Karl Lagerfeld

I know that its not fair to hold a dislike for someone whom you do not even know, but this has to be taken just at its "face value", which is all about image. Quite suitable given the extent to which this man's image is cultivated by himself!

I don"t know what I find most objectionable about Lagerfeldt's image (that is his real name, by the way). His apparent pretentiousness, his permanent sunglasses worn everywhere, his ridiculous high stiff collars, his silly mittens, or his powdered white hair in a pigtail. Just about everything about him seems contrived. What makes this image worse is its rigidity, as it never seems to evolve.

Of course, saying that a person entirely involved with fashion is "contrived" may seem to be stating the obvious. With maybe the odd exception, I have little respect for, end even less interest in the fashion world, which strikes me as being 90% artificial. But this guy really takes the biscuit for the most artificial of all!   

And I do not like his photography either.

Wines that are different (and wine of the week 12)

The "tall poppy syndrome", is a term applied to the way in which all things that are different, things that stand out in a crowd, are often rejected, denigrated and finally cut down by whatever is the current doxa.

This obviously extends to the field of wine, as to most other aspects of life. I suppose that one of the fundamentals of this rejection process has to do with fear that one might be wrong in one's assumptions. Or maybe just habit and laziness combined, in the sense that, to zoom in on the field of wine, one's tastes become used to certain flavour profiles and, liking them or finding them acceptable, tend to reject different profiles as being "not good" or "not so good". In this way of thinking and behaving, fashion, and a complex process of exchanges of opinions with others, mainly from one's peer group, play a considerable role. Individuals rarely like to stand out from the crowd, including by expressing themselves in favour of something or someone who has been rejected by the majority of others, and especially by others whose judgements are respected by that individual.

Of course, in the habit-forming process, past happy experiences are essential. This often strikes me in the context of wines that incorporate an oxydative maturing process during the period prior to bottling (and even after bottling in the case of older wines). The vast majority of wines, including now the finest wines, are drunk at increasingly young ages. Hence the aromas and flavours that derive from a drawn-out ageing process gradually disappear from the spectrum of most peoples' palates. Having been raised in England, where the consumption of Sherries as aperitive drinks has been current practice for some time, such oxidative flavours are part and parcel of my taste culture. Therefore, I suppose, I do not reject them as being part of what people now tend to call "defects" in a wine, unless of course they are over dominant or not complemented by other flavours that make the wine interesting to taste.

Oxygen is, ultimately, the key agent in the death process of foodstuffs, including wine, as indeed it is for us. And yet incorporating its effects into a wine through a carefully managed maturation process in the producer's cellar is perhaps the only way to ensure that a wine will have a long life, rather like injecting a tiny amount of a disease to encourage natural resistence in a human body in the innoculation process (I am sure that the doctors and oenologists out there will correct my imperfect understanding of this).

 How about some examples? My recent visit to Lebanon gave me food for thought on this question. Château Musar is a wine, both in its red and its white versions, which uses a gradual oxidative process as part of its maturing process. Like Vega Sicilia, which is Spain's most prestigious wine and which I had the good fortune to taste again recently, Musar is aged for many years (around 6 usually) before being sold. Its barrel ageing stage is not that long, usually around 2 years, the rest of the process taking place in bottle in the producer's cellar. Another critcism that is often levelled at Musar is the presence of some volatile acidity in the wines. This may be true, but so what? If the wine tastes good, does it really matter whether the laboratory rats consider that it does not fit in with contemporary canons of what is "correct" in wine making? And this acidity has in no way impaired the remarkable ageing capacity of Musar. The wines just do not fall apart, they evolve slowly, each vintage with its own profile, like the unique individuals they are.

So here are the notes I took on the Château Musar 2001, which I first tasted within a series of Lebanese wines that were tasted blind on January 13th during a recent trip to this country, and then again a day or two later at the Musar cellars.

The colour is noticeably pale and seems as if burnished. The nose is fine, showing age and considerable complexity, with hints (to me) of wax, spices, orange peel, tobacco and hay. The feel on the palate is very suave and refined. It has an almost burgundian feel on account of its delicacy. There is an incorporated freshness that makes it feel vibrant. Clearly apart from most wines, it is long and layered in its complexity. Its beauty is singular and, to me, moving.

Musar is not expensive, given its ageing capacity, and this vintage can be found for around 20 euros in Europe
On my visit to the cellars, I also tasted the following vintages of Musar red: 2002, 2003, 1998 and 1974. My two favourites were 1998 and 1974, which may reveal a tendancy for my palate to enjoy older wines, or indicate the capacity of Musar to age gracefully and gain in complexity with time. or a bit of both, plus the individual quality of these vintages.

On the right are the modernised cellars of Musar at Ghazir, north of Beirut. I expect that I shall return to the topic of Musar and include its very unusual and remarkable whites at a future date. And also to Vega Sicila, old-style Riojas (not all of which are necessarily good!) and the whole subject of wines that stand apart from the masses. 

Creative motorcycle riding

I am not suggesting that this way of riding a bike should be tried by everybody, but it happens to be a real picture of Rollie Free, who broke the US national motorcycle speed limit in 1948 on the Bonneville Salt Flats riding a Vincent Black Lightning. Free had made average speeds of 148.6 mph (239.1 kph) during test runs and decided to reduce drag by lying flat along the bike in the place where the saddle should have been, as well as stripping down to his bathing trunks and, apparently, sandals. He kept some kind of crash helmet on though (or is it a bathing cap?). This got him up to an average of 150.3 mph (241.9 kph) over the mile run. To see where he was going, Free followed a black stripe painted on the salt. In 1950 he went even faster, averaging 156.58, but he abandoned the bathing suit act, luckily for him as he crashed at one point. A hell of a brave man!

Then we have this totally weird Ben Biker act, which took place in Germany, and very likely nazi Germany by the look of the photograph (the nazis loved allusions to the Roman Empire) and the probable date of the BMW machines used. From this pictire I cannot quite figure out how he actually made the thing work. Where are the controls in terms of acceleration and braking? Maybe it was just a stunt for the picture.

How to carry a passenger comfortably on a bike has always presented a major challenge. Here is an original solution that has the added advantage of allowing the lady passenger to prepare a little liquid refreshment for herself and the rider whilst having her face (or other parts of her body) caressed by her gentleman friend. She would also be free to reciprocate; that is once she had finished dealing with the liquid refreshments. One expects that the rider avoids taking too many turns while in action in this manner.

I would not recommend trying this technique, any more than the other two, in the presence of members of the police force.

The painting of Eric Fischl

I have yet to see an exhibition of the work of Eric Fischl (painter, sculptor and photographer), and I may have to go to the US to do so, but I find it very interesting, both seductive and, quite regularly, also disturbing. If I wanted to simplify and classify (both of which I hate doing), I would say that Fischl is a worthy follower of Edward Hopper (this shows clearly in the painting above, from 1983), but who has also been tainted by the brush of both Lucien Freud and David Hockney, as well as something of the spirit of Francis Bacon. But the strong sexual charge that many of his paintings carry seems more heterosexual than that which surfaces with the last two aforementioned painters. 

This work, from 2001, clearly still shows the Hopper influence, but sexual liberation has come to stay. Part of a series featuring a bed and a chair (the latter with its characteristic, carefully painted pattern fabric, is present in every painting of this series), it is called "Bed, Chair, Touched". She has clearly been touched, but by whom...? There is usually more a shade of mystery in Fischl's work as well as a strong sense of voyeurism. Here is another work from the same series.

The strangeness of the scene and the atmosphere is palpable here. The painting, from 2000, is called "The bed, the chair, changing". Why is the man walking on the chairs, and is his body in scale? (it seems rather small). Is there the urgency of desire in his movement, or is something else being suggested. It could be scene from a Hitchcock film. The handling of paint, lighting and colour are all admirable in any case.

The mystery deepens with the third painting I have selected from the series. Or does it? In a way, this scene could be more everyday that the previous one. You never quite know where you are with Fischl, which adds a permanent tension to what are otherwise very carefully (and brilliantly) painted scenes in an almost classically figurative mode.

In more recent paintings, like this one from 2006, the use of photography as a first stage for his paintings becomes even more obvious. And perhaps also the mystery recedes, at least in the series related to beach scenes and summer holiday or weekend life. The body, female or male, is almost always central as a theme.

The body is shown as it is, ageing or overweight, as in the work of Lucien Freud, but with less harshness and a far more sensual feel to the painting. The above work is from 2009. The theme of ageing seems to become more and more of a preoccupation in fact as in this painting from 2006, from the series "Scenes from late Paradise".

His compostion also owes a lot to photography, and in particular the apparently unframed (or barely framed in apparence, but in fact carefully composed), snapshot kind. Looking at Fischl's waterpaint work, the freedom of the brush work is greater and the feeling becomes more spontaneous, as it needs to be with this "instant" medium.

I may well return to Fischl's work, perhaps when I have actually seen some other than through photographs. I would also like to investigate connections with Bonnard and Degas, amongst others.

Or even with a 19th century "pompier" like Bougereau, who clearly dealt in what I suppose we might call today "soft porn".

If you want to see more of Eric Fischl's work for yourselves, here is the link to his web site: http://www.ericfischl.com/

Cross-dressing ancestors

The practice of dressing up as somebody from the opposite sex does not particularly fascinate me, but, I suppose, whatever turns you on....!


It is quite interesting though to look at what have been matters of current and regular behaviour, imposed by parents on their young offspring even in quite recent times. Here are a couple of examples from my own family, which show how it was, even in the early part of the 20th century, the "done thing" to dress small boys as if they were girls.

This is my father, who was born in 1906, and who must have been aged around three years old at the time. When I think about the war he waged against me for my "beatle" haircut in the early 1960's, not to mention my rapid slide towards the Stones a couple of years later! This was Pretty Things stuff in about 1909. Here's another one from what must have been the same session...

Seemingly it was only at about the age of five that boys of this generation (and, possibly, social group), started to be dressed like boys. Here is a picture of him as a page for a wedding, a few years later (he is the smallest one on the far right!)....

Going back to the 19th century, this habit was probably even more widespread. Below is a series of photos of my maternal grandfather, which show the gradual shift from being dressed as a girl, to having boy's clothing while retaining long hair, and finally to the then accepted apparel and hair style (more or less) for a young man.  I am sure that someone can come up with a smart theory for all of this. I find it quite touching, as well as ironic when I remember the hard time these generations gave me for my seemingly (to them, and much later) eccentric dressing habits.

Which Robert Parker do I read?

Parker is quite a common surname, and there are several famous bearers of this name. Apart from the Parker pen which I was given by my parents as a symbolic gift when I first was packed off to boarding school at the age of 7, the one that has made the biggest impression on me was undoubtedly Charlie "Yardbird" Parker the brilliant and tragic alto saxophone player who moved jazz along by several decades as from the late 1940's. We may return to him in the future.

If we narrow the field down to the Parkers whose first name is Robert, the only one I read (and very much enjoy) is the late, regretted, Robert B. Parker, the very prolific author of crime novels, not to mention the odd western and so on. Robert B. Parker died just over a year ago and this made (still makes) me sad, although I didn't know the man. He produced over 60 novels and disciplined himself to write 5 pages every single day. His writing was (is, as it lives on!) of the classic, sometimes minimalistic US crime vein that has more than a hint of Chandler to it. But, alongside the pared-down, punchy and often funny dialogues, it also shows great sensitiviy to personal issues and Parker's characters are quite unforgettable.

I have just read his "Back Story" for the second time and highly recommend it to to anyone wanting to make a start with Parker. Quite a few of his books have been translated into French, but I cannot vouch for the translations as I read him in English. Spenser, Hawk, Jesse Stone and Sunny Randall (his woman detective) are all in my pantheon of crime heroes.

I will write some more about this Robert Parker in the future. I understand that he has a homonym who writes about wine. The odd thing is that apparently they both like dogs.

Read on....

My tenth bike was a Moto Guzzi Le Mans 1

A Moto Guzzi Le Mans Mk1

There was a gap of a few years between the Norton Commando Fastback and this bike, due to the fact that I undertook moving from England to France and attempting to rebuild a couple of houses that had previously been abandoned wrecks. The first was in the French Alps, the second in South-West France, between Bergerac and Agen. This, plus work and a growing family life, including the birth of my daughter, used up all of my scant finances and most of my energy. So bikes were put on hold until the circumstances changed and made it possible to buy and ride one again.

This was the second new machine that I owned. It was the same powder blue colour as the one in the photograph. The only modification I made was to change the original hard seat for one like that to be seen on this machine, which was much more comfortable and had a higher step-up to the passenger part.This held you much better when accelerating. I also changed the rear shocks, which were not great, to Marzocchis. The braking, which used a very original coupled system on the foot pedal that meant that you couldn't lock the rear brake, was fantastic and the engine was full of torque and pretty solid. Did a couple of hill-climbs with this bike, as well as a lot of long rides. The riding position was pretty ideal for all of that.

I bought it in the UK but rode it mostly in France. I really loved it and it must have been, to date, the machine with which I have covered the greatest number of kilometres, during the years between 1978 and 1981. Think I'll have to get another one some day!

Rugby 6 nations: what counts most?

After the first series of games held this past weekend, in this 2011 edition of Europe's annual international tournament, it is timely to ask a few questions about what really counts in this competition, especially in a year that will also see a world cup tournament being held on the other side of the world in New Zealand in October and November.

The showings of the three major teams from the southern hemisphere, New Zealand, Australia and South Africa (in that order according to their current perfomances), added to those of Europe's sides on their summer tours, have left one with the distinct feeling that it is going to be very hard for any European nation to beat any of the above three, with the possible exception of England who seems to have a certain ascendancy over Australia, having beaten them twice recently. The speed of excecution and skills of both the New Zealanders and the Australians are very impressive, the the All Blacks also have a very good scrum. The fact that they will be playing at home must make them clear favourites for the world cup. Australia tend to be on alternating current, but were very impressive against France. South Africa's second team lost to Scotland, but the main team dominated England. Neither Wales nor Ireland looked consistent or coherent enough to make any southern team worry too much.

So England and France are the two favourites for the 6 nations competition, and both won this weekend, without being particularly convicing. Ireland were very lucky to beat Italy, the weakest team in the competition. England's victory against Wales was probably the best performance, as it was played on Wales' home ground in front of a hostile crowd. And Wales often looked dangerous, although too individual to really test the English defense. The English scrum, usually a strong point with this team, dominated the Welsh one. What is new with England is the sparkle in their back line, with a string of creative players like Foden, Ashton, Flood, Cueto and Hape. They not only carry the ball well and create, they hold on to it for longer than they used to and they are much faster.  Their victory against Wales showed these strengths, but they will need to dominate more to pose a threat to the top teams down south.

Tom Wood, the English flanker, who played a convincing game on Froday evening

France also dominated their home match against Scotland, but it was not as easy a victory as it could have been, since they lost too many balls on turn-overs. Admittedly they also won  quite a few like this and scored from them. Their scrum is excellent and has been together for some time. The most worryng part about their game is their attack. They constantly change players and seem to have little cohesion in the back line as a result. Many of the best backs in France play for Toulouse, but for some reason the French trainer never fields more than one of these at a time. The best player on the field in the back line was Medard, who is from Toulouse. Yet there were few well-constructed attacks during their game against Scotland.

So, is it important for these teams to win the 6 nations? I don't think so. Winning games clearly builds confidence, but confidence is not enough. Look what happened to France in their summer tour games against South Africa and Argentina, having won all of their games in the 2010 6-nations competition! What is far more important, in view of the coming World Cup, is the manner in which they play and the cohesion of the teams. To hope to rival "down under" against the likes of New Zealand and Australia, they must play fast, hold on the ball for long periods and vary their game constantly. England are closer to doing this than France for the moment. We shall see how both teams fare in the remaining games. The game between England and France, to be played at Twickenham, could be interesting.

Meet if god wishes

A lot of funny stuff lands in the spam box, but this one got through to my normal mail box. Maybe the hand of god?

InC'hallah.com claims to offer one "a meeting of a lifetime". I wonder whether one has to be a muslim to click onto destiny? A "meeting" organised by God must be something special, no?

Wine of the week 11

Is a very special Vouvray, and you get the vigneron with it! I spoke about Vouvray in a more general way quite recently

(http://morethanjustwine.blogspot.com/2010/12/vouvray-its-commercial-foibles-and-how.html),

following a tasting of some of the excellent 2009's, as well as some amazing older vintages from this Loire appellation that produces only white wine, but virtually all kinds of white wine: sparkling, dry, demi-sec and downright sweet.

This wine is, technically a demi-sec (semi-sweet) as it contains 17 grams per litre of residual sugar, but it has such intense acidity and power that it will seem virtually dry to many. The wine's name is La Cuvée des Sens, from the 2008 vintage, and it certainly thrills the senses. It is produced (not every year, I understand) by Laurent Kraft, one of the best of the young generation of producers from Vouvray. It comes from a tiny plot of 110 year-old vines situated right in the heart of the appellation, in an area that is considered to be its prime part, called Le Bourg. It is hard to make out on this map but it is smack in the middle of the base-line of the yellow area, just to the right of the small town of Vouvray and overlooking the valley.

The wine took about 9 months to ferment to this stage and was then raised in oak barrels for another 2 years. It has just been released and Laurent hand-signs it with the vintage added on the back. I found the wine to be quite rich in flavour, with it's power and intensity moderated by its glorious acidity. The slow oxydation produced by the long ageing has added terrific complexity, making it quite difficult to describe the flavours. Suffice it to say that these are delicious and lingering. The wine simply vibrates on the tongue as if it were filled with a soft, pulsating electrical charge of very low voltage. I am definitely going to buy a few bottles of this, especially since Laurent sells it for a very reasonable price of around 10 euros, which is incredibly low for a wine of this quality. He says that he wants as many people as possible to be able to try it. I only wish there were more producers like him! 

You may find it hard to locate his wines, all of which are good to excellent. Here is his website: http://www.laurent-kraft.com/