Dionysos you rascal, you've done it again!

Dionysos was up to his old tricks again, with his friends putting on an exceedingly good show in a suburb north of Athens on a February evening, a Tuesday. Being one of them, a philos no less, I had to be present, both to participate and to help with the show. Dionysos himself was absent, you understand, leaving his friends to get on with festivities and, obviously, busying himself with his godly duties.

A pleasant evening following a lovely, bright, almost summery day was a good prelude to this dinner which not only featured some achingly superb wines from Greece and beyond, but matched them with food of a high order indeed. Menoo restaurant is situated in a small shopping precinct next to a bookstore, doubles as a cafe during the day and, at the same time, has an ambitious kitchen; this should not come as a surprise, as its late founder was for many years one of Athenian society's foremost caterers, Mr. Platis.

But tonight was truly about the wine, which was as splendid as it was unusual, at least some of it. Three Greek wines, ranging from rather special to wonderful, and a rare French masterpiece were served for our delectation, and we lapped it up with great grunts of pleasure, at least I did. Unusually the food played second fiddle, serving as a teaser and able supporter, even a palate refresher.

The first wine was a full-bodied rose from the Negoska grape and the northern appellation of Goumenissa. Somewhat reminiscent of full-bodied Provence roses of the past, this had a certain chunky elegance and weight to match our starter, a small cup of 'bouillabaisse' that kept us wanting more.

The white wine was from the Argyros Estate on Santorini, one of that unique, volcanic island's biggest but still top rated producers. With a rich history of over 100 years, care and attention, their wines, from old vines with low yields, have a distinct, characterful, style, managing to balance the ingredients to perfection while bursting with flavours that show terroir and grape variety in perfect harmony. This Assyrtiko 2006 was a textbook example, metallic notes blending with white fruit and citrus, rich yet dry, intense yet restrained, long and seductive. It matched the seafood starter perfectly, but then it was so good it could match-up well with almost anything.

My observant reader - was it you? - will remember that a few months ago I wrote a piece on Economou and called him the wonderful winemaker of Crete. If anything I understated his place in the Greek wine firmament, for he is unique, ingenious, dedicated and wildly eccentric in a way that ensures his wines speak to the heart of any true wine lover. His 1999 Sitia red wine largely from the Liatiko grape served from magnums was just stunning - delicate red colour starting to brown, multi-layered ripe red fruit and spices on nose and even more so on the palate, complex, entrancing, long, long long. I strongly urge anyone who comes across Economou wines to taste them (guzzle them???), as they are unique and quite wonderful but, beware, they are not easy drinking but highly individual. The braised Black Angus brisket was an ideal accompaniment (of course, not the other way around with a wine like that!), though some pieces were excessively glutinous while others were perfect.

Sweet wine is not fashionable at the moment, and I pity the poor fools who spurn it because they can never appreciate a wine as fine as Philippe Foreau's stupendous Vouvray moelleux 2005 from Clos Naudin.  Top sweet wine is luscious but not cloying, intensely sweet but delicate, a balance of flavours that showcase terroir, grapes and winemaking, something this wine demonstrated in abundance. Rich exotic aromas and flavours (mango, papaya, pineapple and ripe melon) with perfect acidity and exquisite balance in this masterpiece of finesse that is a tribute to Foreau's complete understanding of his art in every way. The mango tart tatin with a passion fruit coulis and vanilla ice cream was a successful match, though quite honestly I couldn't care less - the wine was enough perfection for me.

Nearby I could feel Dionysos sighing with pleasure and Pan contentedly playing his pipes and no, it was not because I was totally inebriated. In fact, I was not inebriated enough to accept gracefully the disappointment of once again not winning the prize in our traditional annual New Year's Pitta!

The heroic winemakers of Switzerland

You'r probably confused already, dear reader, as you either never realised that there was such a thing as Swiss wine, or had tried it years ago and decided it was a bit of a joke - and not a particularly good one at that. The wines made were - and some still are - made from grape varieties not deliriously happy in the rather bracing Swiss climate, thus giving a thin, acidic, graceless liquid that no amount of skill can legitimately turn into nectar.

There have always been a few hidden gems, of course, and some perfectly drinkable stuff, especially in situ, but little to get excited about. Anyone who has visited Switzerland and has even a basic understanding of viticulture and what it takes to make a good wine would see that it would not be an easy task; rather, careful variety selection and a lot of hard work, coupled with a bit of luck, would be required to come up with the goods, i.e. a wine that could be served anywhere in the world and hold its own. And no, I'm not talking about winning prizes but winning hearts.

Recently I happened to be in Switzerland briefly and had the good fortune, though it did not feel like that at the time, to travel on Swiss trains back and forth between Saanen and Geneva with time to gaze out of the window, something that I am not able or inclined to do when driving a motor vehicle. Near the train tracks, even in steep and rather inaccessible parts of the route I discovered vineyards, incredibly well-tended, some tiny, well-organised vineyards.  These mainly face Lac Leman, the big lake between Lausanne and Geneva known to the english-speaking world as Lake Geneva.

You would not believe the effort needed to look after these plots of land, to protect the vines from both the weather and animals and then to harvest the grapes. This is a labour of love, of passion, nothing less, as commercially it makes little sense irrespective of the price of the finished article. These vineyards, or at least most of them, I'm reliably informed are now protected as World Heritage sites by UNESCO, for they are wonderful to behold. And the wine these days, you'll be pleased to hear, is no longer to be laughed at, with many extremely well made, deeply satisfying bottles around.

I have often ranted, dear reader, about the passion needed to produce decent wine not of the purely commercial, high volume variety. Wine needs this passion because it involves lots of hard work, risks with the weather and intense competition; these Swiss winemakers have it in spades. There is no chance you will make lots of money making wine in Switzerland - you probably have a better chance of winning the lottery - but you are doing something you love, ancient yet advanced, simple yet complex, pride-giving and quite adorable.

I salute these brave, passionate men and women, winemakers of Switzerland, true heroes, am pleased that their products have improved and continue to do so, and will back them in whatever tiny way I can. And you should too!

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.

Oooh la la!

Sorry chaps, dear readers, everyone, but yesterday I had a really great afternoon, having been invited to a wonderful lunch by my kind and generous friend YT. Lots of fine wine and a great digestif defined a very fine lunch, fully orchestrated by our friend, the multi-talented chef Michalis Dounetas at his Wood Restaurant.

Wood is primarily a meat restaurant and this was a red wine afternoon, mainly. The food was personally prepared or stewarded by the chef and was pretty impressive, with every course being spot-on and perfectly matched with the wines, all of them; this is, after all, one of YT's great talents. In any case the wine was so amazing that it would have been able to combine with anything, and even more so with the great productions of the Wood kitchen, unfussy, intelligent and bursting with flavour.

All the eleven attendees were wine people of some sort, from the professional (yes, loyal reader, I still belong there, just!) to the amateur but keen wine lover end of the spectrum, and all were friends with YT; most of us were also friends, primarily through our shared love of wine. The bonhomie was palpable, the enthusiasm also, as wine after wine was presented, tasted, combined with food, dispatched and dissected

Before you get the idea that this was just a group of guys getting pissed on a Saturday afternoon, just with a better quality of wine, you could not be more wrong. Sure, by the end of the afternoon I had had plenty to drink and eat, as had all present, but we were not rowdy, not loud and abusive, not combative. Wine lovers are not die that and we were all respectful of the good food, the great wines, the kindness of our host and, of course, each other; it was a wonderful, relaxed but extremely pleasurable afternoon.
The food, of which only two photos are included, was up to the task of accompanying this truly outstanding collection of southern French red wines. It was also shamelessly meat-centred, as is the restaurant itself, which prides itself on the sourcing of its ingredients. We ate:
Carpaccio of Greek beef, slightly spicy, with marinated vegetables - superb.
Mushroom risotto, lamb, graviera (greek cheese) foam - saltier than I would like but full of flavour and excellent with the trio of wines selected.
Ragout of Greek black pig with a celeriac puree - for me the dish of the day, outstanding, subtle layers of flavour and refinement out of essentially a simple country dish.
Filet of beef in a pepper sauce - simple, tasty, elegant and not over-peppered, spot-on.
Duet of chocolate mousse - palate cleansing and pleasant, if for my taste lacking intensity, excellent with an espresso or two...
But this lunch was all about the wine and the amazing intensity and variety of flavours in southern French reds... so naturally we started with a white wine, Vin de Voile 1997 from R&B Plageoles, Gaillac, which was delicately nutty, complex and long, not unlike a light version of an amontillado sherry.
Each of us had three glasses for three different red wines, so we could taste and compare almost as we saw fit. Of course ideally we would have had six different glasses, but in a busy restaurant this is not realistic, with our simple rotation system working very well. KL (Master of Wine) set the running order and off we went in pursuit of greatness. And there was lots of it around, in no particular order:
Chateauneuf-du-Pape 1998, Domaine du Vieux Télégraphe 1998 from a magnum - rather ethereal, majestic ripe and complex nose, lots of ripe red fruit, palate full and complex, long but a bit hard on the finish.
Domaine de Trevallon 1990, from further south (Baux de Provence), older, a stunning still-young wine, big and chunky (hello cabernet sauvignon!) with a hint of bitterness, clean and intriguing, for me the best in standing up to the lamb.
Cornas-Reynard 1999, Domaine Thierry Allemand from a magnum, one of the top wines of this area, round and rich, ripe and ready, surprisingly without hard edges.
Hermitage 1995 Domaine J.L. Chave, explosive nose full of red fruit, apples, violets, a big wine of complexity, ripeness and style, balanced and classy. A definite wow!
Mas de Daumas Gassac Cuvee Emile Peynaud 2001, this jewel of a wine from the Languedoc either was going through an awkward phase or suffered in a line-up with more juicy, more exuberant Rhone wines, this being 100% Cabernet Sauvignon. A very fine wine indeed unfairly treated?
Cote-Rotie 1999, Domaine Burgaud - Oooops, have mislaid my note on this, sorry! From refresher discussions I believe it was rich and untypical, with a pronounced minerality.

For our finish, we were fortunate enough to have a rare find, an old distillate from a domaine long consigned to history, vieux marc du Beaujolais 1949 from Domaine du Pinay et du Vivier. This had an old-fashioned rustic/refined character with a massively alcoholic nose, aggressively chunky and powerful palate, long and intriguing - woof!

To say the occasion was remarkable is a simple statement of fact, hugely enjoyable a wretched understatement. For all of us there it was also an education.

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Missing the point?

This was written about ten days ago, so interpret paragraph four accordingly, please!

Sitting with tears in my eyes I listen to a few stories of individuals whose lives have been turned upside down by the continuing saga of Brexit; this off the BBC website on my computer, while thousands of miles away from Britain. Am I just a sentimental, soppy old man or what? For whom the tears?

The whole sorry mess that remains unresolved three and a half years after David Cameron's ill-thought out and badly executed referendum is a blight on many ordinary people's lives, has created huge uncertainty and generated a lot, a LOT, of nastiness and negativity aimed left, right and centre at whoever appears to be a legitimate target.

Politicians deal in concepts and grand ideas, deep-sounding and calculated to move their audience in the utterer's desired direction. They either don't think of the results on real folks, the living, breathing people that populate our planet or - much worse but equally probable - they don't care so long as they achieve their target. Emotional manipulation is their stock-in-trade, no thought given to those hurt.

Boris Johnson has received his reward for his treacherous behaviour over Brexit and has become Prime Minister of the UK on the basis of what, exactly? His performance as Foreign Secretary was hardly distinguished, his demeanour is shifty and unstatesmanlike, his private behaviour poor - were it not for the fact that his main opponent in the forthcoming election (Jeremy Corbyn) is an old-style communist who dreams of returning the UK to the 1970s, even publicly stating that life was good then, BoJo would have been laughed at and given a drubbing.

Worst of all, Mr. Johnson and his ilk care not at all for the people whose lives they are playing with: not just the EU throng working hard in the UK to keep things like agriculture and the NHS afloat, but all the Brits living elsewhere in Europe, soon to be disenfranchised from their environment, lame duck victims of political games. This is not just about slogans like 'taking back control', nebulous and untruthful, it is about people, individuals, you and me and all the others.

I have a friend who dreams of returning Athens to its ancient city state condition, demolishing the monstrosities of the modern world and strolling around the unspoilt environment of two and a half thousand years ago, subject to the ancient Greek ideals. Of course he knows this is a pipe dream, that time does not flow backwards, that life flows ever onwards, and smiles when tackled, but preserves his dream of the ideal world in his mind. Still, going around the Athens of today he uses the modern tools available to him now.

For reasons that I cannot quite understand we are bringing back nationalistic, jingoistic behaviour and  a mode of thinking and behaving that we thought had been discarded after WWII. The victims then were countless individuals sacrificed on the altar of perverse ideology, of systems, of central control, of horror; this is not a scenario the world should be considering revisiting for any reason at all. Look to the individuals, hear their stories, make their lives better and the whole benefits, we all gain in the long term.

Duh!