August 2007 Archives

The whole Rolling Stones thing on Tuesday was a fairly surreal experience. Everyone from their record company was so in awe of them that it was mad. We competition winners were even encouraged to applaud the band when they came into the room for the ‘meet and greet’. Thanks for existing guys!

After a quick handshake, a photo of the competition winners and band was taken. The band come out of it nonchalantly well. We look like complete eejits.

The tickets to the concert itself would have cost us £150. Such a hefty price tag meant that the 25,000 seater venue was filled with, largely, obsessive fans or corporate types. Obsessives tend to make a lot more noise (luckily). I mean, have you tried clapping and operating a Blackberry at the same time? Well, really...

There were a few cultural types of note that Kirsty and I glimpsed in the audience. Journalist, Paul Morley, seemed to be having a pleasant little toe tapping session. Top BBC production Exec, Alan Yentob, seemed extremely dour by contrast. Dressed all in black, he looked like a 21st century angel of death.

What was the Stones set like? Well, there was something for everyone really. The main thing to say is that they played Paint It Black. With this, I became a happy monkey.

How can a band like the Stones lose though? They are, in effect, their own tribute band. No one plays Sympathy For The Devil like the 1960s Rolling Stones. This was the next best thing. Okay, so the 2005 Bigger Bang album may be a a touch ‘creative-light’, but that is a price we are willing to pay.

The O2 dome is a large, fairly uncomfortable place to see a band. Luckily, this does not change the fact that Stones albums like Aftermath still sound amazing today.

Well, it's Sunday! And, bless my soul. Today is the day of the FOOD MONTHLY supplement in THE OBSERVER. As ever, the celebrity chefs never fail to disappoint with their combination of ego and lack of self knowledge.

The creation of the celebrity cook or chef is interesting phenomena. The media seem to disregard the fact that no matter how much talent these folks have as cooks, they are still human and not in fact gods. As a result, Gordon Ramsay has become one of Britain's leading (unintentional) TV comedians: serving up testosterone on toast to a baying crowd of minor celebs who are oh so glad/desperate to appear on Channel Four's THE F WORD.

THE OBSERVER FOOD MONTHLY has now let us in to the secret of what the UK's leading Celeb cooks would have as their last meal. Come on people. Don't let this be predictable.

Fois gras, steak, fine wines and albino caviar feature in the cooks' list of last munch favourites. 'know what though? I just can't see it.

Picture it:. You're on Death Row or your local militia have caught up with you and are about to become history. Just what would that last meal request be? Fillet steak with truffles washed down with La Tache 1990? Not me mate. Go for the comfort food all the way.

Calling Celebrentity chefs of London... Let's hear it for your mum's cheese on toast, bread and butter pudding and Sunday Roast. The gallows are no place for haute cuisine.

Back in June 1979, Una Stubbs presented me with the first prize at my infants school tombola. Sadly, my fancy was taken by a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle of the great white shark featured in JAWS. Friends, I must confide in you that that jigsaw was never completed.

Skip forward to 2006. Another raffle win. This time: half a dozen things that I have no real use for. Examples included Playstation 2 games (never owned the console) and free gym membership (for a period which coincided with my honeymoon).

Today I discovered that I have somehow won two tickets to see The Rolling Stones next Tuesday (21st Aug) and meet the band. This was a zero skill required competition. The requirement was that I existed and had a functiong Email address.

Question. How do I stop 'The Meet' (as the record company PR referred to it) from turning into a scene from Spinal Tap. "Do a good show, alright lads!" Presumably comments about turning the volume up to eleven will not be welcomed.

Thanks for the first comments on the blog. Yesterday I was talking about Gevrey Chambertin. What do you need to know? Here's a summary.

Gevrey is a village in Burgundy. Specifically it is part of the Cote de Nuits in the North, famous for it's Pinot Noir. I'm sure they probably do other bits and pieces as well, but let's concentrate on the Pinot.

You may have noticed wines before like Puligny Montrachet, Morey St Denis or... Gevrey Chambertin. Wine producing villages in Burgundy try to give their wines a certain gravitas by adding the name of the most prestigous local vineyard to the title of their own appellation. Le Montrachet (world's finest chardonnay), Clos St Denis (concentrated, majestic Pinot Noir) & Le Chambertin (powerful, full-bodied Pinot Noir) are very expensive wines that can be of fantastic quality.

Red burgundy is just about the most expensive wine to buy per se. This is for two essential reasons. Firstly, it is difficult to grow and very prone to disease (thin skinned). If you try and stretch the yield of grapes possible to grow from a PN vine then the resulting brew is likely to resemble a meek rose. Secondly, the combination of soil and climate in Burgundy is impossible to fully replicate. Slow, gradual ripening is essential to develop ripe tannins, fruit ripeness and potentially complex flavours.

Gevrey Chambertin is, generally, a fuller style of red burgundy. The village of Gevrey itself produces three types of wine (there is probably also a general plonk, but I don't know enough of the specifics). Bourgogne Rouge is your every day drinker. Next up in quality comes the Village wine. This will usually just be marked as 'Gevrey Chambertin Domaine de........'. These can range from serious wines to everyday drinkers. It depends on the grower and the vintage.

Up from Village wine comes Premiere Cru, or first classed growths. These are individual vineyards that are deemed to be of a high enough standard to stand alone. Yields are lower and so the wines are more concentrated. 1er Cru Gevrey Chambertin (in fact all 1er Cru wines from Burgundy) name the vineyatd of origin on the label. St. Jacques is generally believed to be the finest premier cru vineyard.

Beyond the 1er Crus and we're back to the Grand Crus that are around Gevrey. Micro yields, amazing attention to detail, often questionable value for money. Sadly, there is nothing like great mature red burgundy.

Good vintages are far less frequent than in Bordeaux. Great vintages even less so. 2005 is viewed by some people to be the greatest for thirty years. Yet what does this mean? What is a "Great" vintage.

Great vintages mean fully ripe grapes. Fruit ripeness can happen quickly, though slower is better. Ripe tannins can only develop slowly. You need both to make a great year. That will only happen with ideal weather conditions. Think, hot but not too hot (and with a spot of rain to swell the grapes) and you'll be on the right lines.

Lastly, remember that the name of the grower is just as important for a burgundy as the posh name. It's 'buyer beware' at all times, with some folk perpetually trying to cash in by producing weak 'timewaster' wines from big name vineyards.

Ever since the toe operation I’ve been unable to do much exercise. This will continue to be the case for the next couple of excruciating weeks. Not good.

It was fine when I actually had some choice in the matter. Lethargy, low attention span and bad temper could be worn as a badge of some pride. Given no choice but to let the toe heal up, I am gradually starting to lose my shaky grip on the Reality Cliff.

On the up side, The Wine Society seem to have a good range of Gevrey Chambertin that I was not previously aware of. Kirsty and I bought a cases of their 1er Cru aux Combottes 2005, a few months back. TWS seem to carry a bit of Arlaud’s back catalogue. Maybe it will help make the lethargy somewhat more bearable.

If we all decided to spend a few minutes each day counting our material possessions then that would seem a little pathetic. Yet, in my secular bubble, I take great occasional pleasure in looking over the contents of my wine stash. Why is this? Greed, the search for comfort? It may be something a lot more basic.

Enjoying wine, food and conversation with friends is just about my favourite pleasure in life (bar the obvious). Looking at what's in the cellar reminds me that despite everything the world throws at me; my ingrown toenail op., expanding waistline, etc; there will still be time for a glass of Madiran with some excellent people.

ITV4 started a rerun of Quatermass on Sunday (12 Aug 07). Yes! 1978, John Mills, spooky science fiction codswallop a-go-go. Highly addictive, in a retro 'life wasting' type way. Then again, so are rather a lot of things

My attempts to mislead the BBC News website over my relationship with Elvis have been a dismal failure. "Send us your memories of Elvis. Did you meet him?" Oh yes. My name is Ronald McClintock, 'used to carry bags at Prestwick Airport. Well, I thought just someone might believe it.

Frankly, I am losing faith in human nature.