Something special

Many countries around the world make wine, with some of it actually being jolly good and extremely well made. In this day and age the supremacy of Europe is challenged, even disputed, by some of the newer producers around the world, sometimes even successfully. Yet in my view if I had to choose the best, most interesting wines in the world I would look to Europe - and, more often than not, France - to provide the excitement.

Luckily YT agrees with me and last night laid on three vintages of the rare Jura 'vin jaune' wines for the enjoyment and appreciation of some of his friends, me included. These we tackled - and believe me, if you know vin jaune at all it is something one tackles, not an easy-drinking sipping wine - with great pleasure to accompany some Greek country sausages from the south of the Peloponnese and my family's erstwhile home town, Kalamata. These were artfully prepared and served with leeks, onions, peppers and potatoes, superbly enjoyable dinner bursting with taste and combining textures. Gorgeous stuff, if not exactly light and easy to digest, especially as I overindulged...

The three wines, all from the same Jura producer (Domaine Philippe Vandelle from the L'Etoile appellation), were from the 2001, 2000 and 1999 vintages, showing the overall vin jaune character but also showing the differences of nuance in each vintage. For those of you not in the know, the Jura wine producing region is small, in some ways old-fashioned and quirky, slightly cut off from the flow of the modern wine world - and all the better for it. They hold on to the good things from the past while at the same time developing superb wines for the present and, indeed, the future. Their chardonnays currently seem to me to be particularly good, though as the world discovers them their prices are changing, unfortunately rapidly climbing.

The wines last night were good examples of the style, complex and powerful, nutty caramel and alcohol. These are chunky wines yet at the same time have a delicate complexity, power with finesse, full of personality, scary to the uninitiated but an occasional delight to true wine lovers. Expensive to produce and idiosyncratic, these are jewels of the wine world worth preserving and enjoying on the odd occasions when we have the good fortune to come across them.

The next wine was a far more commercial, straightforward bottle, coming as it did from Bordeaux, an excellent cru Bourgeois and a superb vintage - Chateau Sociando Mallet 1996. This is a wine that I first tried in the 1980s, was impressed then and traded in, and it has been improving further. Last night's example had a sweet, rich, spicy plum and red fruit nose, a beguiling and balanced fruit and spice palate and a long, long finish - really batting at a very high level, charming and impressive at the same time, and a perfect accompaniment to the cheeses we were served - what else, you might say, from YT.

Then came dessert with ice cream, chocolatey bits and pieces and a green Chartreuse from those skilful monks of the Carthusian Order, who have been producing their elixirs since 1737 for the enjoyment of all, non-catholics and irreligious individuals included. This is a sweet, spicy, herbal liqueur, a touch medicinal in character and, in its green form, quite strong in alcohol (55%), rich but not cloying, a unique, strong and enjoyable digestif. I have tasted it several times in different form and I am always surprised at how much, after the initial 'gosh it's sweet and herby' reaction I really, really enjoy it. This doesn't change whether it's served on its own or as an accompaniment to something...yum!

To those of you who feel that France and its wines are past it, think again; the best in wine and gastronomy is still largely to be found here, despite the changes everywhere, positive and negative.

To those of you who think I'm incredibly lucky to be able to taste wonderful stuff time and again I have only one thing to say: you are absolutely correct!

2020 or something

Well, it's here, this crazy date that seemed so remote when I was a child, featuring in futuristic prediction TV shows and novels pretending to know and understand what was to come. So many impressive ideas appeared and seemed like sensible predictions, only to be consigned to the 'daft ideas of history' bin along the way.

In fairness 2020 is only one of the dates used - and there were many - but the most attractive, symmetrical one, perhaps, and a very nice one it appears to be. And now it's here, with the first month nearly at an end and the days growing longer.

But what of our world, which is still without air scooters, fishbowl helmets and the like, even without aliens as far as we are aware (though I am suspicious of a couple of the neighbours where I'm currently living...)? How has it evolved and where will it be after this year?

For one the world seems like a very humdrum progression from, say, 1960; there is very little that is truly revolutionary and unrecognisable, for all the amazing technology surrounding us. Cars still have four wheels and function in a similar fashion to the contraptions of the time, if far more efficiently, with electric vehicles perhaps the only major differentiation, with the same being largely true of motorbikes, even though some of today's machinery would have left the younger me salivating; the principle is largely the same, but evolved.

Our homes equally are more advanced but easily recognisable and fairly similar, even if their equipment is far superior - there are very few 'space pod' type homes around - with a simple layout. Fashions may affect our clothes and personal stuff but they too wouldn't completely confuse a visitor from the previous century, apart from yes, computers and their power, which have given rise to all sorts of convenient and fun gimmicks but little that is essential to humankind's existence or, indeed, survival. The i-pad (or similar) is fun and even useful, true, but not really life-changing if we choose to be honest.

Look around you with an open mind, then go back to 1960 either in your memory if, like me, you are an aged creature, or in archives and their photographs. Many of the clothes we wear today are similar if not identical, furniture also, though mass production has provided us with lighter materials, sleeker designs and cheaper prices.

Under the surface a lot has changed, of course, mainly for the better. The 'futurists' of my childhood, however, imagined a radically different world which has failed to appear; in many ways I am grateful for that. Perhaps our children will go around with fishbowls on their heads and travel to the Planet Zog (or wherever) for a holiday or, indeed, to work!

The true 'Masters of the Universe'

In the crazy atmosphere of 1980s New York, so graphically depicted in the novel 'Bonfire of the Vanities', people made ludicrously huge sums of money gambling with money belonging to others on the financial markets. These individuals not only didn't realise that their rewards were higher than any  proper compensation for what they were doing, but they considered that they were taking risks and so deserved every penny. In those cocaine-fuelled days they regarded themselves as 'Masters of the Universe', important, deserving people.

Oh, how we laughed in the late eighties when their make-believe world crumbled along with their egos. As their clever but ultimately flawed schemes failed one after the other, some were fired and others demoted; a small number who had, even by the financial professions lax moral standards, behaved badly even went to prison for a while. And we naive people on the outside expected their world to cleanse itself and start again.

Ha! No sooner had the dust settled and they were at it again, different individuals perhaps but with the same exaggerated idea of their importance, equally dodgy 'investment' schemes and fresh sales patter. These snake oil salesmen of our times, clever admittedly and emboldened by the realisation that hardly anyone, themselves included, truly understood their schemes, went on the rampage again cloaked in the respectability provided by their 'Banking' habitat. Passionate evangelists of their schemes, they told everyone that they were not like the previous - failed - eighties mob, they were the real deal, the true 'Masters of the Universe'. Why, they worked so hard and risked so much just for a measly few dollars (millions were, perhaps, implied but not always mentioned), out to provide a much-needed service helping their fellow humans have a better life.

It all went bad again, of course, as reality caught up with the clever schemes and demolished them and all that went with them. Once again customers paid the ultimate price, though of course some of the 'wizards' also found themselves unneeded and, more importantly, unwanted. Yet there were tears and frustration at the unfairness of it all, how the world was unkind and refused to recognise their talents just because of a minor blip. Many of the those involved still saw themselves as 'Masters of the Universe', albeit unfairly and temporarily demoted.

Fast forward to today, when I read on the BBC website that the toddler son of an Australian firefighter, who lost his life trying to protect others in the current bushfires, was given his father's medal for bravery; another toddler is due to receive a similar award next week for his fallen father. Or go back to so many rescue crews who have lost their lives trying to save others or, indeed, imagine the unimaginably brave 9/11 emergency crews who raced to help their stricken city, with so many subsequently paying the price for their heroism. There are similar incidents everywhere in the world, every single day, of people risking everything to help others, sometimes paying the ultimate price. We reward these people with an everyday salary and a pat on the back (or a medal) for their bravery.

If we are in need we expect the emergency services to rush to our aid disregarding any peril in their way, seeing that as part of their job and not thinking much about what they do unless we live through their heroism ourselves. They risk their lives for us but we regard financial operators as more important and reward them accordingly, regarding them with awe and envy, the emergency services as just people doing their jobs.

We're crazy. The important people in this, the true 'Masters of the Universe' if we can ever give such a title to human beings, are the members of the emergency services willing to risk even their lives for the rest of us. We should revere, appreciate and honour them, not just posthumously, and strive to help make their jobs and lives easier by being considerate - they deserve as much.