Free name-the-day service by carrierFrom 11th June–2nd September 2012

Highland fling for Society’s Whisky

If you have any questions or comments about Societynews, or would like to see something included, please e-mail: societynews@thewinesociety.com or write to: Societynews, The Wine Society, Gunnels Wood Road, Stevenage, Hertfordshire, SG1 2BT

July 2012

societynews

NLJ

UL1

2

WINE MERCHANT OF THE YEAR – INTERNATIONAL WINE CHALLENGE & DECANTER 2011

Explore Tawny Port for summerThis month’s Explore bottle is The Society’s ExhibitionTawny Port, a chilled glass of which is most welcomewhether or not the needle on the barometer rises.

3

Insi

de... 2 Savours & Flavours of MasDaumas GassacVéronique Guibert de LaVaissière, founder and owner of this iconic Languedoc estate,along with her many other skillsis a fine cook and raconteur. She shares some of her recipes and anecdotes with us.

Warm up, warm downSebastian Payne MW talkstemperature in his Last Wordcolumn and explains why he is against indicating thecorrect temperature to serve wines at in our List.

4 4 Olympic mythsIn our Amuse-Bouche column Joanna Goodmanlooks at some of the beliefsabout the ancient Greek games and how they havebeen interpreted to shape the modern Olympics.

Wine Society Chairman Sarah Evans addressed 427 members and their guests at the 138th AGM on Monday 11th June. ‘It has been a remarkable year for The Society: a year of acclaim and success and a year of change in the senior management team.’

Financial performance, as reported in the Annual Review, was strong. Sales ofregular dozens approximately 8% up on last year, were at their highest ever, drivenby an increase of 6% in active membership and the fact that members are, onaverage, buying more from their Society than in 2010/11. Sarah reiterated The Society’s commitment to hold prices wherever possible and to return surplusprofits to members through lower margins.

Sarah said that one of the highlights of the year had been our success in winningtwo of the major trade awards: The International Wine Challenge ‘Merchant of theYear’ and Decanter magazine’s ‘National Wine Merchant of the Year.’ as well asaccolades for our Chilean, Alsace and Portuguese ranges.

One of the most important tasks for the Committee this year, however, had beenthe recruitment of a new Chief Executive and Head of Buying, probably the twomost important roles in the organisation. The new CEO, Robin McMillan, wasintroduced and said how pleased he was to be part of ‘this great organisation and thisgreat Society’. New Head of Buying Tim Sykes, also on the podium for the first time,took the opportunity to say that he too was delighted to join The Wine Societyand, ‘the strongest buying team in the country’. He also paid tribute to Sebastian Payne MWand said how much he valued his experience and how pleased he was to retainhim in the team.

You can read a transcript of Sarah Evans’ speech, along with questions and comments from members on ourwebsite at thewinesociety.com/agm

Members have been buyingThe Society’s SpecialHighland Blend Whisky formore than a century. It is ablend unique to The Societyand one of the first of ourown-labels, appearing onour earliest Lists. Recentlegislation, aimed atprotecting produce fromspecified geographicregions, has forced us tochange the name of ourwhisky, as the constituentmalts are of Highland originbut the well-aged grainscome from the Lowlands.

The Society’s Special 14-Year-Old BlendedScotch Whisky, as it’s nownamed, has not changed atall in terms of what’s insidethe bottle. It remains a blend of first-division malts and grains originallybought from the distilleries and aged inSherry casks before blending to ourspecification and bottling. Unlikecommercial de-luxe brands of whisky,no colouring is added and eagle-eyedmembers may notice slight differencesin colour from one bottling to another.

We have retained the wood-cutillustration on the label of DunveganCastle on the Isle of Skye, the ancestralhome of the heads of the MacLeod clan,as the MacLeod of Macleod was electedthe original chairman of The Society in1874. The reference number of the whisky changes also to ref N-WY651,but the price remains the same, £22 per litre bottle.

Prices reduced onmore than 100 winesWe are pleased tosay not only that allprices have beenheld in the new Listbut that we havebeen able to reducethe price of morethan 100 winesthanks to morefavourable exchange rates. These includemember favourites such as, The Society’sNew Zealand Sauvignon Blanc (ref N-NZ6111, £8.95 instead of £9.25),The Society’s Rioja Crianza (ref N-SP7111,£6.95 instead of £7.25), Mâcon-VillagesDomaine Mallory et Benjamin Talmard,2010 (ref N-BU48691, £8.95 instead£9.25) and Piemonte Cortese, 2011 (ref N-IT15271, £5.25 instead of £5.50).Rather than offering large discounts on afew lines, we continue our approach ofkeeping prices as low as possible acrossthe board.

Thanks to our talented team of buyers,there’s much to discover in the new Listand with travel the theme, we hope thatyou will be inspired to venture beyondyour usual boundaries and discover newpleasures. The Explore section on pages 8to 10 would be a good place to start.

London 2012 OlympicsPossible disruption to deliveriesIt is likely that members living within the London area will experience delaysin getting their wines while the Olympic and Paralympic games are in fullswing (between 27th July and 9th September). While we will be doing ourutmost to make sure members receive their wines as quickly as possible, wewould urge them to place orders in good time over this period.

At the time of ordering members will be able to get more accurateinformation on the nature of the potential delays in their part of London. They will of course be able to take advantage of the free name-the-day carrierservice where this is available or may wish to take advantage of our collectiondiscount and come and visit The Society’s Showroom in Stevenage. Directionsand opening times are in the List and on our website.

100cl 40% vol

BLENDED SCOTCH WHISKY

An exceptional fourteen-year-old whisky made to ourspecification from a blend of fine malts and grains

PRODUCE OF SCOTLAND

SPECIAL14-YEAR-OLD

Help us manageour biggest enprimeur offer everFree storage for delayeddeliveries

Wines sold in the 2009 BordeauxOpening Offer have now arrived inthe UK and the process of contactingmembers for duty and VAT paymentsand delivery instructions has started.Because of the success of this offer(10,000 more cases than usual wereordered by members) our vans willbe working to maximum capacity in what is already a busy period (see opposite).

Members can opt to defer deliveryuntil next year and take advantage of free storage to help ease the load.We would also appreciate earlyreplies to our request for yourinstructions so that we can managethe process efficiently.

A year of acclaim and success& changes at the helm

Clockwise from top left: Head of Buying, Tim Sykes; Sarah Evans, Chairman; CEO Robin McMillan on Sarah’s right with members of the Committee of Management

This summer our Society vans will be exceptionallybusy delivering members’ 2009 Bordeaux winesbought en primeur (see opposite). To take the strainoff our vans during this busy period, we have decidedto offer members a free weekday name-the-dayservice via our carriers for all orders placed by 2ndSeptember 2012. This will enable us to spread theload more efficiently and provide members with the

best possible service, allowing us to deliver within two working days for most of the country if needed. There is usually a charge of £3 per order for this service.

If you have any questions, please contact Member Services on 01438 741177,memberservices@thewinesociety.com or visit thewinesociety.com/nametheday

Societynews July 2012

Being an ethnologist, I have seen much of the world and from my travels I bring back not only ideas, but new orrediscovered flavours. At harvest timegrape pickers arrive from all over theworld bringing with them new tasteexperiences and different traditions.

My taste buds developed in Gascony,Lot-et-Garonne where cooking has been elevated to the level of art, notbecause of superficial trimmings, but by a belief in its own terroir. Later, in the Languedoc, my palate was formed by the Mediterranean cult of a dedication to simplicity and freshnessof natural flavours. I am not agastronome but rather someone on aquest for tastes…throughout the year I circumnavigate my garden and larder,aware of everything they have to offer.

Let me talk first about where this‘cuisine’ was finally formulated, becausewithout this soil, without this vegetablegarden that we planted and have beencultivating for the last 40 years,everything would have been different.We, that is, my husband Aimé and I, didnot settle at Mas Daumas to becomewinemakers, but to make a home. I wasa junior ethnologist at the University ofMontpellier, looking for promotion.Aimé was an industrial tanner in Millau.At no point could we have imagined

ourselves as becoming ‘pioneer’winemakers. Mas Daumas became ourhome in June 1974, two months afterthe birth of our second son Gaël.

Once at Mas Daumas – no question ofDaumas Gassac yet – it very soonbecame obvious that the vines, thoughin a poor state, were in their elementand that these remarkable vineyardsshould not only be preserved butdeveloped. Whilst my husband, comingfrom the Aveyron, was dreaming ofcereals, corn, grains and other bizarre

things; I, a girl born between the sea and the étang (marshes as found in theCamargue); would never capitulate: vine and olives it had to be!

Why this change of mind? Why thisdecision to do something with the land?Quite simply, because we could notbring ourselves to rip up and transformthis extraordinary place which had beenlovingly cultivated for thousands of years

and was now our home. It was clear thatwe did not own Mas Daumas but that it now owned us.

The second stage was the protection of our environment. Once again, my husband’s natural instincts werebetrayed by his origins, putting forward the concept of ‘serious’ soilmanagement: he was prepared to stripthe hillside opposite our homestead in its entirety, since his friend HenriEnjalbert (professor of geography atBordeaux University) had revealed thatour terroir had the potential to makeexceptional wines.

My stand was tough and uncompromising.The hillside above Peyrafioc (theprincipal vineyard), covered with thewild garrigue, would never be touchedbeyond a certain point. This unique site,an old Languedocian farmstead on thebank of the Gassac stream, built againstthe Séranne mountains and facing theenormous and impenetrable Arboussasgarrigue, would remain protected. Therewould be no vast vineyards, but small

pockets of vines interspersed with the garrigue. The banks, the ditches, the hedges would all be saved. We werenot colonisers but guardians.

The next step was our decision that onlyorganic matter should be fed to the landsince the earth, teeming with life, hadnever been contaminated by syntheticchemicals. My first impression was ofold Jean Daumas, knees bent behind thehorse-drawn plough, surrounded byrobins. For centuries the only humusenriching the earth and giving joy to the birds was horse manure. It was crawling with earthworms and all forms of life and we were not goingto destroy it.

Organic was not yet fashionable andthose venturing into organic farmingwere not labelled in positive terms asecologists and environmentalists. We were foolish idealists whounderstood nothing of yields orrationalisation and even less that thewine’s very existence depended on anarsenal of diverse ‘medicines’ purchasedfrom (industrial) powder salesmen:strong chemical fertilisers, blockbustinginsecticides, weed-killers galore...enough to frighten you to death!

It was clear that we did not own Mas Daumas but that it now owned us.

Véronique Guibert de La Vaissière is the founder and owner

of this famous Languedoc estate, not to mention a doctor in

ethnology, writer, lecturer and painter. Her charming new

book evokes the magic of the Mediterranean, interweaving

recipes with lively anecdotes and memories. Here she tells us

about her early days at Mas Daumas Gassac, and its

cultivation, and shares some recipes from the book.

The recipe is no longer on the menu there, because it's a little old fashioned now and they are always creating new ones! But here it is, just as I loved it and the wayeveryone still loves it; made with the peppers from the Mas allbeautifully reddened at the end of summer. It is an easy recipe but takes a little time as the peppershave to be peeled very carefully.

8-10 large, ripe red peppers12 anchovy fillets2 cloves garlicOlive oil and a pinch of sea salt

Put the whole peppers into a hot ovenand allow them to char – just until theskin puffs up, don’t allow to blacken asthey would lose their perfume andconsistency. Allow to cool.

Remove the stem and the seeds; peelthem with your fingers; quarter themor slice them lengthwise.

Lay them on a large platter and saltlightly. Sprinkle with fine rounds ofgarlic sliced across the width of thecloves and add the anchovy fillets.Sprinkle with olive oil.

It is delicious served right away but itloses nothing if you put it in the fridgeovernight well covered with a plate.

Entrée

RED PEPPERS À LA CATALANE(serves 6-8)It was at Les Arcades restaurant in Aigues-Mortes, owned by Marie Pierre

Merquiols, that I first tasted this dish. Thirty years ago! During the war, our

fathers had gone to high school together in Montpellier. Marie Pierre and her

husband, Pascal, started out at the famous La Camargue restaurant in Aigues-

Mortes before they set up on their own two streets away. Sadly, Pascal passed

away, but Marie Pierre, supported by her daughters, carried on running the

restaurant and hotel with charm, elegance, simplicity and generosity.

Savours & Flavours of Mas

Mealtimes around the table at the Mas are still the most precious moments

Henri Enjalbert, friend and leading authority onvineyard management, went weak at the knees when

he saw the potential of the red glacial soils

Véronique is not a cook by vocation, her book is like a culinary autobiography of an independent woman

Societynews July 2012

If you have any questions or comments about Societynews, or would like to see something included, please e-mail: societynews@thewinesociety.com or write to: Societynews, The Wine Society, Gunnels Wood Road, Stevenage, Hertfordshire, SG1 2BT

Twyford, BerksThe Wine Team was established three years ago and holds more than 30 tastings and events each year. Most of the group are WineSociety members but they now have room for a few more. If interested, read about them atwineteam.co.uk and contact Mike Meyer atmike.meyer@btinternet.com or by phone on 01628 629576 or 07736 646938 to join.

Wimborne, DorsetThe Wimborne Wine Society hasbeen going for 44 years and meets on the first Wednesday of each month at 7.30pm at the AllendaleCommunity Centre in Wimborne. A warm welcome is assured for allnew members. Please contact PhilipHarknett on 01202 691428 orwinedrinker118@btinternet.com for more information.

Hatfield, HertsThe Herts Fine Wine Society (est 1985) who meet monthly at Hatfield for tutored tastings ofquality wines, plus an AnnualDinner at Haileybury College MCR,have vacancies for new members.Contact president Colin Akers on01992 426746 or e-mailchampagnecolin@hotmail.co.uk

M E M B E R

Viande

FLANK OFBEEF IN WINESAUCE(serves 6-8)I do not know why but this recipeoften reappears at harvest time.Having made it once for ourRomanian friends, who adored it, it is a joy for me to remake it andtreat them every year.

Members interested in purchasing a copy of Savours and Flavours of MasDaumas Gassac can do so online at daumas-gassac.com or by e-mailing export@daumas-gassac.com or writing to Mas deDaumas Gassac – attn: Anaïs Postal,34150 Aniane, France. The special price for Wine Societymembers is €25 instead of €30,including postage to the UK.

Our vineyard is organic because ourspirit and our beliefs lean naturallytoward respect for and protection of theearth, the environment and nature. Noinsecticides, weed killers or chemicalfertilisers have ever been used at DaumasGassac. Horse and sheep manure are theonly organic supplement enriching theearth. The birds from the hedgerows andthe scrub surrounding the vines are ournatural pesticides.

Our vegetable garden is cultivated alongthe same lines as our vineyard and ismore often than not the source of my

recipes and inspiration. I am not aprofessional cook and I believe thatgood cooking is not about grandioseideas and hours spent in preparation butabout the quality and freshness of theraw ingredients. My recipes are easy tofollow and are for those that get pleasurefrom giving their family and friendsprecious shared moments around the table.

Of all the happy times at Mas Daumas,mealtimes have been and still are themost special. This is the spirit that I hopeto evoke and to share in my book.

We currently list the 2010 viognier-dominated Mas de Daumas Gassac Blanc (ref N-FC20091, £24.50) and the cabernet-dominated 2005 red (ref N-FC14161, £25). Both wines aredrinking beautifully now but will keep to2015 for the white and 2019 for the red. We are offering both at the special bottle priceof £19 (instead of £24.50) until Sunday,12th August 2012. One bottle only of eachwine per member at this price. Please see ourwebsite for tasting notes.

Serve perhaps with mushrooms, chips, fried or jacket potatoes, gnocchi or green beans.

Generally there are 20-25 pickers andfamily members at the table, exhaustedand starving after another day in thevineyard and I always plan to haveplenty of meat. During normal timessmall slices of 150g maximum will do.I use bavette or the even tastier ongletwhich are cuts we have in France. Youcould use flank steak. Take two piecesand leave them whole like littleunrolled roasts.

Slices of flank, onglet or bavetteStrong mustard12-24 shallots3-4 glasses of red wineSalt pepper

To make the sauce: soften the finelychopped shallots in some butter orduck fat. When transparent, add saltand pepper and the wine. If you thinkthere is not enough wine then addsome more. Allow it to simmer for

quite a while to reduce the sauce. Add a sugar lump or two and I sometimes add some redcurrant or quince jelly or leftover meat juicesor gravy. Seal the beef, which you willhave generously spread with mustard,in a very hot pan. Cook them quickly.Keep the meat rare because you will beserving it covered with a very hotsauce which will draw out its juicesand cook it further.

eXploreThe Society’s Exhibition Tawny PortWhy is it that many of us only think of serving Port during the winter months oreven just at Christmas? Tawny Port in particular is sadly overlooked as a summerdrink. It benefits from being served chilled (around 10ºC), is lighter and nuttierthan other Ports and is surprisingly refreshing. In the Douro it is often served onits own either before the meal as an aperitif or in place of a dessert afterwards.

The Society’s Exhibition 10-Year-Old Tawny Port is made for us by Taylor’s and isa superb example of the style. It is made from a selection of the best red Portswhich are laid down as individual wines and aged in seasoned oak casks in thecompany’s cool cellars or lodges in Oporto. As the wines age they lose the deepblack-purple colour of youth and take on the characteristic delicate ‘tawny’ hue.The flavour is mellow and elegant, combining a smooth, luscious palate witharomas of wood and mature fruit.

As well as being a delicious aperitif, a glass of chilled Tawny is equally good atthe end of the meal with a hard, nutty cheese, apple pie, baked figs, or maceratedstrawberries with a hint of pepper.

The Society’s Exhibition Tawny Port is available at the special bottle price of £13.95 instead of£16.50 until Sunday 12th August 2012. Ref N-PN111. One bottle only per member at this price.

Daumas Gassac

A magical spot: the Mas surrounded by the garrigue

Amuse-BoucheOlympic myths

After years of driving up the A1M fromLondon to Stevenage, you’d think Iwould be on automatic pilot, but manythings engage me on my journey. Trees,for instance, blossomy in spring, verdantin summer, splashed with colour as theelders and rowans burst into fruit, andglorious as the leaves turn. A profusionof summer flowers or winter rime on

rolling fields. Or the magnificentplumage of a cock pheasant, mincinggormlessly off the hard shoulder intothe path of a Volvo estate. I don’trecommend pulling in to recycleroadkill for dinner unless you want tojoin it in the Choir Invisible, but I havestopped to scrump many a haul of shinyelderberries for dark, duck-friendlysauces, with optional diesel. But in allthat time, I never knew, until I saw thesign recently, that Hertfordshire isofficially the County of Opportunity.

Come on Herts! Surely the word isopportunism. How else to describe your prowess when it comes to vinoustown-twinning? Bristol may havesecured Bordeaux, but Hertfordshire has Burgundy sewn up. Look atBerkhamsted and Beaune, or Letchworthand Chagny, home of the three-star

Lameloise restaurant. The good folk ofHitchin, not content with havingsnapped up Nuits-Saint-Georges alsoexchange a gläschen from time to timewith the burghers of Bingen am Rhein.The volunteers for that twinningcommittee must be legion!

Let me admit to the odd sour grapehere. When this lot was up for grabs, wein Carmarthenshire were busy forginglinks with Bretons, with whom weshare good cider and a steelydetermination to keep our respectivelanguages alive. The exception is Llanelli,which focused instead on its mostdynamic product since the demise ofthe tinplate industry and joined handswith similarly rugby-mad Agen, thoughI can, as yet, report sightings neither ofthe famous prunes nor of my pin-up ofchoice, Philippe Sella.

Our own dear Stevenage has a piece ofthe Burgundian action too, twinned as itis with Autun, home of Nicolas Rolin,who founded the Hospices de Beaune.More to the point, it has The WineSociety Cellars, where you will probablyfind more Burgundy than anyone canshake a stick at.

Many wine-lovers do want to shake a stick at Burgundy, because my desertisland red of choice is expensive andcomplicated, both to buy and to sell.There are hundreds of vignerons in, say,Gevrey-Chambertin alone, some sublime, others not. Even if you know them all, afamily spat can swiftly upset the applecart,while a death paves the way for furthercomplications, in the shape of France’sscrupulously fair but labyrinthineinheritance laws. The relatively highentry-level price for the Burgundyexperience makes errors costly, as doesthe vexed question of style. Drinkersweaned on the old, full-bodied wines ofthe past that, quite legitimately, owedmuch to transfusions from the Rhône and

further afield, find the subtle and delicatecharm of pure Burgundian pinot noirdisconcerting, feeble even, whereas I findit uniquely bewitching.

Had I taken my life in my hands atJunction 7 to scoop up that unfortunatepheasant, there would have been nobetter partner for it, or indeed any other game bird with a certain boskywhiff of wild, truffly and hedonisticgaminess. But which to choose? As buyer Toby Morrhall writes in hishelpful online guide How To BuyBurgundy (thewinesociety.com/howtobuy), domaines are small andquantities of the best wines in shortsupply. The best strategy is to follow, as he does, the quality-conscious growers, and to understand their oftendiverse winemaking styles, to find one that appeals.

By all means enjoy a cruise along theCanal de Bourgogne or a tour of theCôte d’Or’s routes de vin, tastingprofoundly, feasting on jambon persillé andauthentic boeuf à la bourguignonne andnoting that the communes and theirmunicipal siblings in Hertfordshire areby no means identical twins. But whenit comes to buying Burgundy, I humblysuggest that the place to come is actually Stevenage.

We will be publishing an offer of red and whiteBurgundies for drinking now from a number ofdifferent vintages next month. The offer will beposted on our website and a printed version will bemailed to those members who have bought fineBurgundies in the last two years. If this does not include you but you would be interested inreceiving the offer, please contact Member Serviceson 01438 741177 or e-mailmemberservices@thewinesociety.com

The International Exhibition Co-operative Wine Society Limited. Registered Office: Gunnels Wood Road, Stevenage, Hertfordshire, SG1 2BT Register Number: 1824R (IP)

Website thewinesociety.comEnquiries 01438 741177Orders 01438 740222

Societynews July 2012

SebastianPayne MWChief wine buyer

Last Word

Janet WynneEvansSpecialist winemanager

Warm up,warm downA member wrote recently to say that

we should indicate at what

temperature the wines we list should

be served. We take the suggestion

seriously and have discussed it.

Personally I am not for it, because I do

not think it would be helpful, and find

it unnecessarily prescriptive. But then

I have never believed in those devices

which measure the temperature of the

wine in the glass either.

The point is that we change, and

the ambient temperature of our

surroundings change quite a bit,

so I do not want my wine to be at the

same temperature each time I drink it.

General rules work best. Never serve

red wine too warm. The bouquet

evaporates too quickly and the wine

will eventually become volatile and

vinegary. Never serve white wine, if it

is any good, too cold. Baron Philippe

de Rothschild of Mouton served his

sweet whites, usually Yquem, iced, but

he was eccentric, and as a fine Claret

producer probably did not care if the

bouquet of his Sauternes was half

deadened.

Full-bodied reds from the Rhône or

New World respond better to the

warmer temperatures of a centrally

heated dining room in winter. But as

Toby Morrhall advises, Burgundies

with a more ethereal bouquet lose this

advantage when warm, and are best at

‘larder’ temperature. I have a vivid

memory of Denis Mortet at a Wine

Society tasting, putting his Gevrey-

Chambertin outside on a cold

window ledge because the room was

too hot.

The sweeter the white, the more you

can chill it, but half an hour in a

refrigerator is quite enough. A complex

full-flavoured chardonnay tastes best

close to room temperature and is

often best decanted in advance.

Growers on the Rhine and Moselle

often serve their rieslings at room

temperature and Tokaji producers have

traditionally always done so. But there

is nothing like a chilled glass of Tawny

Port on a summer’s day. No more

rules, please. Our personal tastes are as

varied as our wines.

We do provide some guidance on serving

temperatures for dessert wines, however, in our

online How to buy Sweet Wines at

thewinesociety.com/howtobuy

As we all gird our loins (and stretch ourhamstrings) for the impending 2012Games, I wondered whether wine, suchan important part of ancient Greekculture, had a role to play in their games.I was amused to discover that, contraryto popular belief, it seems it did.

Perhaps one of the most fundamental ofmisconceptions about the ancient gamesis the moral basis for modern athletesbeing amateurs because their ancientGreek antecedents had been. The Greekshad no word for ‘amateur’ and allathletes were professionals. The wordathlete is derived from words meaning‘one who competes for a prize’. Theinterlocking five rings, far from beingan ancient symbol, were invented in1913 by Pierre de Coubertin, presidentof the International OlympicCommittee. They were immortalised byfilm-maker Leni Riefenstahl who carvedthem into a rock at Delphi for her film

‘Olympia’ a tribute to the so-called1936 ‘Nazi’ Olympics. Some say that the torch ceremony is also a legacy ofthe 1936 Berlin games.

According to David C Young, professorof classics at the University of Florida, modern Olympic officialshave long assumed that ancient athletes abstained from strong drink and thus set a good example to today’scompetitors, citing an ancientinscription from Delphi that had beentranslated: ‘Wine cannot be taken into thestadium.’Apparently the correcttranslation is actually: ‘Wine cannot be taken out of the stadium.’

Despite all this, the games, both ancientand modern, are a celebration of lifeitself, and to that we should all raise aglass…why not make it a Greek one?See pages 54 and 107 of the new List.

Joanna Goodman News editor

Food for thought

PINOT COUNTY

But when it comes to buying Burgundy,

I humbly suggest that theplace to come is actually

Stevenage.

Illustration by John Richards

The island of Santorini is home to some of Greece’s oldest vines, the volcanic soil protecting them fromphylloxera. The wonderfully versatile assyrtiko grape, found throughout Greece, originates here