Mr. Roth in his Letting Go era.
In February, on the outskirts of Barcelona, as I foraged into the Penedes and Priorat the scotch broom was fluorescent and the almond trees uncommonly early in flower and the ros cava uncommonly drinkable. And it was a good thing too! Most of the wines, white or red in the still category were fairly undrinkable. I never thought I would say, thank God for cava because I never could tolerate them or the sulfur headaches the next days.
However.....
Agusti Torello Mata Brut Rosat from the Trepat grape. Though my notes on it were predictably poor, I was too busy drinking; I remember it as being quite dry with hints of raspberry, refreshing and great to wash away the mega Priorat wine's density. Next up for best was the Bodegas Naveran Rose Brut Cava. This was a 2004, very onion skin in color, happily austere.
I was going to go on to tell you that the best red I had, greedily guzzled after a trip to wine challenged gorgeous mountainous (if ravaged by the rich wanting to plant grapes) was a 1999 Todonia at the tapas place reliant on canned goods, Quimet Quimet, after being scammed by a taxi driver yet still made it to the place and the wine before closing time for lunch... but I was distracted by yet another event I wasn't invited to. No, it wasn't yet another barolo extravaganza but the celebration of Philip Roth at Columbia.
The New York Times had a bit of a write up end graph struck me:.
+++Between the discussions, a recording of an interview with Mr. Roth played, in which he remembered being concerned about how his parents would react to the bitter controversy that he knew was going to envelop Portnoys Complaint. I felt I had to prepare them, he said. So he met with them at a restaurant, where he told them that it appears its going to cause a sensation, and that they would be besieged by journalists.
Only after his mothers death did his father reveal that after leaving the restaurant, his mother burst into tears and said, He has delusions of grandeur. Only after his mothers death did his father reveal that after leaving the restaurant, his mother burst into tears and said, He has delusions of grandeur. +++
I realize that Mr. Roth, one of my literary Gods, the go-to writer when I need to remind myself (often) that I need to write has been sorely neglected as a topic in these pages. Not only do we now have the same publisher (because Houghton Mifflin bough Harcourt we are under the same roof, a thought which thrills me.) but our mother's seemed to have read the same Jewish Mother phrase book.
« March 2008 | Main | May 2008 »
April 2008
04/12/2008
Finding Comfort in Cava and Philip Roth
Mr. Roth in his Letting Go era.
In February, on the outskirts of Barcelona, as I foraged into the Penedes and Priorat the scotch broom was fluorescent and the almond trees uncommonly early in flower and the ros cava uncommonly drinkable. And it was a good thing too! Most of the wines, white or red in the still category were fairly undrinkable. I never thought I would say, thank God for cava because I never could tolerate them or the sulfur headaches the next days.
However.....
Agusti Torello Mata Brut Rosat from the Trepat grape. Though my notes on it were predictably poor, I was too busy drinking; I remember it as being quite dry with hints of raspberry, refreshing and great to wash away the mega Priorat wine's density. Next up for best was the Bodegas Naveran Rose Brut Cava. This was a 2004, very onion skin in color, happily austere.
I was going to go on to tell you that the best red I had, greedily guzzled after a trip to wine challenged gorgeous mountainous (if ravaged by the rich wanting to plant grapes) was a 1999 Todonia at the tapas place reliant on canned goods, Quimet Quimet, after being scammed by a taxi driver yet still made it to the place and the wine before closing time for lunch... but I was distracted by yet another event I wasn't invited to. No, it wasn't yet another barolo extravaganza but the celebration of Philip Roth at Columbia.
The New York Times had a bit of a write up end graph struck me:.
+++Between the discussions, a recording of an interview with Mr. Roth played, in which he remembered being concerned about how his parents would react to the bitter controversy that he knew was going to envelop Portnoys Complaint. I felt I had to prepare them, he said. So he met with them at a restaurant, where he told them that it appears its going to cause a sensation, and that they would be besieged by journalists.
Only after his mothers death did his father reveal that after leaving the restaurant, his mother burst into tears and said, He has delusions of grandeur. Only after his mothers death did his father reveal that after leaving the restaurant, his mother burst into tears and said, He has delusions of grandeur. +++
I realize that Mr. Roth, one of my literary Gods, the go-to writer when I need to remind myself (often) that I need to write has been sorely neglected as a topic in these pages. Not only do we now have the same publisher (because Houghton Mifflin bough Harcourt we are under the same roof, a thought which thrills me.) but our mother's seemed to have read the same Jewish Mother phrase book.
Finding Comfort in Cava and Philip Roth
Mr. Roth in his Letting Go era.
In February, on the outskirts of Barcelona, as I foraged into the Penedes and Priorat the scotch broom was fluorescent and the almond trees uncommonly early in flower and the ros cava uncommonly drinkable. And it was a good thing too! Most of the wines, white or red in the still category were fairly undrinkable. I never thought I would say, thank God for cava because I never could tolerate them or the sulfur headaches the next days.
However.....
Agusti Torello Mata Brut Rosat from the Trepat grape. Though my notes on it were predictably poor, I was too busy drinking; I remember it as being quite dry with hints of raspberry, refreshing and great to wash away the mega Priorat wine's density. Next up for best was the Bodegas Naveran Rose Brut Cava. This was a 2004, very onion skin in color, happily austere.
I was going to go on to tell you that the best red I had, greedily guzzled after a trip to wine challenged gorgeous mountainous (if ravaged by the rich wanting to plant grapes) was a 1999 Todonia at the tapas place reliant on canned goods, Quimet Quimet, after being scammed by a taxi driver yet still made it to the place and the wine before closing time for lunch... but I was distracted by yet another event I wasn't invited to. No, it wasn't yet another barolo extravaganza but the celebration of Philip Roth at Columbia.
The New York Times had a bit of a write up end graph struck me:.
+++Between the discussions, a recording of an interview with Mr. Roth played, in which he remembered being concerned about how his parents would react to the bitter controversy that he knew was going to envelop Portnoys Complaint. I felt I had to prepare them, he said. So he met with them at a restaurant, where he told them that it appears its going to cause a sensation, and that they would be besieged by journalists.
Only after his mothers death did his father reveal that after leaving the restaurant, his mother burst into tears and said, He has delusions of grandeur. Only after his mothers death did his father reveal that after leaving the restaurant, his mother burst into tears and said, He has delusions of grandeur. +++
I realize that Mr. Roth, one of my literary Gods, the go-to writer when I need to remind myself (often) that I need to write has been sorely neglected as a topic in these pages. Not only do we now have the same publisher (because Houghton Mifflin bough Harcourt we are under the same roof, a thought which thrills me.) but our mother's seemed to have read the same Jewish Mother phrase book.
04/09/2008
04/08/2008
04/06/2008
04/01/2008
Nicolas Joly on Copper
Ah, copper. That old bugaboo of the biodynamic world. Take a look at the fiery comments on the previous entry and its easy to see the emotion about the bordelaise mixture --the fungicide originally created as a treatment for downy mildew Plasmopara viticola has been commercially produced for vineyards since 1885.
Yes. Copper is toxic. But the question is, are the amounts used in Biodynamics safe or not?
So I turned to Nicolas Joly, the famed Biodynamist and leader of the Return to Terroir group. His answer to me popped up in my in-box this morning.
Nicolas and his horse, taken at Le Coule in the winter of '06.
Hello Alice,
About copper. it is very easy to understand. It is a metal. Its archetypal forces are Venus . Dilutions of cooper or plants which are grown by laboratories on soil saturated with cooper, is/are used as a therapy to cure problems on many people. So it is used as medicine more and more often in alternative medicine because modern farming have almost totally destroyed the capacity of food to cure people (food should be considered as medicine). So all metals have a part to play for our health.
Then comes the question of quantity. How much too much of a good thing is a problem.
We need oxygen, but too much oxygen will burn your lungs very fast. Should you for that reason forbid oxygen?
On vineyard were BD is practiced, where the soil are alive, where the living elements of the soil can help its " digestion " 3 to 5 kg of cooper per hectare is a plus. That means as bouillie bordelaise is concentrated at 2O% of cooper (8O%chalk ) you can use up to 2OKG of bouilllie per year per hectare . Which is more than enough; which all BD people find sufficien.t I use from 2kg to 6 per year. 6 for the very high mildew pressure.
Last this story on the toxicity of cooper is pushed by the chemical industry that has more and more difficulty to sell their poisons.
Last, get hold of the 2 hours broadcast of 2 weeks ago ( a DVD is available ) on Monsanto done by Arte the 5th TV channel very well-known in France and Germany. I would not think such a thing would come on TV. All the tricks, lies, threatening done by Monsanto and their government connections. Confessions also. Fabulous. It is a must !!!
See you somewhere
Nicolas
++
Of course, scientists need proof. And from what I can see no one on the BioD side is doing any tests on the veracity of low dosage safety.
The truth I am sure, like most, is somewhere in between. But my emotions side with Joly. The best BD farmers will use as little copper as possible. Clearly in the wet 2007, there were more treatments than in other years. However, I trust that the best Biodynamists still used the treatment reasonably while others were spendthrift.
I imagine its frequent use inspired the film Les Raisins de la Mort (1978, Jacques Rollin) where the culprit, with its telltale blue color, is some vine 'pesticide.'
Why they are spraying this stuff after harvest is another question but the auteur, clearly wasn't a winemaker.
Clearly not a biodynamic vineyard.
The pesticide turns the vineworkers into oozing sored zombies with leaking brains. All one has to do is either be exposed to the spray or exchange some sort of bodily fluid. The film is classic shtick, I got my copy from Amazon, but I do wonder about where the inspiration for its hysteria originated.
Fun, nevertheless.
And then there was this late breaking news: I was drinking a glass of the puppy breathed and exuberant Olivier Cousin 2004 Le Breton, eating steamed asparagus (oh god, who would have thought! for those of you wooses (sp?) I survived the match) and read a very timely piece in the New York Times about electricity and plants.
<>
Powdery mildew begone? Perhaps. But I wonder, perhaps this is what today's current ( no pun intended) biodynamists (and I'm not talking about those who wave horns above heads like flags) are trying to do in other ways of magnetism?
Nicolas and his horse, taken at Le Coule in the winter of '06.
Hello Alice,
About copper. it is very easy to understand. It is a metal. Its archetypal forces are Venus . Dilutions of cooper or plants which are grown by laboratories on soil saturated with cooper, is/are used as a therapy to cure problems on many people. So it is used as medicine more and more often in alternative medicine because modern farming have almost totally destroyed the capacity of food to cure people (food should be considered as medicine). So all metals have a part to play for our health.
Then comes the question of quantity. How much too much of a good thing is a problem.
We need oxygen, but too much oxygen will burn your lungs very fast. Should you for that reason forbid oxygen?
On vineyard were BD is practiced, where the soil are alive, where the living elements of the soil can help its " digestion " 3 to 5 kg of cooper per hectare is a plus. That means as bouillie bordelaise is concentrated at 2O% of cooper (8O%chalk ) you can use up to 2OKG of bouilllie per year per hectare . Which is more than enough; which all BD people find sufficien.t I use from 2kg to 6 per year. 6 for the very high mildew pressure.
Last this story on the toxicity of cooper is pushed by the chemical industry that has more and more difficulty to sell their poisons.
Last, get hold of the 2 hours broadcast of 2 weeks ago ( a DVD is available ) on Monsanto done by Arte the 5th TV channel very well-known in France and Germany. I would not think such a thing would come on TV. All the tricks, lies, threatening done by Monsanto and their government connections. Confessions also. Fabulous. It is a must !!!
See you somewhere
Nicolas
++
Of course, scientists need proof. And from what I can see no one on the BioD side is doing any tests on the veracity of low dosage safety.
The truth I am sure, like most, is somewhere in between. But my emotions side with Joly. The best BD farmers will use as little copper as possible. Clearly in the wet 2007, there were more treatments than in other years. However, I trust that the best Biodynamists still used the treatment reasonably while others were spendthrift.
I imagine its frequent use inspired the film Les Raisins de la Mort (1978, Jacques Rollin) where the culprit, with its telltale blue color, is some vine 'pesticide.'
Why they are spraying this stuff after harvest is another question but the auteur, clearly wasn't a winemaker.
Clearly not a biodynamic vineyard.
The pesticide turns the vineworkers into oozing sored zombies with leaking brains. All one has to do is either be exposed to the spray or exchange some sort of bodily fluid. The film is classic shtick, I got my copy from Amazon, but I do wonder about where the inspiration for its hysteria originated.
Fun, nevertheless.
And then there was this late breaking news: I was drinking a glass of the puppy breathed and exuberant Olivier Cousin 2004 Le Breton, eating steamed asparagus (oh god, who would have thought! for those of you wooses (sp?) I survived the match) and read a very timely piece in the New York Times about electricity and plants.
<Nicolas Joly on Copper
Ah, copper. That old bugaboo of the biodynamic world. Take a look at the fiery comments on the previous entry and its easy to see the emotion about the bordelaise mixture --the fungicide originally created as a treatment for downy mildew Plasmopara viticola has been commercially produced for vineyards since 1885.
Yes. Copper is toxic. But the question is, are the amounts used in Biodynamics safe or not?
So I turned to Nicolas Joly, the famed Biodynamist and leader of the Return to Terroir group. His answer to me popped up in my in-box this morning.
Nicolas and his horse, taken at Le Coule in the winter of '06.
Hello Alice,
About copper. it is very easy to understand. It is a metal. Its archetypal forces are Venus . Dilutions of cooper or plants which are grown by laboratories on soil saturated with cooper, is/are used as a therapy to cure problems on many people. So it is used as medicine more and more often in alternative medicine because modern farming have almost totally destroyed the capacity of food to cure people (food should be considered as medicine). So all metals have a part to play for our health.
Then comes the question of quantity. How much too much of a good thing is a problem.
We need oxygen, but too much oxygen will burn your lungs very fast. Should you for that reason forbid oxygen?
On vineyard were BD is practiced, where the soil are alive, where the living elements of the soil can help its " digestion " 3 to 5 kg of cooper per hectare is a plus. That means as bouillie bordelaise is concentrated at 2O% of cooper (8O%chalk ) you can use up to 2OKG of bouilllie per year per hectare . Which is more than enough; which all BD people find sufficien.t I use from 2kg to 6 per year. 6 for the very high mildew pressure.
Last this story on the toxicity of cooper is pushed by the chemical industry that has more and more difficulty to sell their poisons.
Last, get hold of the 2 hours broadcast of 2 weeks ago ( a DVD is available ) on Monsanto done by Arte the 5th TV channel very well-known in France and Germany. I would not think such a thing would come on TV. All the tricks, lies, threatening done by Monsanto and their government connections. Confessions also. Fabulous. It is a must !!!
See you somewhere
Nicolas
++
Of course, scientists need proof. And from what I can see no one on the BioD side is doing any tests on the veracity of low dosage safety.
The truth I am sure, like most, is somewhere in between. But my emotions side with Joly. The best BD farmers will use as little copper as possible. Clearly in the wet 2007, there were more treatments than in other years. However, I trust that the best Biodynamists still used the treatment reasonably while others were spendthrift.
I imagine its frequent use inspired the film Les Raisins de la Mort (1978, Jacques Rollin) where the culprit, with its telltale blue color, is some vine 'pesticide.'
Why they are spraying this stuff after harvest is another question but the auteur, clearly wasn't a winemaker.
Clearly not a biodynamic vineyard.
The pesticide turns the vineworkers into oozing sored zombies with leaking brains. All one has to do is either be exposed to the spray or exchange some sort of bodily fluid. The film is classic shtick, I got my copy from Amazon, but I do wonder about where the inspiration for its hysteria originated.
Fun, nevertheless.
And then there was this late breaking news: I was drinking a glass of the puppy breathed and exuberant Olivier Cousin 2004 Le Breton, eating steamed asparagus (oh god, who would have thought! for those of you wooses (sp?) I survived the match) and read a very timely piece in the New York Times about electricity and plants.
<>
Powdery mildew begone? Perhaps. But I wonder, perhaps this is what today's current ( no pun intended) biodynamists (and I'm not talking about those who wave horns above heads like flags) are trying to do in other ways of magnetism?
Nicolas and his horse, taken at Le Coule in the winter of '06.
Hello Alice,
About copper. it is very easy to understand. It is a metal. Its archetypal forces are Venus . Dilutions of cooper or plants which are grown by laboratories on soil saturated with cooper, is/are used as a therapy to cure problems on many people. So it is used as medicine more and more often in alternative medicine because modern farming have almost totally destroyed the capacity of food to cure people (food should be considered as medicine). So all metals have a part to play for our health.
Then comes the question of quantity. How much too much of a good thing is a problem.
We need oxygen, but too much oxygen will burn your lungs very fast. Should you for that reason forbid oxygen?
On vineyard were BD is practiced, where the soil are alive, where the living elements of the soil can help its " digestion " 3 to 5 kg of cooper per hectare is a plus. That means as bouillie bordelaise is concentrated at 2O% of cooper (8O%chalk ) you can use up to 2OKG of bouilllie per year per hectare . Which is more than enough; which all BD people find sufficien.t I use from 2kg to 6 per year. 6 for the very high mildew pressure.
Last this story on the toxicity of cooper is pushed by the chemical industry that has more and more difficulty to sell their poisons.
Last, get hold of the 2 hours broadcast of 2 weeks ago ( a DVD is available ) on Monsanto done by Arte the 5th TV channel very well-known in France and Germany. I would not think such a thing would come on TV. All the tricks, lies, threatening done by Monsanto and their government connections. Confessions also. Fabulous. It is a must !!!
See you somewhere
Nicolas
++
Of course, scientists need proof. And from what I can see no one on the BioD side is doing any tests on the veracity of low dosage safety.
The truth I am sure, like most, is somewhere in between. But my emotions side with Joly. The best BD farmers will use as little copper as possible. Clearly in the wet 2007, there were more treatments than in other years. However, I trust that the best Biodynamists still used the treatment reasonably while others were spendthrift.
I imagine its frequent use inspired the film Les Raisins de la Mort (1978, Jacques Rollin) where the culprit, with its telltale blue color, is some vine 'pesticide.'
Why they are spraying this stuff after harvest is another question but the auteur, clearly wasn't a winemaker.
Clearly not a biodynamic vineyard.
The pesticide turns the vineworkers into oozing sored zombies with leaking brains. All one has to do is either be exposed to the spray or exchange some sort of bodily fluid. The film is classic shtick, I got my copy from Amazon, but I do wonder about where the inspiration for its hysteria originated.
Fun, nevertheless.
And then there was this late breaking news: I was drinking a glass of the puppy breathed and exuberant Olivier Cousin 2004 Le Breton, eating steamed asparagus (oh god, who would have thought! for those of you wooses (sp?) I survived the match) and read a very timely piece in the New York Times about electricity and plants.
<
Search
I'm hunting the Leon Trotskys, the Philip Roths, the Chaucers and the Edith Whartons of the wine world. I want them natural and most of all, I want them to speak the truth even if we argue. With this messiah thing going on, I'm trying to swell the ranks of those who crave the differences in each vintage, celebrate nuance and desire wines that make them think, laugh, and feel. Welcome.
And, if you'd like a signed copy, feel free to contact me directly.
May 2013
Links I like
Isabelle's wine blog; the first MW to champion natural
Elizabeth's Great Italian Blog
Jamie Goode
Tom Wark's fermentations and the big picture
Eric Asimov's NYT blog: THE POUR
Amy making wine in France LA Gramiere
Jeremy Parzen on Italy
Becky Wasserman needs to write more
Jon Bonne's blog
Peter gets trashed on Champagne
Jimbo's Loire Blog
Joe's Cancer Chronicles
Bert's Vineyard Visits
Wit from White, Down Under
Alfonso's poetic blog
DefinititiveInk (from Josh who pushed me to blog)
Good stuff from the west from Ken
Bert's Terroir Travels en France
Great stuff about Rioja from Tom Perry
Dr. Vino's site
Brooklyn Guy's Food and Wine Blog
Henry's Take on Booze
Fiona Beckett's take on Nat from London
Andreas Keller Olfaction
Levi's Brain
Kermit!
Melissa Clark's blog and feedbag
Not a blog, more of a site, but Pierre's has a great overview of vin nature
Walter Speller's take on (mostly) Italy
Olif's
Hardy's!
Bruno's insider food buzz for Fes
a lovely assortment of simpatico wine &food
Joseph D in Krakow
Sylvie & Friends
the great Berthomeau, one of the top French blogs
Chambers Street Wines has some great articles, too
Wine Fairy
Truly swell caviste in the 14th, Les Papilles
Recent Comments