AIRPLANE FLIGHT MAP

I flew to Frankfurt recently on an invitation from Henrick Hering the German Minister for Viticulture be part of the Master jury for the annual Best of Riesling competition held by the German Wine Institute in Mainz. We would be judging around two thousand Rieslings in four categories of wine - trocken (9g max), halbtrocken, sweet (90g plus) and botrytis wines. The bulk of the wines were German but there were also a certain number of awards going to Rieslings from other areas of the world such as Austria, Australia, Luxembourg and Canada.
The first day was spent visiting a few vineyards along the Mosel during a very dramatic thunder storm. First we visited Schloss Lieser.
Where Thomas Haag (2nd cousin to Willi) was making great wines from the Brauneberger Juffer vineyard.
Then on to Kerpen in Wehlen who property is on the opposite side of the Mosel to the famous Sonnenuhr vineyard and who has vines there also.
Last of all we went to St Urbanshof in Liewen where Nic Weis is making
some great wines from the Liewener Lauretislay, Okfener Bockstein and
Piesporter Goldtropfchen Vineyards. A really impressive set of wines followed plus a 1969 Auslese that was fresh and youthful still with aromas of chamomile and honey, char grilled limes, nuts, white mushrooms and kerosene. Still fresh light and clean with a perfect acid balance.
Delicious!
The next morning I had to be back in London on Sunday just to go for lunch (!) I took an early flight into London City Airport.
It was at le Gavroche and was filming for the final episode of Michel Roux's series Service for the BBC.
As part of the show Michel would nominate two out of seven underprivileged teenagers to go on to scholarships that would get them into the restaurant business as either a Maitre'd or as a Sommelier. Hotel du Vin was giving a six months scholarship to one of them whom I was going to mentor.
I was there with our Operations Manager Mike Warren to present the winning student nominated as Sommelier our scholarship.
Filming went over schedule (of course) and I found myself with 35minutes to get to Heathrow - luckily a fast taxi driver got me there in time but it cost me ?65.
Back in Germany a very smart chauffeur in a Mercedes got me to Deidesheim in just under an hour.
The next day we were judging at the Hambacher Schloss made famous as this is where the design for the German flag was created in 1832. We were split into groups of 5-6 judges and tasted flights of 30 wines in each of the four categories. The afternoon we tasted the top six from each flight and ranked them in order 1-6.
The following day there we a series of Riesling seminars ranging from analyzing flavour and aroma compounds to in-depth geological surveys of Germany and how these affect aroma compounds - all fascinating stuff but very technical (spectrograph analysis, etc)
We are still to find out which wines were ranked as the best, so after a couple of swift German lagers at Frankfurt airport we went home.

A carrion crow flies by.

The carrion crow (corvus corone) of the family corvidae.
The all-black carrion crow is one of the cleverest, most adaptable of our birds. It is often quite fearless, although it can be wary of man. They are fairly solitary, usually found alone or in pairs. The closely related hooded crow has recently been split as a separate species. Carrion crows will come to gardens for food and although often cautious initially, they soon learn when it is safe, and will return repeatedly to take advantage of whatever is on offer.
[RSPB website]

Crystal Palace Park came from the Penge Place estate when, in 1854, the Crystal Palace was moved from Hyde Park (where it was set up in 1851 for The Great Exhibition).
The Crystal Palace was designed by Joseph Paxton, who also played a role in the relocation and designing the new site with its Italian gardens and terraces.
The area waned in the late c19th, and despite hosting the Festival of Empire in 1911, the managing company declared bankruptcy. In 1913 the Earl of Plymouth purchased it to save it, and a public supscription was raised to purchase it for the nation.
It was a naval training ground during the Great War, after which it was the first Imperial War Museum.
The 1920s saw a programme of restoration and rejuvenation, but 30 November 1936 an office fire broke out and the building burned down.
Since then the Park has hosted various events and partial development. Today it is primarily a public park.

Taken in Crystal Palace