The River at the End of the World – Adrian Latimer

While I know little enough about fishing – even if I have caught a few to make the most excellent suchi. But I do know a good wild salmon when I see one. Adrian Latimer, gourou to all those who hang around in nets & clutch at rods, just happens to be the husband of the famous Parisian oenologue-formateur & wine clubber par excelence, Kathy Noone & therefore a keen supporter of the grape in its hunted form. Adrian now offers us his latest book “The River at the end of the World”, just published. This travel & fishing book on Argentina may be viewed and purchased online.  All royalties from the book go to the North Atlantic Salmon Fund and the Wild Trout Fund.

Macéo’s Moment of Tuscany 9-21 November

With the talented Faure family of Tenuta di Riseccoli & the Fine Wine World of Paul Tracy, we will be holding a ‘PICCOLA SETTIMANA TOSCANA’ at Macéo from the 9th -21st November. Our totally Tuscan inspired menu will feature wines (and new season olive oil) from this remarkable little family domaine located just outside Greve in Chianti. Reservations mentioning “PST” may be made on our web site.

On the evening of  Thursday November 12th Fine Wine World will be hosting a ‘Degustation Vente’ of wines from this Estate as well as from two other teriffic Italian properties -

A Mano Primitivo  (Pouilles) & Le Gagie Barbera d’Asti (Piémont)

The tasting is ‘by invitation’ & interested people should contact Paul Tracy via @mail to book – paul@fine-wine-world.com

Parisian Blogettes – un Phénomène virtuel

A growing number of dynamic ladies are out there in the cyber arrondissements of Paris telling us what’s cooking & popping on an almost hourly basis. The energy & noise they are creating is not far removed from a Fleetwood Mac concert.

Latest & not the least is the original cyber tornado Wendy-Lyn, who has just launched a new & most professional looking blog entitled ‘The Paris Kitchen’covering just about anything a foodie could dream of. Wendy claims to have gone ‘live’ just yesterday, but those of us who know her better are aware of her Parisian performance that has already included many encores.

I have a particular liking for the wonderfully wicked, dry whit of Meg Zimbeck who is hugely entertaining & always ready for a party. Meg has unstoppable energy, writing for a number of reviews besides her own richly furnished, up to the minute blog.

On the wine front is Sharon Bowman who in spite of not liking Riesling finds a good many bottles open in the Capital & elsewhere. Sharon particularly enjoys finding the unexpected in the affordable & astonishing. Something France does better than anyone else. So effortlessly.

No mention of Blogettes would be complete without the ‘Darling’ of this raucous group of ‘ladies who party’. Barbara Austin has made a habit of sticking her finger into just about any corner of the Parisian pie crust available.

With these ladies in town, it is difficult to keep a secret, let alone a macaroon ! I wonder if there will be any nice hidden addresses left next Spring – No, I am not talking about Daniel Rose

Paris Charity Auction for the South African medical train

Tuesday 27th October 2009, date of the third Artcurial Charity Auction of fine & prestigious South African Wines.

PROCEEDS ARE DONATED TO THE SOUTH AFRICAN MEDICAL TRAIN,

PHELOPHEPA - a miracle train that brings healing to men, women and children - awarded in 2008 by the United Nations for outstanding community service, a resounding recognition of the importance and effective care given to patients of all ages and cultures.

Allison Bonnett, one of France’s leading authorities on the great wines of South Africa, has (yet again) devoted herself to assuring this marvelous project the success it deserves. The proceeds of the auction, going towards the running of the Phelophepa Health Train, have so far bought much needed medical treatment to over 63000 people in the rural regions of South Africa -

The beneficiary of this charity auction is the Phelophepa Health Train, which means “Good clean health” in Tswana. Born in 1994,  the brainchild of two dynamic women who renovated and transfomed and old train into a brand new medical train, with its own generators, it meanders through the rural regions of South Africa bringing medical treatment to people who do not have access to doctors due to their economic and geographical situations, far from urban medical infrastructures.

The train stops for 4 or 5 days in small towns across the country for 10 months each year before its annual 2 month refurbishment for the following year. Patients pay 0,50 Euros for prescription medecines, the consultations being free of charge, and 3 Euros for prescription glasses. For many, even these small amounts are difficult to find. The train has several medical units; dentistry and eye clinics, general practitioners, paediatric and psychology units and carries out screening for diabetes, for example.

2009 is the 350th anniversary of South African wine production, so in addition to the best selection of stunning South African wines available in France, as a tribute to the handful of French Huguenots who arrived in the Cape in 1688, there will be some exceptional wines from great French producers who have vinous links to South Africa:

Lurton, Angélus, Rolland, Laroche, Gosset, Schaal, Moeuix…

Our two previous auctions enabled 63 000 people to be treated, and Parisians to get stunning wines!

The best selection of South African wines in France

One evening, under one roof, only every 2 years!

Address: Artcurial: Hôtel Dassault, 7 Rond-Point des Champs-Elysées, 75008 Paris

Contact: Allison Bonnett – International Wine Consultant

info@allisonbonnett.com www.allisonbonnett.com +33 (0)6.61.23.80.70

The 2009 Harvest in Burgundy will delight

Evening Land Vineyards of Oregon & California, with whom I am happily involved for better & for worse, are having a pretty good time of it right now. Awarded with some impressive press coverage & 5 places in the top 100 wines of the year in Wine & Spirit, we have also somehow become involved in making – just a little- wine in Burgundy (France), where we share a wonderful new installation in Beaune with Benjamin Leroux & the new Domaine Dominique Lafon .

The facility was completed with hours to spare – what’s new about that ? – so I went down last weekend with my son Adrian to lend Christophe Vial a hand & to see how smoothly things went.

The weather in France in general & Burgundy in particular has been pretty amazing since mid July, after a poor start in the spring. The hot weather came too late to heat the ground significantly – contrary to 2003 – so nights remained cooler and maturities evolved in a highly pleasing manner.

I saw all this first hand pretty much across the spectrum with the organically grown grapes coming in from Pouilly Fuissé, slightly hail damaged but in perfect sanitary condition, from Puligny & Auxey Duresses, very pretty, abundant without excess, Volnay 1er Cru, Pommard ‘les Pezerolles’, both nearly perfect & finally on Sunday the unbelievable harvest from Comblanchien in the Côte de Nuits.

Alcohol levels apear refreshingly reasonable at between 12°5 & 13°5 natural. Bourgignons, while more reserved than some, can get a little carried away in situations like this & one of the team on the ‘table de trie’ informed me that in 30 years of doing harvest he had never seen grapes like those. Well OK. I have, but not often !

Our, or should I say Christophe’s first wine, a beautifully balanced, graceful & firm Pouilly Fuissé 2008, just bottled, will be available across the pond this fall, but I have lifted the odd barrel for a small wine bar in Paris, where you will also find Celebration Oregon Gamay Noir 2008, Seven Springs 2007 Aola Amity Hills Pinot Noir & a sniff of the  2007 Napa Cab called Table .

Significant tax break for French Restaurants

This one has been a long time in coming. For possibly ten years the traditional restaurant sector has battled to obtain parity with ‘fast food’ on VAT or Value Added Tax. This measure,  which comes into effect on 1st July, will reduce ‘le TVA’ on everything but alcoholic beverage in French restaurants to some of the lowest levels in Europe, bringing taxation justly into line with the ‘marchands de malbouffe’, traiteurs & canteens.

About time too. By encouraging a better restaurant going environment for the French public, this contested measure should none the less help social networking & a better quality of life in general for this egalitarian society. The Government hopes that it will also stimulate tourism & create durable employment in considerable numbers through making the profession attractive once again to those seeking employment. Should the industry become more dynamic than it has been over the past couple of decades, this could well happen.

Turning the tide on the mounting international criticism surrounding the state of French restaurants could well be another wish. The hour has indeed come for this important cornerstone of French social life to move decisively in a more contemporary direction. There can be little doubt that some of the easing bought on through this significant tax break will encourage progress here.

Protest arguments involve ’gifts to restaurateurs’ & the supposed costs of this measure. While French public money is distributed liberally for such deserving projects as putting more cars on the roads, mopping up banking scandals as in the Crèdit Lyonnais (forgotten that one already ?), paying vast numbers of people to retire early, stand in dole queues or simply torment the working few with meaningless piles of paper – a just & bold step towards revitalising a sector that has made France consistently the Worlds most popular tourist destination, seems unfair. Yes clearly. But this position displays math ineptitude, a dose of jealousy and serious narrowness of vision. (I am not trying to be rude.)

The cost of this measure must be placed in the context of a medium term investment in the sector that provides more jobs than any other in France. (I apologise to those who would prefer to prey on dole queues, as this is clearly not helpful to them). Some of these jobs are on a level where one is quite literally taking people off the streets & inserting them into gainful, active life. Forget not the troubles of late in the ‘Banlieus’.

It is an error to think that the increased profitability will go in one direction only, vanishing from the greater economy. Investments, wages, social charges, new jobs, increased attractivity & even corporate taxes and personal taxes will all ensure that the State comes out a lot better than some people  now like to pretend. You know them ? The second grade Geniuses who gave France the 35 hour week.

Show me these ‘calculations’ so we can talk about them, don’t simply scaremonger with phantom figures from the only place you are comfortable – the evening talk show. In the unlikely event of the cost being too much to bear, there remains the possibility of progressively increasing this sales tax again over 4-5 years, but this time for the whole hospitality trade, not just restaurants, who proportionately, even today, ‘donate’ a greater percentage of their turnover to the state than any other. So much for good egalitarian principals when talking tax. Remember the rule. Employment is very costly. Repeat.

In the immediate future, many restaurants will be offering their clients some of the benefits of this reduced taxation. This is certainly the policy we have adopted at both Willi’s and at Macéo where we have reduced prices by almost 12% on certain menus & in Macéo – even on wine. How could one dare consider Frances life blood, wine, a banal alcoholic beverage ? Mes amis, je me demande…

“Au Revoir to all That”- More on the French love affair with food

Michael Steinberger’s new book hits the shelves in the UK today & will be out in the US shortly. Au Revoir to all that is not going to go unnoticed, possibly for the wrong reasons. Dealing with the decline of  French culinary excellence in a beautifully written, sensitive & well researched way, Michael makes a number of points that will be very hard to swallow if one is part of the culinary elite of France. 

It would be a mistake to take a negative view of Michael Steinberger’s historical perspective, simply because of its critical content. There is still a lot that one can be proud of in the Evolution of France’s culinary heritage, but there is nothing wrong in being made to sit up and take a good look at what has happened to the global culinary picture, where such strides have been made over the last 20 years that one can be forgiven for thinking that France has been standing still in comparison. Not so. The change has been bought on in a far slower manner, due to France’s culinary baggage and the comfort zone that inevitably comes from 100 years of uninterrupted dominance and monomaniac doctrine.

It is easier today, with a little research, to get a terrifically good, reasonably priced meal almost anywhere in France, than at any time I can recall over the last 30 years. The level of quality in France’s modest establishments or bistrots has risen constantly and their model has diversified along with this evolution. These are busy places – even in today’s crisis.

The inroads made by the junk food, convenience food and all forms of industrialised packaged trash is, in my view, closely linked to the crumbling standard of living of the average Frenchman and has been bought about by other forms of dogmatic thought, without specifically mentioning the 35 hour working week. The number of nutritionally valueless, culturally impoverished meals served in France has risen at a steady and alarming rate. This, I agree, does not make a pretty or appealing, not to mention appetising picture. But here the French are not alone and can at least look and learn from their own inspiring examples. Something they like doing.

Macéo Restaurant Launches new Web Site

Thanks to the great little Stirsite program used previously for my debut with the B.CasaMI site, I have been at it again. This time for Macéo, Willi’s big sister who lives next door -Photos, Propaganda & all ! But online booking, contacts, those up to date menus you wanted…Summer will be posted soon. Information on our Private dining spaces too. Almost everything but as it is pretty easy to improve on, please feel free to give me your 5€ worth !

Alberto Bali shows a leg – in private

alberto Bali - Exhibition - Grande Finale - Été 2009

 

Alberto Bali, creator of two of the most loved Willi’s posters of all time, in holding a private exhibition entitled ‘Construcciones’ (by appointment, mes amis) at the Grande Finale in Fréland – which being in Alsace, is currently in France. From the 7th June – 18th September. Téléphone (33) 617935010.

Questions of French taste – La Semaine du Goût 2009

 

In October this year, just months after the Michelin Guide celebrated its cent ans, La Semaine du Goût will hold its 20th edition. From the 10th to the 18th of October. The same week for the past 20 years. Give or take a day.

This hugely popular manifestation involves just about everyone in the food chain from schoolchildren to wine growers, from restaurants & café philo to farmers and institutions of national research. Agro Biz is naturally a big sponsor too. France’s great chefs stop working for a few hours to do ateliers on national TV & in schools. An immense amount of time and energy is poured into the organisation of this week that has taken on a national importance and is a source of satisfaction and pride.

Restaurants are asked to offer exciting, original & very affordable menus on a theme to the public each year. As you might be thinking, these are immensely popular & a very substantial number of France’s grandest addresses participate wholeheartedly.

But. Yes- “mais”.  The primary stated goal in their sacrosanct list of commandments is to develop the education & apprentissage of taste, to propose taste & flavor enticements… in this context I simply find it uterly unbelievable that this national “Foodstock” should be institutionally devoid of the wonderful products that France’s multiple terroirs offer us over the remaining forgotten months of the year.

 The F.WOT, like the long suffering Alice Waters, has been amazingly successful in what it has achieved over two decades and I am NOT knocking it. I love this event and we participate actively every year, so do not misread me. However, there should ‘au minima’ be a Summer and a winter Olympics, or preferably a Spring & Autumn Goût-Voir. Do you not agree ?

Voila, c’est dit.

Until then, à vos fourchettes !

WINE HELPING LIFE EXPECTANCY – AGAIN

MORE GOOD NEWS ! This little piece of scientific study popped up on Vinisphere this morning. Ya Hee ! Sorry. Er – Yee Ha! I particularly like the conclusion- “more studies are needed to verify this result”. Where I come from that means “please keep drinking”. Wine of course.

Résumé from Dutch research : M T Streppel, M C Ocké, H C Boshuizen, F J Kok and D Kromhout Correspondence to: martinette.streppel@wur.nl

Background : Light to moderate alcohol intake lowers the risk of cardiovascular mortality, but whether this protective effect can be attributed to a specific type of beverage remains unclear. Moreover, little is known aboutthe effects of long-term alcohol intake on life expectancy.

Methods : The impact of long-term alcohol intake and typesof alcoholic beverages consumed on cardiovascular mortalityand life expectancy at age 50 was investigated in the Zutphen Study, a cohort of 1373 men born between 1900 and 1920 and examined repeatedly between 1960 and 2000. Hazard ratios (HRs) for total alcohol intake and alcohol from wine, beer and spirits were obtained from time dependent Cox regression models. Life expectancy at age 50was calculated from areas under survival curves.

Results : Long-term light alcohol intake, that is (20 gper day, compared with no alcohol, was strongly andinversely associated with cerebrovascular (HR 0.43, 95%CI 0.26 to 0.70), total cardiovascular (HR 0.70, 95% CI0.55 to 0.89) and all-cause mortality (HR 0.75, 95% CI0.63 to 0.91). Independent of total alcohol intake, long term wine consumption of, on average, less than half a glass per day was strongly and inversely associated with coronary heart disease (HR 0.61, 95% CI 0.41 to 0.89),total cardiovascular (HR 0.68, 95% CI 0.53 to 0.86) and all-cause mortality (HR 0.73, 95% CI 0.62 to 0.87). These results could not be explained by differences in socioeconomic status. Life expectancy was about 5 years longer in men who consumed wine compared with those who did not use alcoholic beverages. Conclusion : Long-term light alcohol intake lowered cardiovascular and all-cause mortality risk and increased life expectancy. Light wine consumption was associated with 5 years longer life expectancy; however, more studies are needed to verify this result.

The Evening Land Vinyards 2007 Oregon Pinot Noirs are released

A very Special offer to Willi’s members -

These Benchmark-Quality Wines, made in collaboration with Burgundy star Dominique Lafon, are receiving high praise in many quarters –

Harvey Steiman At Large for the Wine Spectator Posted: 11:59 AM ET, March 26, 2009

…from what I taste, he (Dominique Lafon) is showing how it’s done: vine by vine, plot by plot, lot by lot, and with an eye on transparency and finesse. It’s a worthy lesson…

Robert Wolfe – Oregon Pinot Noir Club
The three Oregon pinots and a chardonnay display an extraordinary level of quality that make this project the most exciting thing to come around in a long time….. I strongly encourage everyone to grab a few of these bottles while they are still available…

Jancis Robinson
Evening Land Vineyards is an exciting and extremely ambitious new project that spans some first class Pinot Noir sites in Oregon and California……On paper this all looks very promising but initially it was what was in the glasses that impressed me most…

The Rare Wine Co.
At every price level, from $45 to $150, we were stunned by the finesse and minerality of all the Evening Land wines, as well as the philosophy behind them. Attempting things not tried before, these are wines that promise a new era for American winemaking. They are not to be missed…

Willi’s Wine Bar has been involved in this wonderful project from the beginning so our clients & friends will be able to taste a number of these wines chez nous à Paris this Summer !

Special introductory offer during May 2009 – (Some references now sold out 05/05)
These wines are currently available to our clients in the US via the ELV online store:
Willi’s Wine Bar members and friends are offered an introductory discount of 15% via this link – where the discount will take effect.

As the quantities of all the cuvées are limited please consider this offer now. Some of the wines, (Occidental Vineyard, La Source and Summum), will start to disappear in fairly short order.

Pinot Noir for now,
Mark W