Author Archives: Frostie

International Women’s Day | The Wine Women

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What could be more fulfilling than a career in wine? For many it would be a dream career. Today is International Women’s Day so let these women show you how.
Vitalie Taittinger – Champagne Taittinger
1) What advice would you give to women considering or beginning a career in wine?
I would tell them to consider this choice as a life choice! The way of getting into wine is very long. You have many things to learn and to understand. It really has to be a passion! It is a fabulous world, working with nature, time and people, it is very exciting!
2) What is your ultimate wine and food pairing? My ultimate food pairing would maybe be a flute of Prélude Grands Crus with oysters…the minerality of this Champagne, its pureness and its energy really does match the saltiness and texture of oysters. I love the simplicity!

Taittinger Prélude Grand Crus NV, RRP £54.35, Stockists: Majestic Wine, JohnLewis.com Frost recommended. 


Laure Colombo – Winemaker at Colombo et Fille
1) What has been a key/memorable moment in your career so far?
The first time someone said “Jean-Luc Colombo is the father of Laure Colombo” and not being recognized as the “daughter of”, but for myself!
2) Who has inspired you in your career?
Jean-Michel Comme from Pontet-Canet! He taught me the fact that the vines are living beings. It needs to breathe, to feed from the earth, in order to open up.

Jean-Luc Colombo Saint Péray Belle de Mai 2016, RRP £23.25, Stockists: Pennistone Court Wine Cellars, Hedonism Drinks Frost Recommended.

Eva de Benito – Winemaker at Viña Real
1) What has been a key/memorable moment in your career so far?
The moment that I started working for CVNE and managing Viña Real, one of the emblematic brands of Rioja.
2) If you could live in another woman’s shoes for a day, whose would you choose?
In general, I admire women who, with their passion and willingness to improve, have been able to break myths and barriers – not only in the wine trade but also in any profession or aspect in life.

Viña Real Gran Reserva 2011, RRP £27.70, Stockists: Hailsham Cellars, D.Byrne & Co, Planet of the Grapes, The Whalley Wine Shop, Luvians Bottleshop, Wimbledon Wine C llears, The Solent Cellar, Old Chapel Cellars, Taurus Wines

Maria Larrea – Chief Winemaker at C.V.N.E
1) What advice would you give to women considering or beginning a career in wine?
It is important to surround yourself with a good work team, observe the vineyard, study about other viticultural areas of the world. In short, always learn, enjoy work and always try to make the best wine.
2) What has been a key/memorable moment in your career so far?
Undoubtedly the best moment was the award we received with Imperial Gran Reserva vintage 2004 as the best wine in the world for the Wine Spectator. It really was a prize for the long history of Imperial, more than 100 years as a wine of great quality.

Imperial Reserva 2012, RRP £26.00, Stockists: Majestic Wine, Wine Rack, Coop, Waitrose.com, Tesco.com


Helen Morrison – Chief Marlborough Winemaker at Villa Maria
1) What has been a key/memorable moment in your career so far?
As a winemaker 2017 was the hardest vintage I have ever experienced, so the reward of seeing the quality of the wines we managed to craft from this challenging season is truly memorable.
2) If you could live in another woman’s shoes for a day, whose would you choose?
Right now in New Zealand it would be fascinating to be Jacinda Adern for a day, as our recently elected Prime Minister, the youngest prime minister in 150 years, un-married, and a strong supporter of women’s rights and now she has recently announced her first pregnancy. What a great series of firsts to be experiencing, but also some very interesting challenges and adversaries she must be facing (even in this modern era).
Villa Maria Private Bin Riesling 2017, RRP £10.95, Stockists: Majestic Wine, Wine Rack

Catherine Corbeau Mellot – President of Joseph Mellot
1) What advice would you give to women considering or beginning a career in wine?
You will need to be very strong and be able to face lots of challenges. Passion and the wish to be successful are key. Go for it!
2) What is your ultimate wine and food pairing?
A two-month Crottin de Chavignol (our local goat cheese, which is AOP.) with a glass of Sancerre la Chatellenie!

Sancerre La Rabault Rosé 2015, RRP £22.60, Stockists: The Shenfield Wine Company, Refreshers, Park Lane Wine and Deli Frost Recommended. 

Audrey Braccini – Winemaker at Domaine Ferret
1) What has been a key/memorable moment in your career so far?
It was two or three years back. When I started working in Fuissé ten years ago, the welcome from the other producers was a little bit cold… and this continued for some years after. You can imagine my joy when some of them came to me and said, with kindness in their eyes, ‘good job, great wines, it is a good thing you came!’
2) If you could live in another woman’s shoes for a day, whose would you choose?
Marlène Soria – a pioneering organic winemaker from Languedoc.

Domaine Ferret Pouilly Fuissé 2016, RRP £33.40, Stockists: North and South Wines, Taurus Wines, Penistone Court Wine Cellars, Luvians Bottleshop, Planet of the Grapes, Handford Wines, Eagle Wines, Partridges of Sloane St, Loki Wines

Her Mother’s Daughter By Evie Grace | Recommended Reads

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THE SECOND SAGA IN EVIE GRACE’S MAIDS OF KENT TRILOGY.

‘One of the most gifted saga writers writing today’ Bookish Jottings

Will she break free and change her future?
Canterbury, 1853

Agnes Berry-Clay might have been born into rags but she is growing up with riches.
Given away as a baby by her real mother, she was rescued and raised by her darling Papa and distant Mama. Agnes wants for nothing, except perhaps a little freedom.

But as times goes on, her life at Windmarsh Court changes. New arrivals and old resentments push Agnes to the peripheries, and finally the consequences of one fateful day shatter her dreams for the future.

Heartbroken and surrounded by the threat of scandal, Agnes is faced with a terrible choice: stay and surrender, or flee and fight to keep her freedom.

 

Why Does Inequality Matter? By T. M. Scanlon Book Review

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Inequality is widely regarded as morally objectionable: T. M. Scanlon investigates why it matters to us. Demands for greater equality can seem puzzling, because it can be unclear what reason people have for objecting to the difference between what they have and what others have, as opposed simply to wanting to be better off. This book examines six such reasons. Inequality can be objectionable because it arises from a failure of some agent to give equal concern to the interests of different parties to whom it is obligated to provide some good. It can be objectionable because it involves or gives rise to objectionable inequalities in status. It can be objectionable because it gives the rich unacceptable forms of control over the lives of those who have less.

It can be objectionable because it interferes with the procedural fairness of economic institutions, or because it deprives some people of substantive opportunity to take part in those institutions. Inequality can be objectionable because it interferes with the fairness of political institutions. Finally, inequality in wealth and income can be objectionable because it is unfair: the institutional mechanisms that produce it cannot be justified in the relevant way. Scanlon’s aims is to provide a moral anatomy of these six reasons, and the ideas of equality that they involve. He also examines objections to the pursuit of equality on the ground that it involves objectionable interference with individual liberty, and argues that ideas of desert do not provide a basis either for justifying significant economic inequality or for objecting to it.

Why Does Inequality Matter? is an important book which asks the right questions. It is intelligent without being condescending and full of facts while still being entertaining.

Why Does Inequality Matter? By T. M. Scanlon is available here.

REBORN SURVIVOR: WHAT SIX YEARS IN A CHRISTIAN CULT TAUGHT ME

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Rhys Hagan was drawn into an alleged Christian cult which left him broke and alienated from friends and family. He finally cut ties and rebuilt his life after surviving six “long years of hell” but the emotional scars remain. Here, he explains how it feels to be brainwashed and warns of the destruction that cults can cause. His new book, Sovereignty, is out now.

When most people hear the word cult their minds’ probably jump to a scene from a movie of hooded figures chanting around a cauldron, not a small Baptist church with singing and a potluck. While that first scene would most definitely depict a cult, the second can be just as likely a culprit. Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of community churches which provide a support network that’s healthy and beneficial for all, but there are those—tucked away in a remote part of town—masquerading as a harmless, almost apathetic congregation which dismiss the wellbeing of its members for the sake of power and wealth.

Only a few years ago I was a member and youth leader in one such church, but once my family and I witnessed the leader physically attack a small boy, we were forced to confront the nature of what we’d become a part of. In the coming years, the rehabilitation I underwent set me on a path of critical thought and independent living which has resulting in me writing my novel, Sovereignty.

While I managed to fit my most valuable philosophies into my novel, I could write volumes on the lessons I took away from my time in the church, but they all have a common theme. It’s that theme I’d like to share with you now. And it’s a tale as old as time, or at least as old as John Dalberg-Acton: Power corrupts.

To have power over your own life is self-control. To have power over another’s is oppression. Now, I’m not saying you should go to your boss and tell them to stick their authority up their holiest of holies; after all, they don’t have power over your life, only your work. No, the power I’m talking about is the power for one person to dictate what another will believe. The power to insist a child stop associating with their parent or for a parent to kick their child to the streets for not conforming to the leader’s demands. The power to make a single statement and say it means one thing while also meaning the opposite (a principle called ‘doublethink’ by George Orwell in 1984).

When someone establishes this kind of control, or even desires to, a group crosses the line from being a community gathering to a cult. How do you tell? In a fair community anyone can challenge anything and anyone if they choose without formal consequence. In a cult, any criticism of the leader(s) or the ideals they uphold ends in reprisal or excommunication.

I know, it sounds confusing, as if I’m suggesting you be involved in your community while being sceptical of everyone in it. But, like monitoring what you eat, it’s important to have balance. A healthy level of scepticism goes a long way and, if you’re ever unsure about whether or not someone in your circle is healthy or radical, just remember what the bible says, “Judge a tree by its fruit.”

Sovereignty by Rhys Hagan is out now in print and as an eBook priced £11.97 and £4.79. It is available from Amazon . For more information about Rhys’s story, go to www.rhyshagan.com/

 

Religion vs. Science: What Religious People Really Think

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At the end of a five-year journey to find out what religious Americans think about science, Ecklund and Scheitle emerge with the real story of the relationship between science and religion in American culture. Based on the most comprehensive survey ever done-representing a range of religious traditions and faith positions-Religion vs. Science is a story that is more nuanced and complex than the media and pundits would lead us to believe.

The way religious Americans approach science is shaped by two fundamental questions: What does science mean for the existence and activity of God? What does science mean for the sacredness of humanity? How these questions play out as individual believers think about science both challenges stereotypes and highlights the real tensions between religion and science. Ecklund and Scheitle interrogate the widespread myths that religious people dislike science and scientists and deny scientific theories.

Religion vs. Science is a definitive statement on a timely, popular subject. Rather than a highly conceptual approach to historical debates, philosophies, or personal opinions, Ecklund and Scheitle give readers a facts-on-the-ground, empirical look at what religious Americans really understand and think about science.

Religion and science have always had an uneasy relationship. In fact, there are times when the two have been at war. But the two can coincide. This book is a myth-busting, highly accessible and well-written book. It is US centric but still very interesting. A fascinating read. 

Religion vs. Science: What Religious People Really Think is available here.

 

Behind the Lawrence Legend: The Forgotten Few Who Shaped the Arab Revolt Book Review

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T. E. Lawrence became world-famous as ‘Lawrence of Arabia’, after helping Sherif Hussein of Mecca gain independence from Turkey during the Arab Revolt of 1916-18. His achievements, however, would have been impossible without the unsung efforts of a forgotten band of fellow officers and spies. This groundbreaking account by Philip Walker interweaves the compelling stories of Colonel Cyril Wilson and a colourful supporting cast with the narrative of Lawrence and the desert campaign. These men’s lost tales provide a remarkable and fresh perspective on Lawrence and the Arab Revolt.

While Lawrence and others blew up trains in the desert, Wilson and his men carried out their shadowy intelligence and diplomatic work. His deputies rooted out anti-British jihadists who were trying to sabotage the revolt. Meanwhile, Lieutenant Lionel Gray, a cipher officer, provided a gateway into unknown aspects of the revolt through his previously unpublished photographs and eyewitness writings. Wilson’s crucial influence underpinned all these missions and steadied the revolt on a number of occasions when it could have collapsed. Without Wilson and his circle there would have been no ‘Lawrence of Arabia’.

Yet Wilson’s band mostly fell through the cracks of history into obscurity. “Behind the Lawrence Legend” reveals their vital impact and puts Lawrence’s efforts into context, thus helping to set the record straight for one of the most beguiling and iconic characters of the twentieth century.

Philip Walker is an historian and a retired archaeologist who spent many years working for English Heritage. He has travelled in Libya, Palestine, Morocco, Xinjiang (the Muslim far west of China), and other parts of Central Asia. He lives in Cambridge and this is his first book.

This is an enlightening and riveting read. Fascinating and fun. 

Behind the Lawrence Legend: The Forgotten Few Who Shaped the Arab Revolt is available here.

 

Euler’s Pioneering Equation: The most beautiful theorem in mathematics

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In 1988 The Mathematical Intelligencer, a quarterly mathematics journal, carried out a poll to find the most beautiful theorem in mathematics. Twenty-four theorems were listed and readers were invited to award each a ‘score for beauty’. While there were many worthy competitors, the winner was ‘Euler’s equation’. In 2004 Physics World carried out a similar poll of ‘greatest equations’, and found that among physicists Euler’s mathematical result came second only to Maxwell’s equations. The Stanford mathematician Keith Devlin reflected the feelings of many in describing it as “like a Shakespearian sonnet that captures the very essence of love, or a painting which brings out the beauty of the human form that is far more than just skin deep, Euler’s equation reaches down into the very depths of existence”.

What is it that makes Euler’s identity, e]iPi + 1 = 0, so special?

In Euler’s Pioneering Equation Robin Wilson shows how this simple, elegant, and profound formula links together perhaps the five most important numbers in mathematics, each associated with a story in themselves: the number 1, the basis of our counting system; the concept of zero, which was a major development in mathematics, and opened up the idea of negative numbers; π an irrational number, the basis for the measurement of circles; the exponential e, associated with exponential growth and logarithms; and the imaginary number i, the square root of -1, the basis of complex numbers. Following a chapter on each of the elements, Robin Wilson discusses how the startling relationship between them was established, including the several near misses to the discovery of the formula.

A beautiful book which is a love letter to Euler’s Pioneering Equation. The book is not for beginners but if you have a love of maths this is a well-written and imaginative book. 

Euler’s Pioneering Equation: The most beautiful theorem in mathematics is available here.

 

The Long Hangover: Putin’s New Russia and the Ghosts of the Past

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In The Long Hangover, Shaun Walker provides a deeply reported, bottom-up explanation of Russia’s resurgence under Putin. By cleverly exploiting the memory of the Soviet victory over fascism in World War II, Putin’s regime has made ordinary Russians feel that their country is great again.

Shaun Walker provides new insight into contemporary Russia and its search for a new identity, telling the story through the country’s troubled relationship with its Soviet past. Walker not only explains Vladimir Putin’s goals and the government’s official manipulations of history, but also focuses on ordinary Russians and their motivations. He charts how Putin raised victory in World War II to the status of a national founding myth in the search for a unifying force to heal a divided country, and shows how dangerous the ramifications of this have been.

The book explores why Russia, unlike Germany, has failed to come to terms with the darkest pages of its past: Stalin’s purges, the Gulag, and the war deportations. The narrative roams from the corridors of the Kremlin to the wilds of the Gulags and the trenches of East Ukraine. It puts the annexation of Crimea and the newly assertive Russia in the context of the delayed fallout of the Soviet collapse.

The Long Hangover is a book about a lost generation: the millions of Russians who lost their country and the subsequent attempts to restore to them a sense of purpose. Packed with analysis but told mainly through vibrant reportage, it is a thoughtful exploration of the legacy of the Soviet collapse and how it has affected life in Russia and Putin’s policies.

This is a brilliant and exhaustive book which tells you all you need to know about Russia and Putin. History with heart.
 

The Long Hangover: Putin’s New Russia and the Ghosts of the Past is available here.