Nice:

Nice that Whistler now has sunshine to go with the snow, and what a race yesterday!

The ladies downhill – carnage – with poor Anja Paerson, unintentionally leaping further than Eddie the Eagle(!) and in the process losing a nailed-down silver medal 🙁

I love this picture of Noelle Barahona of Chile disappearing underneath a barrier at the finish line – you may need to look twice 😉
Photograph: Clive Mason/Getty Images

An interesting quartet that I recently picked up…

I’m back from the time of celebration, a time that entailed being bunged up with a head-cold from the 20th December that’s still clinging on today! I’m also taking antibiotics following a visit to my dentist. All-told I think about 4 glasses of wine have passed my lips over the festive season – none of which actually tasted of anything – though one was (once more H.Boillot’s 2001 Charlemagne) a darker colour than it should have been. Hopefully by next week I will once more be reaching for the Beaune, but I anyway trust that you will all have had a great start to 2008…

Something very strange happened last night – or unusual at-least. At ~7:30pm the phone rang; “it’s xyz-merchant in Germany, remember you bought a bottle of ‘xxx’ from us – I just wondered how it was?” Then through a serpentine road of compliments, brown nosing, dropping references to various producers he/they represent, he finally tried (manfully) to sell me some Pommard from Jean Chartron. Apparently it was a fantastic price at only 19.95 euros, but we never got onto the vintage because he didn’t know the lieu-dit (or dits). If someone wants to sell me something, they should at least know something about what they’re selling.

I was never cold-called to buy wine before – maybe I led a sheltered life!

Not unexpected but anyway very sad news. Allen Meadows’ words need no addition:

“It is with deep regret that I inform the board members that Henri Jayer passed away last night after a long illness. Jayer was renowned and admired the world over for his lush, seductive, well-balanced and impeccably crafted burgundies and was arguably the most famous Burgundian winemaker ever. Just as importantly, he unquestionably has had the greatest impact and influence among today’s generation of Burgundian winemakers. He was a man of strong convictions about how wines should be made but the superb quality of his wines, even in difficult vintages, certainly provided persuasive evidence that his methods worked. And the auction market voted with its pocketbook as well, according Jayer wines enormous valuations, indeed on a consistent par with those of the Domaine de la Romanée-Conti.

I knew Jayer for years and also admired and respected his philosophies, work ethic and ultimately, the results he so consistently achieved. Hanky J, as he was affectionately referred to, will be missed. My heartfelt condolences go out to his family and admirers.”

Allen Meadows
Burghound.com

The Romanée-Conti of popular music! I first saw Peter Gabriel at Manchester Apollo around 1982, his music is about skillfully woven layers of insight and genius. Despite lots of rain and a sky as black as a Rockford Shiraz the rain abated and we had a fabulous concert in Bregenz, Austria – the stage set on lake Constance.

I deposited lots of pictures here.