Mostly on wine. Also: IRM/InfoSec/I-Advisory and -Audit services. Positive contrarian, inspirator, loosen-upper.
Somehow, I’m unsure that this is presented as a [laudable and] serious effort and now gets a humorous twist where it also lists this that wasn’t funny.
Let’s not forget this even.
And does Nway have this ..?
Hey people …! When one wants to make fun of international affairs, let’s stick to the lesser issues like global warming or the plastic soup.
And:
[Bet you don’t have clubs like these in nor-way, eh? Proud wearer.]
Yes I’m back on the magic of ‘self-driving’ cars again. Like here, latest, and many times before. Where the focus has been on the Supply side, a lot (as here, 1:04), there’s also a Demand side of course. Where things (also) aren’t in blissful ex-ante-blameless expectation for the new Auto’s.
As is clear from the following, a blatant plagiarism from Seth Godin’s unsurpassable blog:
Cars are many times more dangerous than airplanes. More dangerous per mile, more dangerous to bystanders, more dangerous in every way.
And yet there are very few people who say that they are afraid of being in a car. And yet we spend a fortune on the FAA and more than $8 billion a year in the US on the security theater we do before every flight. We carry life jackets on planes even though they’re needed about once every 33,000,000 flights.
That’s because flying is magic and driving is just riding a bike or a horse, but with a motor.
The challenge of the self-driving car isn’t that it’s a car with no driver. Actually, the self-driving car is an airplane with wheels.
Magical technology.
When a magic technology (one that we don’t believe we can understand) arrives and it feels like life or death, our instinct is to freak out, to make up stories, and to seek reassurance. Vaccines have had this challenge for generations. Because they’re long-lasting, involve a shot and feel like magic, we treat them totally differently than the unregulated market for placebos and patent medicines, regardless of their efficacy.
If you’re lucky enough to invent a magical technology, be prepared for a long journey. Decades ago, I worked with Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke on two different projects. Asimov was truly embarrassed that he was afraid to fly. And Clarke was famous for saying, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”
What he left out was, “Magical technologies that involve media-friendly disasters are the hardest ones to sell.”
To which one only needs to add: Who has the need to sell ..? Or make it so that you don’t need to sell (much)?
And one needs to add:
[If only these would be available @1000km ranges, electric]
Recently, there appears to be a bit of a hubbub about the fairness that would not be in AI systems’ outcomes. I know I know that’s a vast understatement, and a major branch of professional (~ ethics) development in the AI arena in general.
To which the venerable (heh) Jad Nohra added this: A simple … but correct and large part of the puzzle. Not all of the puzzle, as e.g., this also is part of it [unfairness in life, reflected and any bias correction will be parti pris in itself, and as such very time-bound and (extremely) discriminatory when seen over more than the shortest run].
But indeed, companies are too cheap to deal with all the variety that life brings. Or is about, even. Diversity as a societal riches, of (course! of) the non-monetary kind but that’s obvious.
Now, the point of this post: Is it only cheapness of companies (and public organisations that through their very purpose should’ve known better), or … doesn’t it help that we (the world) have that GDPR thing ..? Because the latter has in Chapter 2, Article 5 sub 1(c), that blessed remark about data minimisation (with an s not z of course; a good exposé is here).
Which means that the above ‘companies’/organisations, are actually doing it right … to a certain extent.
Or .. to what extent? If one were to expect that because of some parameters, one would chance to be binned in some ‘circumspect’ category and hence denied equal treatment, one would want to fill out additional disculpatory fields or plaintext in an application. Assuming one would be allowed to do so through having the field(s) available, and possibly (sic) even processed, in he first place.
This would be in itself a case of qui s’excuse, s’accuse or where does the cycle end.
So, asking nothing superfluous – from a design perspective with efficiency in mind, over possible unfairness towards losers disenfranchised applicants as externalities – fits with GDPR nicely, and does efficiently what is expected of e.g., commercial systems that need to minimise risks overall, not just qua unfairness.
Asking about-all that could potentially be relevant either for the core purpose XOR (??) for fairness, may be a GDPR-noncompliance burden on the great many that had no need to fear the biased-system monster. And still might not achieve the unbias one seeks [also, the above/here link].
Result: Be somewhere in the middle. Aristoteles’ Middle not just halfway you m.r.n …
Which in itself is a Question.
Transparent explainability may be a step in the right direction.
Who will testify the correctness of the transparency provided [in times of current US ‘leadership’ qua perjury, anything might go ..?] and how will a sound and firm basis for such opinionation ;-/ be obtained? Accountants have a. experience with comparable ‘opinionation’; b. a strictly, blinkered financial focus (and experience) even with environmental reporting etc.; c. no (sic) education on, tools for or experience with anything approaching ethical reasoning. The latter, a fact despite their some possible sputtering otherwise. Ethicists also not: a. they have a sense of what they’re dealing with; b. but zero (sic) practical life experience included hence; c. they keep on debating grave issues without ever reaching a definitive conclusion. At least accountants can be given credit to deliver a final ‘one’liner statement that is such a conclusion. Even if they so often (yes) miss the mark, at least they still dare to state their opinion but hey watch the caveats attached in the end they got burned so very often that they daren’t say anything anymore.
I’m digressing.
What more would we need? Transparency, either system-ically or on each individual case, only goes so far; is after-the-factverdict. Balance built in … but how? Balance, bolted on (input, system, output sides as candidates) … but how?
Frameworks, rules (of thumb / yardsticks) of fairness to all stakeholders including businesses and their managers that don’t get paid to be fair just profitable [however unfortunate that hard fact] – multivariate game play / ‘Pareto’-like optimisation seems to be too complex to get into the heads of even the most advanced minds [with only a slight overlap with the managerial class (of which ‘executives’ are a full subset)] so we’d need a System to do Monte Carlo or other simulation … *sight; even more complex-to-understand systemmery.
Just a suggestion: Would it help to require a two-step process for any ‘AI’- or algorithm-driven decision ..? Whereby the algo categorises first, and then the ‘victim’ gets a chance nay is obliged always to elucidate pro … or contra, non-trivially but measured to the outcome. [A snag in the line of reasoning there, but not unassailable I think.] Exculpatory data only entered when needed, otherwise, minimised to GDPR’s desires. This, beyond the EU idea of requiring reasonably serious manual intervention in algo-driven decisions.
Whatever. The two-step idea, at least.
I’ll go abend handler now, with:
[The Whatsitcalled buidling; München]
Just wondered why this wasn’t much, much bigger in the news than that other environment thing with the plastic collection.
This SoundEnegry thing being about cooling with heat. Where we seem to have quite a supply of heat around the world, especially in the longer term. And yes, it seems to work; units have been deployed and even Forbes magazine had a favourable review.
If this works at larger scale too, … then we have a Solution of massive proportions. And think of the event of having an actually useful implementation of something of the Stirling engine principle(s) ..! A big performance, and a huge one to add.
Yes this needs more publicity, funding, client orders, etc. …
Oh, and:
[Before the Netherlands’ North Sea coast looks like this, the Netherlands’ Curaçao Westpuntbaai…]
[Sorry for the analog pic; my own from when pixels weren’t a thing but analog was]
Case in point: Have you ever seen a job (opening) profile for a ‘first line’ position where awareness and active promotion towards staff of information security and privacy, was listed at all ..?
Now there’s two Buts [with not two but (sic) one T] you will inevitably come back to me with and I’m not even going to use <ol>:
1. “… But those are not even tasks of the first-line manager” – you see how wrong that is when I write it out for you. If your org doesn’t have infosec and privacy at the core of each and every first-line managers’ tasks, your org will not only be completely non-‘compliant’ with any standard or requirements [since these all have awa and control in the first few chapters that define what needs to be done; the simpleton rules in the back are always just examples to pick from] but will also fail big time as the vastly major part of your infosec / privacy will not be controlled and the outside attackers (act of man, acts of nature) will be.
2. “… But other ‘staff’ departments also don’t have their requirements in the job profile” – Yes they do. Nothing on ‘cooperative attitude’, ‘works well with people’ …!? Those are to-control requirements from the HR department or what ..? Managing budgets not a thing from Finance? To work within industry compliance requirements not being from Compliance ..? And the list goes on and on. But Infosec, or Privacy – not so much.
Now, if your organisation would care for infosec+ in a proper way and would actually want to do what needs to be done, the first 80% would be with … first-line ‘management’ to take execution into their realm. Which only happens if one hires the right people, that understand and execute along their job requirements. When there’s no infosec in those, nothing will be measured and only what gets measured, gets done [yeah, yeah, excepting the precious few shiny exceptions; those are Leaders not managers where of the former you have only a handful and of the latter a vast mass drowning out the former qua effectiveness].
QED
Now what ..? Well, obviously: Put infosec/privacy awa and control into each and every job profile / requirements. It’ll take some time [in which you can start to train current ‘managers’ in the frivolous art of], but then in some future your organisation will be the better for it. Now Go.
Oh wait! There’s ops risk too! For that, watch/listen to this short clip. The venerable mr Sidorenko gives most helpful pointers not only about the above (two minds thought in parallel ways) but also on actual, effective, implementation of both.
Better use an overall, integrated re-organisation of job descriptions. Aligning the above with all that has been collected [collectible, big-if one paid attention] over the past 5 or 6 decades of management studies and necessary improvements, that haven’t as yet indented any scratch into the, wholesale outdated, military-command-and-control style of management prevalent since WWII. But the latter has gotten outdated – the military (grand) strategies it was found to be effective for, have changed already (again) decades ago, and some military have changed, a bit, but not much. The new style of management should in a way revert to normal, to pre-Taylorían/Scientific-Management days – the better half thereof not the atrocious dictatorial half that was Industrial Revolution type extortion.
Then, from there, build a new management strategy. That fits with the current-day complex society, with complex interrelations of shifting panels of cooperating nucleï of near-cooperative efforts à la original theory of firm. That has been tried before, and failed due to premature [of the times] launch, but now stands a better chance than anything.
Where this leaves the incumbents … well, there’s places for them. Big-if (again) they’re flex enough to landslide to looser-coupled, less-controlled (!!, in a COSO sense), higher-risk structures. Think of the unsurpassed JK Galbraith in Organization Design: An Information Processing View of, yes, 1974! As here. Hey, the Man even has interesting notes on organisational response to the Internet that not many had heard of when he wrote [last page of] this. Has anyone ever done a proper analysis of the merits for today’s Questions, and/or gauge where org developments may have gone too far hence a backtrack on certain Galbraith’ian developments (after which, re-development in other directions ..!?) may be helpful?
Letting the original idea’lets get out of hand a bit, I’d better rest my case now, with:
[For no specific reason whatsoever, like instruction or so, from Bouchard Aîné Fils indeed hope they don’t mind the ©-thing]
Is DevSecOps a thing yet?
Maybe. It is out there. With a laudable purpose (here), that however is not very well reflected elsewhere (on that site). When one refers to Krav Maga (as here), is one unaware that thing is known mostly if not exclusively in a few hardcore infosec circles and not many place else ..?
As said: laudable. But let’s stick to the DevOps (+ ‘Agile’ dev ..!) world to embrace sec. May I add a want for inclusion of audit hooks ..? [At procedural levels, too]
Meanwhile, NL ‘suffers’ from a bad winter dip:
How long will it take, until driving is not (only) of the ‘auto’ kind [if I’m in a self-driving car – the very definition of the term ‘automobile’ – I will be the one driving; I will be the only one with a Self], but some industry can return to its technology testbed front ..?
Seriously; at what point will teams in the sport decide their drivers do more damage than good ..? This is just the beginning of course. From data driven to driven by data.
At what earlier point, will ‘self-driving’ cars be allowed to enter the races? At first, they’ll be at the back, driving too carefully. Then, some move up the field, driving a human off course at every stupid decision. #disqualified. Then, they move into the lead. Not fair, with their superhuman responses! Or … at what point will ramdon obstacles appear on track, to throw off the auto’s and profit from human responses (still) and this being sold as the way in which the software may leran to deal with real-life driving conditions?
Has anyone ever done a study into this ..? If you’ve seen something, say something: yes I’d like to hear from you.
Bonus:
[Not your average trophee; Musée Lalique, Wingen-sur-Moder]
To the surprise of no-one – who took care to not listen to mediahumping ‘pundit’fakes –, AI seems to be coming into the Bashing phase. That’s not in the Hype Cycle as despite its name and (‘cycle’-)implied continuity, only has two phases but three points. But you get it, the Bashing phase is the downward slope. Now so declared by me.
And it’s where AI now gets into. E.g., Dutchpersons read here. And you can read anywhere, actually. Bashing i.e. calling quits to the hype and mirroring in anti-hype.
But just because attention takes a nose dive, doesn’t mean ‘nothing’ happens anymore, and ‘nothing’ is or will be successful. On the contrary; despite the hype (sic) being unsustainable not because there’s no value but because that’s how hypes work, we will now get into the undercurrent development phase where, without much notice, AI systems will enter production in a most unsusceptible way, everywhere. “The impact of new technology is overestimated for the short run, but underestimated for the long run” goes here more than ever (well…) before. Point being; all the books you read [I take it that you did, otherwise you might as well not take part in the discussion b/c we too don’t like you to be found out to be an empty vessel] don’t project the changes they have (mostly not so benign, as here (of 2016 already) and many other deep dives) to be realised in a couple of years even. Which in these times would already be ‘long run’ maybe. How ‘many’ years did the iPod/iPhone (..!), or Fubbuck, or Alphabet, etc., take to break through and grab everyone’s attention and enslavement in data/profile shackles?
Until AI is mainstream again, having crowded out all other ‘solutions’ to problems you didn’t even know you have today. Then, it’ll be unstoppable. See the litt.
[Not Louis – also not at DunLewis I mean Ludwigsburg:]
In the headlights. After this expose about systemic failure, there’s now a ‘since the allegations were on shaky grounds, they are untrue case closed’. (this rabbit in the headlights response, in Duts)
How close to proven incompetence can one get ..?
And this:
[The dots were connected here by boys cried wolf but hey, shaky allegations]
Voor sigaren bepalen we het profiel aan de hand van de criteria Smaak, Balans, Body, Sterkte, Aroma en Finish.
Voor Smaak pakken we het aromawiel erbij. Let wel I; wat u proeft of verwacht, kan gedurende de diverse fasen van het roken nog variëren... En let wel II; er zijn ook aspecten die nog niet zozeer als aroma staan aangegeven in het wiel, we denken aan termen als (ja de sigarenwereld is langzamerhand, helaashelaas US-, Engels geworden) zesty, tangy, floral, en earthy, of soms zelfs metallic. Lijkende termen die een combi zouden kunnen zijn van diverse aromas en papillaire en olfactorische/nasale sensaties en -tactiele invloeden. Hierbij komen termen als 'complex' uiteraard ook bijgepakt, om in dit geval te beschrijven dat er vele aromas herkenbaar zijn. Rustig roken, dat is niet alleen beschaafder en allerlei sigarenrokeneffecten-versterkend maar biedt ook meer kans om aromas te onderscheiden.
Balans is voor de hand liggend; of de zoete, zure, zoute en bittere tonen (OK, en 'umami'...) in balans zijn. Ja, ook bij een sigaar – al zal het meestal gaan over de balans tussen 'creamy' en 'spicy' en gaat het meestal mis door te veel bitter of te veel spiciness.
Body gaat over de volheid, in dit geval vooral te bepalen aan de volheid, dikte, dichtheid van de rook. Die ook een gevoel geeft; 'light' is als een licht bier, 'full-bodied' is als een rechttoe-rechtaan whisky of cognac.
Overigens hoort bij Body ook textuur, 'leathery', 'meaty', 'silky', 'creamy', 'soft', 'succulent', 'woody', 'chalky', 'dry', 'oily' en 'spicy'. Die dus net niet hetzelfde zijn als de aroma-indicatoren uit het wiel; soms overlappend. Niet handig maar zo is het nu eenmaal.
Sterkte is een wat eenvoudiger maat voor het nicotinegehalte van de sigaar. De topbladeren van een tabaksplant heeft meer nicotine dan de lagere bladeren – me(n) dunkt dat de topbladeren zijn waar de plant verder wil groeien en dus betere bescherming nodig heeft van de nico; lager is het wat ouder en 'expendible' dus ga je daar als plant niet je nico op concentreren ..? Waar de sigaar van gemaakt is, heeft dus invloed. Kan je meestal niet kiezen, maar wel proeven. Rustig roken is ook hier handig; om een nico-klap/duizel te voorkomen bij het opstaan.
Aroma dan, vervolgens. Ook hier kan het aromawiel worden ingezet. Vreemd genoeg is het moeilijk de aromas te bepalen als we zelf roken; iemand anders' rook kunnen we beter analyseren. Of we blazen de rook door de neus uit ('retrohaleren'), dan hebben we wel de volle verfijning (ga ik vanuit, lezer!) van onze neus ter beschikking. Bedenk bij het 'benoemen' overigens dat we veel meer uit ons geheugen putten, qua eten en drinken!, dan we wellicht zelf(s) denken. Dus rare smaken herkennen is niet raar.
De Finish ten slotte is kort of lang, naargelang de aromas lang op de tong (sic) blijven hangen. Milde sigaren zijn nogal eens kort – hetgeen niks zegt over de complexiteit, overigens. Hierin zit ook de reden om een zwaar (sterkte)kanon na een milde te nemen, niet andersom.
Als het gaat over de champagnes en hun profielen, pakken we er de (echte en semi-)klassieke wijn-analyses bij die we allemaal wel kennen; onderscheidend in [Hier verder. In ieder geval https://www.wijnwinewein.nl/hoe-proef-je-wijn/ en aromawiel + zuurgraad/tannines/body(viscositeit/alcohol/tannines/smaakintensiteit/mondgevoel)/afdronk + Aanzet/Zuren/Zachtheid/Tannine/Body en alcohol/Afdronk/Smaken dus de aromas bijna-los van structurele criteria. Dan de smaken matchen met die van sigaren, of niet; Klosse's overlap/contrasten erbij halen en dan verder. En toespitsen op champagnes... pak het smaak-plaatje van het CIVC erbij!]
Dear reader; bij deze dus de waarschuwing dat u vanaf hier (?, inderdaad, echt niet alleen hier) serieus te lange zinnen tegenkomt.
Ach, daar ben ik me prima van bewust, mijn hele blog is immers ook een poging tot schrijfoefening in alle facetten. Sommige posts daar blinken uit door korte zinnen en ellipsis; ook deze pagina is opgesteld als tegenwicht. En ik vertrouw erop dat u dat gewoon doorlezend aankunt.
Als voorbeeld: Oplettende lezers zullen opmerken dat onderstaande waar het uitweidingen achter links naar andere pagina's betreft wellicht beter met behulp van OnMouseOver's, alt-tekstblokken of andere tags per pop-uppable item zou kunnen zijn geïmplementeerd maar ik heb het zo gekozen en ik kan best komma's toevoegen in deze zin maar ook dat heb ik achterwege gelaten zonder de leesbaarheid of de begrijpbaarheid in het gedrang te brengen.
Inderdaad, het ontwikkelde, ik schreef, een en ander vanuit een voortdurende, voortgaande research. Na zoeken in het wilde weg algemeen, navraag bij het Comité (iv) Champagne, een aanvullend zelfzoeken met Google Satellite én Street View zowel rond de officiële als in het algemeen, kwam ik tot de Lijst Van (uiteindelijk) 84. De en passant gevonden kaarten leidden tot enige aanvulling. Toen kwam ik Weinlagen.de tegen en tsja dan ben ik niet meer te houden qua sys-te-matisch alle streken én plaatsjes af! Hoewel, ... in onderstaande tabel heb ik maar niet meer voor ieder stuks de Street View erop losgelaten of onderstaand ingevuld. Terwijl ik er vanuit ga dat dit alles nog aanvulling kan krijgen ... Les Clos Inconnus zijn uiteraard zichzelf.
De gangen kwamen al zeer onregelmatig door, en met andere tafels die uitliepen en/of (weer) bijtrokken, tot zeer ver inhalen zelfs, tot gang 6 van de 7 tachtig (schrijve: 80) minuten op zich liet wachten, ondanks diverse malen navraag. Waarna het nauwelijks-opgewarmde pompoen met koude polenta bleek te zijn; "dat hoort zo" ammehoela. Nee, het niet-koude nagerecht erna hebben we niet gehaald; we zijn opgestaan en weggegaan. Die zien ons nooit meer, zeker omdat de bediening ook Zwak was (gangen aan verkeerde tafeltjes serveren want die waren al twee gangen verder), etc. En balsimaco-saus dus, 'et al.'...
Huh, da's écht voor de Insiders..? Inmiddels wel toegestaan als aanplant, maar nog zo'n drie tot tien jaar onderweg voor er de eerste re-de-lijke wijnen van kunnen worden gemaakt en dan is het nog maar afwachten. Je weet het niet van tevoren hè, met zo'n non-Vinifera druivensoort..! En dan had je Floreal, Artaban en Vidoc nog niet gezien. Die mogen (in de toekomst) ook... En dan is het Comité Champagne ook nog bezig met kruisingen van de Top 3, Arbane, Meslier, en Gouais. #feest
Mineraliteit verdient een aparte behandeling; vanuit het idee van 'huh er zit echt geen mineraal/steen in je wijn en lik jij aan stenen-dan'-versus-'toch proef ik die sensatie en Ja' tot en met de abstracte benadering van een kennelijke associatie van een gewaarwording als hier, tot een synthese op de as 'bodem-microbiologie'-in-combinatie-met-'feitelijke chemie'. Want, jawel, fenylmethaanthiol zorgt voor vuursteen / aangestoken lucifer, in combinatie met benzaldehyde (uit 'hout') en waterstofdisulfide (uit reductie; en beide uit bepaalde gisten!) leidend tot Vuursteen-herkenning, versterkt bij anorganische ammonia bijvoorbeeld. Vuursteen is geen 'mineraliteit' maar daar wel belangrijk onderdeel van. Dus Ja, er zitten wel degelijk chemische stoffen in (niet alle gelukkig) wijn die een sensatie veroorzaken die op mineraliteit lijkt. Zout, uiteraard, ook, (niet meer maar wel) vaker dan we denken! Alles tezamen een uit-ste-ken-de reden om te spreken over herkenning van Mineraliteit in wijn. 0-10 en een penalty tegen voor de geo-logen.
Laherte Petit Meslier in the tasting round
Yes @laherteaurelien makes a monocépage of this one. Great Meslier it is:
The golden colour would suggest something dosée, but look closer and you notice a hue which points to slight bitter influences. And indeed, on the nose we get a whiff of smoke, certainly straight after the pour; quite an opportunity to use the word ‘empyreumatic’... Did I mention Meslier already? One to one it is. But nothing referring to your cooking qualities; it’s more like a distant secondhand puff of Belinda – I’d not suggest you buy that for comparison; trust me as smoker it’s trash but as Meslier aroma it’s excellent full stop. Crispy dry cigar smoke fits better.
Certainly, since this all is followed up, much more persistently, with quite some mature lemon and a whole slew of herbs and spices notes. It smells like a merry-go-round of eucalyptus, dill, thyme, spearmint, soft mint, basil, anison, verveine... wormwood even; those that know génépi, find it here, too.
The first sip jumps in with a most delicate mousse, a sensible but not too fatty mouthfeel, nicely balanced with lemon dominant in combo, and ginger/pineapple/mirabelle and dry lemon rind flipping back and forth. In the remarkably long finish, the rind does a gentle cleanse.
But I couldn’t find any cardamom that some mention, nor cocoa or coffee. All in all, in cocktail terms it would fit in the range of the French 75 and a Fleurette.
I’ve tried a little bite of camembert, but you shouldn’t. The bitter of the wine is lost but notches up in the cheese, which tastes odd. The fit with lightly aged Comté or same-Gouda is perfect, however. Sushi should work, too, if with a suitably subtle pinch of wasabi, no more – harsh coriander, algae, chervil, wasabi as such weren’t in the nose.
In summary: All of you should have a taste of this one, or one couldn’t be trusted on champagne connoisseurship.
[Degorge 12-2021, hence the progressed maturity]
Links:
https://maverisk.nl/de-forgotten-four/ for Petit Meslier
https://maverisk.nl/champ-sigaar/ on the cigar smoke angle
https://maverisk.nl/geneprima-spul-hoor/ on génépi
https://maverisk.nl/mirabelle-wil-iedereen-welle/ on mirabelle
@champagnepascalmazet make quite an interesting range of wines, fully certified bio since 1980. We tasted the Cuvée Originel bottling of 2014, for its 35% Pinot Blanc of course; interested to learn how such a Forgotten Four lead, with the three Usual Suspects trailing, would work out.
‘Splendidly’ is the answer.
The gold is striking, the nose is suitably complex. One gets mint, cucumber, cornichon tartness (I mean, the true kind of https://www.kesbeke.nl/) and some olive.
On the palate, it switches to agrumes-allsorts. Yuzu, lightly pre-ripened apricot (yes there’s acidity in there), sparkling grape (ah.) and a hint of almond already. This slowly develops into lemon-grapefruit on the one hand, and yellow curry / pineapple on the other, with a tangerine almost orange'y element integrating both sides. I’d say, there’s a marbling of mirabelle (in Dutch: https://maverisk.nl/mirabelle-wil-iedereen-welle/) running through it as well.
‘But’ overall it certainly is far from flubby (the 3g dosage having turned into the above, no sirup) or acidic. The quality of it all, and the light oak touch, twist all the richness back towards the freshness of citrus zest. And did I mention the mousse is still there, slowly releasing?
Towards the lingering finish, this all persists in a extremely well-balanced acidity and a hint of minerality and sophisticated bitterness.
Am I happy to have another one of these standing ready
Marie Courtin Présence
I bought the @ch_mariecourtin for the 1/3 Pinot Blanc (of course: https://tinyurl.com/ForgotFour !). High expectations, exceeded.
First off, the yellow-golden almost amber colour would promise some sweet almost creamy elements. But with a delightfully tingle from a fresh mousse, and a light bitter-tartness in the nose, the picture turns around completely. There’s Mirabelle ..! [As per: https://tinyurl.com/Mirabellepg]
The palate is perfect; not too much mousse so the real ‘wine’ taste is clear, and the Mirabelle keeps on coming. The mouth feel overall is well-balanced, and includes a soft minty/dill side with the lemon (plus some bittersweet orange even), moving into the grapefruit area and then the mirabelle’s back again. The very long finish has the mint/dill combo again, and an inkling of sugar. But with zero dosage, that’ll be the Chard and almost certainly the Pinot Blanc waving goodbye. Throughout, there’s a slight undertow of pickled cornichon (Amsterdam style; what else?)
All in all, it’s a wonderful demo of what Pinot Blanc can bring; lifting the Chard from its average whilst pulling itself up into high performance. Merging the best of both into Something Else of a great wine. This being a zero dosage, zero sulphur added, zero intervention wine, it also proves that ‘natural’ wines need not be f(l)unky. But on the contrary, one would hardly be able to tell.
The Présence is course material in so many ways. Am I happy? Well, not with six other dwarfs but yes, very much so.
The @champagne_gruet Cuvée Arbane …
𝘚𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘌𝘭𝘴𝘦 entirely!
100% Arbane yes. Which brings a freshness too long lost. Reminds me of the bone dry styles of yesteryear, in a good, rather great way. Chalky without dust, minerality without flint. A wonderful conversation starter, on the good things of life.
With a fresh and quite light, lemon-white colour through which a very fine and persistent mousse promises delight. Then, on the nose, one gets a first whiff of floral notes; jasmine, elderberry, rose – followed by zingy but ripe lemon. When allowed to mellow in the glass (or a day in the bottle), the lemon slowly brings along some grapefruit, pineapple and (dry white) melon. All within measure, refined, nowhere too in-your-face’y.
The mouthfeel is brilliant with the mousse playing its role to keep the very well balanced aspects all quite light. The dosage is hardly noticeable – from the taste of it, one would estimate 2g. max, and notes of soft white peach, light albedo, with a very long finish on the thyme/mint/dill spectrum with the albedo bitters lingering on.
Would work miraculously with e.g., flounder with serious sauce and herbs, swordfish with almond crusting, maybe tuna or mackerel, or white meat.
Saw a score somewhere of 91/100, but that's too low.
Buxeuil doesn’t have any Arbane of its own (in production), but with this Gruet wine, it has a flagship.
Arbane being at only 0,018% (yes, percent) of Champagne’s acreage, this cuvée highlights the 'need' (want!) for quite an extension of that.
Tasting the Pinot Blanc champagne of Gruet of Buxeuil (@champagne_gruet). That’s right, a pure-bred PB champagne. (Be sure to pick the right one, at https://www.champagne-gruet.com/)
And it is a treat, indeed.
In the glass, we have a very fine mousse, well-integrated - it continues very, very long and doesn’t just give a one-off foam layer – through a pale gold, slightly varietal-typical PB wine.
On the nose, the typical character come through immediately, including a slightly fluffy air of white flowers around light tangerine / (white) peach / mirabelle, and a core of lime – keeping nicely short of being bitter.
The mouthfeel is light, but not fleeting. One gets beautiful straight near-ripe lemon, a waft of mint with white blossom, and some white pepper towards the back. Add to that lemon white skin with edges of red grapefruit.
Mind you; I had kept some for a second tasting, and four days (suitably cool storage) after opening, all this was still as fresh. No ‘dosage plays up after too much air’ or so; great.
A top recommendation, this one. If only to keep the Forgotten Four Cépages alive, as they deserve, but also for sheer tasting pleasure. Or ‘the trick one’ at a tasting experiment. Or for an apéritif or with whitish seafood (if not to lime’y or salty).
The Réminiscence 100% pinot blanc brut nature by @champagneericlegrand via @jeromeschampagne. Supposedly off 65+yr old vines, but one would be hard-pressed to tell that by the wine. What delicious freshness!
For a start: What would one expect from a pure PB champagne? Subtlety indeed.
It starts with a new capsule (for me, to further fill my https://www.deknudtframes.fr/en/catalog/product/s65sz2-/frame-in-black-for-champagne-caps which only applies to *different* capsules I tasted *at home*) – under a muselet to duly impress. After a good whiff, one can immediately pick up the something-different of this one. The first 80% is most clearly artichoke with some mint; not very strange since we just made such a dip for (neutral) crackers five minutes before.
After which, with careful nosing/tasting, we get a white-floral element with traces of almonds and yes even a hint of vanilla and the slightest of dried yellow fruit. This continues in the long developing taste, clearly adding ‘a point’+ ripe lemon (citron), with the etheric element slowly (very slowly) fizzling out. Can I say ‘retronasally’ there? As it tactilely *feels* that way for sure. Add some vanilla points in the long after.
All in all, a thing to be savoured. And, let’s promote these ‘forgotten four’ champagnes! Away with the factory work! (One suspects the 24x range by some famous grand marque points in the right away direction, too, qua hyper-mass production orientation.) The more sure we have of being able to choose to never have to taste a same champagne ever again in one’s lifetime. *If* one would want to – wines like the Réminiscence make one still would want to return often. Extend the plantation!
Another round for Gruet of Buxeuil (@champagne_gruet) – The Cuvée des 3 Blancs (as here)
With its matte gold, almost amber appearance and very fine mousse (hardly foamy but lingering in the mouth for a long, long time), we'd expect the Pinot Blanc to dominate over the Arbane and even Chard. It does. A little. But, as assemblages go, only a little; I'd rather say one can identify the PB by its gently soft but full agrumes/mirabelle character but there's a lot of exquisite light flowers – hawthorn – and herb'iness – in the sage, rosemary corner – already in the aromas. Would that be the continuum of the Arbane and Chard?
If one would want to take it analytically.
Savouring, one would enjoy the all-round calm structure, with a medium to full mouthfeel (nothing sticky). And just the image (?) of a surprisingly light white wine with lots of mature grapefruit, lemon and a slice of lime. From which the little bitter note lingers on in the back, most pleasantly refreshing, nothing astringent or harsh. Overall, certainly not chalky bone dry but a hint of mango.
Would I pair this all with food ..? That would be a. hard; a very careful cheese selection might do, b. interesting, to see where the flavours go (see below), c. not necessary, it's a wonderful treat on its own.
This, in a series of Forgotten Four tastings, as per this 'research'.
And the (aubépine and) mirabelle note, Gruet themselves also list. Nice, yet another example of that great aroma.
Plus, one of course has e.g., this and this book, or quite a few others, already..?
Of boek. Hoewel er een beperkt aantal boeken is dat ik hoog heb, zit er niet een[1] bij die nou net op het onderdeel dat mij respectievelijk interesseert, het α tot en met ω heeft. Waar-om en waardoor ik juist de verdere research wil/ 'moet' doen...
[1] Nou ja, deze komt in de buurt...
Jazeker! Zoveel is zeker: Voor bijvoorbeeld de Fransen is dat een volstrekt normale karakterisering. Het gaat dus niet om NaCl uit een Jozo-vaatje... Eerder "off-vuursteen"; denk ook aan de regio van hints in de verte bij wit-peperigheid en magnesium in de buurt. Niet vreemd, als oesters zeer rijk zijn aan zink (sic), ijzer, calcium (dûh) en selenium. Sommigen in NL zeggen dan dat je geen 'zout' of zelfs maar 'zilt' mag zeggen. 1. Van wie niet ..!? 2. Waarom niet ..!? 3. Dat is toch voor zéér velen de beste karakterisering – niemand beweert dus dat er keukenzout in uw wijn zit en iedereen weten dat de karakterisering losstaat van enige bewering van objectieve chemische samenstelling anders zouden we wijnaroma's héél anders beschrijven!
Of zelfs Philpatrick het moet niet gekker worden ... Dus denk niet dat de spellcheck op hol sloeg.
De Cuvée Métisse, noirs et blancs oftewel 80% PN en, jawel, 20% Pinot Blanc, wederom een assemblage met een van de Forgotten Four. Brut nature dat houdt het puur, klaargemaakt bij de BV Val du Clos dan nemen we ook een verre hint daarvan mee. Van Champagne Olivier Horiot, MeB juli 2020, dégorge 16 jan 2023, grotendeels oogst 2019 plus nog een scheut uit de Réserve Perpétuelle die op eik wordt gehouden – ja ik kwam 'm in een coin oublié tegen maar prijs me gelukkig. Quelle belle ouvrage! Als u denkt: Da's een nogal technisch verhaal – dan is dat juist maar het proeven is gewoon een onbekommerd plezier. Het begint uiteraard met de sprankelende licht-amber kleur en een neus met het lichte bittertje, denk aan het dille-thijm spectrum, van de Blanc. Terwijl dan de eerste smaak van de Noir komt. Hoewel licht door de jaren, en dat pufje bitter komt er snel weer bij. Rijpe-appelzuur, heel lang gematigd door-coastend verdund citroensap met in de verte mango en met witte zest erboven zwevend. Maar wel in complete balans, niet vlak of zo maar juist met transparante diepte. Toen ik er een hapje net-nog-niet-compleet-rijpe ananas(kern) bij nam, was dat een moeiteloze, zowat volledige overlap. Later komt er een onderstroom(pje) van iets dat neigt naar kruiden door de mond. En nog steeds met zeer fijne bulles, by the way; verfrissend zonder prikje. In termen van verwachte aroma's zou ik eerder tussen Chard en Meunier op pad gaan van jong naar iets voorbij het midden, en zeker niet te ver naar de rijpe complexe PN-hoek zakken. Al met al een 'opulente' wijn die verrassend jong van geest is (gebleven). De PN is meer steun dan leider in het geheel; prima! En de PB viert z'n vrijheid om te shinen; uitstekende reclame!
5 Sens: De Oogst-2017, MiB 24 juli 2018, Dégorge 12 mei 2023 ja zo exact, met nul dosage voor slechts 1320 fles plus 90 magnums. Van 5 verschillende terroirs, oude stokken van 5 verschillende cépages – PN, Chard en Meuier, en dus ook Arbane en Pinot Blanc; langzaam vergist en opvoeding sur lies. Dat geeft volgens de makers de vijf (jawel) elementen Water, Aarde, Luchten Vuur – en l'Esprit! Wederom een assemblage dus van Olivier Horiot (op @horiotolivier) met Forgotten Four, klaargemaakt bij de BV Val du Clos dan nemen we ook een verre hint daarvan mee. Zo, dan heeft u de data gehad. In termen van aroma's als op de vaste plaat gaat het alle kanten heen, waarbij we ook (laten we zeggen 'traditionele') Chard- en PN-aroma's tegenkomen. Maar niet te uitdrukkelijk. Om het op een rijtje te zetten: De kleur is vol maar licht goud; De mousse is heerlijk, (nog) ruimschoots aanwezig maar zeer fijn; In de neus krijgen we eerst rozenblaadjes en een tikkie mango, maar zo nu en dan ook een zweem ziltigheid ..? Een ander zou het ook witte-peperigheid kunnen noemen. Sommigen vinden dat Arbane meidoorn en anjer geeft; nou ja dat kan ik begrijpen maar pikte ik niet op. Noch wat appel en kweepeer, dat gewicht trof ik minder: Het volle mondgevoel zit stevig in de citrus-hoek. Denk aan lauwwarme, (over)rijpe citroen met een beetje suikerrijpe peer en (geblancheerde) ananas, op het mirabelle af maar wel met een los zwevend zuurtje dat eronderdoorlangs komt zweven, inclusief een puntje venkel/dille. Ik denk dat hier vooral de wat rijpere Pinot Blanc om de hoek komt kijken. Maar al met al wordt het nergens te zwaar; de wijn blijft gewoon helemaal in balans; De citroen is de core der (talrijke) caudalies; zelfbewust maar niet zwaar. Nou ja, als eindconclusie; deze zit op het niveau van een lichte montbazillac of sauternes met mousse..! Werkelijk heerlijk. Voor zover er wat bij moet worden gehapt, zou ik zeggen: Niet te licht, niet te dicht op de sla/Brillat-Savarin-hoek, of te kale zilte oesters. Eerder oesters met enige bewerking, zou ik zeggen. Als per deze – en een geel- of roodschimmelkaasje kan ook nog prima. (vandaar; lichte sauternes ...) – oh en een salade met cajunkip kan ook ...
Étoiles du Nord, voor uw betere wijnen...
Al is het alleen maar door Il Respiro del Vino te kunnen lezen; geen vertaling tot nu toe dan maar zwoegen.
