How to open a bottle of wine

This is another technique to open a bottle of wine (and not breaking off the neck) if you are not in possession of a proper bottle opener.

Please do not mind the French.
The clip is self-explanatory, in fact amazing. It shows “where there is a will…….”.

Cheers

Restaurant review: Waroeng Shanghai Blue 1920 in Jakarta

When discussing with my friends in Jakarta where to meet for dinner, Jasmin suggested “Waroeng Shanghai Blue 1920″ right in the center of Jakarta.

The restaurant belongs to the Tugu Hotel group, owned by the family of Anhar Setjadibrata, a famous art collector from Malang, East Java. The family has two more restaurants in Jakarta, “Dapur Baba” and “Lara Djonggrang”, both exotic places with wonderful decorations of Indonesian and other antiques where we had spent memorable evenings with family and friends while living in Jakarta.

“Waroeng Shanghai Blue 1920″ is no exception. The interior is just stunning. Apart from dining one can also listen to Jazz music which is performed on a large stage. It was my first visit, and I was in a nostalgic and elated mood: back in Jakarta and out with old friends.

We ordered a round of starters, in fact we ordered the whole menu of starters, followed by main courses. To say it from the outset: the starters were stunning, the main courses could not keep up with it and were mediocre at best. This did not prevent us from having a great time. We had a bottle of white wine from Western Australia. When selecting it together with my friend Flo, I thought that I would not forget the brand. Writing this blog entry a couple of days later, I must submit to the vagaries of life once again. Never assume the obvious. Memory will have its little victories. usually I take a photo of the wine bottles I consume, not this time. Maybe the reunion was just so much more important. Anyway, the started (see some in the pctures below) were wonderful and the wine was just right.

For us the evening ended in the Buddha Bar, a trendy hangout in Menteng. We were not deterred by a function for Cartier which occupied the interior of the bar but instead sat on the wide back-terrace with the garden view (also nice in the night).

I highly recommend to the casual traveler to visit the restaurants of Anhar Setjadibrata in Jakarta. The atmosphere in the three places – Waroeng Shanghai Blue 1920, Dapur Baba and Lara Djonggrang – is wonderful but unique, the exhibits are breathtaking, they bear witness to Java’s glorious past.

PS: I never stayed at one of the Tugu Hotels but friends of mine rave about the one in Malang. From the website www.tuguhotels.com you might get a glimpse what it might be all about. Breathtaking, spectacular come to mind. I promised myself that one day I will visit one of them and enjoy a night delving in Javas past and in a “Tugu bed”.

Address:
Warong Shanghai Blue 1920 Restaurant
Kebon Sirih Raya 79
Jakarta Pusat
DKI Jakarta – Indonesia
PH 1: +62-21-391-8690
PH 2: +62-21-7088-3366
www.tuguhotels.com

Obituary

Yesterday, my good friend Peter Ryan passed away after a long battle with cancer. He was buried this morning in Singapore. We are mourning him.

Pete was a wonderful man, kind and loving and always helping out. He was a teetotaler, not drinking a sip of alcohol, but his liver failled him nonetheless (cirrhosis).

He tought me, among others, how ups and downs are part of human existence and that in end both do not matter. I also learned from him to appreciate the beauty of eccentricity.

He was a fan of Johanna Budwig and defeated his liver cancer successfully following the Budwig diet.

I salute you my dear friend. We will drink a bottle of champagne tonight in your honor, I will smoke a cigar and we will be reminiscing about the good times we had together. We will celebrate your life and the impermanence of it.

Though I am not particularly religious, I like the Irish folk song, “Your long jouney”, especially its version by Robert Pant and Alison Krauss. Two of the verses I find appropriate and want to share with you.

Your long journey

1. Verse
God’s given us years of happiness here
Now we must part
And as the angels come and call for you
The pains of grief tug at my heart

3. Verse
Fond memories I’ll keep of happy ways
That on earth we trod
And when I come we will walk hand in hand
As one in heaven in the family of god

Sunday at the Yarra Glen Hotel

One of the great things to do on a weekend in the Yarra Valley is to attend one of the many life music events. I especially love the music on a Sunday afternoon at the Yarra Glen Grand Hotel. First of all the food is quite good and second the venue is very suitable for the occasion provided there is not too much wind rattling the tent in which the bands perform.

Moreover, the Yarra Glen Grand Hotel is a beautiful historic building, a landmark in Yarra Glen, with it’s tower which is visible from many parts of the valley, it really stands out.

We had lunch and eagerly awaited the Bob Starkie Band which was to play in the afternoon. Bob Starkie is well known in Melbourne. He used to be one of the members of the legendary Skyhooks in the 1970s, a cult band in Melbourne. One of their top hits was “Women in Uniform”.

But first came the food.

The food was hearty and very tasty, as the two pictures above show. The wines we had with it were excellent examples of the local wine culture.

We had a bottle of ‘2006 Mandala Chardonnay’ from the Yarra Valley and a bottle of ‘2005 Dal Zotto Barbera’ from Whitefield in the King Valley, a neighboring wine region with very good cool climate wines.

Both wines were excellent and very enjoyable. The 2003 vintage of the Dal Zotto Barbera was given 90 points. The Dal Zotto family with a proud Italian heritage is well known for their quality wines. Their Italian varietal wines made from Barbera, Arneis and Sangiovese grapes have won high acclaim. Also their prosecco is commendable. The high altitude of the King Valley and its cool climate seems to be very suitable for those Italian varietals.

Owned by the Smedly family, Mandala Wines is located just a few kilometers up the highway, north of Yarra Glen. The cellar door and restaurant (open for lunch Thursday to Sunday and dinner on Saturday evenings) used to be “Henkel Vineyard” but has been redone completely. I love the design of the label, a huge mandala, which changes colour on the website, and expresses the philosophy of the owner on life and wine-making.

Mandala Chardonnay

Dal Zotto Barbera

And then the music started. The Bob Starkie Band promised exciting entertainment. They did not disappoint playing many of the classical Skyhooks songs. It did not take long and the dance floor was crowded with rural folks moving and shaking. There is nothing better then a dance on a Sunday afternoon. It also makes sure that one is clear headed on a Monday morning. We had great fun. I can only highly recommend it to the accidental traveler. If in the Yarra Valley look out for live music events

Bob Starkie

Addresses:
Yarra Valley GRAND Hotel
Bell Street, Yarra Glen, VIC. 3775
Tel.: 03-9730 1230
int: +61 3 9730 2434
fax: 03 9730 2434
e-mail: hotel@yarravalleygrand.com.au
www.yarravalleygrandcom.au

MANDALA WINES PTY LTD
1568 Melba Highway Dixons Creek Yarra Valley Victoria 3775
Tel. +61 3 5965 2016
Fax: +61 3 5965 2589
e-mail: info@mandalawines.com.au
www.mandalawines.com.au

Dal Zotto Wines
Main Rd, Whitfield,
King Valley, Vic 3733 Australia
Tel.: +61-3-57 298 321
Fax +61-3 57 298 490
info@dalzotto.com.au
www.dalzotto.com.au

Fifty five

Back street near Houhai, Beijing

I was very luck to spend my 55th birthday with a good old friend in Beijing, China. He took me to a Hakka (“Kejiaren”) restaurant near Houhai where we had a jolly good meal and a jolly good time.

My Chinese name (Zhou Min-de) was given to me in 1983 by a Taiwanese farmer, Mr. Zhou, who was also Hakka (in Linlo Xian, near Pintung in Southern Taiwan).

We enjoyed the food and each others company. It was a mild August night, and the world seemed to be at peace. It was a double 5 festival for me, so to say. That must mean luck, prosperity and long, long life!

After the feast

PS: We had beers, of course, what else? It just came naturally.

Street food paradise

A mobile sausage-cooking facility on a bicycle

In most Asian places, street food is an essential part of everyday life. That’s also the case in Taipei. Unfortunately, I did not rise to the occasion and took only a few photos when I should have taken many many more. I promise, I will rise to the occasion next time.

It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon, when my friends Chimei, Tzu-Chin and Jim were strolling with me through the streets near “Taida”, one of the famous universities in Taipei.

Various kinds of filled waffle (hong dou bian)

Red bean, chocolate and cream are the fillings

Chimei, Jim and Tzu-Chin in the street food paradise

Drifting in Taipei

Saturday, I had lunch with an old friend which was very pleasant and the Chinese food was excellent. After that I went for a long walk around the city. In 1983 when I did my field research here in Taiwan I came to Taipei from time to time for meetings and discussions and got to know the place a little. So I wandered around on my old tracks thoroughly enjoying the beautiful mild autumn weather.

The modern art museum in the Peace park

Fortune telling services are available

Street scene

Trees and people in the Peace park

The charming Starbucks

After a while, I was looking for a quiet place to have coffee, not an easy undertaking on a Saturday afternoon when the city is buzzing with people. The first Starbucks was completely full, crowded and noisy. But I was lucky and found a charming place, also a Starbucks. I watched the customers come in, order drinks and food, relax and leave the place. Lots of students were surfing the net and/or doing work on their laptops. Some seemed to do homework and assignments. I was utterly at peace with the world.

A look into the future

I had not much time since I wanted to meet friends later in the day and therefore went to “Taida”, one of the islands universities. I used the subway which was excellent and very easy to navigate. I had a pleasant trip. I could not resist to take the above photo. Somehow it felt like a window to the future. The running banner in the train informing the innocent traveler about the “don’t’s” included among others ‘betel nut chewing’ which was very common 26 years ago when I first visited the island.

I did not drink any wine that day. More about my adventures later.
Greetings from Taiwan; it’s a great place to visit.

Autumn views – wild berries ripening

Autumn is an exciting time in Europe not just for grape growers but also for other nature lovers. In the forests and along the many paths, rural roads, and highways various types of berries and other fruit can be spotted. The photos below are from Schoden, Saar. I took them last week.

Rose hip

Wild apple

Hawthorn

Sloes

A poem a day…

I have started to read an Italian classics: “Science in the Kitchen and Art of Eating Well”, by Pellegrino Artusi (in Italian: La scienza in cucina e l’arte di mangiar bene), written in 1891 (!!!!). It’s a great book. The following poem depicts it’s spirit:

“Tutte le societa, tutte le feste
Cominciamo e finiscono in pappate
E prima che s’accomodin le teste
Voglion essere le pance accomodate.

I preti che non son dei meno accorti,
Fan dieci miglia per un desinare.
O che si faccia l’uffizio dei morti,
O la festa del santo titolare,
Se non v’e dopo la sua pappatoria
Il salmo non finisce con la gloria.”

In English:
Every social gathering and holiday
in s with a feats begun and terminated;
and before our heads can have their say
our bellies must be fully sated.

Priests, who are said to know a thing or two,
will walk ten miles for a meal.
Wheater giving last rites with little ado
or calling on the local saint to heal,
if food and drink don’t close the story,
they cannot end the psalm in glory.

I raise my virtual glass of wine and drink to the poet Filippo Pananti.

PS: My Yellow-vented Bulbul birds have left the nest today which came quite as a surprise. I wanted to check on them this morning and take a photo but there was only one bird in the nest. When I lifted my camera, the remaining bird flew away. Nobody could see my face, but I wonder what it looked like. They are gone. So fast. How could they grow up so quickly? Hope they survive, and come back from time to time. there are no cats on our terrace.

From the sidelines: Judging the wine judges II

The day I received the results from the 2009 Decanter World Wine Awards, I also received an e-mail from Karl Storchmann from the American Association of Wine Economists announcing the newest publication of the Journal of Wine Economics (Vol 4, No 1).

The lead article in this issue of the journal is about the wine judges and their reliability in judging wines. This was the perfect contrast reading to the long list of award winners from Decanter. Again Robert T. Hodgson has summarized some more research about the topic in question.

The title of the article is “An Analysis of the Concordance among 13 U.S. Wine Competitions”. Hodgson followed over 4,000 wines entered in these competitions of which 2,440 wines were entered in more than three competitions. 47% of these wines received gold medals in one show but 84% of these same wines received no medals at all in the subsequent shows. These results indicate that winning a Gold medal is greatly influenced by chance alone. Or to put it another way: Wines which were deemed of an extraordinary quality by some wine judges were assessed as very ordinary by others.

In come the Decanter World Wine Awards 2009 results. What does the study say about these awards. Nothing, of course. My skepticism about wine shows, however, is rather stronger then before.

One may ask the question are the Hodgson findings about wine shows in the U.S. applicable to shows such as Decanter? Can we safely conclude that some of the Decanter award winners would be seen as ordinary by other wine judges at other shows, and that some of non-winners could easily win a Gold somewhere else. Or could the Decanter wine judges replicate the tasting with the exact identical findings? Or what would their “margin of error” or inconsistency be?

What Hodgson’s study also tells us is, that wine judges are just human beings who are inconsistent and unpredictable. But we might rightly assume that they are trying to do the right thing but fail in this from time to time. The judges at the wine competitions surveyed, though, seem to have a shared idea about the wines they do not like and therefore win no awards at all. That’s at least something.

A few wine blogs have taken up the issue as well. Alder Yarrow for instance writes on Vinography about the AAWE paper and calls for a stop of the proliferating state wine shows. He admits, however, that the shows surveyed where, and I quote, “essentially the largest and most prestigious wine competitions in America”.

What does this tell us wine consumers? Well, wine quality and medals won at wine shows are not “orthogonal”, the presence of one doesn’t imply the presence of the other. Therefore, trust your own taste and buy what you like, possibly after tasting and let the wine shows be wine shows.

How about the vintner? Well, it is very nice for any wine producer to be recognized for outstanding quality and performance. So it is nice to win a medal at a wine show or getting a five star winery rating from James Halliday for instance. But it is not the end if this is not coming along. Most important is that ordinary people like to drink and buy your wine; the rest takes care of itself.

Cheers folks, trust your own judgment and taste as many wines as you can.