Alcohol abuse (Panorama)

Having seen the latest Panorama on BBC1 I can only conclude that it was the Alastair Campbell show masquerading as a serious piece about alcohol abuse, binge drinking, middle class alcoholics and the rest.

Jokes apart, this is indeed a grave subject and the programme did deal with it well, on the whole.

The most obvious problem from what I saw is that organisations whose job is to propose controls or restrictions on the availability and low price of many alcoholic drinks should not be largely influenced by drinks companies themselves. These, mostly multinational, companies only want people to drink as much as possible whatever the consequences. Here Alastair did admit to the rather loose policies of the government he had the dubious honour of advising (24 hour drinking etc). New Labour does bear some responsibility for much of the alcohol-related carnage seen on our streets every weekend.

Another obvious conclusion is that on-trade consumption is the way to go whether this be in pubs or restaurants. Landlords and licensees can and do decide when people have had enough.

The amount of alcohol consumed by a sizeable number of individuals is excessive and should be curbed in some way. And it is not only in this country that the problem exists. In France, which has the reputation of being a country of mostly 'responsible' alcohol consumption, drinking to excess among younger people is a growing phenomenon. Is this a sign of a more general malaise in our societies ?

Under what conditions might it be possible to curb excessive drinking ? A few suggestions: drink business (especially big business) off advisory bodies; government to ensure alcohol is not under priced (in relation to say when I was a young man 30 years ago); a better deal for pubs and restaurants which should be THE place to have a drink, not sitting at home with cheap booze flogged by supermarkets.

Beyond these superficial palliatives, only the transformation of our society to something altogether more green, social, and worthwhile for everyone will cure these ills. That is another question.

Serre des Vignes (Grignan-les-Adhémar)

Vineyard with lavender fields in the background

As you go whizzing down the Rhône valley on your way to Provence or further afield turn left around Montélimar. You will discover an area of hills, valleys and small villages nestling among lavender fields, orchards, and vineyards.

Find a good vantage point and you can fill your eyes with the mosaic of this landscape which seems to epitomise the south of France as we remember it in the works of Cézanne or Van Gogh. In the distance the snow topped pyramid of Mont Ventoux lords it over everything. The air tends to be pure as crystal and the sky a deep cerulean blue. The Mistral sees to it that clouds are quickly banished.

As a rule the area is not one which wine enthusiasts spend too much time exploring. Most of the grapes go to cooperatives and serve to produce the generic 'Côte'(s du Rhône) usually served in French restaurants in 250ml or 500ml jugs (pichets). It is a matter of reputation, and here people go about their business in the vines and the orchards without worrying too much about what people think in the wine scene in Paris or London. This does not mean that good distinctive wines cannot be made here.

The local appellation, once associated with the Tricastin nuclear power station, has metamorphosed into Grignan-les-Adhémar. Is this a sign of good things to come ? There are also some producers who have decided the cooperative is no longer the favoured route to market and who, like Jérôme & Vincent Roux at Domaine du Serre des Vignes, now make their own wine in their own purpose-built winery.

Jérôme in the vineyard

The Roux' 40 hectares are split between apricots, vines and lavender. There is something very traditional about this mix, and it feels very right, avoiding the vast monoculture found further down the Rhône valley. The vines stand where they tend to grow well, not simply anywhere there is a spare field.

Jérôme & Vincent have chosen to cultivate organically. Their wines are made in the traditional manner spending plenty of time in tank, maturing slowly. As a measure of their success the 2009 Secret de Syrah (100% Syrah) won a gold medal at the prestigious Salon de l'Agriculture in Paris. This wine has much of the smoky complexity of the Northern Rhône with the opulent fruit of the South and is great value. The other reds, whites and rosé in their range are made equally well. The whites have great minerality and freshness.


Domaine du Serre des Vignes http://www.serredesvignes.com/

Wilderness and change

View of Grand Veymont mountain and the Haut Plateau du Vercors

I have never been to a true wilderness. Aldo Leopold is reported to have said that a true wilderness is where you can travel for two weeks on horseback without seeing any signs of humans (as told by Jeff Turner in his film The Last Grizzly of Paradise Valley shown recently on BBC TV).

The closest I have come to that increasingly hard to find place is the Haut Plateau du Vercors in southern France. As can be seen from the photo above, it is pretty empty of people except for the few shepherds who spend the summer in these mountain pastures. Although you can't travel two weeks on horseback without seeing signs of humans, you can get lost for several weeks as one unfortunate hiker managed to do a couple of years back. You may, if you are lucky, be able to spend a whole day without seeing a single person.

The Vulture soars

In the summer there are usually a few people passing through, but they do not stay - water being difficult to find up here - and you are more likely to see Marmots, Alpine Ibex, or Chamois. Not forgetting the Vultures (Gyps Fulvus) who glide far and wide over these mountains, their wings making a whistling noise as they pass, just like the gliders manned by human beings which venture up from a little airstrip far below. In bad weather you will find nobody at all, and you would do well to know how to navigate with a compass, because the fog can reduce visibility to a few centimetres. This is why I like this place so much. You can empty your mind here and just be.

This area has never been settled, and even in the lower areas around Vassieux-en-Vercors life is hard and dependent on tourism. The regional nature park status helps no doubt. In prehistoric times this part of the Vercors was of great interest to the humans of the time who would come up from the valleys 1500 metres below to take advantage of the flint deposits to make tools. The flints are particularly large here and can be made into blades measuring up to 25cm long. These blades would have been much sought after, as weapons, tools or prestigious gifts. This would have been a summer activity and the flint makers would have made their way back down at the end of the season laden with the blades and tools they had crafted.

Then one day they stopped. We can see where they worked to this day at the museum (worth a visit) which has been set up to preserve this precious vestige of our distant ancestors. The remains of partly worked tools are still there where they were left by some craftsman thousands of years ago. Did they intend to come back ? No doubt bronze had arrived and it was no longer worth their while coming up here for flints. It was the end of the flint makers.

This is a touching reminder that there have been upheavals of this kind throughout the history of our species. The frequency of these changes, or creative destruction, as Schumpeter puts it, has no doubt been increasing over the centuries. In our time it seems that change is becoming exponential, hour by hour, a seething maelstrom. If you look away for 2 seconds, the world and everything in it will have changed. But of course some things seem to remain unchanged nevertheless, such as this landscape of mountain meadow and high altitude forest and the caves used by man before history. Long may it be so.

Musée de la Préhistoire - Vassieux en Vercors http://www.prehistoire-vercors.fr/
Parc régional naturel du Vercors http://parc-du-vercors.fr/fr_FR/index.php

How to turn a large heap of prunings into a small pile of useful wood

The heap of prunings

I took advantage of the cold spell here to do a bit of severe pruning of a Willow hedge. In the sunshine the work was pleasant and progressed quickly, thanks to a good saw and my trusty Felco secateur. This sort of task has its own satisfaction.

The resulting small mountain of branches and twigs of varying sizes looked somewhat daunting and occupied almost all of our small front garden. I intended to cut it down to manageable pieces but wondered where to start.

The answer was simple. Start with the first branch. Cut off all the side branches and twigs with the Felco and pile them up neatly, having trimmed them to a handy size. Do the same to the next one, and the next one, and so on. Progress was rapid, and in seemingly no time at all, the wood pile started to form. Once they have been relieved of their twigs you can then saw the main, thicker branches to the sizes you want and pile them neatly.

The twigs can be used for kindling or shredded for compost. the 'logs' can be used as fuel or left for insects and other animals to use as shelter or food. Keep the longest, straightest branches, having trimmed them to the required length, for use as beanpoles or other useful stakes or supports in the allotment.

I am sure that I could do a lot more with this material. Only my imagination is a limitation. I could probably get a few cricket bats out of the largest trees which provide cover streetside, but these will be spared so that the birds can hide themselves away before or after visiting the feeders !

The very small pile !

All in all the Willow is very productive and vigorous. In England it has been pollarded or coppiced throughout the centuries to provide long straight poles and all sorts of other useful items. Modern plantations of willow can be used to provide combustible biomass for power generation.

This particular hedge will grow during the coming season to its original height, putting on up to three metres or more. I will be able to do the same thing next year. Such is Nature. Always productive and never a grumble.

Wine to Die for

Fabien Lombard shows off  his wines

I really like travelling through lesser known wine regions in France. There are many, and a lifetime would not be long enough to explore them all. But you can find them almost anywhere the fancy takes you on your journey. Just leave the motorway and look around, having glanced at your favourite wine atlas, and discover some real gems.

There is an area to the east of the A7 between Loriol and Montelimar which is not as renowned as the great appellations to the north towards Lyon or to the south towards Orange, nor as up and coming as those to the west of the Rhône. It is home to the once fabled Brézème appellation mentioned by Cyrus Redding in his History and Description of Modern Wines (1851), and eastwards along the valley of the Drôme to the ancient town of Die, famous for Clairette de Die (a low-alcohol fruity sparkling wine based mainly on Muscat nowadays). There is also a micro appellation known as Coteaux de Die in which the local Clairette grape is used to make a still white wine.

On one of these aimless wanderings we happened on the fine vista of an amphitheatre of hills surrounding a picturesque village where peach trees alternate with vines in the fields. Having parked the car, a short circular walk from the village of Suze-sur-Crest led us to a local vineyard by the name of Domaine de Peylong owned by Christelle and Fabien Lombard who cultivate organically about 2.5 hectares of vines.

In an area better known for its sparking Clairette de Die, Christelle and Fabien have eschewed this well worn path to produce some notable still wines from the white and red grapes of their property. Both oenologists, the talk around their kitchen table is of blends and how best to make the Syrah or the Cabernet Sauvignon (rare in these parts) stand out, or how long the wines will mature in barrel.

The originality doesn’t begin and end in the winery; the viticulture is original too, with many of their vines staked individually (the ‘échalas’ technique mainly seen only in the holy grail vineyards of the northern Rhone valley). The results are, to say the least, very pleasing: the blending of Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon in the Inespéré 2008 is perfect for those seeking a wine out of the ordinary.  I particularly appreciate their white wines based on Clairette with their delicate floral quality. What makes all these wines stand out is their freshness. This is due possibly to the fact that some of the vines are sited on north west facing slopes.

No matter what the wines are like there is a feeling of calm contentment and the satisfaction of a job well done which emanates from these winemakers. You would be happy to join them but alas you will have to be content with tasting the wines. These are wines that you have to head towards Die to find, and indeed perhaps, as the saying goes, to die for.

Domaine de Peylong 26 Suze-sur-Crest http://www.peylong.com/