Diary of a Riesling Lover

Riesling Redux: April 3 - July 5, 2010

Riesling is something to turn to when the world gets too busy and crazy.

Riesling, especially German Riesling, is not easy, outside of the common push and shove of the marketplace, a tonic to the mad prices of Bordeaux En Primeur this year, which has been the background machine-hum to the following notes.

Cinematic Wines - Pt 6: A Space Odyssey via Astralis (and Sun Ra)

The final Cinematic Wine Series ends with a bang, a BIG BANG: Clarendon Hills Astralis 2002.


The tagline for the original Kubrick film, 2001: A Space Odyssey can equally apply to this amazing red wine from South Australia, Astralis:

Let the Awe and Mystery of a Journey Unlike Any Other Begin

Valued at £200 in London, this is an intense drinking experience now until 2050. Yes, you read right. Best drinking around 2025 - 2035, my friends.


What were you doing in 1988?


Not reading a blog on the internet, I bet. What do you think you will be doing in 2028?? Hopefully drinking Astralis (well, that is my wish for you anyway).


Kubrick's idea of the future in 2001: A Space Odyssey has many hopes and fears about the future, and now, long after 2001, the film is beguiling for its foresight and ability to even imagine such ideas in 1968.


The same applies with Astralis.


Astralis is a lot more than Science Fiction. Like all the great wines, this is time and space travel in ideas and potential.


As this is all future for me at this point in time (!), I will leave you with the official tasting notes:

Astralis Syrah

2002 Clarendon Hills Astralis (Shiraz) (98-100)
The 2002 Syrah Astralis Vineyard is akin to midnight oil. A viscous, unctuously-textured, full-bodied wine of remarkable intensity that represents the essence of a particular varietal as well as vineyard, it will need 8-10 years before it begins to develop. It is a legendary Syrah that those lucky enough to taste in its prime (circa 2025-2035) will give the respect it most certainly will demand. Thankfully there are people in the wine world like Roman Bratasiuk who make wines for future generations as opposed to those that offer immediate gratification. But let none of us who care about quality dismiss the purists and non-compromising winemakers such as Bratasiuk who are trying to do something beyond what has ever been accomplished. This may be his finest wine to date. Anticipated maturity: 2015-2050

Link: All 6 posts from Cinematic Wines Series in July

Cinematic Wines - Pt 5: Champagne and Casablanca

As everyone is waiting, stuck in Casablanca, what else is there to do? Might as well drink more Champagne.

Good idea.

Casablanca is soaked in Champagne. Champagne features in nearly more scenes than the film's star, Humphrey Bogart. I'm amazed Champagne isn't featured in the credits as a character.

From the first moment we meet Rick (Humphrey Bogart) playing chess against himself in his saloon, Rick's Cafe Americain, he is seen drinking Champagne in a Marie Antoinette glass.

But of course, he never accepts drinks from anyone else.

"Waiter, a bottle of Veuve Clicquot 1926, a very good wine," orders the Captain for the visiting Nazi Major.

Then there's the bottle of bourbon Rick drinks while he waits for an explanation from his ex-lover Ilsa Lund (Ingrid Bergman).

"Of all the gin joints, in all the towns, in all the world, she walks into mine."

Rick sits in the dark remembering happier times. With the arrival of the Nazis in Paris, Rick, Ilsa and Sam drink through their last three bottles of Mumm Cordon Rouge.

Ilsa would rather pour the Champagne in the garden than let the Nazis drink it.

"Here's looking at you kid," as they toast their last toast together. Ilsa knocks over the Champagne. An ominous sign!

Meanwhile, everybody at Rick's Cafe Americain is drinking non-stop Champagne cocktails, Hennessy Cognac and French 75s.

It doesn't stop until the plane leaves for Lisbon.

Here's looking at you, kid!


Previous Posts in Cinematic Wines Series:
Part 4: Mad Max reds
Part 3: Gerard Depardieu
Part 2: Francis Ford Coppola Director's Cut
Part 1: Bandol and Bardot



Link: Casablanca film review

Cinematic Wines - Pt 4: Mad Max reds

We were somewhere out in the desert when he said, “You know South Australia has the highest ratio of serial killers to population?"

The driver, a travelling winemaker, pointed to the dry hill exposed like a half-buried bone, "They found six people buried just over there."

Riverland, South Australia. This is Mad Max territory.

Out past the Adelaide Hills, the misty home to Grange, and keep driving for a few hours. You get to where there is only orange sandy desert. Then an hour later, endless rows of bright green vines.

The drought, and new sophisticated irrigation practices, are only some of the reasons why Australian wines have gone from an average of 12.5% to 13.5% in the past decade.

Of course, certain influential U.S wine critics don't help when they *cough* consistently give more scores for full-bodied monster truck reds.

Mad Max wines: full-bodied, full-throttle, ball-busting reds.

And it’s not just Australian wines inching up in alcohol. There’s wines from the Napa Valley also averaging at 14.5% alcohol.

Let’s see if this is just a fashion for macho wine or the end of the world is nigh (with Global Warming, who knows?).

But a backlash is brewing from big chain buyers. Marks and Spencer are not the only ones wanting them out. There could be a showdown.

Mz Darkly sez, "No censorship. Each to their own!"

Here are four Mad Max wines that'll stomp in your mouth wearing a black leather suit (if you like that kind of thing, that is):

• Tait The Ball Buster Red 2005 - 15.8% alcohol, Shiraz Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot from the Barossa Valley is a purple bruise of a wine.
• Carnival of Love Shiraz 2005 – winemaker Sparky Marquis’ vivacious personality is apparent in this 15.8% alcohol Knight Rider from McLaren Vale. Ranked number 8 out of 100 in Wine Advocate. 99 points from Robert Parker.
• Shafer Napa Valley Merlot 2005 - 14.5% alcohol - not as high as it has been, but still enough to pack a powerful punch of fruit.
• XVI du President 2006 RED France - 16% alcohol from a hot 2006 vintage in the Catalan Hills.

Don't say I didn't warn you.


Previous Posts in Cinematic Wines Series:
Part 3: Gerard Depardieu
Part 2: Francis Ford Coppola Director's Cut
Part 1: Bandol and Bardot

Cinematic Wines - Pt 3: Gérard Depardieu

"I'd far rather work with wine-makers than actors. They don't talk as much. If you have to explain a film as an actor or director, or even your wine as a winemaker, you lose the mystery.

"It is like asking Mozart where he found all those notes and what made him put them in that particular order."

Unlike Depardieu's famous character, Cyrano de Bergerac, it appears Depardieu's nose has done him well.

With women... and wine.

Since the early 80s, Gérard Depardieu has been making wines in partnership with renegade winemaker, Bernard Magrez. He has seven labels made from vineyards in Bordeaux, Languedoc in the south of France, as well as in Spain, Morocco and Argentina.

Depardieu unashamedly lives large. His wines have a New World taste, even the French wines have a happy, almost jolly, fruit-driven feel.

The Gérard Depardieu Toro Spiritus Sancti - from Spain, Castilla y León, Toro – is a 100% Tempranillo. Very dark and smoky with coffee and toasty oak.

The moral of Cyrano, as well as, Depardieu and his wines?

Be brave, be yourself and LIVE LARGE!!!!!!

Next in Cinematic Wine Series: WWS goes full throttle to the end of the world.

Previous Posts in Cinematic Wines Series:
Part 2: Francis Ford Coppola Director's Cut
Part 1: Bandol and Bardot

Link: Gerard Depardieu's nose for wine

Cinematic Wines - Pt 2: Francis Ford Coppola

Francis Ford Coppola Director's Cut Russian River Valley Chardonnay 2007

Apocalypse Now? I anticipated bombs of creamy fruit with splinters of big American oak. Instead, the Director's Cut shows a skillful edit of the blockbuster Californian Chardonnay.

The label gives you an idea of what's inside. The label is a Zoetrope of a girl skipping (zoetropes produced the illusion of movement in the days before film).

There's nothing static about this wine. It's non-stop and zippy: demanding to be enjoyed now before you're sleeping with the fishes. Racy, fresh palate – just like sinking your teeth into a green apple – balanced by a smooth malo-lactic fermentation and a slight vanillin oak touch.

There's a lot of sunshine here. Rather surprisingly, from a Director renowned for exploring man, darkly.

For more in the Cinematic Wine Series:

Previous Post: Bandol and Bardot
Link: Francis Ford Coppola presents (the wine portfolio)

Cinematic Wines - Pt 1: Bandol and Bardot

Brigitte Bardot as Camille Javal in Le Mepris, 1963 (Contempt)

Camille Javal: You like all of me? My mouth? My eyes? My nose? And my ears?
Paul Javal: Yes, all of you.
Camille Javal: Then you love me... totally?
Paul Javal: Yes. Totally... tenderly... tragically.

Welcome to Part I in Wine Woman Song's 6-part July series on cinematic wines. This summer WWS will bring you wines that live in full Cinemascope so you can make the most of the sunshine.


Let's start with the brightest film of the twentieth century, Godard's Le Mépris (Contempt) and a glass of Rosé from Bandol AOC.


Brigitte Bardot's natural home is St Tropez, near Bandol, in Provence, which is famous for it's dry Rosé. It's a perfect match to the film, Le Mépris, a caustic analysis of a marriage breakdown filmed in scorching Technicolor.


Starring Brigitte Bardot, the film is composed in bold splashes of red, yellow, white, and blue. This is Godard painting with Technicolor.


If you imagine how crystal refracts sunlight into its primary colours, you could say Bandol Rosé is a crystal. A lost crystal. I had to go on a search to find it.


Five different wine shops later, I found it.


When I found it, I was dazzled. Totally... tenderly... tragically.


Domaine Tempier Bandol Rose 2007 £16.99
Notes: Rose petal, orange peel, and the dry summer smells of the Mediterranean. Instantly put a smile on my face. It had no sweet aftertaste, but dry, soft and mouthwatering. The dryness zips over the palate. Feel alive again after Winter. I'd be very happy to have this without food, but I can't help but imagine - a la St Tropez - a sunny afternoon with a plate of fresh calamari.


Next post in Cinematic Wines series: Apocalypse Now? Stay tuned.


Link: Le Mepris (1963) IMDb
Link: Bandol Wine Festival, Fête du Millésime in December 2008

woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown

Rossy de Palma!


One of the stars from my all-time favourite film, Pedro Almodóvar's Woman on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios), now has her own fragrance:


Rossy de Palma Eau de Protection by Etat Libre d'Orange.


Rossy de Palma wanted her fragrance to be based on red roses.


Sure, Eau de Protection has roses.


Red roses an angry lover might throw back in your face.


Don't try to get yourself out of this one – thorns, blood and scattered rose petals on the bitumen – you arsehole.


It's not your usual pretty rose-based perfume. And it's all the better for it.


Angular, sharp and edgy - hey, it is Rossy de Palma's signature scent after all.


So it's also ironic, cool and has plenty of sly wit.


A rich hippy patchouli note is toughened up by a good hit of black pepper, astringent ginger and tannic bergamot (Earl Grey tea).


*Breathe*


Can you handle it?


Are you sure?


It's a Spanish rose, darkly.


Mz Darkly sez, mmmmm me likey.


Actually, compared to Etat Libre d'Orange's other perfume, Secretions Magnifique, it's a real sweet heart.


"Scratch a cynic, find a romantic"...??


Link: WWS Secretions Magnifique: blood, sex - magic?
Link: Rossy de Palma Eau de Protection
Link: Pedro Almodóvar y las Mujeres (Spanish)

Marlene Dietrich and David Bowie

"Dancing, music, champagne.

The best way to forget...

until you find something you want to remember."


– Marlene Dietrich, in Just A Gigolo, Schöner Gigolo, armer Gigolo (1978).

Link: Schöner Gigolo, armer Gigolo (1978)

Let's Get Lost: Chet Baker by Bruce Weber

"Some people don't have enough ears to tell the difference"

- Chet Baker in Bruce Weber's documentary, Let's Get Lost, when asked if people confused him with Miles Davis, and every other trumpet player from the era.

An immaculate woman in her 70s sat in front of me in the cinema, by herself, dressed in a summer suit with her ash-blonde coiffure blow dried to candy floss perfection.


It is 2.30 in the afternoon.


With perfect red manicured nails, she kept checking the mirror in her gold compact.


And then I realized, she was wiping away tears - only fifteen minutes into the film.


Almost blue.
Almost doing the things we used to do,
there's a girl here
and she's almost you.


Oh! Why the tears?

Perhaps she was once one of the girls in the film? Maybe she knew Chet, and there was a time when she happily flirted with disaster?


Or, perhaps like Chet said in the film about himself, all her friends and lovers are no longer here?


Maybe it's just the way he sings break her heart all over again, and again.





Link: Let's Get Lost by Bruce Weber

Disco naps and the avant-garde: Jonas Mekas

At the Tate Modern today, I woke up two young guys when I sat on the bench in to watch Jonas Mekas'60s experimental film, Diaries, Notes and Sketches (also called Walden). I thought: well, this is not a bad place to have a disco nap.

They shook themselves awake and watched for a little while before dropping their heads back to sleep. But you know what? Dozing like this could be one of the most interesting way to watch Mekas' films. Dream a little of their dream, watch a little of Mekas' dream.

Jonas Mekas has mashed hours of personal footage shot between 1964 - 1969 in New York: pictures of sludge, a co-op meeting, a sled-ride in the park. The effect feels like the images in his head have been recorded while he sleeps.

After a few hours, I am not 100% sure which memories were mine, and which were Mekas' film; that's how intimate the film feels. Imagine the trouble the guys sitting next to me must be having distinguishing their dreams from the outside world... If they are not still there, asleep.

Link: Jonas Mekas at Tate Modern

sweet stripper drink

Everytime I drink Vouvray, I remember a scene in the film, Nathalie.

Ardent believes her husband, Depardieu, is having an affair. She orders him a glass of Vouvray as a test: she knows how much he hates Vouvray but Emmanuelle Béart (who plays the stripper Ardent pays to secretly pursue her husband) has told her that they drank Vouvray together in a hotel.

After 20 years of marriage, she wonders if she knows her husband at all…the sudden change in his tastes feels like a betrayal. But after she orders him the Vouvray, Depardieu protests how much he hates it… who is lying to her?

If Depardieu’s character had what I had the other day, Vouvray La Couronne des Plantagenets, then I can see why he vehemently hates it. This stuff is sweet, cheap and tarty. It proves you have to pay more than £5-6 for a good Vouvray, that is, if you really care about sauvignon blanc (which I don't, at that price). But if Depardieu’s character doesn’t like stripper drinks… then, who is telling the truth?

This is a psychologically complex film, you’ll have to watch it to find out who is telling the truth… but take a tip from Depardieu and skip the cheap Vouvray. Unless, of course, cheap and tarty is what you're after, then who I am to tell you what to drink? Go for it gf.

Link: Nathalie (2003) in IMDb

Luis Buñuel's discrete charm of the dry martini

Buñuel's Belle de Jour

In 'Earthly delights', a chapter in Luis Buñuel's autobiography, My Last Sigh, the consummate surrealist describes his perfect dry martini:

"The day before your guests arrive, put all the ingredients — glasses, gin, and shaker — in the refrigerator. Use a thermometer to make sure the ice is about twenty degrees below zero (centigrade). Don't take anything out until your friends arrive; then pour a few drops of Noilly Prat and half a demitasse spoon of Angostura bitters over the ice. Shake it, then pour it out, keeping only the ice, which retains a faint taste of both. Then pour straight gin over the ice, shake it again, and serve...

Connoisseurs who like their martinis very dry suggest simply allowing a ray of sunlight to shine through a bottle of Noilly Prat before it hits the bottle of gin."

P.S. I like my martini dirty with gin, olives, olive juice and darkly (ie. no sunlight!) Let's bring back Cocktail Hour (snap!)



Link: A lesson in the fine art of mixology, as seen in The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoise.