Coronavirus - The new 'Normal'

All over the world countries are starting to lift their restrictions imposed on their citizens and visitors in order to combat the coronavirus named Covid-19 or, according to the orange person, the Chinese virus. There appears to be no dispute at present that the virus originates from China, incidentally, but there also does not appear to be any independent fact that can confirm it was created and allowed to spread on purpose by the Chinese.

As you know, dear reader, I have been confined 'to barracks' in Greece, not allowed to pursue my normal activities; then again, so was everyone else, with the Greek government scoring a major success with its early, strict lockdown - not that I appreciated it at the time. The early lockdown has led to low infection and casualty figures and, therefore, early easing of the measures to allow the economy - and society in general - to breathe and start functioning again. Time will allow us to judge the measures taken properly, but saving lives can never be a bad thing, methinks.

Cafes, shops and restaurants are now fully open with restrictions in place as to the numbers of customers, distances and protective equipment that is mandatory. The warm weather of the arriving Greek summer is helping everyone feel better, though there is unease at the risks of undoing  achieved successes by trying to rush too soon back to the status quo. Already I've witnessed restrictions ignored on buses, bars and cafes, albeit by and large in a modest way, but who knows what may follow. The old folks considered more at risk - and I am on the basis of age, if not fitness, part of that demographic - seemed more concerned/frightened than the youngsters, which is probably fair enough.

Of course there are people up in arms about both sides of the equation - some are furious that any restrictions still exist, as the economy is struggling, with some businesses on the verge of collapse. Some of these people even consider the initial imposition of restrictions ill-advised, despite numbers seeming to clearly support the measures, with conflicting theories circulating on the internet stirring the passions. Conspiracy theorists are in overdrive, even ascribing to modest, unassuming Mr. Tsiodras, Greece's chief medical advisor/expert on the pandemic, political aspirations, general ambitions and personal gain issues in his handling of things, despite the fact that he consistently shied away from excess personal publicity.

Don't get me wrong, dear reader, I 'love' conspiracy theories and the - mostly - 'insightful' idiots who support them, as they make me feel I possess some small degree of intelligence denied to these unfortunate creatures; I cannot deny, however, that they can be extremely harmful to society as they spread their poison around and sow suspicion, dissent, even hate. I am intrigued at how these people find conspiracies everywhere, despite the fact that in today's connected world information can circle the globe in seconds, with very little hidden. In the 1970s, when information was much harder to come by, there were many films made about conspiracy theories - how 'they', unseen and all-powerful industrialists/conspirators,  ruled the world and controlled everything - but the shadowy figures have gone away, consigned to the dustbins of history to make room for new candidates like George Soros and Bill Gates. Whatever makes you happy...

In the meantime I have to get used to being served at cafes by people who look more like pirates or stick-up men, as small price to pay, I suppose, for keeping the Covid-19 virus away from the general populace and those most at risk. Strange times, indeed, and getting stranger every day.

The Roof Garden is open for business again!

I'll be honest with you up front for a change, dear reader: there is no Roof Garden and no business is involved at our private get-togethers on any occasion!

Please don't be disappointed, it's just a bit of fun  to celebrate the restart of the, by now, famous with you evenings at the home of my friends YT and MT, evenings with lovely, mostly simple but amazingly tasty, food and stunning wines, lively discussions and generosity of spirit. In the colder months festivities have always taken place indoors, but when the weather softens we have in the past moved to the balcony - the roof garden of my imagination. This year, of course, Covid-19 cut short the winter YT/MT dining season and, until recently, was keeping the warmer weather version under wraps.

Not anymore, amigos! Only a few days ago I had the pleasure of visiting my friends again and, together with two more lucky souls, experience their bountiful hospitality once more. The theme food-wise was simplicity itself, the wines were anything but: unusual, interesting, intriguing, satisfying and luscious, with a tiny drop of rare lightly cask-aged grappa to aid the digestion - the roof garden back with a bang.

The first white wine was one of those beauties that you need to give your palate time to fully appreciate, though your nose will have given you fair warning of the pleasures to come. Made by top Austrian grower F.X. Pichler in Wachau from the Gruner Veltliner grape, this Smaragd Dursteiner Kellerberg 2008 was a study in subtlety, complexity and hidden power in a wine already over twenty years old. Youthfull and fresh in colour and taste, yet with surprising depth of lychee and ripe apricot/melon taste including a metallic note in subtle layers on both nose and palate, this was to me a confirmation of the heights now scaled by top Austrian wines. Pichler's wines are stars in anybody's way of thinking, deservedly, with prices to match, and this is one of the best. The Kellerberg vineyard appears to be uniquely blessed in every way - exposure, gradient, micro-climate, soil - to produce outstanding and complex wines; this was certainly one of them, with the Smaragd designation (minimum 12.5% alcohol) achieved with hard work in a difficult, rainy vintage to give it some extra punch. Wow!

The second wine was from the same area and grape variety but a different grower, sightly older with a very different style: Gruner Veltliner Smaragd Vinothekfullung 2005 Emmerich Knoll. A lovely, riper style, golden yellow in colour and with plenty to chew on, I found this immediately appealing but less beguiling than the first wine, more up front but less complex, somehow a bit easier to approach but ultimately less rewarding. Whilst I wouldn't 'kick it out of bed' it never reached the heights of the Pichler wine for me, though two of my friends present actually preferred this. Super wines both with prices to match, I can only think back to my start in the wine trade, when the Austrian wine scandal with the anti-freeze had just broken and nobody thought much of them or showed any inclination to buy - how wrong we all were, how short-sighted!

Only a few days ago I raved about a wine from Bordeaux; today, alas, I cannot do the same. Our third wine was a 1995 Troplong Mondot from St. Emilion, classified Premier Grand Cru Classe B in the local classification and a bottle I would have expected to have been splendid. The 1995 vintage, however, seems to have been difficult in St. Emilion, with tannins remaining hard and the fruit on this showing in retreat, making for a rather hard, untypical wine from a property where the blend is 90% Merlot, 5% each of Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon. With the wine too mature for it to have been a phase in the development we either had a hard bottle or the 1995 at Troplong Mondot is ungenerous in character.

Nobody can ever accuse good Sauternes wines of being ungenerous, however, and our sumptuous 1990 Chateau Raymond-Lafon was no exception. Though unclassified, this property has, since it was purchased by Pierre Meslier and his family in the 1970's, been transformed into a little superstar, helped enormously by the fact that Mr. Meslier was at the time the technical director of Chateau d'Yquem, possibly the best and certainly consistently the most sought-after and expensive wine in the Sauternes  appellation. Skilfully exploiting both his deep knowledge and connections Pierre Meslier and his family managed to quickly achieve both excellent quality and a glowing reputation, to the envy of some of his more highly-rated vineyards. I was fortunate to attend a tasting in London around the 1980s sometime presented by Madame Meslier, Pierre's wife, and was much impressed by the attention to detail of Raymond-Lafon wines, rating them highly. If they manage to charge more than other, more highly rated and perhaps better, wines is not a point against Raymond-Lafon but against the buyers who support this and allow it to happen, though if the end customer is happy we can say nothing.

Raymond-Lafon is a botrytis wine, sweet, big and luscious, exotic yet earthy, full of notes of ripe white fruits and creme brûlée, the 1990 came from a big, ripe vintage and displayed all of those characteristics while still being full of life, rich but not blowsy. Perhaps it lacked the finesse and complexity of an absolutely top wine from a top vintage, but I 'ain't complainin' - I just love these wines and all they give us! Currently rather unfashionable, difficult to produce and therefore expensive but currently hard to sell at a decent price to make a living - Yquem is an exception, obviously - they are a glorious anachronism and may soon become a thing of the past. I hope I don't live to see their passing, for the world would be a far more boring place without them.

I closed with a rare grappa (a special bottling for a friend of Levi and also ours) from the Levi stable from the time when the old folks were alive. I've raved about these before, as they are rare in their finesse and complexity and may never be equalled or bettered. Like a fine cognac, these are works of art and I am grateful to YT for occasionally allowing me to enjoy one.

Aren't I the lucky one?

Bordeaux wine on a spring evening

Bordeaux wines are impressive, expensive beasts, at least at the top levels, full of class and power; the tables or the powerful, rich and famous are their normal stomping grounds. In the last 30-35 years they are impeccably made and beautifully aged in the best oak casks money can buy, resting in cellars that provide the ideal conditions. And well they must, of course, as they are the investment vehicles of the wine world, expected to be reliable and impressive.

Bordeaux is an area full of glamour, with beautiful chateaux all over the place, benefiting from a stellar reputation developed over centuries of serious wine-making and status building. The area is full of grand estates with many beautiful chateaux and correspondingly smart proprietors; it is a very status-conscious part of the world that makes great wines, thus supporting the status. The temperate climate guarantees good results most years, with the grape varieties used for the famed red wines providing a sturdy backbone of structure combined with finesse and, occasionally, lusciousness; technology can now ensure the indifferent or difficult years can also be decent. White dry wines exist here and range from the run-of-the-mill boring but gluggable bottles to the rare glorious curiosities. The sweet white wines are in a - currently less than fashionable - class of their own; why they are currently unloved when they offer, at least at the serious level, huge satisfaction per sip plus value for money is beyond me - but then, so is most fashion.

These days, as I am not fully active in the wine trade and with Covid-19 restricting me to Athens, I get few chances to try a mature, decent Bordeaux red, so it was with great pleasure that I greeted my friend YT (you know him and his generosity well by now, dear reader) knowing that he had brought to a mutual friend's dinner a magnum (large bottle the size of 2 normal 75 cl. bottles for the uninitiated) of 1994 Chateau Brane-Cantenac. Based in the commune of Cantenac-Margaux and deserving of the Margaux appelation, it used to have a terrific reputation in the distant past and was classified as a 2nd Growth (2eme Cru) in the 1855 classification of Bordeaux Chateaux, but went into decline by the early 20th century. The Lurton family of Bordeaux wine producers have, since purchasing it in 1922, slowly but surely dragged it back up where it belongs, with our magnum a testament to this: textbook Margaux silky seductiveness, youthful for its age ethereal complex red cherry fruit and balanced tannins making this a most enjoyable glass of wine, belying the fact that it came from an 'off' vintage. Well-made, mature but lively, perfectly poised and full of Margaux charm - the nose in particular was especially impressive, gloriously complex, rich and elegant - this was satisfaction in a glass.

Since I first became involved in wine many moons ago, I have always admired Bordeaux and its wines, primarily for their business-like approach, their commitment to excellence and their consistency. My passion, however, has been for Burgundy, that intriguing little plot of land either side of Beaune, a site of tiny vineyards, small wineries and - at the best level - unimaginably complex wines. The people there are, by and large, people of the soil, ordinary villagers, with few grand chateaux and mostly village housing, but the area holds me in its spell. Having said that, a good Bordeaux ready to drink is something very special, a sight to behold, a bottle to be greatly appreciated, just like our magnum of Brane-Cantenac 1994. Not as complex and beguiling as a top Burgundy, perhaps, but pleasing in its own way nevertheless, a charming 25-year old worth going out of your way for.

How lucky I am, retsina one night, a 2nd growth Bordeaux another, all the wonders of the world in my glass and with good company to boot...  I don't know what is to follow, but I'm grateful in advance.