The major work at the Beuys Is Here exhibition on view at the De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill until the 27th of September is Scala Napoletana (“Neapolitan Ladder”). The 1985 sculpture, completed by Joseph Beuys near the end of his life, was inspired by a ladder the German conceptual artist spotted on the island of Capri. Held upright by wires connecting it to lead spheres, Joseph’s ladder is oddly proportioned: the spacing between its long parallel members is narrow whereas the gaps between its rungs are rather wide. The meaning behind this paradox has baffled art critics as well as the man most intimately acquainted with the sculpture, Kyle, the attendant who’s shared a room with it, the De La Warr’s Gallery 2, since early July. When I began to tell my wife Viv about similar ladders I’d seen at vineyards in southern Italy, Kyle sidled over and doubled the size of my audience. [Read more...]
Joseph’s ladder & the vineyards of Aversa
Floored by a bottle of super Tuscan
At a dinner party in West London two nights ago I was nearly floored by a bottle of 2004 Lucciolaio from Torraccia di Presura. The sheer weight of this super Tuscan, a 80/20 blend of Sangiovese and Cabernet Sauvignon, was enough to knock me off my chair. I knew Chianti producers were seeking wines with a more robust character, but this one seemed to have gone way OTT. [Read more...]
Would you like your wine al dente?
Accomplished wine sommeliers can do more than enhance our dining experience. Through their inspired selections, suggestions, descriptions and tasting notes they can expand our knowledge and push the borders of our understanding and appreciation. Young & Foodish is pleased to honour the wine professional who in 2008 resisted convention and compiled one London’s most original wine lists.
Best Addition to the Wine Vocabulary: ”Al Dente”, CRU Restaurant Wine Bar, Hoxton
This is something of a posthumous award, as the ownership of CRU has changed hands and the restaurant is closed at this writing. But we did not wish to overlook the achievement of wine expert Morgan Devine. Here is an excerpt from his nine-line description of the Domaine Gay-Coperet Moulin à Vent:
…the nose expresses violets and wild roses in abundance and the palate is pleasingly al dente – easy enough to drink but with sufficient resistance for little game birds…
Comparing the nose of the Moulin à Vent to the bouquet of violets and roses is nice though hardly unusual. It is the link between red wine and pasta that is groundbreaking. The logic to Devine’s metaphorical flourish is inescapable:
If, (A), al dente, an Italian expression meaning “to the teeth”, is commonly used to describe the firm, desirably chewy texture of pasta and, (B), “chewy” is an accepted term in the wine lexicon for fleshy, firm-structured, full-bodied wines, then, (C), the Domaine Gay-Coperet Moulin à Vent tastes like fettuccine. [Read more...]
