Fletch

I absolutely love this, classic Chevy, enjoy these other versions of this incredible theme, thank you Harold Faltermeyer.

13 Leg Work.mp3

15 Sneaking Up.mp3

14 The Story Is Utah.mp3

Haunted Ocean

Wonderful image from a friend of mine who went diving with all these hammerheads, stunning! Some gorgeous pieces of haunted music by Mr Max Richter & a cheeky bit of electronic disco from Loud E, to accompany, enjoy xx

03 Haunted Ocean, Pt. 1.mp3

07 Haunted Ocean, Pt. 2.mp3

16 Haunted Ocean, Pt. 3.mp3

18 Haunted Ocean, Pt. 4.mp3

20 Haunted Ocean, Pt. 5 [Solo Version].mp3

08 Oceans of Loud.mp3

Campania

Hello, been a while, I seem to have gone all Italian, my work is Italian, my food is Italian, my music choice is Italian & my choice of wine is most definitely Italian, absolutely delicious. Last night I was kindly invited to a Taste of Campania (region in Italy) food & wine matching evening by the fine gentlemen of Passione Vino (suppliers of fantastic wine) where we enjoyed a delicate Prosecco, 2 cracking whites & 2 cracking reds paired with 4 wonderfully traditional plates of Italian food straight from the hills of Campania. The evening was held at a charming little place called Osteria Del Mercato in Leadenhall Market, London, it's the first time I have been there & I will certainly be going back. They had this wonderful painting on the wall, see image above, I love it, it's by Renato Guttuso it just invoked memories of all the wonderful markets I have visited all over the world, the smells, the bustle, the colors, the painting set the tone for a rather pleasant evening.

Back to the wine, the pick for me was the CAIATI, Palagrello 2006 really delicious, rich, vibrant, lovely ripe orange fruit, slight sweetness leading into terrific minerality & crispness. The wine was fantastically paired with buckwheat pasta noodles, clams, tomatoes, mussels & prawns, Scialatielli alla pescatora (In Italian) anyway this wine is a winner & is of course available from the guys at Passione Vino.

I'd like to say thanks again to Luca Dusi for a lovely evening & leave you with a few, as always wonderful pieces of music.

Ciao xx

08 Days of Heaven-The Harvest.m4a

20 Piano Piano.mp3

02 Wine Woogie.mp3

Uncle Michael

Here she is, my new niece & latest member of the Isted family, Molly, she is truly beautiful. Lot's of love to my sister Karen & her partner Andy, congratulations xx.

24 Unchained Melody [A Cappella Version].mp3

01 - Nuovo Cinema Paradiso.mp3

Nino Rota

I'm absolutely loving the work of Nino Rota at the moment, superb. Nino Rota created all the film scores for the great Frederico Fellini (La Dolce Vita) he also created the wonderful score for The Godfather. Please follow this link for more detail on Nino & enjoy these brilliant pieces from the great man.

09 La Dolce Vita - Finale.mp3

17 La Passerella Di Addio.mp3

02.mp3

12 The Godfather Finale.mp3

Well done to my favorite photographer Mr Brown, who has been shortlisted in the Guardian photo competition again for this wonderful shot, please follow this link to see the other shots. I personally think that Mr Browns shot was the real winner, the only shot that met with the competition criteria, anyway keep it up fella & enjoy this slice of musical future.

05 Circulus.m4a

Sherry Pt2 Soil,Vineyards,Climate & Grapes

Right, time for some more information on my beloved Sherry, I've been inspired by my local Sainsbury which is rather amazingly selling bottles of beautiful Lustau East India Solera Sherry for £3, yes £3, needless to say I brought the lot, delicious. Please check out the house of Emilio Lustau, they make exceptional Sherry.

So lets talk soil, there are three very distinct types of soil, albariza, arena & barro. Albrazia soil is extremely high in chalk content which makes it exceptional when it comes to drainage, very slippery & muddy when wet and when drying out it creates a very hard crust which inhibits evaporation. When travelling around the regions of Jerez de la Frontera this soil comes across as dazzling white due to the strong reflections of the glorious Spanish sunshine. Albrazia soil accounts for about 65% of the total vineyard area, this is the heartland of Sherry production between Jerez & the Guadalquivir river, many would argue that it is these regions that produce the finest wines, with good acidity & high alcohol content.

Then we have arena, or sand. Arena is brown in color which is due to the large amounts of iron-oxide contained within it. These areas are very productive, very easy to work but the wines lack subtlety & elegance. The vineyards with arena soil are mainly to be found north & east of Chipiona.

Finally we have barro soil, or dark clay. This happens to be the richest soil, lying on the lower land, mainly in the south east of the region. This soil gives a cracking yield, with the wines having great body but less quality than the wines of albrazia.

As you will probably know the climate in Southern Spain is sub-tropical, the sun shines nearly three hundred days of the year. If it rains it's normally between October & May, so water is fairly precious, troughs are dug between the the rows of vines, these troughs are known as serpias.

So if you take all the above in to account, it means that there is a very long ripening process for the grapes ie lots of sunshine.

When we talk about Sherry there are just three grape varieties grown in the region, back in the 19th century it was said that there was more than forty, how times have changed. The most important grape in the production of Sherry is the Palomino, which accounts for nearly 90% of total production. When used in other wines in other regions the Palomino grape makes very unimpressive wine, but plant it in the albariza soil of Jerez and something rather magical happens. The Palomino grape needs to be treated with great care, she is very thin skinned & extremely delicate which is quite interesting seeing as she produces such bold wine.

The second grape is the Pedro Ximenez or PX, which is reputedly named after a German chap called Peter Siemens who was a soldier in the army of the Emperor Charles V. Mr Siemens allegedly introduced the grape variety to Andalucia from his native Germany, this could be true as PX is very similar to the German grape Elbling.

PX is normally planted in the lower vineyards in the barro & arena soils & after they are picked they are left to dry & intensify in the sun. This means that the PX grapes are extremely high in sugar content, so once these grapes have been turned into wine they are used for sweetening purposes or as an extremely sweet wine.

The third & less used grape is the Moscatel, this is planted in the poorer barro & arena soils, particularly near the towns of Chipiona & Rota.The Moscatel grape produces sweet wine, not as sweet as PX, but still very sweet.

I will talk more about the vinification, maturation & the different styles of Sherry in parts 3,4 & 5, I'll also talk about how to drink it & what to drink it with.

Until next time, get yourself down to Sainsbury & buy all that wonderful Lustau & please enjoy these wonderful pieces of music.

Blessings x

(2) 03 Lying In The Sun.mp3

03 Sunny Road (Manasseh Mix).mp3