The news never stops coming, and keeping up with everything is an impossible task. Regrettably, there are often too few hours in a day that one can devote to reading, and though I attempt to stay on top of as much as I can, my stacks of newspapers, magazines, and books are always beckoning (and expanding). There’s wine and food, of course, but there’s so much more, from literature and cinema to essays and profiles. Here’s a look at a few things that caught my eye this week.
I begin this week with another winery closing in California. Margins Wine will cease operations at the end of the cruelest month. “Do you want to be liable for this type of financial pressure for the next 10 years?” That’s what Megan Bell, winemaker and owner of Margins, asked herself. Read this piece by Esther Mobley here.
***
Oxford, St. Scholastica’s Day, 1355. Edward III was on the throne, and not all was to be well on February 10 and 11 on that fine year. It appears that a few clergymen did not like the wine they were served at Swindlestock Tavern, convinced that the tavern’s owner, John de Croyden, was serving them inferior juice. All hell broke loose, and when things quieted down on the 11th the death toll had reached 62. Click here to read about the mayhem.
***
Andrew Jefford received the Masters of Wine Lifetime Achievement Award from none other than Kylie Minogue earlier this month during ceremonies in Paris. Jefford, author of one of my favorite books, “Drinking With the Valkyries,” was humbled. Here’s a recap of the evening.
***
Jimmy Carter, one of my heroes, made wine, as did his grandfather and father before him, from grapes grown on the family’s 15 acres of vines. Back in 2005, Carter sat for an interview with “Wine Spectator.” As today is Presidents’ Day, I reread this lovely piece about a lovely man.
***
Jackson Family Wines and Constellation Brands are getting new leaders. Tim Brown, formerly of Upfield and Nestlé, is replacing Rick Tigner at Jackson. Tigner has been with the brand since 1991. At Constellation, Nick Fink will be taking over from Bill Newlands.
***
Do you drink many wines from Central and Eastern Europe? When I first started drinking wine I was often found with bottles from Bulgaria. Not so often lately, however. But, that could change, as trade groups and governmental agencies hit the road. Look for more wines from Romania, Albania, and other countries showing up on wine lists and merchant shelves.
***
Andy Goldsworthy’s work has long fascinated me, since the time I first wandered along his Storm King Wall one autumn afternoon in upstate New York. The artist, now approaching 70, is pondering his legacy; I predict it will be long and lasting. Here’s a profile of Goldsworthy by Rebecca Mead.
***
Samuel Johnson is never a boring read. “You put it in new words, but it is an old thought. This is one of the disadvantages of wine, it makes a man mistake words for thoughts.” Here he is holding forth on wine and its utility in life.
***
Another writer whose work I admire greatly is Peter Matthiessen. He was recruited by the CIA and plied his trade for the agency in Paris in the early 1950s. And he wrote gorgeously. “When you’re 23, it seems pretty romantic to go to Paris with yr beautiful young wife to serve as an intelligence agent and write the Great American Novel into the bargain,” Matthiessen wrote to his friend Ben Bradlee. Read more about his life and work here.
***
Sekt. I love it, and have been drinking it since I was introduced to it as a high school student living in the Pfalz. It presents a great bargain compared to Champagne, and you overlook it at your peril. Here’s Eric Asimov on 10 bottles to consider.
***
To close this week’s edition of What I’m Reading, an appreciation of the life and work of a great director. Fredrick Wiseman died, aged 96, on Monday. “Titicut Follies,” “In Jackson Heights,” “Ex Libris: The New York Public Library,” and “Menus-Plaisirs — Les Troisgros” are my favorite Wiseman’s films, and you should see them if you have not. Here’s an obituary, and here’s a piece on the man in “The Film Stage.”
Recent Comments