter Louis Boudreault until a couple of weeks ago, when two of his recent drawing/paintings appeared on a TV set during a talk show in which I regularly participate (Paris Art de Vivre, on BFM Business TV). I was immediately struck and intrigued by these, which showed not only great skill on the part of the artist, but also held an intensity in the look of the children whose portraits they seemed to be. The works mingle pencil drawing and some paint on paper surfaces that appear smooth and yet which, on a closer look, reveal that they are also composed of several layers, worked over and together to make a coherent whole. The apparent realism of the portraits is striking yet not servile, and made me think that the work was done from photographs and by someone with remarkable technique and a clear style. And the artist, when he also appeared and spoke well about his current work, merely added to my desire to go and see his current exhibition at the Tornabuoni Gallery in Paris. For details of the gallery and the show, use this link. If you want it in French, the site will guide you I expect.

http://www.tornabuoniart.fr/exposition-english.html

This is the cover of the exhibition catalogue. Please excuse the colours of some of the photos, which I took rather quickly from the catalogue to give you some idea of what I am talking about here. I am sure that all this is copyright stuff, but I have taken the liberty of publishing as I am encpuraging you to see this work and, if you feel so inclined and have the means, even buy some of it.

The small boy in the portrait used on the cover is Pablo Picasso. The theme of this exhibition, and the work that Boidreault has been doing for the past few years, is the portraiture of famous people when they were children. One is tempted to think about destiny, and can it be predicted from this retrospective vision of these faces. Futile as a reflection, but clearly induced by the theme. Some of these poeple, but not all by far, were artists. As far as I could make out, all of them are dead now. Here is another one (not an artist). Can you guess who this fairly self-assured and obviously strong-minded boy was called?

John Fitzgerald Kennedy

Another famous American....

This is the young Elvis Presley. Doesn't look so happy as JFK, does he? Of course his background and childhood was considerably less protected than that of the future 35th US President.

Both men and women make up this impressive show of work. As we are in the field of music, here below is the French singer and former Saint Germain icon Julette Greco when she was a girl.

And here is another famed French personnality. Although not a singer, he was even more famous in his field, and is quite recognizable (look at the eyes and the mouth and just add thick glasses).......

Jean-Sol Partre

Speaking of Jean-Sol Partre (real name Jean-Paul Sartre for those non-Vian readers), there is also a glorious drawing of the young Boris Vian dressed as a girl (not shown in this article). Non-Europeans also get a look-in, such as Mao Tse Tung, the Dalai Lama, and this guy. Can you guess?

Mahatma Gandhi (and the tissues used are, I understand, Indian)

If you can get to Paris to see this show, I would strongly recommend it. The pictures are of a fair size, which makes their impression even stronger in my opinion. Most of them measure 2m10 by 1m50, or 1m80 by 1m20. Boudreault's use of superposing small strips of paper here and there to deliberately re-work section of each drawing give the effect of layers like the levels of passing time. He then flattens them with an iron so the surface remains smooth. The result makes the images seem both close and distant, as if seen through a weil of time, somehow a little hazy despite the relative precision of the draughtmanship. This plays with the idea of time and our perception.

He also echoes this idea of superposition by adding onto the side of each work, rather than putting it into a frame (which he dislikes), strips of paper clipped together so that the whole thing looks like it is made from a pile of hand-made paper. This is original in a way, but because he uses it so systematically, I find it rather gadgety. It adds nothing to the power of his work, but some might like the offhand decor effect that makes carfully worked pieces look as if they have just been thrown together or emerged from the linbos of time. And, yes, they were worked from photographs.

Would I buy one if I could afford it? Yes, undoubtedly. Choosing would be the only problem.

Rugby speak in New Zealand

2011-09-20T01:00:00.000+02:00

As I spoke yesterday about the current Rugby World Cup, currently being played in New Zealand (http://morethanjustwine.blogspot.com/2011/09/rugby-world-cup-2011-what-lessons-so.html), I thought that this little lexicon, sent to me by a friend, might come in handy in case you might need to discuss the subject with someone from the land of the All Blacks, over a glass or two of Steinlager, or some other local brew.