Reviews (March 2010)

by Helen Savage

I was talking to a very good winemaker recently who insists that his wines (high quality red and white Burgundy) taste better in some countries and at certain times of the year. This makes sense to me. For example, when it’s warm (I can just about remember it!), I don’t feel like battling with a big, rich fruity red; I’d rather have something altogether light and more delicate. Romain Taupenot, the young man in question, feels that the ideal time and place to appreciate his wine is in spring or autumn in northern Europe.

Wines from another northern French region, the Loire Valley, didn’t appeal much to me during this year’s long, hard winter, but their charms seem more inviting with the arrival of longer, brighter days, if not necessarily of great warmth. Most Loire wines are marked by delicacy and a certain lightness of touch – even when they’re sweet. The problem with the Loire Valley is the subtle variety of styles and myriad of names can make choosing tricky.

It should not be so hard: the Loire trade is dominated by large merchants whose wine represents the vast majority of exports, but I find that their wines rarely excite me. A middle way is offered by a British couple Charles and Philippa Sydney, who have lived for many years near Chinon, and after a lifetime in the wine business, know exactly who’s making the good stuff. The Sydneys act as courtiers or middle men, professional brokers who buy the wine of small estates and sell it on to those importers who haven’t got the time to trail around the vineyards or the wealth of experience to spot the best buys. Courtiers have long been an essential part of the Bordeaux trade and the Sydneys are among the best along the Loire.

Most of their wines are sold on under the label of the original producers, but they also have their own label, specially made for them by some of the most talented winemakers in the scattered vineyards of France’s longest river. This label, ‘La Grille’, the name of their Chinon home, is decorated by a simple design of the river itself, done by Philippa herself (she’s very proud of it). All the wines in the range are not only utterly true to type, but they’re also great value for money.

There are seven or eight wines in the La Grille range, a few of which can be found in Majestic, but others regularly also pop up in Waitrose. La Grille Cool Fermentation Chenin Blanc 2008 is from the sunny vineyards of Anjou, south of Angers. The work of the wonderfully names Gwénaël Guihard, it offers clean, slightly spicy, appetising ripe apple fruit, with a hint of barely ripe white peach. It’s off-dry, juicy and just 11% alcohol (£6.99 or £5.99 if you buy two at Majestic).

La Grille Vouvray 2008 (£6.99 or £6.49 if you buy two at Majestic), made by Paul Buisse, is just a touch stronger at 12% alcohol, a shade drier, but another great example of the Chenin Blanc grape, this time from further East, not far from Tours. It has a stonier, salty, mineral character and the fruit is more like quince (or smoky apple). In a thoroughly polite, understated way it’s very fruity indeed.

La Grille Pinot Noir, Saint-Pourçain 2007 crafted by Jacques Vigier, comes from a long way upstream, from vineyards in the départment of Allier, a region more famous to the world of wine for its oak forests that produce wood for the finest barrels. This soft, fruity red is made from Burgundy’s great red grape (Saint-Pourçain is much closer to Mâcon than it is to Tours or Angers). It smells of ripe raspberries and redcurrants, with a spicy flavour and has more body than most Burgundy under £10. It costs just £5.99 at Majestic.

At the same London tasting when I tasted the Sydneys’s latest additions to their impressive portfolio, I met a young winemaker from the Loire Valley on his first visit abroad. Valentin Ledys, just 22 years old, has just taken over the family vineyards that were left when his father died suddenly ten years ago. His first vintage is very promising, made with the advice and generosity support of other vignerons in his part of the Touraine, who lent him equipment. I hope he makes out. It would be great to think that he’s the kind of grower that the Charles and Philippa Sydney might be prepared to take under their wing in the future, though I suspect he’ll have to gain a bit more experience before they look at him seriously.

Wine of the Month
Quinta de Azevedo, Vinho Verde 2009 Waitrose £6.49

Typically refreshing dry, white Vinho Verde from northern Portugal, with a herby, green apple and grapefruit smell. Light, crisp and distinctly salty, lifted by a very slight fizz. Great with seafood.

Film and Faith

by Luke O sbaldeston

Edge of Darkness (2010)
Certificate: 15
Cinema Release Date UK: 29th of January 2010.
Length: 117 minutes.
Director: Martin Campbell.
Based on the 1985 television series Edge of Darkness by Troy Kennedy Martin.
Stars: Mel Gibson, Ray Winstone, Bojana Novakovic, Danny Huston.

Anyone who has seen Troy Kennedy Martin’s original 1985 six-part series and invested the time needed to watch it again and again, savouring its immaculate quality, will know that this film has an impossible task on its hands. For some, certainly for me, the original television series is not just the best of its kind, best described as a “political conspiracy thriller” , it is perhaps the best thing ever made for television, irrespective of genre.

The original series is as close to being a masterpiece as I believe we get in television. The director of the original television series, Martin Campbell, has returned to helm this film remake, which is good, because he is sympathetic to the original. In the 1985 series, the complex plot needed six hours to unfold, but here we have a film of less than two hours. Inevitably perhaps, much of the subtlety and colour of the original has been pruned away.

The central narrative remains similar – a police officer (Gibson) witnesses his daughter’s (Novakovic) murder, mistakenly thinking, at first, that he was the target. As he investigates, it becomes apparent that things are awry regarding his daughter’s death.

One of the brilliant aspects of the original series was that it worked in so many ways, one of them being a contemporary ghost story – and this element has been kept in the remake. Gibson’s character is haunted by his daughter and has conversations with her. As a serious study in grief, it is very affecting, and could well be of help to someone who has lost a grown child in tragic circumstances. It manages to avoid sentimentality not least by Gibson’s stoical performance as the doomed cop, which is another very interesting element to the narrative – there is a strong sense that characters know they are on a one-way journey to the truth, which they have to pay for with their lives.

There is a more action in this film than perhaps in the original, but it is not intrusive. There is stronger language too, but again, this is a North American film, and it is not offensive. One of the things that worked so well in the original was a credible sense of forces of darkness at work in the world, not supernatural, but the effect of people who did not care about the consequences of their highly destructive actions. There is, perhaps, not quite the sense of that here, but what is portrayed is certainly not far-fetched.

I was prepared to hate this film because I love the original so much, and I am happy to say I like this film. It is not as good as the original, but in its own right it is as good, if not better, than anything else at the cinema at this time.

Book Review

by Gill Henwood

Our Sound is Our Wound: Contemplative listening to a noisy world
by Lucy Winkett
(Continuum 2010)
The Archbishop of Canterbury’s Lent Book 2010

After Lucy Winkett’s installation as a canon residentiary of St Paul’s Cathedral (c. 2003), there was a buzzing, joyous reception in the crypt. The story I heard there was that her time as a minor canon of the cathedral had so impressed the young members of the choir that it was the children’s idea she should be appointed Canon Precentor, at quite a young age (in her 30s). Of course, I have no idea if this is the case, but it sounded quite possible, as Lucy has a wonderful affinity for people – she fully appreciates both choral music and the choristers.

Lucy trained as a soprano before she was ordained; the combination of her musical ear and her discerning theology provides a rich series of ‘soundscapes’ to explore. There are six chapters so that when I bought the book in January, I intended to read one chapter each week in Lent. However, once I started, I found the book so evocative I felt compelled to keep reading, savouring the imagery and resonance of her language and observations.

In the introduction, Lucy writes, ‘Sound is also a powerful metaphor for describing our relationship with God.’ She engages with five themes: Scripture, Lament, Freedom, Resurrection and Angels; making connections between our everyday shared human experiences and the deeper intuitions of God she discerns. Time and again, she links something we will have noticed, but probably shrugged off, with a deeper sense of meaning. Her observations, based on a nuanced sensitivity to sound and language, lead us to contemplate God by ‘listening to a noisy world’.

To find such beauty and resonance whilst living and ministering in the City of London seems quite extraordinary. Yet St Paul’s Cathedral with its staff and choir may be an oasis of song, music, prayer, visual imagery and caring at the heart of the capital. From her experience, Lucy ‘sings’ her own song as she weaves words which resonate for the reader. I will make time to read her book again and savour her contemplation.

‘Our Sound is Our Wound’ is not just a book to study in Lent, but one which draws us further into an affective relationship with God. Through the noisy 21st Century world we encounter in dialogue with her themes, she gives us hints of where God may be for us to hear too. The Archbishop of Canterbury writes in the foreword that Lucy “has written a beautiful and unusual book, rich in imagery and story, offering real insight into how we set about echoing the Word of God.” A real treat for Lent 2010.