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https://www.forbes.com/sites/tmullen/2018/02/27/why-bhutan-is-still-out-of-this-world/
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Why Bhutan Is Still Out Of This World
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Why Bhutan Is Still Out Of This World
The Tiger's Nest Monastery, or Paro Taktsang, is located outside the city of Paro Credit: Tom Mullen
The small and predominantly Buddhist nation of Bhutan, tucked between China and India, is lanced by deep ravines and coated with thick woods. The country has no traffic lights. Smoking as well as tobacco products are illegal, as are hunting and fishing (except for catch and release). It is forbidden to climb high peaks (where spirits dwell), and employees must wear traditional clothing—a gho robe for men and kira dress for women—during work hours. Years ago, Gross National Happiness was identified by the nation as being more important than Gross National Product (GNP).
Monasteries—often massive and commanding—abound; monks, when not in prayer or meditation or chores are often found playing board games, sharing stories, laughing or all three. Archery is the national sport and green chili peppers together with ‘cheesy sauce’ is the national dish. Ask any resident, and likely you'll find they truly do love their king and queen.
This country—with an area of 14,824 square miles (38,394 square kilometers) is slightly larger than the U.S. state of Maryland, or the European state of Montenegro. This sounds relatively small until you spend hours crossing thin and switch backed roads through jungles and over mountain passes. Suddenly the land appears gigantic. Seventy percent of the terrain is coated with forests, while seven percent is pressed beneath glaciers. The highest Himalayan peak—Gangkhar Puensum—soars to almost 25,000 feet (7,570 meters) above sea level. That’s higher than any peak in Europe, Africa, the Americas or Australasia.
Bhutan’s projected population for this year is about 790,000 people—or about 10% more than the city of Seattle in Washington State, or roughly the same as that of Nottingham in the U.K.
Between 2012 and 2016, the number of annual visitors increased 24%—up to 54,600. That is about the seating capacity of Yankee Stadium in New York, or the number who visit Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris every two days. American visitors are increasing, while the number of arriving Europeans remains steady. The influx of Asians is booming. The number of Chinese has more than doubled in the past six years, and the influx is ramping up for those from Vietnam, Indonesia, Singapore and South Korea—mostly during May and October. As visitors increase, favored visiting spots such as the trail ascending toward the Tiger’s Nest Monastery are becoming more crowded—both with people and the ponies that ferry many.
Much else has changed during the past four years. There are more hotels, coffee outlets and souvenir stores in the cities, though the emerging urban sprawl of Thimphu lacks adequate parking. Phallus paintings and carvings, once ubiquitous on virtually every Bhutanese building, have vanished in most urban centers. These represent not only fertility and shameless acceptance, but the legend of a national hero who subdued a bewitching mountain hag with his physical prowess.
Dining room at the Terma Linca Resort & Spa in Thimphu, Bhutan Credit: Tom Mullen
To deter low cost tourism, Bhutan requires visitors to spend a minimum amount per day—some hundreds of dollars. To ensure compliance, visitors must sign up with a registered Bhutanese tour agency before arriving.
“The fee is just to control the number of visitors entering Bhutan per day,” explained Tshering Chojur, a Bhutanese guide who took a two-month government course followed by a challenging exam to get his certification. “If the government says that visitors only need to spend $100 per day, then everyone will come, and it will be a problem, impacting both nature and our culture.”
Before visiting Bhutan, visitors must pay a lump sum fee to any of many authorized Bhutanese travel agents. These funds are directly deposited within a bank account belonging to the government Tourism Council of Bhutan (TCB). This money is not released to that agency until visitors have completed their visit—providing a check on the quality of service rendered.
Travelers once considered such fees, and the need for a specific itinerary, as a costly hassle. Many visitors now realize that these pre-paid dues—which cover accommodation, meals, vehicle and driver, fuel, a guide, permits for visits and daily excursions—are not unreasonable for guided visits to still largely uncrowded sites. Variations in quality between rated guest houses is reducing, but four and five star destinations are best, in order to avoid the possibility of poor insulation (which necessitates cranking up portable heaters during chilly nights), or spotty internet connections. Local food—while palatable and filling—is more geared for sustenance than sensory pleasure.
A huge attraction of Bhutan is its perceived (and actual) focus on peacefulness. In hotels and restaurants, attractively dressed locals are astutely polite and genuinely helpful. Their encouragement to visit the countryside and monasteries instead of shopping malls gives visitors more of an opportunity to immerse themselves within, rather than simply pass through, the spirit of Buddhism.
Registered guide Tshering Chojur leads trips through Bhutan Credit: Tom Mullen
The focus on peace of mind in Bhutan is reflected in law. The National Assembly, with 47 elected members, enacts and repeals laws, agrees on a budget, approves Five Year Plans, and also, according to the charter, 'deliberates on issues that affect the security and well-being of the country and promotes the welfare and happiness of the people.'
Higher end tourism is booming, and the business attraction for foreigners is sometimes more than financial. Louk Lennaerts from the Netherlands spent 23 years running his own business. His most successful project there was in creating the brand as well as designing and developing the multimillion dollar Fusion Maia Danang in Vietnam, a ‘spa inclusive’ resort that became successful because it provides visitors ‘with the luxury of finding more space for themselves,’ as Lennaerts explained when we recently met outside Paro.
He recently sold his shares in that project and is moving to Bhutan, where for the past two years he has been developing the 24-unit and five house Bhutan Spirit Sanctuary outside Paro, slated to open later this year. Also a ‘spa inclusive’ concept, this faces the Neyphug Valley above the town of Shaba. The layout includes inner meditation gardens, personal spa rooms and an ever-open kitchen run by German Executive Chef Jan Moeller, who will also bake fresh loaves and croissants daily.
“I think there’s magic in the air,” Lennaerts said, explaining his own reason for wanting to move to Bhutan. “People get off the plane and feel that it’s different. You don’t see aggression. Whereas many of us focus on weaknesses—just consider any newspaper—here it’s just the opposite. People try to see all things positively. It’s not easy to define; it’s a feeling.”
The view from the site is wide open and the relative proximity to Paro is convenient.
"The design is based on the dzong concept," explained Amanda Harvey, the Calgary born Finance & Business Development Director for the project. 'Dzong' refers to local ancient fortress architecture. "Whitewashed stone, though not domineering, and with a view of the monastery across the valley," she continued as she led me through the impressive three story structure. "Our focus is on mindfulness and embracing the calmness of Bhutan, so we're providing spaces to promote that. There's a labyrinth garden for a quiet zone, relaxation areas throughout and a space just for meditation" she said, pointing to items on the verge of completion. "The traditional red doors before and after the courtyard lead to transformation areas, each with different colors and music, which starts guests on their 'sanctuary journey.' And then there's an open space, instead of a traditional check-in counter, so entering here feels more like being at home. We aim to make each area a new experience" she continued. Even the swimming pool, with its generous valley view, will have different piped in music than that in adjacent spaces.
Amanda Harvey at the site of Bhutan Spirit Sanctuary near Paro, Bhutan Credit: Tom Mullen
Evidence of how Bhutan maintains its independent and peaceful rhythm was fortified this Sunday, which marked the inauguration of the 8th reincarnation of Gyalse Tenzin Rabgye, the likely future spiritual leader of Bhutan.
This individual originally lived from 1638 to 1696, when he became both a spiritual and political leader who improved the country’s relations with neighboring territories (Bhutan and Tibet signed a peace treaty), established regional festivals to help unify spiritual leaders, improved administrative structures within the monastic order, boosted the number of monks and renovated the monastery at Tango (where his reincarnation was inaugurated this past Sunday). He also initiated construction of the dramatically placed, and photogenic, cliff side set of structures known today as the Tiger’s Nest Monastery (also known as Paro Taktsang, or the Temple of the Guru with Eight Names) near Paro.
According to religious and historical texts, it appears this 17th century leader may himself have been a reincarnation of an 8th century individual. Here is the gist: The ancient text describing the life of 17th century Rabgye is a particular category of document that combines literature and historical fact. It was used only to relate the stories of Buddhist holy men.
Monks at Tango Monastery near Bhutan's capital city of Thimphu Credit: Tom Mullen
This text, authoritatively compiled from several authors, provides evidence to imply that 17th century Rabgye was himself the same individual as the 8th century Guru Rinpoche ('precious master'), a spiritual leader so prominent that he became known in his time as a second Buddha. In addition to this weathered text, Bhutanese monks speak of this congruence between these individuals as established truth. This earlier Rinpoche—legend tells—transformed his consort into a flying tiger, climbed onto her back and careened through the sky to touch down where the Tiger’s Nest Monastery now stands. After alighting from this airborne feline, he spent three years, three months, three weeks and three days in meditation at the site.
During a visit four years ago, through a curiously serendipitous and unexpected series of events, I personally met with Tenzin Rabgye (the 8th reincarnation) at his personal residence above the Tango monastery. I was told that he would vanish into the seclusion of solitary meditation for three years, after which he would be inaugurated, and I would receive an invitation to attend. The invitation arrived via email some weeks ago. I bought a ticket, flew in and met my guide and friend Tshering to attend this event.
Tango Monastery, secluded in mountain woods Credit: Tom Mullen
Sunday’s inauguration, attended by hundreds of Bhutanese residents as well as by dozens of monks (and only one other non-Bhutanese attendee in sight) was a colorful affair held inside Tango Monastery near Thimphu. The monastery is accessible only by hiking for 45 minutes through wooded switchbacks up a steep mountainside. The event included the music of gongs and horns, ample food, spiritual chanting, prayers and the chance, after the main event, to once again meet and receive a personal blessing from Rabgye—who appears to be a beaming and happy young man after close to 40 months of meditative seclusion.
The event—buoyant, uplifting and positive—seems a fitting and accurate reflection on the predominant attitude of most Bhutanese residents.
That attitude alone is reason enough to visit this fiercely independent and vibrant land.
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e32ceaee12d0c597625b33cb823f6845
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/tmullen/2018/03/08/review-true-film-coyote-tells-about-changing-life-to-chase-a-dream/
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Review: True Film 'Coyote' Tells About Changing Life To Chase A Dream
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Review: True Film 'Coyote' Tells About Changing Life To Chase A Dream
Sailor and Explorer Mike Plant Credit: Billy Black
In the 1970’s, Mike Plant was a renegade twenty-something year old rebel from the U.S. who shucked the certainty of college and the stability of Midwestern Minneapolis to wave farewell to his parents, hoof across South America from head to tail in eight months (discovering cocaine along the way) and then sail between Greece and Turkey. While in Greece he was listed by Interpol as a drug smuggler (technically incorrect, according to ‘informants’ who later admitted to having invented the fiction to try to reduce their own sentences).
On the cusp of arrest in a port on the Greek isle of Rhodes, Plant hoisted midnight sails, skedaddled to another nearby isle and soon thrust a counterfeit passport at airport officials to depart for the U.S. Once there, he dabbled in construction around Newport, Rhode Island, on the East Coast.
Plant remained restless. Through his preference for varied, creative and eclectic international wanderings, he had condemned himself to being unsuited for the confines of any routine existence.
While in his thirties, Plant walked into a Rhode Island movie theater and watched a film called The Ultimate Challenge. This told of the British Oxygen Company (BOC) sponsored 1982-83 single-handed, around the world sailboat race with stops in Cape Town, Sydney and Rio de Janeiro—which ended in Newport, Rhode Island. The movie had a massive impact on his life. Plant walked out of the theater a galvanized individual; he shucked his previous desultory ways and embraced one slightly singular newfound focus.
“The rest of his life was dedicated to single-handed ocean racing,” his nephew Thomas Simmons said when we recently met at the Sail In Festival in Bilbao, Spain. “What he saw on the screen was what he had been preparing for—unknowingly—his whole life. That was his passion. He immediately began making plans to build a 50-foot boat with his own hands. He later circumnavigated the globe three times by himself and twice set the American record for the fastest single-handed lap of the planet [in 135 days]. That was late 80’s, early 90’s,” Simmons added.
Within years, Plant cut such a clean, memorable figure on the ocean racing circuit that French navigators nicknamed him ‘Top Gun.’
Simmons intimately understands many details of Plant’s life, having directed the recently released film titled Coyote: The Mike Plant Story.
In the fall of 1992, Plant set sail in his boat Coyote from New York to Le Sable d’Olonne in France to participate in the Vendée Globe Challenge. Plant was a sole American among 18 entrants in this single-handed, non-stop global circumnavigation yacht race that takes place every four years.
Sadly, 41 year old Plant—by then a renowned sailor—vanished in the Atlantic Ocean during his journey to the starting line. His overturned boat was eventually found hundreds of miles southwest of Ireland.
Coyote: The Mike Plant Story promotional poster Credit: Sparkplug Films
Coyote was Plant’s third boat, designed by Newport naval architect Rodger Martin from South Africa. Plant had built his own first two boats, but this craft differed in that it was designed for efficiency and speed. Sixty feet long, Coyote was built of lightweight composites with a fiberglass-coated, foam-core hull. It had 50% more sail area and weighed 19% less than his previous boat—Duracell—making its design ‘radical’ according to its sail maker from Portsmouth, Rhode Island. Many sailors predicted it would be a clear winner in the race. Plant and French skippers shared respect for their mutual capabilities, and this somewhat feisty American was determined to use this cutting edge craft not only to prove his seafaring skills, but to win the race.
Reasons for the boat’s failure (it lost a massive ‘keel bulb’ which basically sits at the lowest point below a boat and maintains stability) remain inconclusive. Possibilities include non-visible damage from a partial grounding incident before it left the U.S., or it may have collided with ocean debris en route.
Helen Davis, the fiancé of Plant, told how, after his disappearance, she suddenly woke early and phoned contacts in Ireland (a probable location for sighting the then missing boat). She asked if they had news, to which they replied no. Yet only ten minutes later a fax arrived, stating that the boat had been sighted offshore. She described the event as a ‘premonition.’ In her 2013 book Coyote Lost at Sea, Plant’s sister Julia describes talking about Mike with her cousin when, during their conversation, a coyote appeared three separate times at a nearby canyon edge outside her home. Coincidence? She doubted it. Did the event have meaning? For her, certainly.
A quarter century after his disappearance, Plant’s legacy continues to impact those seeking to modify their lives. Simmons' film, as well as his own life, reverberate with that theme.
“Mike Plant’s life is really a story about redemption, about chasing dreams, about taking a left turn to do something better in your life, something with meaning,” Simmons explained when we spoke in Bilbao. “The genesis of how this project came together is very much in line with those things as well,” he added. “It’s a story within a story.”
The night before we spoke, Simmons gave the first European screening of Coyote to a packed audience in Bilbao. Viewers appeared both compelled and moved by the narrated footage.
Now in his early thirties, Simmons was a young boy when Plant vanished. He was old enough to recognize his uncle’s accomplishments, but only later did he understand how Plant, through conscious choice, had re-shaped his own life.
Not a professional sailor himself, Simmons spent years working in the financial world on Wall Street.
Thomas Simmons, Director of Coyote: The Mike Plant Story Credit: Jennifer Manville
“It’s a story that’s always inspired me,” he said, speaking of Plant. “I took a left turn in my own life to make the film. I was at a point where I felt that I wasn’t doing a lot that was adding meaning. I was working really hard but not doing something that meant anything to my heart. As I got older I learned more about this very human story about someone who was flawed—as we all are—and who fought through that and pursued some pretty incredible dreams and accomplished great things.”
Simmons now lives with his family outside of San Francisco. He mentioned that just as Helen Davis told Mike Plant to hearken to his sailing ambitions, his own wife Victoria had encouraged him to make this film.
"My wife is a big reason I was able to do this, because she’s someone who looked me in the eye and said, ‘Go do it.’ "
Directed (and largely edited) by Simmons, the 106 minute long Coyote film was produced by Ryan Lynch and Matthew Davis Walker. The film includes approximately 70% of archival footage, much shot by Plant during his sailing excursions. Additional footage from outlets such as NBC, ESPN and French news stations is also included. Simmons’ model for the film was the 2010 documentary Senna about Brazilian Formula One racer Ayrton Senna.
“It was 100% archival and was told, and edited, beautifully. That was something I leaned on as a vision for this film,” Simmons said. Similar to Plant’s absence of ocean racing capabilities before he decided to sail around the planet—Simmons lacked film making experience before he decided to create, and direct, this documentary.
Plant began sailing on Lake Minnetonka in Minnesota when he was less than ten years old. He showed a gift for the sport. Yet his subsequent youth included wild wanderings and unpredictable whims to explore.
“He got kicked out of two high schools,” Simmons said. “Instead of going to college he told his parents that he was going to trek the length of South America by himself. This was at a time when his friends and peers were going to Vietnam. He wasn’t able to go because he was born legally blind. The military wouldn’t accept him. He made it all the way from Colombia to the southern tip of the continent by himself in eight months,” Simmons added.
In order to qualify for the 1986-87 BOC Challenge, Plant first had to cross a major ocean to prove the seaworthiness of his sailing craft. When he landed in the Azores islands in 1986, the Interpol warrant for his arrest—although more than a decade old—was enforced. He spent five weeks in a Portuguese jail before being released—somewhat mysteriously—in time to enter the race.
Plant's definitive reason for naming his final yacht Coyote is unknown. "Mike wasn't a religious person, but a spiritual person," Simmons explained. "I think Mike was a bit of a coyote himself. He sort of had nine lives. Coyote means a lot of different things to different people. But I think one constant we recognize with the word is something spiritual."
Simmons himself is unassuming, social and focused. Two organizers of the sailing film festival—Irene and Ane—texted Thomas our whereabouts in Bilbao for a rendezvous with appetizers. Soon after Simmons arrived we watched him wander off, momentarily, to chat amiably with a table of casually dressed youths, who, he later explained, he had met during the airplane flight to Bilbao. This spontaneous conviviality appears to be part of his nature. Affable and polite, forthright but in an unobtrusive Midwestern manner, Simmons is also sharply articulate.
What I’ve learned is when you are so determined that nothing can stay in your way, the only thing that can hold you back is yourself. It’s obviously a very simple truth, but something that people need to know. Mike Plant lived that too. The film exudes that. I hope that people take that from the film.
Mike Plant aboard Coyote (credit: Billy Black) Credit: Billy Black You can move mountains if you find something that you are so determined to do, and you surround yourself with people who believe in you, and who believe in the dream. It’s not common. It’s not everyday that we’re finding things that we’ll move mountains for. But I think [the film] just brought me closer to great joy in life. It doesn’t need to be everyday. But everyone should have passion, and do what they can to experience it as much as possible.
No doubt Mike Plant would agree.
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57a07488a3a9d71f9b5ba921e960742e
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/tmullen/2018/04/30/a-cookbook-created-from-picnicking-in-paris/
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A Cookbook Created From Picnicking In Paris
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A Cookbook Created From Picnicking In Paris
Suggested picnic spot Parc des Buttes-Chaumont in Paris (Credit: Shutterstock)
The newly released cookbook Paris Picnic Club is not only a collection of international recipes with fresh and sometimes powerful tastes but is also an inadvertent guidebook to mainstream and offbeat markets and food stores within Paris. One premise of the book is that cooking within a Parisian home kitchen (often small and lacking storage space) requires frequent shopping. If you are in Paris and searching for Breton artichokes, Arcachon oysters, Alsatian cherries, Brillat-Savarin cheese or Korean red chili flakes—the book's sidebars and recipe introductions will direct you to food outlets that include La Grand Epicerie on Rue de Sèvres, the Korean supermarket on Rue Saint-Anne or Sébastien Gaudard Pâtisserie in Montmartre.
You don’t have to live in Paris to enjoy this cookbook.
Paris Picnic Club illustrates how Parisian and French foods celebrate the cuisines of varied cultures. The authors—having cooked and worked professionally with food in India, Italy, the U.K., Brazil, the U.S. and Colombia—appreciate this diversity. In the book’s introduction, authors Shaheen Peerbhai and Jennie Levitt write: “This cookbook is a collection of recipes that take inspiration from the diverse cuisines of Paris and marries them with the rich food cultures that now surround us in London and Bogotá.” They add that, “The techniques—strongly influenced by classic French cooking—go beyond mundane croque monsieurs and molten chocolate cakes to showcase the contemporary cooking that we undertook in our tiny Paris kitchenettes.”
Noisette - a hazelnut based dessert with milk chocolate Credit: Jennie Levitt
In addition to classic French fare—foie gras royale, poulet basquaise, Escoffier potatoes—recipes show influences from other European countries (chestnut tagliatelle) as well as Asia (Korean chicken salad), Latin America (quinoa salad with butternut squash, pomegranate, feta and hazelnuts), Africa (Casablanca couscous) and the Middle East (za’atar chicken).
The book’s name derives from the evolution of the authors’ meal preparations. They began throwing casual lunches and dinners for friends in a town outside the French capital, then eventually organized picnics throughout Parisian parks on successive Fridays. The name also relates to their style of cooking. Picnics can be spontaneous and casual and, they write, “are easygoing and avoid the formality and decorum that white tablecloths and shiny silverware command.” Their style of food preparation is, “simple, fresh, and respectful.” For the authors, presentation is not as important as quality of food and satisfaction provided. “We don’t dot our plates with sauces from squeeze bottles,” they write.
Paris Picnic Club cookbook Credit: Peerbhai/Levitt/Sterling Epicure
Peerbhai and Levitt began cooking for groups of friends while they lived in Jouy-en-Josas, a small town south of Paris near Versailles—once home to aristocracy and later a venue for a Velvet Underground performance. While they lived there and became friends through cooking, Peerbhai studied at Le Cordon Bleu while Levitt studied for her MBA at HEC Paris. They later moved to the capital city where they began cooking for groups of almost 100 diners at a time. Peerbhai has won scholarships from both The Culinary Trust and The James Beard Foundation, while Levitt has opened a boutique catering company that operated in the U.S., Latin America and Europe.
Authors Shaheen Peerbhai (left) and Jennie Levitt Credit: Peerbhai and Levitt
The 200 page book, published by Sterling Epicure, includes over 120 recipes and more than 80 beautiful pastel watercolor illustrations (by Jennie Levitt). The layout is structured according to the type (and size) of dish—such as ‘small plates,’ ‘sharing platters,’ and ‘tartines’ and there are also sections on ‘How to Picnic Like a Parisian’ (as well as a list of the authors’ favorite city picnic locations). There is also a list of suggested menus and a section on ‘basic recipes’ that include beef and chicken stocks, sweet pastry dough, fresh egg pasta, pistachio parsley pesto and more.
Flipping through the pages is enough to provide incentive to pack a bicycle basket with wine, baguette and a dish layered with herbs and fresh veggies. These include: carmelized onion, thyme, and marjoram tart with fresh goat cheese; fennel, leek, puy lentils, and sausages with basil pitou; turkey, avocado and miso glazed eggplant with cashew-honey goat cheese and seared romaine, and—for dessert—a fig and hazelnut tart.
Schematic watercolor of Parisian picnic spots Credit: Jennie Levitt
The text also recalls adventures of learning to live in France—from the shock of hearing chestnuts explode in the oven to the liberating joy of eating an oyster for the first time. Both authors continue to write online about food and juices from where they live, and appreciate their increased awareness learned from France about food. As they write in the introduction, “This sort of pleasure that people seek in food makes France a joy to live in.”
Peerbhai shared with me their intended impetus to inspire others. "We hope the book serves as inspiration for people to venture out and try new things in the kitchen, whether that means using an exotic ingredient like tonka beans or trying their hand at homemade aïoli. Most importantly, though, we would love for Paris Picnic Club to be an excuse for people to get together over a common love of food and cooking."
The book is now available in the U.S. and will be released in the U.K. and Europe in early May.
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eff5f1ba2083b190c7d906c37032f706
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/tmullen/2018/06/24/why-the-completed-volvo-ocean-race-includes-more-than-a-nautical-victory/
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Why The Completed Volvo Ocean Race Includes More Than A Nautical Victory
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Why The Completed Volvo Ocean Race Includes More Than A Nautical Victory
Leg 11 of the race - from Gothenburg to The Hague Credit: Ainhoa Sanchez/Volvo Ocean Race
After some 246 days since beginning, the sixth edition of the Volvo Ocean Race, held every three years, has a winner. The victor is the Chinese entrant Dongfeng Race Team, led by French Skipper Charles Caudrelier. The finish was the closest ever in race history.
“In the ocean you can sail fast and never stop. There is maximum strong wind. It’s an amazing feeling. You can see nature, beauty. Everyone makes mistakes. We learn, we improve. And we win.”
These prophetic words came five months ago in Hong Kong from Chinese sailor Chen Jinhao, or ‘Horace,’ of the Dongfeng race crew. Today, their race team was victorious in securing the winning trophy for the 2017—2018 race.
“The difficulty of this race is to last. The ‘war of attrition’—that’s the Volvo Ocean Race," said Skipper Caudrelier when we last spoke. His key to success? Motivate the crew, trust them, allocate responsibility and make everyone feel important.
Obviously, that strategy paid off.
Team Brunel on Leg 11, from Gothenburg to The Hague Credit: Ainhoa Sanchez/Volvo Ocean Race
With 24 hours before the finish, the race situation was unusually unique. Three teams—Dongfeng Race Team (China), MAPFRE (Spain) and Team Brunel (Netherlands)—were virtually tied for points before the final sprint between Gothenburg in Sweden (home of Volvo) and The Hague in the Netherlands. This winner takes all/capture the flag scenario ensured an aggressive media spotlight on the final leg of this around the world race, which has already become a media darling.
On Saturday night, June 23rd, boats chose separate lanes moving southward toward The Hague. Some race teams—including Dongfeng, Turn the Tide on Plastic and Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag—chose to cling close to the eastern shoreline where winds were stronger but which required more vigilant navigation near sandbanks. Others—MAPFRE, AkzoNobel, Brunel and Vestas 11th Hour Racing—stayed in more open water to the west, risking less velocity from lower winds but reducing potential navigation complexities.
With only hours until the finish, the western team, led by Brunel, turned east and aimed straight for The Hague while the eastern team, led by Dongfeng, headed directly south to that same location, but having almost one and a half times the distance to cover than the western team. At about 1.30 p.m. on June 24th, Twitter feeds erupted saying that computers predicted Dongfeng catching up, and surpassing the others—while detractors on those same feeds called this nonsense. At about 2.15 p.m. (three days since departing from Gothenburg) MAPFRE continued east at a speed of 8.2 knots (compared to Dongfeng’s 10.9 knots southward). By 3.30 pm MAPFRE’s speed had increased to 9.2 knots, and Dongfeng’s had dropped to 10.1. But whereas Dongfeng was on a clean trajectory forward, those who chose the western route chased a feebler wind.
With a minute to the end, Dongfeng was clearly in front, cruising at close to 14 knots. In second place came Team AkzoNobel, followed by MAPFRE.
The seven entrants to this nautical scrimmage each raced identical 72.6 foot (22.1 meter) long Volvo Ocean Class 65 boats, created by a design/build consortium of separate companies based in the U.S., U.K., France, Italy and Switzerland. These boats define the cutting edge of long distance maritime race technology.
This global circumnavigation race covered a total of some 45,000 nautical miles and included 11 legs between a dozen cities: Alicante, Lisbon, Cape Town, Melbourne, Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Auckland, Itajaí, Newport, Cardiff, Gothenburg and The Hague. The competition is so keen that roughly mid-way through the race at Hong Kong, after covering 22,500 nautical miles, there was only a seven and a half minute time difference between the first two boats.
Race positions and news have been available online via slick graphics, on-board reporting (including videos from race boat launched drones) and constantly updated statistics. Such technology delivered this salt-smacked tale of competitive gumption into living rooms and online spaces of followers and families throughout the world.
Leg 11, from Gothenburg to The Hague - Turn the Tide on Plastic Dee Caffari Credit: Rich Edwards/Volvo Ocean Race
Teams were accorded points, based not only on race times, but also on overall positions during each leg.
Begun in 1973 and originally known as the Whitbread Round The World Yacht Race, the event was transferred to Volvo in 2001. Today the race attracts a huge, global audience. A crowd of forty thousand assembled to watch the boats pull into Gothenburg before their final leg, while 1.3 million have checked out the progress of race teams on Facebook. A million spectators, including 100,000 corporate guests, have visited this race—the longest edition since its inception. The economic impact alone can be gargantuan. When the race began in Alicante, Spain, in October of 2017, the 10 days of opening events are estimated to have generated an impact of a 100 million Euros ($117 million) for that city.
As technology improved over decades, the character of this race changed. Images of capped, spry skippers with debonair confidence on elegant wooden boats were replaced by videos of race teams lined on carbon fiber craft. As speeds increased, so did the proximity of competitors as they played out a match on undefined tracks across the planet. Minutes and seconds sometimes separate prevailing teams on each leg.
This most recent edition of this protracted and punishing race has included fatalities, de-masting, and constant leapfrogging of leaders. This is what sailors anticipate. At the end of the day there is no hot shower, steak dinner or family banter, but spoonfuls of freeze dried goulash, huddling in a damp cramped space to check out weather reports and snoozing fitfully in salt sprayed clothes for perhaps 3.5 hours a night.
Team MAPFRE on the final Leg 11 from Gothenburg to The Hague Credit: Ainhoa Sanchez/Volvo Ocean Race
Physiologically, the race is brutal.
Chris Nicholson, Australian Watch Captain for Team AkzoNobel, said “We try to have 5,000 to 7,000 calories a day, but we often don’t because we’re too tired. I lose 6 to 8 kilograms (13 to 18 pounds) each leg.”
Although sleeping bags are excellent and include three separate layers that can be zipped on or off, the four-hour on/four-hour off schedule gets tiring. “They are the best sleeps of your life,” Nicholson said. “They’re just not very long.”
He mentioned another aspect of the race that is chilling.
“This is my sixth race. My first was in 2001. I can absolutely guarantee you that the presence of marine life is going downhill.”
Specific reasons for any decline in ocean life can be debated. What is certain is that oceans are becoming clogged with plastics, which impact maritime health and seafood.
One entrant to this race made sharing such truth a mission.
The city of Gothenburg, located in southern Sweden near an archipelago of verdant islands, was the penultimate destination for these race boats. During their sojourn there, the race hosted a one hour long ‘in port’ race attended to by thousands of local residents (oblivious to rain) while air force jets screamed in formation above and a police helicopter buzzed the scene.
The ten-member team Turn The Tide on Plastic (partially sponsored by the United Nations) used this and other segments of the race as a platform to highlight the plight of oceans gummed up by plastics. When the in-port race ended, British skipper Dee Caffari of that team communicated with me about their efforts.
This is my sixth time around the world. The harsh reality for me is you’re seeing more rubbish. My crew doing this for the first time kept commenting on plastics. Bottles, balloons, bags, packaging. We carry a science experiment aboard our boat and are sampling the water through filters, counting micro plastics for an hour every day all around the world. We go to some pretty hostile environments. For the first time ever we’ve got real live raw data. Now we know that even at Point Nemo, which is the most remote part of the Southern Ocean, there are micro plastics. They come from us throwing rubbish in the ocean that breaks down. The reality is it is getting worse. Micro plastics get eaten by animals, we’re eating the fish and it’s coming back into our food chain. Time is everything. I’ve seen it get worse. We have two races: the sporting event and also the race to save ocean health. The idea was to leave a legacy in the twelve host cities we visited, and we have. People are signing up to that pledge. We had mayors make bold statements—such as never having plastic shopping bags again. They’re making promises to reduce plastics, and we’re holding them to it. It feels as though we are making a difference in places we go to in the race. When you get massive decision makers making a difference, it has a knock on effect.
Mark Towill on board Vestas 11th Hour, from Gothenburg to The Hague Credit: Jeremie Lecaudey/Volvo Ocean Race
One such influential visitor to their race boat that day was Niclas Mårtensson, CEO of the ferry company Stena Line, which operates 40 ships and has 6,000 employees. His specific reason for visiting was to meet the Turn the Tide on Plastic race team. The company he leads plans to be plastic free in their retail food and beverage lines this year. “We’re now reducing all plastics, including knives and forks,” he said. “In our retail shops we don’t have plastic bags anymore. We use a bio-corn alternative that is the same weight as plastic but disappears in sixty days.”
Another member of the Turn the Tide crew is Martin Strömberg, one of Sweden’s best sailors, participating in his fourth Volvo race. He echoed what Caffari said.
“You see a lot more plastics in the oceans. That’s what you see. But for me the problem is what you don’t see, below the surface. This boat is fantastic to join in and send that message.”
To help address such concerns, an Ocean Summit was held in Gothenburg, attended by HRH Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden. There, Minister of the Environment Karolina Skog pledged 7.8 million Euros ($9.1 million) to ocean health, including plastics pollution.
Vestas 11th Hour - Simon Fisher checks map from Cardiff to Gothenburg Credit: Jeremie Lecaudey/Volvo Ocean Rac
The Volvo Ocean Race is now more accessible than ever via online media. Its scope has also grown from that of racing to that of sponsoring improved custody of the world’s oceans. Although the next edition of the race, beginning in 2021, will include new ownership, the event will carry on—likely faster and with more precise sailing than ever before. Technologies that improve sailing and navigation may, in some form, eventually be associated with helping to clean up oceans over which these boats sail.
That would be a victory for the planet.
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2ea0077f7bc41925ad93b2656fe81409
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/tmullen/2018/08/13/why-bright-light-ruche-grapes-may-transform-the-monferrat-of-italy/
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Bright Light Ruchè Grapes Are A Jewel Of Italy's Piedmont Wine Region
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Bright Light Ruchè Grapes Are A Jewel Of Italy's Piedmont Wine Region
Grapes in Monferrat, Italy (Credit: Shutterstock)
Exactly what defines the geographical boundaries of Montferrat (or, Monferrato in Italian) in the northwest Piedmont region of Italy is difficult to nail down. I flipped through an illustrated touring manual, in Italian, that I purchased while in the region—effuse with maps—and found no clear boundaries. I opened a map of the Langhe-Roero and Montferrat region, produced by the Piedmont regional government, and again saw no clear geographical outlines. A UNESCO World Heritage map, 65 megabytes in size and oozing with topographical minutiae, lumped Montferrat into two distinct and separate regions, which form only a portion of Montferrat’s actual geographical scope. A 1640 map, found online, was similarly vague. A problem is that modern provincial and regional boundaries, as well as wine appellation delineations, intersect with and sometimes obfuscate traditional geographical identities. Maps exist; it is not easy to locate them.
Counterintuitively, Montferrat can be referred to as upper (to the south) and lower (to the north) of the Tanaro River. It can also be divided into three portions instead of two: Alto, Casalese and Astigiano. It corresponds, roughly, with the modern provinces of Alessandria and Asti.
Montferrat includes four sizable towns/cities: Casale Montferrat, Acqui Terme, Novi Ligure and Asti. It generally forms a geographical lump larger than, and east of, the Langhe (which is replete with famed Barolo and Barbaresco wines).
The city of Ovada is in the Italian province of Alessandria, within Monferrat Tom Mullen
Excellent foods within Montferrat include muletta salami, bagua cauda (vegetables with an anchovy/garlic sauce), cisrà (chickpea soup), krumiri biscuits and bunet puddings, made with cocoa and amaretti biscuits. Locations to visit include the Local Center on the Po River and Landscapes in Frassineto Po, where videos and dioramas showcase the evolution of the river valley landscape.
Some red wines of Montferrat include Barbera, Dolcetto, Grignolino, Nebbiolo and Ruchè.
The Ruchè grape apparently originated in the hills of Castagnole Montferrat (although some say it came from Burgundy in France) and was apparently recovered from veritable extinction by a parish priest named Don Giacomo Cauda—who cultivated the grape with zeal and produced wine once known as Ruchè del Parroco. Ruchè di Castagnole Monferrato wine received Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita (DOCG) status in 2010.
Priest Cauda penned a lamentation during his final years that he likely devoted more time to his tractor than to his parishioners in order ‘to devote my soul and body to the vineyard.’ Born in 1927 and arriving in the town in 1964, he tasted Ruchè wine on arrival and almost immediately transformed to a ‘winemaker priest.’ After he passed away his protégée eventually sold the vines to Luca Ferraris in 2016. The purchase resulted in increased grape plantings.
Colonnaded walkway in the city of Acqui Terme in Monferrat, Italy Tom Mullen
Draw three lines connecting the Italian cities of Milan, Turin and Genoa. Just west of the center of this triangle sits Agricola Ferraris, about 8 miles (13 kilometers) northeast of the town of Asti. This is located south of the Montferrat of the Infernot, a UNESCO World Heritage site that includes ancient cellars. Their Sant-Eufemia, made with Ruchè grapes, is a barbecue wine, a quaffable light red that is ready to drink after being bottled. I poured a glass, realized this wine needed company, and trotted to the nearest wine bar down the road to share it with locals who praised it for conviviality. It has a squeeze of citrus in the mouth as well as bright hits of raspberry and cherry flavors and a sliver of spice. The taste of red fruits is lively and balanced.
Their Clàsic Ruchè is a basket of blueberries as well as Wrigley’s Spearmint Gum on the nose. This wine is playful in the mouth with tastes of shredded wheat, butter, cream and After Eight mints. After 15 minutes in the glass (if you can wait that long) there is a taste of salty Dutch licorice, orange rind and nutmeg. This easy drinking wine is not made from a simple grape.
Their Vigna del Parroco, also made from Ruchè, is named after the small vineyard near the church of Castagnole Montferrat that was planted by Don Giacomo Cauda. It comes in a ‘traditional bottle,’ bulbous as an old Chianti bottle and typically used only for historical events. This is a chewy and juicy mouthful of raspberries and cherries, with an oral rumble strip of licorice and a hit of menthol. As a New Zealander winemaker friend said, it's a sweet summer wine.
Alleyway in the city of Ovada, Italy Tom Mullen
The Ruchè grape is grown on only about 100 acres (40 hectares) within seven municipalities. To be labeled Ruchè the wine must contain 90% of that grape, the balance being met with Barbera or Brachetto. A current attraction of wine made from Ruchè is a world wide trend. There now flourishes an interest in wines made not from well recognized grape varieties (such as Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay) but from local, often indigenous grapes. While traveling during the past year I noticed this interest on lesser known grapes throughout Italy (Pecorino from Abruzzo, Insolia from Sicily, and Minutolo from Puglia) as well as in other countries (Txakolina near San Sebastian in Spain, Baboso Negro from the Canary Islands, Hárslevelü and Fekete Járdovány from Hungary, Diolinoir from Switzerland).
Interest in wine is growing throughout the world, and so is an intrigue with grapes that produce edgy, offbeat, singular or rare wines. Relatively scant, Ruchè grapes produce high quality wines that are deliciously easy to drink. It may change the viticultural boundaries of Monferrat.
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ffb153e56c7b3caabc05eb6a570b097f
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/tmullen/2018/08/23/sailor-susie-goodall-and-golden-globe-entrants-aim-for-the-southern-ocean/
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Sailor Susie Goodall And Golden Globe Entrants Aim For A Stormy Southern Ocean
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Sailor Susie Goodall And Golden Globe Entrants Aim For A Stormy Southern Ocean
Susie Goodall of DHL Starlight at Les Sables d'Olonne, France Tim Bishop/PPL/GGR
U.K. sailor Susie Goodall has, metaphorically, traveled far from the Shire into a land of unknown geography, unpredictable weather and unforeseen adventures in her quest to win the Golden Globe Race. She is in good company amidst a band of chipper competitors. In March, she spoke to me about what was then a forthcoming race.
This single-handed global circumnavigation sailing race, which began on July 1st from Les Sables d’Olonne in France, is almost two months into an expected nine to ten month duration. This 50-year commemoration of the original event stipulates that all single-handed boat pilots have access only to technology that existed a half century ago. Contenders have no access to satellite weather maps, GPS or even electronic music. They have High Frequency (HF) radios and make daily progress reports.
The following update is based on regular reports issued by race organizers (courtesy of Barry Pickthall, Don McIntyre and staff).
On July 1st, 17 sailors from 12 countries began this race from Les Sables d’Olonne, with Frenchman Philippe Péché pulling out first in his Rustler 36 boat PRB. Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, winner of the GGR 50 years ago, had fired the starting canon from the deck of his winning yacht Suhaili. Goodall, emblematically displaying her signature casual independence, kept clear of other yachts while navigating forward in her Rustler 36 DHL Starlight.
Within four days the fleet spread out over a distance of 100 miles, and Italian racer Francesco Cappelletti—whose original departure was delayed—announced his withdrawal from the race. Goodall was in 11th place.
By day nine Goodall (youngest contender, and only female) pulled into fifth place. She continued aiming for Lanzarote in the Canary Islands. Ertan Beskardes, a Turkish-born British skipper, also withdrew, citing an inability to speak to his family on a regular basis as intolerable (perhaps the hindrance of a malfunctioning HF radio contributed to that decision).
Philippe Péché off Lanzarote in the Canary Islands Christophe Favreau/PPL/GGR
By day 18, according to race organizers, the number of contenders had dropped to 12 (a 30% reduction in less than three weeks) and by day 23 race leaders broke free of heat, humidity and slack waters of the Doldrums. Goodall messaged the race headquarters: 'Can’t escape this heat. Need some breeze!'
Meanwhile Gregor McGuckin, after taking a swim, announced with characteristic Irish pragmatic gusto: ‘Tuna for breakfast! Hook to pan in 15 minutes. Delicious.’ Estonian Uku Randmaa summarized the plight of restlessness in the windless Doldrums when he mentioned finding himself in the same geographical position after a night’s sleep.
By August 6th (day 37) Goodall had slipped into sixth place. Other contenders faced a litany of challenges that included broken halyards, a twisted ankle, engine issues, ineffective solar panels and steering problems. By day 42, Frenchman Philippe Péché, who so gallantly sprinted ahead on day one (and had recently dropped from first to second position) made an emergency call: his tiller had broken in 50 knot winds and he was without steering. The 57-year old headed toward Cape Town for repairs. Two weeks earlier the same problem forced Palestinian/American race entrant Nabil Amra in his Biscay 36 craft Liberty II to leave the race. Sympathizing with the plight of Péché, he wrote: ‘You then resign yourself to hand steering for 18 hours a day, which is when the soul sucking starts…When your ship is wounded, so are you!’
Mark Slats off Lanzarote in the Canary Islands Christophe Favreau/PPL/GGR
By August 13th Norwegian Are Wiig in his OE 32 Olleanna moved to third place, nudging up several slots in the race, and by August 20th, 73-year old French race leader Jean-Luc Van Den Heede began closing in on the stormy Cape of Good Hope. The ‘southern limit,’ a selected latitude prohibited to sail beyond in order to keep boats from heading into inclement and dangerous weather, had been raised to 42 degrees south.
Race Chairman Don McIntyre explained that in comparison to the position of Sir Robin Knox-Johnston five decades ago, the fleet is approximately two weeks ahead in rounding the Cape of Good Hope and entering the ‘Roaring Forty’ latitudes. Elevating this latitudinal ‘exclusion zone’ is intended to keep boats from heading into the remnants of winter storms lurking throughout the southern hemisphere.
Susie Goodall recently moved northeast to search for favorable winds, rather than alternatively tack into strong head winds and rough seas. She also reported passing through a morass or flotsam and jetsam that hammered against her hull.
Susie Goodall's Rustler 36, DHL Starlight, off Lanzarote in the Canary Islands. Christophe Favreau/PPL/GGR
More issues arose as Finland’s Tapio Lehtinen’s solar panels now produce only 5% of their designed output and his engine quite two weeks ago. He discussed with race organizers the option of running what are ominously referred to as ‘Dark Ship’ conditions (as entrant Bernard Moitessier had in the original race). However, he needs enough power for the transmission of at least one radio position per day.
Frenchman Loïc Lepage—with dwindling fresh water supplies due to a lack of rain in the Doldrums, may stop in Cape Town, which would demote him to the lower ‘Chichester’ race class (this results from making one stopover, or breaking the seal on a portable GPS chart plotter; contenders cannot then win trophies, but are eligible to receive a finishing plaque instead). Dutchman Mark Slats also realized that he forgot to pack gloves for the Southern Ocean, and is beginning to feel the cold. It may be time to practice his sewing skills with warm fabrics.
On August 23, Jean-Luc Van Den Heede, in his Rustler 36 yacht Matmut, rounded the Cape of Good Hope at 20.00 Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), or at 4.00 p.m. New York time, as a new navigation warning was issued: 50 plus knot winds, and snow flurries. Van Den Heede reported 23 foot (7 meter) high waves. He is followed closest by Slats, Wiig, McGuckin, Randmaa and Goodall. Both Péché and Antoine Cousot retired from the race. Race Chairman Don McIntyre encouraged both to enter the next event, saying, "Both will have learned valuable lessons and we hope they consider this as unfinished business and enter the next race in 2022."
Although it has been less than two months since this colorful odyssey began, the challenges and surprises provided on a daily and weekly basis, and conveyed by race organizers, keep thousands of followers throughout the world riveted. Progress of entrants can be tracked here, regular updates are available here, and Instagram images here.
Entrants will soon enter the Southern Ocean with its high winds and cold temperatures. Our collective thoughts, and hopes, are with all.
In the video above, Don McIntyre explains the challenges of the Southern Ocean.
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78a505bbcc80b07cb60272329111204b
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/tmullen/2018/09/18/mountain-air-blasts-through-these-sparkling-italian-wines/
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The Unique Sparkling Wines Of Trentino
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The Unique Sparkling Wines Of Trentino
Dolomite Mountains of Trento-Alto Adige region in northern Italy Trentodoc
In the year 1545, some 40 Catholic clergy met in northern Italy to attend The Council of Trent. Their mission was to refute a growing Protestant Reformation spreading throughout Europe. They held 25 sessions to clarify their own religious procedures and doctrines. The process took not one or two weeks, but eighteen years.
Time is still not of essence in this Italian region of Trentino, which becomes glaringly clear when you learn of minimum times that sparking wines are required to remain on their lees (with yeast particles accruing) and the actual times most winemakers choose to age their wines. Today, even though a Brut requires 15 months of aging, a single-vintage 24 months and a ‘riserva’ 35 months, many winemakers here often age their wines for 60 months to ensure optimal quality.
Sparkling wines have been made in Trentino for about a century. This began after a visionary winemaker, merchant and avid traveler named Giulio Ferrari introduced the Chardonnay grape to the region. Today these wines can also include Pinot Noir, Pinot Blanc and Pinot Meunier.
Pinot Noir grapes before September harvest Tom Mullen
Although Trentino now produces both still and sparkling wines, the sparklers have their own appellation—Trentodoc—created in 1993 and trademarked in 2007. These wines are made using the champenoise method (think Champagne) rather than the charmat method (think Prosecco). This means that secondary fermentation which produces bubbles takes place in bottles, not within pressurized tanks.
Many of these sparklers are decidedly crisp, acidic and delicious. A few simple reasons help explain why. Although these vineyards are located at lower latitudes than those in the relatively cool region of Champagne in France (46 versus 49 degrees latitude), they grow at higher altitudes above sea level—ranging from 800 to 2600 feet (250 to 800 meters). Because higher and cooler altitudes can mimic the effects of higher latitudes in terms of temperature, moving upward hundreds of vertical feet can approximate similar conditions of more northerly latitudes.
A second reason for quality relates to the underlying complexity of soils and geology. Some 250 million years ago, this region was located at the equator and below ocean waters. When marine organisms with calcium shells died, they fell to the ocean floor. Over time this accumulation of calcium transformed to layers of limestone sedimentary rock. Yet below these layers a frenzy of volcanic activity spewed magnesium-rich waters upward, displacing much of the sedimentary calcium with magnesium, enhancing local geologic complexity.
Enjoying Trentodoc wine with a backdrop of Dolomite Mountains Tom Mullen
Finally, local mountain winds mitigate extreme temperatures. Two daily winds blow on the terrain north of Lake Garda—the north-to-south morning pelèr, and the south-to-north afternoon ora, blowing mostly from March through September.
This combination of cool climate, complex soils, mitigating winds and unhurried aging allows for sparkling wines to be produced that are generally fresh and lively with bracing acidity. On the nose many wines have aromas of lemon, lime and bread, while after minutes of being poured more fruit aromas—red and tropical—march out from a glass.
The grapes to produce Trentodoc bubbles grow in four general regions: the northern Adige Valley and its subsidiary Cembra Valley, the southern Brentonico Plateau, along the valley of lakes—Valle dei Laghi, and around the city of Trento. Chardonnay fares better at higher altitudes with sunnier exposures, and provides an acidic backbone to wines; Pinot Noir enjoys lower altitudes, less sunshine and gives more body to wines. Most wineries focus primarily on Chardonnay, although a few (such as Maso Martis) highlight Pinot Noir.
Roberto Anesi, voted Best Italian Sommelier of 2017, spoke about the region.
Valle di Cembra produces high altitude wines from very steep slopes. During the day the temperatures can be 32 Celsius (90 degrees Fahrenheit) but cold at night. What has also grown is the mentality of producers in the last five years. Basic wines now in wineries from the last five or six vintages have an increase in quality that is enormous.
Roberto Anesi, voted Best Sommelier of Italy 2017 Tom Mullen
Of 52 Trentodoc producers, the bulk of volume comes from four sizable cooperatives. This is partially due a historical scarcity of agricultural land. Trentino is slightly smaller than the U.S. state of Delaware. Half the land is forested, and three quarters of the territory is above 3,300 feet (1000 meters), an altitude regarded as too high for growing grapes (instead, cows are raised and cheese is produced). About 1.5 percent of the total land is dedicated to grapevines (and about the same amount is used for producing apples).
A river named Noce (‘walnut’) used to cause widespread flooding on the lower plains of Trentino, hindering agriculture. In 1852 this braided watercourse was diverted elsewhere, exposing available rocky soils ideal for agriculture. Still, production in Trentino is limited by an overall lack of agricultural land. Historically, scant agricultural opportunities forced many people in this previously impoverished area to move southward to hunt for better work opportunities.
Lucio Matricardi, winemaker for Gruppo Mezzacorona, which includes the Rotari sparkling wine brand, told of the history.
Historically, this Trento region was difficult to cultivate. In this flat area were swamps and forests. Higher up, people could cultivate apples and cows that produced cheese. Because people here needed cultivable soil more than money, they moved the Noce River. This land reclamation helped. Meat, vine and apple producers formed a cooperative, which saved agriculture in Trento and helped people keep their traditions. Ninety percent of meat and apple production are under cooperatives. Still, it costs a million Euros to purchase a hectare (2.5 acres) of vineyard land here.
City of Trento at night Tom Mullen
Although most of Trento’s still wine is exported, less than 20 percent of Trentodoc sparkling wines end up overseas. The domestic market for these wines is strong further south in the region of Emilia-Romagna, with its own history of sparkling wines (think Lambrusco) and strong economy (partially from the Italian sports car industry).
In 1952, Giulio Ferrari, having no children, sold his winery to Bruno Lunelli. The third generation Lunelli family now own and operate Ferrari winery and a Michelin starred restaurant (as well as 16th century Villa Margon, where Emperor Charles V spent time during the Council of Trent). The family is an ambassador to Trentodoc wine in general (Ferrari is the official sparkling wine of the Emmys in Los Angeles, for the fourth year). Although unrelated to Ferrari vehicles, both have shared mutual marketing in the past.
Villa Margon above Trento city includes 16th century frescoes Tom Mullen
Matteo Lunelli, President of Ferrari, told of the region.
Here, it’s very expensive to own vineyards, and no existing vineyards want to sell. So we are buying new soils and developing them. We can expand now because with climate warming, quality is better at higher altitudes, above 750 meters (2,460 feet). We are in the middle of the price range between Champagne and Prosecco, and the U.S. market is where we have an opportunity to grow.
The entire region, part of the Trentino-Alto Adige autonomous region of Italy, is a land with excellent regional food (‘speck’ ham, rainbow trout, trentingrana hard cheese, acacia honey, durone cherries, renetta canada apples), spectacular mountain climbing, biking and skyrunning, as well as hot springs and mountain cabins.
Local pasta and vegetables Trentodoc
Trento itself is a most attractive city with white stone chapels, open main squares and bell towers, parks, a funicular, views of the sweeping green Adige river and attractive and looming limestone cliffs that face the city.
The quality and price relationship for Trentodoc wines is excellent. The following were chosen for both. (Prices below are local prices in Trentino; the rankings of ‘superlative’ and ‘excellent’ values were produced using a proprietary algorithm.)
Altemasi. Trentodoc Millesimato 2014. €12.00 ($14.05). 100 percent Chardonnay. A bestselling, delightfully fresh and crisp wine. Superlative value.
Maso Martis. Trentodoc Dosaggiozero Riserva. 2012. €58.00 (magnum) ($67.85). 70 percent Pinot Noir, 30 percent Chardonnay. Bread and citrus on the nose, beautifully rounded mouthful; well structured and complex. Excellent value.
Moser. Extra Brut Rosé. 2014. €21.00 ($24.55). 100 percent Pinot Noir. Good acidity and minerality deriving from limestone substrate. Excellent value.
Cantine Monfort. Trentodoc Monfort Rosé. €16.00 ($18.70). 50/50 Chardonnay/Pinot Noir. Strawberry and apple on the nose; crispy mouthful. Excellent value.
Borgo dei Posseri. Trentodoc Tanani. €19.00 ($22.25). 50/50 Chardonnay/Pinot Noir. From 600 meters elevation in the Adige Valley; cotton candy and apricots on the nose; crisp with striking acidity. Darker and fuller in the mouth with black fruit. Excellent value.
Cesarini Sforza. Trentodoc Brut. €12.00 ($14.05). 100 percent Chardonnay from the Cembra Valley. 36 months on lees. Light and fruity lemon and lime aromas. Superlative value.
Rotari. Trentodoc Brut Riserva 2009. €22.00 ($25.75). 100 percent Chardonnay. Beautiful buttery nose, and complex and powerful in the mouth; rich and creamy with apricots, cashews and vanilla. Superlative value.
Cantine Ferrari. Trentodoc Perlé Brut 2012. €27.50 ($32.20). 100 percent Chardonnay grapes selected from different valleys. Five years on lees. Bracing, with lively fruits and minerality; creamy and nutty flavors. Superlative value.
Cantine D’Isera. Trentodoc 1907 Brut Riserva 2012. €15.40 ($18.00). 100 percent Chardonnay. Green apples and citrus on the nose, suave and complex in the mouth. Superlative value.
Revì. Trentodoc Paladino Extra Brut Biologico. €35.00. ($40.95). 100 percent Chardonnay. Grown at 2,300 feet (700 meters) elevation. A distinctly flinty nose with yeast and oatmeal in the mouth. Beautifully creamy.
Letrari. Trentodoc Quore Riserva Brut. 2012. €25.00 ($29.25). 100 percent Chardonnay. Buttery on the nose and giving a full and slightly citric mouthful. Excellent value.
Madonna delle Vittorie. Trentodoc Brut Millesimato 2013. €18.50 ($21.65). 100 percent Chardonnay. Blasting fresh and fruity on the nose; mandarins and creamy oatmeal in the mouth. Superlative value.
Mountain biking in the Dolomite mountains Trentodoc
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6dba40e6b06d045c74fa0c49a64ed413
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/tmullen/2018/09/21/why-not-all-oaks-are-alike-for-wine/?sh=49cd10bc7ad8
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Why Hungarian Oak Can Be Excellent For Wine
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Why Hungarian Oak Can Be Excellent For Wine
Hungarian oak forest Kádár Hungary
The possibilities appear endless.
Consider, for a moment, the multiple factors that influence how the wine we sip eventually tastes: grape type, altitude, latitude, climate, slope angle and aspect, soil type, wind direction and speed, cultivation techniques, fermentation length and aging.
Next, consider the multiple factors influencing the aromas that emanate from an oak barrel, including: type and age of oak, grain tightness, seasoning, type of ‘toasting’ and surface area to volume ratio.
Finally, do the math: when you marry wood and wine by aging vintages in a barrel, you blend these two separate universes of variable factors in a way that can produce—literally—millions of possible combinations. From these come the taste of what you eventually swirl around your Zalto glass or plastic cup.
Oak forest in Hungary Kádár Hungary
In the same way that French, Austrian, Californian or any wine can be better understood by first breaking it down into component grapes—whether Pinot Noir, Riesling or a blend of Zinfandel and Merlot—oak used to age wine can also be broken down into constituent species. There are basically three, which can be subdivided into two major categories—American and European. First, American oak species Quercus Alba grows on the American continent. Barrels made from this wood generally provide strong aromas and flavors to wine, including coconut and vanilla.
European oak includes two species, which give different characteristics to wine. These are Quercus robur (pedunculate oak) and Quercus petraea (sessile oak). We’ll refer to them here as 'robur' and 'petraea.' Here are two important points: First, most European oak forests include a mixture of both. Second, robur generally provides more heft to wine, while petraea gives more elegance. Specifically, petraea generally has higher levels of sweetness from triterpenoid compounds, tighter grains and slower growth, which can boost aromatic concentrations.
These characteristics relate to oak from Hungary.
Managing Director of Kádár Hungary cooperage, András Kalydy, explained when we spoke.
All over Europe there are only two species used for the barrel industry—Quercus robur and Quercus petraea. They’re different species—like a cherry and apricot. Both are good, but different. Most forests in Europe are mixed and the two species grow together and are willing to cross breed each other, producing hybrids. The result is that different forests in the same countries have different oak tree characters. There are a number of famous forests in France, such as Tronçais, Allier, Nevers, Vosges. There are also famous forests in Hungary. The most prestigious forests are those that, usually, have more Quercus petraea oak. The difference between species is the aromatic profile and tannin content. Quercus robur usually has more tannins and is less aromatic. Therefore, Quercus petraea is the more prestigious species. The most expensive barrels are produced from petraea.
András Kalydy - Managing Director of Kádár Hungary cooperage Kádár Hungary
In this regard, Hungary is very special. Some parts of the country are geologically very young—6 to 10 million years old. ‘Baby age,’ geologically. Additionally, the region has a continental climate. These conditions together result in forests that are about 100 percent Quercus petraea, which is extremely rare.
In total, petraea comprises 52% of Hungarian oak, with the greatest densities located in the North Hungarian Mountains in the northeast of the country, close to Tokaj.
These mountains are very young geologically, so the slopes are steep, the soil thickness thin, the climate is continental with cool winters and hot, dry summers. Altogether the conditions are harsh. These mountains include a quarter of the total oak in the country.
Here, robur is overwhelmed by petraea, which can adapt better to challenging conditions.
Although current trends favor wines that are less oaked in taste than a decade ago, demand for Hungarian barrels is increasing for wines that aim for longevity and complexity. As for quality control, Hungarian oak forests have been managed since the 16th century.
Oak seasoning before barrel production Kádár Hungary
Hungary sells 35,000 to 45,000 barrels a year, of which California purchases about 40 percent. Spain, Italy and France are also purchasers within Europe. Other clients are located in Australia, China, South Africa and, to a lesser extent, other nations that produce wine.
The high agricultural use of land in Hungary results in only 21 percent of the territory being covered in forests. Of that, just over a million acres (430,000 hectares) are comprised of oak—which is greater in size than the U.S. state of Rhode Island but smaller than Delaware, or about half the size of the island of Corsica.
Kalydy, who studied metallurgical engineering and economics, is fascinated by properties and propagation of both oak and barrels. He is also surprised by the general lack of knowledge about this wood within the wine industry. He noticed how many in the trade mention how they know the characteristics of oak from Hungary. However, after speaking with several, Kalydy found that few do. He enjoys spreading what he has learned.
General knowledge about the barrel world is very limited. I try to share my knowledge, and keep the wine makers and opinion makers more informed.
Kalydy will be available to speak to about oak and wine at the Specialist Importers Trade Tasting (SITT) in London on September 24th, where there will be a Hungarian Oak Master Class. You can learn more about this at the Wines of Hungary booth.
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4eb77f4bdef1b5896e1d9b2e2b73de0a
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/tmullen/2018/11/05/why-the-french-prevail-in-offshore-sail-racing/
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Why The French Prevail In Offshore Sail Racing
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Why The French Prevail In Offshore Sail Racing
Maxi trimaran MACIF skippered by François Gabart Vincent Curutchet / Alea
In offshore sailing races—where boats may not see land for days at a time—skippers from France appear to perform disproportionately well in comparison to sailors from other countries. This year’s Volvo Ocean Race was won by Chinese entrant Dongfeng Race Team, skippered by Charles Caudrelier of France. The current leader in the Golden Globe Race, a non-stop single-handed around the world event, is 73-year-old Frenchman Jean-Luc Van Den Heede. Victors of the transatlantic Transat Race (formerly OSTAR) are largely French, as are those in the single-handed, non-stop global circumnavigation Vendée Globe. So too, are those in the Route du Rhum.
Before this week’s launch of the transatlantic Route du Rhum race between Saint-Malo in Brittany, France, and Guadeloupe in the southern Caribbean—I met separately and spoke privately with three renowned French race skippers—Loïck Peyron, François Gabart and Sébastien Josse. All mentioned one individual as having provided a huge inspiration for today's French offshore sailors: Éric Tabarly.
Loïck Peyron—victor of the last Route du Rhum transatlantic race in 2014, is racing again this year, but in a slower boat named Happy. Without sponsors, he is promoting Action Enfance to help neglected children in France. Standing on his boat, he spoke of history.
Skipper of Happy Loïck Peyron supporting Action Enfance to assist children Tom Mullen
For 30 years, most single-handed races around the world and transatlantic are won by French. Some details make a difference. Like Tabarly shaking hands with General de Gaulle in 1964 in front of official TV cameramen, in black and white. It started here, maybe. Suddenly, inspiration and the media followed, then sponsorship and sailors.
Thirty-five year old François Gabart, winner of the 2012-2013 Vendée Globe single-handed non-stop around the world race, also spoke of French sailing when we met aboard his 98.5-foot (30-meter) trimaran Macif.
It’s quite difficult to explain why solo offshore sailing is so popular in France. There are thousands of people coming here, there will be millions of people who will follow this race. I think one of the reasons is probably Éric Tabarly, one of our top sailors who won a famous English race, the Transat [OSTAR], in the ‘60’s. He was really popular, close to the French people who were interested in this type of solo sailing venture. This is part of our culture.
Aboard the Maxi Edmond De Rothschild Gitana trimaran, skipper Sébastien Josse agreed.
People dream to sail, because we have the history with Eric Tabarly, because we love prototypes.
Maxi Edmond de Rothschild Gitana Eloi Stichelbaut
Serendipitously, after these conversations and within minutes of deciding to learn more about Tabarly, my telephone rang within the coastal city of Saint-Malo. A friend suggested that I attend a nearby event, related to apparel design. Hardly my specialty. However, once inside I was surprised to find this gathering was partially hosted by Éric Tabarly’s wife, Jacqueline, as well as daughter, Marie. They explained how custom made, sturdy and attractive bags had been created from the disused sails of one of Tabarly’s earlier boats by the company 727 Sailbags (intriguing Kickstarter project for supporters). Afterward, Marie spoke about her own current sailing venture—The Elemen’Terre Project—to raise awareness about global ecological issues. Soon we walked outside and stood on the deck of the boat Pen Duick VI (in which Tabarly won his second OSTAR race in 1975), drinking wine while silently toasting the fruits of this sailor's legacy.
The story of Éric Tabarly is that of a modest yet creative man who pursued his dreams. He was unphased by subsequent celebrity, and he helped crack the boundaries of what was then considered possible in offshore solo racing.
Marie Tabarly in Saint-Malo, Brittany, France Tom Mullen
Tabarly won the single handed transatlantic Observer Single-Handed Trans-Atlantic Race (OSTAR) between Plymouth and Newport in 1964. He arrived two days earlier than the next contestant, (Sir) Francis Chichester, and 13 days faster than the 40 day winning time of the previous race. Until then, few knew of Tabarly. For his victory he was awarded the Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur by French President Charles de Gaulle. When the president then invited him for dinner at his residence, the Elysee Palace, Tabarly apologized but explained that he really needed to clean the hull of his boat during low tide. Such modest practicality only further endeared him to the French.
A naval officer, pilot and navigator, Tabarly spoke sparsely yet accomplished much. He won ample races, including the Sydney to Hobart race in 1967, the Falmouth to Gibraltar race in 1971 and the Los Angeles to Tahiti route in 1972. He again won the OSTAR race in 1976. In 1980 he set a record in a hydrofoil, crossing the Atlantic in just over 10 days. He also penned books on sailing and sailboats and inspired others with his casual confidence, insisting that ‘Men need passion to truly exist.' He was a reserved visionary who built a trimaran (Pen Duick IV) in the 1960’s to test higher race speeds. Orderly, modest and skilled, he heightened national pride by harnessing wild and powerful ocean forces.
Sailboats in dusk at Saint-Malo before Route du Rhum race Tom Mullen
His pluck, modesty, authorship, trim looks, media magnetism and polite manners captivated and inspired generations of French sailors. Unfortunately, during a night transit off the coast of Wales in 1998, Tabarly was knocked into the sea by a gaff rig, and subsequently drowned. A service was held for him at sea during which ships gathered in droves, and President Jacques Chirac solemnly attended on a military frigate.
Tabarly's inspiration to sailors includes those who are not racers, including his daughter Marie. She and her dozen crew explore the oceans on Pen Duick VI, making a documentary about exploring and unifying arts and science. She has learned the unpredictability of the future, and works to ensure its betterment.
I don't understand why we are a bit frozen as a civilization. I'm very sure we can change though, I'm very optimistic.
In addition to Tabarly’s inspiration, other factors that continue to help French sailors (especially those from Brittany) prevail in offshore racing were explained to me by an American. John Niewenhous, one of two U.S. entrants in the current Route du Rhum race, sat to talk inside his boat Loose Fish in the port of Saint-Malo. Similar to Tabarly, Niewenhous was a career pilot, most recently flying 767’s commercially. After racing solo in the Bermuda One-Two from Rhode Island in the U.S. to St. George’s, Bermuda, he decided to enter the Route du Rhum.
I thought it was the neatest thing, being solo offshore and doing distance. Coolest thing I had ever done. I think it’s too bad there aren’t more U.S. entrants in the Route du Rhum. But there’s not the training in the U.S. that is provided here in France. Kids here, if they’re living in a seaside town, that’s part of their school—how to sail. To continue that, there are other programs that get them into distance offshore racing, which develops their skills. That’s why there are so many professional French sailors. Also, compared to sailing in the U.S., it’s a lot rougher and tougher. Tremendous currents in the English Channel; lots of currents and waves. When the wind blows, it gets really rough. For the most part you don’t see that in New England. They have a 13-meter tide here. You can have five, six knots of current, which is unheard of in the U.S.
Route du Rhum beginning off Saint-Malo, 2018 OC Sport / Route du Rhum
Inspiration, conditioning and conditions have pushed the French to the forefront of modern offshore sail racing. The current Route Du Rhum race includes 123 boats, six of which are trimarans in the Ultime class—three of which can lift far enough out of the water so that they essentially fly. As both sailor and pilot, Éric Tabarly understood the attraction of navigating through both media. With these craft now hurling over the Atlantic Ocean toward the Caribbean, Tabarly's legacy of bold trimaran experimentation lives on.
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bef5608c9ea105c65dcf5c7548347a36
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/tmullen/2019/04/10/why-2018-is-the-dark-star-vintage/
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Why 2018 Is Bordeaux's Dark Star Vintage
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Why 2018 Is Bordeaux's Dark Star Vintage
The church of Saint-Étienne-de-Lisse, east of the town of Saint-Émilion Lahcene Boutouba
For 2018 French Bordeaux red wines, think Dark Star Vintage: powerful and profoundly deep black fruit flavors integrating beautifully with acidity. Think blackberries, plums, prunes. Think integration. Superimposed onto this matrix bubble up aromas of lighter red berries.
This is a coherent, commanding and well-structured vintage that lacks wincing tannins. It drinks well now and will last for decades. The juice acts as though it is already two or more years old—mature far ahead of its time—yet still playful and voluptuous. The red wine, like that 2015 and 2016, is stellar but distinct. The 2018 vintage is superlative and different in that it distinctly shouts black fruit. It is an outlier along the normal distribution curve for Bordeaux flavors.
At the charity 'Dinner of the Stars' hosted by Château Angélus of Saint-Émilion to benefit the Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle épinière (brain and spine institute) during Bordeaux's primeurs week in March, Managing Director Stéphanie de Boüard-Rivoal summarized their 2018 wines. The work proved challenging because this was their first organic vintage. However, she said it was ‘The most complete and refined vintage we have produced at Angelus.’
Elsewhere in Saint-Émilion, a relatively low-key, though up and coming winemaker named Franck Jugelmann described the season.
The 2018 winter was rather warm on Bordeaux’s right bank, with hardly any subzero temperatures. There was a lot of heavy rain at the beginning of spring with strong winds that helped dry out some water excess. May was difficult for certain parts of Bordeaux affected by a band of hail that crossed the estuary from Entre-deux-Mers and reached Blaye. 2018 was characterized by a severe attack of mildew that gave losses to many Bordeaux sub-regions. The last part of the season—crucial for quality—was dry and hot with cool nights. This enabled full ripening of Merlot grapes, and exceptional ripeness and quality for Cabernet Sauvignon. This vintage will be grand.
His business partner Lahcene Boutouba is excited by the energy in the wine:
Very vivid with great structure and elegance. Cool nights helped to avoid heavy wines. Saint Julien and Margaux are some of the best on the Left Bank, with there are also some amazing côtes wines—Blaye, Castillon, Lalande de Pomerol and satellites Puisseguin and Saint-Georges-Saint-Émilion. Altogether, Saint-Émilion produced across the board stunning wines—well-structured and refined—as with Pomerol, in the top tiers. A great vintage that will gain in complexity.
The fifth generation wine producers of Château Vieux Mougnac, located outside Saint-Émilion, commented:
In 2018 heavy spring rains engendered the development of mildew. The dry and warm summer that followed brought concentration and maturity to the grapes, providing tasty Merlot and even better—exceptional—Cabernet Sauvignon. Wine connoisseurs will struggle to obtain one of these vintage bottles.
Winemaker Julien Salles inside Château Ripeau in Saint-Émilion, Bordeaux Tom Mullen
The list below highlights some lesser known (as well as a few renowned) producers whose primeur reds deserve quality scores from 92 to 99 points on a scale of 100. In general, the quality of 2018 reds is excellent. The first five below are outstanding; the others are exceptional. This list, obviously, is representative only of a tiny sliver of Bordeaux's noteworthy 2018 red wines.
Château La Voûte (Saint-Émilion Grand Cru)
Dose of chocolate, plums, aniseed and blackberries on the nose. A complex and plush royal flush in the mouth. Balanced and mellow as though it had already aged five years.
Château Destieux (Saint-Émilion Grand Cru Classé)
Black beauty—velvety, balanced tunnel of exploration here. Wow. Fig newtons and butterscotch in the mouth.
Château du Retout (Haut-Médoc)
Citrus fruit in a matrix of dark berries. A lively, light delight. Barbecue some poultry to drink with this wine from Hélène et Fréderic Soual.
Château Soutard (Saint-Émilion Grand Cru Classé)
Another dark beauty. Perfectly balanced power with finesse. Chewy brownies and salty licorice in the mouth. Bust this out after dinner when cigars are lighting up.
Château Perron (Lalande-de-Pomerol)
A darkly distinct roller coaster of licorice with a strip of mint and lime in the mouth. From the third generation Massonie family producers.
Château Carbonnieux (Pessac-Léognan)
Strip of light raspberry in a pool of dark fruit on the nose. Chewy and bright in the mouth; appropriate either to begin or end a meal with. From a Grand Cru Classé of Graves producer.
Château La Fleur de Boüard (Lalande de Pomerol)
Commanding and balanced bucket of fruit; a light and well-crafted delight.
Franck Jugelmann À Cappella (Saint-Émilion Grand Cru)
Eucalyptus on the nose, brownies in the mouth. Robust and satisfying. Only 1,300 bottles made from this 1/3 hectare plot. Jugelmann has produced wines since he was 21, when someone asked him to help out in a cellar.
Jean-Sébastien Capdevielle, owner of Château La Chapelle-Lescours, a Saint-Émilion Grand Cru Tom Mullen
Château Gloria (Saint-Julien)
An easy drinking light dose of blackberry flavors from this 50 hectare (125 acre) Médoc vineyard with ample 40 year old vines.
Château Grand Corbin Manuel (Saint-Émilion Grand Cru)
The black hole. Interstellar space. Barolo like seriousness from this coherent, granular beam of black fruit from winery owner Yseult de Gaye Nony's estate, which grows 80% Merlot, 15% Cabernet Franc and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon.
Château Ripeau (Saint-Émilion Grand Cru Classé)
The deft hand of experience from Julien Salles, who began his more than two decades of winemaking experience when he was 14 years old. There's a satisfying taste of dark blackberries and licorice here.
Château Cambon La Pelouse (Haut-Médoc)
Chalk and walnuts on the nose, rugged and plush red fruit in the mouth.
Château La Vielle Cure (Fronsac)
A hefty dose of plums and cranberries in the mouth. Grapes have been grown on this estate since the 1600's; it was purchased by Americans over 30 years ago.
Château de Lamarque (Haut-Médoc)
Licorice, blackberries and brownies on the nose; wonderfully balanced dark seduction. Difficult to stop drinking.
Château Saint Barbe (Ambès)
Hefty and dark fruited and distinctly Merlot, this wine is a reminder of the beauty of blending in Bordeaux.
Château Puynard 2018 ‘The Steps’ (Grand Vin de Bordeaux)
Aromas of roasted coffee and coal. Dark plush fruit in the mouth from this Irish owned château in Blaye. Will keep for years, but is a beauty now.
Château Fougas (Grand Vin de Bordeaux)
A magical bag of electric and zesty red fruit from the always crackling biodynamic garden of Fougas. 75% Merlot and 25% Cabernet Sauvignon from this Bourg producer.
Clavis Oréa (Saint-Émilion Grand Cru)
Subterranean layers of flavor here—dark blackberries, charcoal, figs and leather from this Merlot/Cabernet Franc dominant blend. A bramble patch of flavor, waiting for an Argentinian steak.
Château Lachapelle-Lescours (Saint-Émilion Grand Cru
Light, frothy and fresh wine that includes all six Bordeaux grape varieties. Although it contains only two percent of Carménère, that grape variety is discernible with just one sip.
Château Clos de Boüard (Montagne Saint-Émilion)
Quiet nose but explosive and jammy mouthful; wriggling with raspberries and a hit of licorice in this wine from Coralie de Boüard.
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891e02fb3b6b64dfdca393c078ae3a6e
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/tmullen/2019/06/03/this-months-five-wineries-to-watch/
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This Month's Five Wineries To Watch
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This Month's Five Wineries To Watch
Vineyard of Maruccia Club de Vino 953 on Spanish island of Majorca Oak & Estuary Images
Wines from the following locations show great promise in terms of quality and value. Some are new, some well established, and a few are in rarely visited locations.
Maruccia Club de Vino 953 Wines—Majorca, Spain
After selling his marketing consulting business in Germany, Franck Maruccia moved to Majorca in Sicily. In 2009 he began planting vines and building a winery. He sells to restaurants on the island, to wine club members and to German and Austrian restaurants. Production is about 10,000 bottles per year. Maruccia does not irrigate, and plants vines close together. One result of this technique is that his wines include low alcohol levels relative to most other wines produced on the island. His grapes are foot stomped by selected wine club associates, and Frank hand corks and signs each bottle individually.
Maruccia Club de Vino 953 red wines are made from the local grape Callet as well as from Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc. These are all well balanced and skillfully produced. But it his natural wine that is a knockout—2016 Oro del Huevo Natural made from 100% Chardonnay aged in concrete amphorae: this 12% alcohol wine has a deep golden color and a wide open herbaceous and clover nose. In the mouth it's a creamy and balanced beauty with excellent structure. Maruccia’s careful weekly battonage paid off for this 95-point surprise.
Left to right: Enrico and Giulia Monteleone and Benedetto Alessandro Giulia Monteleone
Monteleone–Mount Etna, Sicily, Italy
These balanced and well-made wines come from a trio team that includes father, daughter and boyfriend (Enrico and Giulia Monteleone and Benedetto Alessandro) who established a new winery in 2017, and who harvest grapes from two separate plots along the northern slopes of Mount Etna on the island of Sicily.
Monteleone produces only two wines.
The 2017 ‘Cuba’ Etna Rosso (DOC) is a blend of Nerello Mascalese, Nerello Cappuccio and Alicante (Nerello appears to have a close genetic relationship with Sangiovese from Tuscany). This easy drinking mouthful tastes of bright red fruit and slight chocolate and is reminiscent of a Barbera from the Piedmont region on mainland Italy. Cellar door price is $47.00.
The 2017 red Etna Rosso is a blend of two Nerellos harvested from vines more than 40 years old. The wine is aged for a year in 500- and 700-liter barrels, then aged in bottles for an additional six months. This balanced and unfiltered light beauty includes mild acidity and is a springtime fiesta—reminiscent of wines made from the rare ruchè grapes grown in Italy’s mainland Piedmont region. Retail at winery is $29.00.
Château Vieux Mougnac in Lussac-Saint-Émilion, Bordeaux Tom Mullen
Château Vieux Mougnac—Lussac-Saint-Émilion, Bordeaux, France
This château is located in one of Saint-Émilion's satellite appellations and has been in the same family since 1792. The fifth-generation winemaker now produce wine from grapes up to 45 years old. The family works without herbicides and uses only indigenous yeasts. They sell a large portion of wine directly to visiting buyers, as well as to French restaurants (their wine has also been selected for the Cave de L’Elysée, which supplies wines for the French presidential palace in Paris). Daughter Laetitia Ouspointour spent two years as a sommelier in London and now owns a wine education business (LO Wine) in the city of Bordeaux. She explained that working organically in Bordeaux can be challenging.
It’s much more demanding to organic viticulture in Bordeaux than for Cote de Rhone or Languedoc wines. They have a drier Mediterranean climate and mistral winds.
Wines from this château are generally round, delicate, subtle and complex. Their 2009 Cuvée Maria is made exclusively from Merlot grown on southwest facing slopes which are plowed by horses. The wine is fresh for its decade of age—with red currants, leather and spice on the nose and prunes in the mouth. But their 2014 Bordeaux Supérieur is even more vibrant and energetic. It includes a whiff of licorice, mint, chocolate, cassis and eucalyptus on the nose, with a structure that appears to have been oaked, though it has not. This one deserves a mid to upper 90’s score and costs—cellar door—south of $17 a bottle.
Entrance to biodynamic Château Fougas in Bourg, Bordeaux Tom Mullen
Château Fougas, Côte de Bourg, Bordeaux, France
Jean-Yves and Michèle Béchet have been producing wines since 1993, and biodynamic wines for a decade. Their 2016 Forces de Vie (‘forces of life’) continues to bristle with that moonlit biodynamic energy which appears to be signature of their terroir. This wine includes 95% Merlot and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon and is a lively raspberry and licorice delight. This energizer pairs well with meat and pasta.
Domaine de L’Ostal, Minervois, Languedoc, France
The 2016 Minervois La Livinière is a 70:15:10:5 ratio Syrah:Carignan:Grenache:Mourvèdre blend from Minervois in the Languedoc that includes leather on the nose and gorgeously supple folds of raspberry and light fruit in the mouth. It is produced by legendary Jean-Michel Cazes from grapes grown over sandstone marl and is an integrated and excellent wine for pairing with food—whether poultry, steak, steaming hot chili or curry.
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81595c42a9f2fe1853236b6e81995ffe
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/tmullen/2019/07/08/tuscanys-il-borro-blends-tradition-and-luxury-with-forward-thinking/
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Tuscany's Il Borro Blends Tradition And Luxury With Forward Thinking
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Tuscany's Il Borro Blends Tradition And Luxury With Forward Thinking
Aerial view of Medieval Village at Il Borro Il Borro
In 1993 Ferruccio Ferragamo (son of Salvatore Ferragamo, of shoe and design renown) purchased a medieval village and 1,700 acres (700 hectares) of land between the Tuscan cities of Florence and Arezzo. He began creating what has become a combination resort, winery and organic farm. Today this embodies several trends that have become mainstream throughout the world: an all-inclusive destination resort, organic farm-to-table cuisine, on-site energy production and a winery associated with excellent accommodations and dining. In addition, this site named Il Borro marries medieval Tuscan history and contemporary culture with modern facilities.
Now a luxury Relais & Châteaux property, Il Borro is named after a deep gorge that surrounds, and once provided defense for, a medieval hilltop village included on the site. That village and the stone bridge leading to it have been renovated and merged with modern, though architecturally harmonious, structures. The layout of Il Borro is both linear and organic: linear in that the property aligns along a general axis; organic because structures were built over centuries based on differently evolving plans. A property map clearly differentiates Il Borro from other resorts: in addition to a fitness room, infinity pool, spa and tennis/soccer facilities, there are also features such as stables, wine cellar, amphitheater, medieval village, craftsmen shops and a church. Some of these locales are based on original medieval facilities. Part of the site is strung over, or close to, a steep and darkly vegetated ravine. Compact electric white vehicles—narrow enough to navigate medieval alleys—buzz over stone roads to deliver guests and luggage.
Each of thirty-nine luxury suites in the medieval village are both numbered and named. 101, 102, 103 and 104 are also Cacciatore (hunter), Scrittore (writer), Soprano and Poeta (poet), while 300 and 302 are granaio (barn) and canonica (rectory). Many windows look out to a private vista of tall trees. Visitors walk through bird chirps and jasmine scents while crossing an ivy-covered stone bridge. Imagine a scaled down version of Montepulciano, or Montalcino, absent any throng of daytime visitors.
Wine cellar at Il Borro Il Borro
Il Borro is less than three miles (4.5 kilometers) from the mighty Arno River—which cuts an impressive swath through Tuscan history. In the year 217 BC General Hannibal Barca—after crossing the Alps—marched 30,000 soldiers and a few elephants through ancient riverside swamps southward to defeat Roman armies at Lake Trasimene. In the 13th century, on the Campaldino Plain to the east of Il Borro, 24-year old poet Dante Alighieri, as a young soldier, fought in the battle between Florentine Guelphs and Arezzo Ghibellines. During the Renaissance in the year 1504 Michelangelo and Leonardo Da Vinci squared off in a contest for whose painting within the Council Hall of Florence would be judged as superior. Any visit to this region, in other words, is likely be saturated with insights into pivotal moments of history.
In the mid 1990’s Ferruccio Ferragamo began replanting 10 acres (4 hectare) of existing vines. The land now includes over 110 acres (45 hectares) of vineyards producing a total of 280,000 bottles annually. Wines include sparkling, rosé, red and one white—a Chardonnay. The 32,000 square foot (3,000 square meter) cellar was designed to match architecturally with an already existing structure.
On a recent trip to Tuscany I visited and tasted their wines. The flagship wine Il Borro includes a 50/35/15 blend of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah that matures in wood for 18 months and in the bottle for an additional eight months. The 2018 we sampled from the barrel included tastes of cherries and balsamic and—truthfully—would have been ideal for sipping all afternoon long. The Cabernet Sauvignon, harvested from a horse tended vineyard, includes a big bold structure and a refreshing taste of deep, dark fruit.
Their Rosé del Borro, made from 100% Sangiovese, is both crisp and hefty and will go well with an appetizer (think pea soup) while the 2016 Il Borro Polissena, also made from Sangiovese, includes aromas of charcoal and blueberries, and is lively in the mouth with a taste that includes morels.
Executive Chef Andrea Campani at Il Borro Il Borro
After tasting wines, I spoke with Executive Chef Andrea Campani. After working in America and Japan he returned home to Tuscany to manage Il Borro restaurants—and a dozen staff—named Il Borro Tuscan Bistro (one restaurant with this name is inside the estate and another is in Florence) and Osteria del Borro. He also provides oversight for an associated restaurant in Dubai. A glance at his menu showed marinated wild boar and Jerusalem artichoke, or lasagna with nettles, pheasant and olive Ragusa and pecorino cheese.
Visitors have an opportunity to have an authentic experience with traditional food that is not monotonous; we try to give a personal touch, and also have to be contemporary. Many local producers supply, say, chicken and cheeses. Changing seasons also give us the opportunity to create new dishes.
A sizable number of visitors to Il Borro are Americans. If suffering from jet lag and slightly grumpy when they enter either restaurant, Campani enjoys witnessing how the food and atmosphere can transform them.
Sometimes people come a little stressed, and then leave the restaurant completely happy. It’s nice to see such transformation, to know that we make people happy. Satisfaction comes when guests come back often. We try to keep traditions, culture. That’s why we don’t like to transform certain dishes. When we talk about pappa pomodoro, we don’t want to add fusion ingredients—I want to keep the same recipe from my grandmother. Dining is an opportunity to share experiences and ideas and to meet. I think the time we spend at the table is important.
Structures within Medieval Village at Il Borro Il Borro
Beginning in 2012, under Il Borro CEO Salvatore Ferragamo Jr., the estate began placing strong emphasis on organic production, gaining certification in 2015. Il Borro’s five-acre (two-hectare) organic farm produces olive oil, eggs, honey and vegetables, including beetroots and potatoes. Nearby fields also include white Chianina cows. This is managed by Vittoria Ferragamo—who energetically visited different portions of the property during our visit, but said hello and glowed with obvious enthusiasm for her work. The farm provides ingredients for both on-site restaurants. Additionally, a few days each week custom wood boxes of produce weighing up to 11 pounds (5 kilograms) are delivered to homes in Arezzo, Siena and Florence. Solar panels on the roof of what was once a tobacco warehouse as well as those in a solar panel field provide the compound with an effectively negative carbon footprint.
Il Borro’s on-site Wines & Art gallery is compact, warm in atmosphere, tastefully laid out and includes art from Ferragamo’s private collection. The current exhibit, titled Bacchus and Venus: the role of the female in wine history includes originals from Picasso, Warhol, Chagall and Albrecht Dürer.
This sizable countryside location of Il Borro includes ample Tuscan character in terms of architecture, food and wine. What stamps it as unique (beside including an ancient village and an art gallery) is its progressive association with a thriving organic farm.
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b55b32f4f121264c83cd3ead1793b1bc
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/tmullen/2019/08/23/enjoy-a-relaxed-provencal-rose-at-cannes-yachting-festival/
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There Is A Major Change To The Cannes Yachting Festival This Year
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There Is A Major Change To The Cannes Yachting Festival This Year
Aerial view of Cannes Yachting Festival Cannes — Abracadabra Studios
In the sun drizzled city of Cannes on the southern French shoreline, enjoy patio glasses of Provençal rosé with dishes of rich seafood. Even if you visit Provence primarily for wine, you'll eventually be lured to the shoreline. Find a crêperie on Rue Meynadier in Cannes, or a restaurant off Rue Félix Faure and enjoy a long lunch as sea gusts slap the tablecloth. After eating, wander past yachts and wonder how such luxury not only floats, but zips across oceans.
Although spring in Cannes is known for the film festival, autumn is renowned for the Cannes Yachting Festival. Between September 10th and 15th, both the old port of Cannes (‘vieux port’) and Port Canto will host more than 50,000 visitors, 600 plus boats and over 500 exhibitors at this 42nd festival edition.
Diversity, the historical strength of this annual gathering, eventually transformed to a weakness. The Director of The Cannes Yachting Festival, Sylvie Ernoult, explained why.
We had over a hundred sailboats on the water during previous years, but they were mixed with motor boats. A lot were in a very tight space, so the visibility for visitors was not so good. For a lot of people, Cannes became a motor boat show, although it is not.
The strategic solution to this problem is expansion and division, which will be implemented at this festival. This year will include the opening of the Port Canto Sailing Area. This area is dedicated only to sail craft and will include more than 100 new boats and 80 plus exhibitors. Free shuttles across both land and water will ferry visitors between ports.
Ernoult explained the changes.
This year includes the expansion on the other side of La Croisette [promenade] with the creation of a newly dedicated sailing area. Having different sections according to types of boats will help visitors find what they want. That's strategic in Cannes because it is one of the only boat shows which has such a huge range of products. Most other boat shows, worldwide, are dedicated to having one type of boat as 80% of their content. In Cannes, the 550 boats on the water include 50 catamarans, 70 monohulls, 150 boats over 20 meters [65 feet], and 250 boats less than 15 meters [49 feet]. So we have a lot of different families of products, a rich content. Come over and have a look at these big, gorgeous sailboats at berth in this brand new section. It’s going to be—Wow!
Cannes at night Yachting Festival Cannes — Abracadabra Studios
After becoming part of the Roman Empire, the coastal city now named Cannes was populated mostly by monks and fishermen. Fearing attack from the Saracens, the monks built a watch tower. Yet these pirates still came, conquered and looted. Today the city does not defend against outsiders, but embraces them. For example, one international craft attending the event will be the Energy Observer—an electrically powered ship running on renewable energy and hydrogen—that is traveling to 50 countries on a world tour.
The variety of events at the festival will also include the Concours d’Élégance, or ‘parade of motor boats’ on September 14th. Motorboats without cabins up to 39 feet (12 meters) long will be divided into two categories—those built before 1980 and those built after. The ‘winner’ of this spectacle will be voted on via smartphones belonging to onshore observers.
The latest press writings about the event are agog with all sorts of wonders to be unveiled at this festival: an asymmetric superyacht, hybrid propulsion systems, ‘ecological transition’ technologies, retractable photovoltaic systems, foam-core composites, spacious flybridges, double-width navigation seating and sandwich infusion construction.
Cannes Yachting Festival Yachting Festival Cannes — Abracadabra Studios
Below are words written in 1987, not by a yachting enthusiast, but a renowned critic and writer from the U.S. named Robert Ebert. These words, taken from his book Two Weeks in the Midday Sun: A Cannes Notebook, capture quieter attractions of the city.
I order café au lait and Perrier, and the waiter puts a basket of croissants on the table. Some mornings it is raining, and those mornings are the best, because if you can sit in an outdoor café, under the awning, just inches away from the rain, and drink café au lait, you can recapture, I am convinced, the ancient feeling of the cave, of being safe and warm while it is cold outside. Cats will sit for hours in a window and look complacently at the rain inches from their nose.
Such quieter moments still exist amid the bustle within Cannes, and amplify the city's uniqueness (although September's likelihood of rain is lower than for the two months that follow).
The festival opens at 10.00 a.m. on Tuesday, September 10th, and ends at 6.00 p.m. on Sunday September 15th. It is open Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday evenings until 7.00 p.m., and on Friday until 10.00 p.m. Tickets can be purchased online. Those showing up to the Port Canto Sailing Area between 10.00 and 11.00 a.m. will be allowed into that area for free.
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/tmullen/2019/11/11/saint-milion-wineries-sizzling-with-tactical-changes/
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Saint-Émilion Wineries Sizzling With Tactical Changes
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Saint-Émilion Wineries Sizzling With Tactical Changes
The little town of Saint-Émilion may charm you, but the surrounding green hills are truly seductive. Unlike Bordeaux’s Médoc region—flat as a pancake with earth so tough ‘you couldn’t grow potatoes,’ as a wine consultant said—the rolling hills of Saint-Émilion can be as mistily charming as patches of Ireland. This quiet rural segment of southwest France includes dapper dressed locals–mostly easygoing and unusually generous with hospitality.
Vineyards after harvest in Saint-Émilion, Bordeaux Tom Mullen
And the wine remains a major draw.
Whether I travel to Tuscany, Stellenbosch, Napa, the Colchagua Valley or Rioja–it is the wines of this Saint-Émilion region (including its satellite appellations and adjacent Pomerol) that remain a benchmark for tasting. The reason is simple. Overall, the quality of wines from this region remains consistent and elevated. Think juicy, elegant and pleasingly round. Many are also of sterling value.
About two-thirds of this region’s land–or 20 square miles (50 square kilometers)–are planted with vines. This represents only one-twentieth of Bordeaux’s grape production, but this remains coveted ‘right-bank’ terrain.
Burgundy is beguilng, the Loire will put peace in your heart, and the craggy hills of Jurançon can slip you into storybook mode. But driving through the wavy green hills surrounding Saint-Emilion sometimes provides a sense of coming home. Here be relaxed folks in a quiet, prim setting.
The selected wineries below produce excellent labels. Each also highlights at least one of the traits of change now subtly (though definitely) blazing through this region. Perhaps it relates to the value of this land, but most of these changes (fortunately) are being intelligently implemented. That may also result from strict legal regulations regarding development.
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These trends include: adopting innovative technologies (while also respecting traditions, and the value of family run operations), diversifying products, amplifying organic techniques, expanding regional accommodations and improving ease for visiting wineries. These peaceful acres quietly buzz with winds of dynamic change.
Château La Fleur de Boüard
Just north of Saint-Émilion and north of Pomerol is Lalande de Pomerol, a region that has been producing wine since the 12th century. This was also a medieval hospitality hub for both crusaders and pilgrims.
Château La Fleur de Boüard, located in the village of Néac, is another estate established by Hubert de Boüard de Laforest. Recent renovations include tanks that hang from the ceiling—designed by de Boüard—which can empty juice in seven minutes, as opposed to an otherwise 40 minutes of pumping. Voila! Gratitude for gravity. This winery also includes a newly renovated three-bedroom guest house located less than five miles (8 kilometers) from the town of Saint-Émilion.
Gravity fed operations at Château La Fleur de Boüard Tom Mullen
Design innovations and the provision of quiet but high quality accommodations (which received their first travel/hospitality award earlier this month) highlight an emphasis on maintaining traditional winemaking techniques, yet upgrading facilities to be on a par with the best international wineries.
Wines listed below from this winer château score (subjectively) from 94 to 96 points on a 100-point scale.
Overall value for some of the wines is scored using a proprietary algorithm.
Château La Fleur de Boüard. La Fleur de Boüard. 2016. [Good Value ♫]
Blueberries and red cherries on the nose. This includes classical tastes from this region and is a hefty but elegant beauty to be paired with entrecôte steak. Amazing length.
Château La Fleur de Boüard. La Fleur de Boüard. 2015. [Good Value ♫]
An 82/14/4 blend of Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon from vines averaging 25 years old. Aged up to 24 months in French oak. According to Coralie de Boüard, 2015 includes more power, and 2016 more elegance. Beautiful dark fruit (‘this region is making sexy wines,’ she says–too true). You can smell a smack of sunshine and energy in this wine, which has a hit of power and ample seduction.
Guest accommodations at Château La Fleur de Boüard Tom Mullen
Château La Fleur de Boüard. La Fleur de Boüard. 2011. [Good Value ♫]
An 85/7/8 blend of Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon aged up to two years in French oak, this wine is unfined and unfiltered. It has juicy aromas of licorice and minestrone and includes tastes of prunes and oranges.
Château La Fleur de Boüard. Le Plus. Cuvée Simon. 2016.
Only 3,000 bottles of this 100% old vine Merlot wine were produced (and none were produced in 2017 due to the challenging regional conditions that year). Pure seduction here—mint, oranges, black currants and eucalyptus on the nose and menthol in the mouth, unusually so for a 100% Merlot.
Château La Fleur de Boüard. Le Plus. 2015.
This Lalande de Pomerol is made from Merlot vines with an average age of 60 years and was aged for 33 months in new French oak. No fining or filtering. Ample cherries, fruit, cedar and the whiff of a forest on the nose. In the mouth this includes tastes of menthol and even salt.
Château La Fleur de Boüard. Le Plus Cuvée Oscar. 2011.
This 100% Merlot is aged 30 months in new oak and made from 60-year-old vines growing over a gravel mound with 20% clay. Aromas of licorice, menthol, raspberries and smoke, and the juicy taste includes oranges and almonds. Quiet, but beautiful.
Château Clos de Boüard
Of a dozen appellations in this region, Montagne Saint-Émilion is one of four ‘satellite appellations’ just north of Saint-Émilion (the other three having prefixes of Saint-Georges, Puisseguin and Lussac) which may include names of their village on wine labels.
Owner/winemaker Coralie de Boüard Tom Mullen
Owner and winemaker Coralie de Boüard grew up literally close to wine. She once lived in what had been her great-grandmother’s bedroom—adjacent to a barrel room. After working in international trade with Seagram in New York she returned to study oenology in Bordeaux. She worked at with her family’s Château Angélus for four years before purchasing her own winery in 2016. Some of her wines are of superlative value; all are extremely well made.
Coralie is meticulous, precise and practical; she also exudes that signature relaxed Saint-Émilion vibe. As she said:
“Like life, with wine you take your time. Then you appreciate it more.”
Clos de Boüard testifies to the serious dedication of family ties within this region: Coralie is part of a reputable family that has been producing wines here for eight generations. Her winery expands the family’s geographical footprint; it also shouts to the world that in this region clans, not corporations, still rule.
Wines listed below from this winery score between 91 and 94 points on a 100-point scale. It’s obvious that Coralie’s wines verge on busting through to even higher levels.
Château Clos de Boüard. Dame de Boüard. 2016. [Excellent Value ♫♫]
This 60/30/10 Merlot/Cabernet Franc/Cabernet Sauvignon blend is aged up to 14 months in 30% new French oak barriques. A beauty on the nose—black currants and cherries. Juicy, crunchy, elegant in the mouth. An ‘immediate pleasure wine,’ according to owner and winemaker Coralie de Boüard. Aged for one year.
Château Clos de Boüard. Dame de Boüard. 2017. [Superlative Value ♫♫♫]
From 100% Merlot grapes grown on 75 acres (30 hectares) within Montagne Saint-Émilion, this includes strong and sweet aromas of black fruits and a taste that includes smoky bacon. Luscious acidity.
Château Clos de Boüard. Clos de Boüard. 2016. [Good Value ♫]
85% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon. Aged for up to two years in 50% new French oak. Treacle, black cherries and licorice aromas, and a textured, dynamic and slightly tannic beauty in the mouth. Beautiful label!
Château Clos de Boüard. Clos de Boüard. 2017. [Good Value ♫]
Made from 40-year-old 100% Merlot vines that grow over argilo-calcaire (clay-limestone) soils. This is aged for up to two years in 50% new French oak. Unlike the blend of 2016, this is made from 100% Merlot and is even fresher and more elegant than that vintage—with licorice acidity in the mouth and a slight taste of tangerines and cloves.
Couvent des Jacobins
Winemaker Denis Pomarède arrived in at Couvent des Jacobins in 1996 after working with JM Cazes. He’s been responsible for twenty-five vintages here.
“In Medoc I discovered the potential of Petit Verdot. It’s one of the most difficult vines, very rustic if you do not preserve its balance and freshness. It likes sandy clay soils, not dry soils. Petit Verdot from Bordeaux has special aromas, flavors, tannins. You only need five or six percent. We use 10% maximum.”
A monk - symbol for Couvent des Jacobins Tom Mullen
Denis considers tasting wines at en primeurs week in April as too early, and prefers tasting for the first blending in July. He spoke about their new label—Calicem.
“Calicem is from Latin, meaning I give you the chalice. From a story of monks. We use no pumps with this wine, and maceration is 40 to 45 days to extract tannings. It’s a different style than Jacobin—more sweetness and some salt.”
Their wine will soon be served to first class passengers on Qatar Airways flights.
Couvent des Jacobins emphasizes merging tradition with innovation. After the previous owner recently passed away, the new owner Xavier Jean kept original techniques and labels, but also expanded operations to include a new label that highlights the character of old vines. Working in Asia, he also increased the presence of their wines in that region.
Wines listed below from this winery score from 94 to 97 points on a 100-point scale.
Couvent des Jacobins. Grand Cru Classé. 2015.
This Merlot dominant blend (85%) also includes Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. Aromas of green peppers and, as winemaker Pomarède said, ‘toasted cumin.’ After five minutes in the glass more aromas march out. Juicy and textured and slapped by the freshness of Petit Verdot, which constitutes less than 5% of the blend.
Couvent des Jacobins. Grand Cru Classé. 2012.
This 85/15 Merlot/Cabernet Franc blend includes strong bramble aromas and dark fruit in the mouth. Smoky and satisfying.
Couvent des Jacobins. Grand Cru Classé. 2006.
Brandy, orange peels and acorns on the nose. Velvety salty licorice taste. Match this with roasted lamb.
Couvent des Jacobins. Calicem. 2015.
Made from a 2.5-acre (one hectare) plot of 50-year-old vines, this 100% Merlot is aged two years in 500-liter oak and only 2,800 bottles were produced. An energetic wine, but which includes the orange peel and tobacco aromas of an older vintage. Aromas also include acorns and the scent of forest. Round and sweet with a saltiness that winemaker Pomarède says come from pigeage (manually pushing down the grape cap). A very precise wine.
Château Croix de Labrie
This Saint-Émilion Grand Cru is owned by Pierre and Axelle Courdurié, a French couple who met while they were both working in the U.S. state of Washington in 1994. They took over this winery in 2013. In 1992 it was established as the second ‘garagiste’ winery in Saint-Emilion (which basically means: lean on finances, but flush with quality terroir), after Château Valandraud. Pierre told of their first experiences.
“We decided to go 100% organic right away. In 2013 we had four barrels in production. I was traveling to work in Shanghai and calling Axelle every 10 minutes on FaceTime. When we introduced this at the 2013 en primeurs a famous wine writer/consultant said this was one of the best 10 wines of Bordeaux.”
Co-owner/winemaker Pierre Courdurié of Croix de Labrie Tom Mullen
Sixteen of their vine rows sit over ‘blue clay’—which provides wines with minerality and aromas of mint and licorice. Their vineyards also include Genodics speakers which treat vines to music.
Croix de Labrie highlights the continued respect within this region for dedication to organic, relatively low volume, high-quality production. (Last year nearby Château Angélus announced its own commitment to producing organic wines.)
Wines from this winery listed below deserve scores ranging from 95 to 97 points on a 100-point scale.
Croix de Labrie. Chapelle de Labrie. 2017.
A 90/10 Merlot/Cabernet Franc blend from their San Sulpice plot. A hefty nose with a huge and wide variety of red and black fruit. Sizzling with energy. Black cherries, raspberries, blueberries, prunes and an acidic streak of lime in the mouth. A smoky dark beauty that will age well, but is also ready to drink now.
Croix de Labrie. Croix de Labrie. 2017.
99 plus percent Merlot with the balance of Cabernet Sauvignon. Rich velvety sheen of black fruit on the nose; raisin cake and fudge brownie in the mouth. Satisfying.
Croix de Labrie. Croix de Labrie. 2016.
This 99/1 blend of Merlot/Cabernet Sauvignon has powerful and sweet aromas saturated with black cherries. In the mouth this is a toffee bar and a Christmas cake—or Terry’s All Gold chocolates. Even a sliver of creamy meringue. Your eyes will light up.
Aging room and office at Croix de Labrie Tom Mullen
Croix de Labrie. Croix de Labrie Stella Solare (white). 2017.
A 60/20/20 blend of Semillon, Sauvignon Blanc and Sauvignon Gris aged in oak and acacia barrels. The Sauvignon dominates the freshness. Aromas of grapefruit segments and mandarins; a pineapple cocktail in the mouth. A refreshing blast.
Château Fleur Cardinale
Dominique and Florence Decoster purchased this estate in 2011, and work with their son Ludovic and his wife Caroline to oversee the renovation—and daily operations—of facilities producing these Saint-Émilion Grand Cru Classé wines. The facilities are being rebuilt to make them more visitor friendly, and may share a walkway (and perhaps tastings) with adjacent Château Valandraud. When completed in 2021 this will include facilities for children to explore as well as a tasting room for wine professionals. Caroline described their intent.
Ludovic and Caroline of Château Fleur Cardinale Tom Mullen
“People want to feel comfortable, so we want to create a type of visit for people who know nothing of wine, as well as for families with children. ‘Cru Classé Relaxed.’ People visit classified growths to be impressed, but here we want to do it in a simple and relaxed way. When the family first arrived here everyone was surprised by the warm welcoming of neighbors. Our aim is to welcome visitors in return.
“We have HVE (Haute Valeur Environnementale) certification to provide biodiversity. No fertilizers or insecticides and we put seedlings between rows—such as radishes and clover.”
Château Fleur Cardinale highlights the spreading involvement of several regional wineries in improving their approachability for visitors, as well as ratcheting up ecological ‘sustainability’ (a vague term, but generally favoring energy efficiency, recycling, and the local purchasing of raw materials). In this land where you can often not visit a wine château before phoning the owner for an appointment (when he or she is usually driving a tractor or traipsing through mucky vines), such enhanced focus on service could help disperse visitors away from the overcrowded Saint-Émilion center into the countryside. That would be a bonus for everyone.
Château Fleur Cardinale. Saint-Émilion Grand Cru. 2012. (93 points)
A 75/20/5 blend of Merlot/Cabernet Franc/Cabernet Sauvignon. Orange rind and blueberries on the nose with a streak of limes and acidity. A hefty taste that includes chestnuts and licorice. After a minute, out eek flavors of boysenberries and bacon. For being Merlot dominant, this is quite a bold wine—so (as recommended by Caroline) decant it for a few hours. After five to ten minutes in the glass, aromas turn sweet and supple and include those of brownies and blackberries. Has the heft of a Barolo with surprises that leak out over time. This is a depth charge!
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/tmullen/2019/12/22/delas-frres-opens-architecturally-inviting-winery-in-tain-lhermitage/?sh=243bcf003f88
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Delas Frères Opens Architecturally Inviting Winery In Tain-l’Hermitage
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Delas Frères Opens Architecturally Inviting Winery In Tain-l’Hermitage
Delas Frères new winery in Tain-l'Hermitage, France Serge Chapuis
French Rhone Valley wine producer Delas Frères has opened a new winery in Tain-l’Hermitage. This commune in the Drôme department of southeastern France abuts the Rhone River south of Lyon and north of Valence—a region known overall with winemakers as the ‘northern Rhone.’
This $18 million upgrade and transformation of facilities sits about 250 yards (a quarter kilometer) from the Rhone River, and less than a mile (1.3 kilometers) from the summit of Hermitage hill.
(Thomas Jefferson, former U.S. president, stated in the year 1791 that the best wine in the world came from the hill of Hermitage; although he spoke about white wine at that time, local reds have since gained international renown.)
Designed by Carl Fredrik Svenstedt of Paris, this facility won ‘honorable mention’ in architectural design at the Architecture MasterPrize Competition this year in Bilbao, Spain. (This same architect also worked on an extension of the Louvre in Paris, and designed other wine château renovations in the Luberon valley).
Delas Frères barrel room at Tain-l'Hermitage winery Serge Chapuis
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The work included restoring an existing house to include 11 guest bedrooms, and adding a new winery. The design includes a winding wall made from 274 blocks of stone topped with a walkway from where visitors can view vineyards. The new facilities are constructed from stone, steel and glass within a 1.5-acre (6,000 square meter) walled setting. Julia Rouzaud was responsible for interior design of reception facilities.
Delas Frères, founded in 1835, purchased this new property in 2015 to celebrate the company’s 180-year anniversary. The acquisition and upgrade of this Tain-l’Hermitage property will move the focal point of wine production away from existing facilities now located in Saint-Jean-de-Muzols.
Delas Frères winery at Tain-l'Hermitage Serge Chapuis
The work here is an extension of an overall long-term upgrade of the company’s wine facilities. This effort began in 1996 and has involved replacing support walls on the Hermitage hills, replanting thousands of vines, acquiring—in 2006—50 acres (20 hectares) in the Crozes-Hermitage appellation, and adopting gravity flow processes for grapes and wine.
Delas Frères produces wines from its own vineyard grapes, as well as from suppliers located in Côte Rotie, Condrieu, Cornas, St. Joseph and other nearby appellations. Their wines are made from grapes that include Syrah, Marsanne, Roussanne, and Viognier.
Delas Frères Suite Serge Chapuis
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/tmullen/2020/01/20/three-intriguing-ted-talks-that-relate-to-wine/?sh=127cd1d1ef0d
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Three Intriguing TED Talks That Relate To Wine
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Three Intriguing TED Talks That Relate To Wine
The following three short video talks found on the Technology, Entertainment, Design (TED) website are intriguing, and not necessarily only because they relate to wine.
Wine poured in a glass Getty
Gary Vaynerchuk—'Do What You Love (No Excuses)’ [March, 2010; 15 minutes long]
Filmed at a Web 2.0 Expo 2008, Vaynerchuk mentions how he developed his work ethic at his family owned liquor store, which provided him with the discipline to turn his Wine Library TV videos into a huge success. That, in turn, provided him with the ability to build a business advising others on building platforms and brand identity.
Humorous, energetic and insightful, Vaynerchuk offers valuable advice about life and work in this talk. His words include:
“Listen to your users, but care about your user base. You have to look in the mirror and say, what do I want to do every day for the rest of my life? Do that! I promise you can monetize that…Hustle is the most important word. Ever.”
He also speaks about how it is easier today to build brand identity than ever before, because we are no longer constrained by large media outlets.
“We are sitting where the gatekeepers are no longer in control…You need to build brand equity. You have to do what you love…The only way to succeed now is to be completely transparent. Everything is exposed.”
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“How do you get money to do what you love? You don’t. You position yourself to succeed. You start to build your equity and your brand after hours. Everyone has time. Stop watching [TV]!”
Joseph Pine—'What Customers Want’ [2004; 14 minutes]
Pine, an author and business coach, mentions wine tangentially in this talk as being ‘an experience,’ or a memorable event people enjoy, just as they might enjoy the experience of going to Disneyland, or visiting a theme restaurant, or a boutique hotel, or taking a journey.
Pine describes how economies changed during the past millennia, from being based on commodities (natural resources bought and sold), to goods and then to services. It is time, he explains, to move onto another level of economic value—the experience economy, where ‘experiences are becoming the dominant economic offering.’ The experience economy is about ‘rendering authenticity’ and ‘authenticity’ is becoming the ‘new business sensibility.’ The remainder of the talk delves into an intriguing discussion of just what ‘authenticity’ is.
Jeroboam of 1947 vintage Bordeaux Chateau Cheval Blanc on left, Credit: Jerome Favre/Bloomberg News BLOOMBERG NEWS
Benjamin Wallace— 'The Price of Happiness' [2008; 14 minutes]
This talk was given by the author of The Billionaire’s Vinegar, a true story of an expensive, and likely phony bottle of wine (vintage 1787, and supposedly from a collection owned by Thomas Jefferson) that was sold in 1985 for 105,000 pounds sterling.
Wallace (and his editors) decided he would sample some of the most expensive foods, wine and experiences in the world before he remarked about their possible value. These included eating an 8 ounce Kobe rib eye steak (for $160; ten years ago) and (later) white truffles, visiting a $30,000/night hotel room suite in Manhattan (he visited, but did not stay), trying a $125 bar of soap made from silver nano particles, owning and wearing an $800 pair of Japanese jeans (made from handpicked organic Zimbabwean cotton hand dipped 24 times in indigo), finding the merits of a set of Honma Japanese golf clubs costing $57,000, drinking coffee that retails for $600 a pound, using a $5,980 toilet, sleeping in a $64,000 Swedish bed, test driving a $1.5 million Italian Bugatti vehicle and sampling 1947 Cheval Blanc wine (‘linseed oil aromas,’ he said, followed by a taste with port richness. Overall—he was not impressed).
Wallace appeared most impressed by the bed, toilet and vehicle. He ends his talk by telling of published results of research showing MRI scans of people drinking wine. They actually enjoy wine more once they are told it is expensive (even if it is not).
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/tmullen/2020/03/24/three-napa-valley-wineries-highlight-hospitality-trends/
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Three Napa Valley Wineries Highlight Hospitality Trends
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Three Napa Valley Wineries Highlight Hospitality Trends
When national lockdowns abate, and economic trajectories are poised to rise, consider visiting wineries. The owners will appreciate (and need) your business, and you will be ready for great wines with good friends.
Three Napa Valley wineries below highlight current trends within the eno-hospitality business.
The garden at Brix Restaurant, Napa Valley, California Robert McClenahan 2019
One trend is encouraging visitors to slow down.
Scooting rapidly from one winery to another to stand, sip, swirl and spit while listening to a harried host rattle off statistics about oak percentages and maceration times while they pour wine for ten other adjacent visitors is neither fun or enlightening. Instead—visitors should select a few targeted destinations where they can enjoy wine with food (whether nibbles, lunch or dinner) and take time to learn about how the vintages are made, as well as about local landscapes. The world of wine is not just quality and craft—but also about local people, history and geography.
Wineries based in Napa Valley often also produce wines elsewhere—whether in Sonoma Valley or the Central Coast or even out of state. A visit is also a chance to compare local fare with high quality vintages from other locales.
Oakville vineyard, Napa Valley, California Getty
Cabernet Sauvignon still reigns as king of the valley, and the heavily oaked style of a decade ago appears to have receded or vanished, as have hyper-buttery characteristics of Chardonnay (they still differ from their cooler climate Burgundian cousins—which often have more acidic minerality—but are perhaps friendlier with a greater range of foods). And many Sauvignon Blancs from Napa Valley are now shining spectacularly.
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There are hundreds of producers within this appellation. Many of these offer food, and some only allow visits by appointment—providing a more personal experience.
Kelleher Family Vineyards & Brix Restaurant
According to Valerie Kelleher, the family owns 16 acres, 10 of which are planted with Cabernet Sauvignon in the Oakville sub-appellation. They also source fruit for making other wines.
Back deck at Brix Restaurant, Napa Valley, California Robert McClenahan 2019
The Brix Restaurant and Gardens, associated with Kelleher Family Vineyards, was reopened in April of 2019 after extensive renovations. Decades ago this locale was named the Grapevine Inn, and provided guests with a view in the opposite direction—toward Highway 29. Today, the interior is massive and bright and windows face vines as well as the Mayacamas Mountains. There are also private dining rooms for groups. If possible, sit on the porch to sample food with wines (during these days of lockdown, the restaurant has food to go).
Brix Restaurant in Napa Valley - Dungeness crab fondue Robert McClenahan 2019
Their menu includes healthy and fresh California as well as international fare. Consider their Dungeness crab fondue with braised artichokes, melted leek, gruyère and brie cheese and garlic crostini. Match that with a Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc from the Oakville sub-AVA, or a Three Sisters Chardonnay from Russian River grapes. For a main course, try chicken paillard with cauliflower, cherry tomato and artichoke barigoule, and match this with their Brix vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon.
Highlights: Excellent wine and food matching (and advice), brightly attractive dining spaces, soothing views of the Mayacamas Mountains.
Brix Restaurant, Napa Valley - Ahi tuna crudo Robert McClenahan 2019
Louis M. Martini Winery
Named after its founder who moved to the U.S. from Genoa in Italy in 1899, this winery has produced since Prohibition was repealed in the year 1933. After a two-year renovation, the winery and restaurant opened again in 2019. However, this remodeling is hardly evident from the exterior façade, which retains the original concrete columns and brick work of the original warehouse that Martini constructed in 1933. But once you step inside? Wow. The space is massive, with a ceiling a dozen fathoms away. The interior design is somewhat private club/ancient library style—with thick dark wooden tables and chandeliers.
Heritage room at Louis M. Martini Winery, Napa Valley, California Louis M. Martini Winery
A tour of the cellar is worthwhile, and includes seeing original wine casks (no longer used) made from redwood.
Tasting sessions include wine, or wine paired with dishes. Servings are poured into specifically designed glasses made for Martini by Riedel.
The five wine/appetizer pairing includes glasses of their Meritage, Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon wines from both their Napa Valley and Sonoma Valley plots. The menu includes dishes that include veal and ricotta meatballs, prosciutto and short ribs—prepared by Chef Jeffrey Russell. Fresh focaccia is baked daily in their kitchen and their estate olive oil is produced from trees growing in Sonoma Valley and the Central Valley.
'Heritage room experience' tasting at Louis M. Martini winery Louis M. Martini Winery
Sommeliers who pour wine will clue you into different types of terroir that distinguish what you sample, and they can also suggest alternative drink and food matches.
Highlights: Stunning interior space, clear explanations of excellent food/wine pairings, impressive tour of ancient cellars.
Gargiulo Vineyards
Located in Oakville—between the vineyards of Screaming Eagle and Harlan Estate—and owned by Jeffery Gargiulo and his wife Valerie Boyd (who are also founders of the Naples Winter Wine Festival auction in Florida) the vineyard only provides tastings by appointment at 10.00 a.m., noon and 2.00 p.m. daily. Grapes originate from two properties—Money Ranch Road and 575 OVX. Views from the winery are gorgeous and the landscaping exquisite. The outdoors includes a dining space with a pizza oven, as well as a stage for musicians (Jeff is a guitarist). The winery’s interior includes roof timbers from a local bridge that was dismantled years ago, and a gym floor taken from a local high school in the 1950’s.
View from Gargiulo winery in Oakville, Napa Valley, California Tom Mullen
The winery has the only southern facing hillside vines in the Oakville sub-AVA and receives a perennial breeze that keeps vines dry and absent of disease. With 62 separate vine picks and French oak barrels purchased from 24 different coopers, their winemaker has a broad range of choice to help fine tune the quality of wines.
Highlights: Private tours with a personal touch, intimate and original winery design, outdoor tour with wines in hand, gorgeous landscaping and views.
The Wines -
Kelleher Family Vineyard. Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc. 2017.
Sourced from organic fruit in the Oakville sub-AVA. Aged six months in 90% stainless steel and 10% neutral French oak, this wine from Craig Becker is a silky, snappy, peppery beauty busting with the taste of crisp, tropical fruits.
Kelleher Family Vineyard. Russian River Valley Chardonnay. 2017.
This unfiltered Chardonnay aged in French oak is a silky beauty that includes the taste of lime and nuts.
Kelleher Family Vineyard. Sonoma Coast ‘Ten Grand’ Vineyard Pinot Noir. 2017.
Sourced from fruit within the Doña Margarita vineyard in the Green Valley-Russian River AVA in Sonoma County, this wine is mostly aged in stainless steel. This is light and easy drinking and includes plum and cherry aromas—try matching with fish such as sole.
Interior of Brix Restaurant, Napa Valley, California Robert McClenahan 2019
Kelleher Family Vineyard. Napa Valley Brix Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon. 2015.
This Oakville sub-AVA wine spends 24 months in 50% new French oak. It was released four and a half years after harvest—after spending two years aging in barrel and the balance in bottles. In the mouth, a bundle of crackling, luscious fruit. Beautiful.
Kelleher Family Vineyard. Bari’s Vineyard Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. 2013.
From a small (1/3 acre) plot located behind Brix Restaurant and named in memory of one of three Kelleher sisters. Includes charcoal and black fruit aromas, and is a textured beauty that tickles the tongue with a deep scream of velvet. A memorable wine.
Executive Chef Jeffrey Russell at Louis M. Martini Winery Louis M. Martini Winery
Louis M. Martini Winery. Sauvignon Blanc. Napa Valley. 2018.
Hand-picked fruit is sourced from the Yountville sub-AVA. The wine also includes 12% Semillon from their Monte Rosso vineyard in Sonoma County. Fermented in stainless steel and oak as well as in a concrete egg. This is a clear and refreshing California Sauvignon, with a splash of clean, crisp, juicy tropical fruits on the nose and in the mouth.
Louis M. Martini Winery. Cabernet Sauvignon. Napa Valley. 2016.
This includes small percentages of Petite Syrah and Petit Verdot, aged 21 months in a combination of French and American oak barrels (30% new). Hugely rich aromas of blueberries, cigars and black peppers. This is a mouthful of plumbs with a lingering aftertaste of Oreo cookie. A complex wine made with grapes from six vineyards.
Louis M. Martini Winery. No. 254 Meritage. Napa Valley. 2013.
Made from select hand-harvested grapes taken from Howell Mountain, Spring Mountain and Oakville, this is an 81/15/4 blend of Cabernet Sauvignon/Cabernet Franc/Petit Verdot. Fewer than 600 cases produced. It takes minutes for aromas to emerge, but these include blackberries and olive tapenade. In the mouth, this includes vibrant and energetic dark fruit as well as tastes of oranges and licorice—this will make you salivate.
Louis M. Martini Winery. Lot 1 Cabernet Sauvignon. Napa Valley. 2016.
Made from fruit found all over Napa Valley—including plenty from the Howell Mountain and Atlas Peak sub-AVA’s. Includes earthy aromas and the scrumptious taste may—as one sommelier suggested—remind you of blueberry pie.
Exterior door to Louis M. Martini Winery, Napa Valley Louis M. Martini Winery
Louis M. Martini Winery. Cypress Ranch Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon. Napa Valley. 2016.
This 96/4 blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot includes aromas of black fruit and licorice, and is a river of percolating acidity and red currants in the mouth. Pair with beef—where fat and proteins will match the wine’s smokiness.
Gargiulo Vineyards. Money Road Ranch Pinot Grigio. 2019.
Nectarines and mint in the mouth; an easy drinking entrance into late afternoon.
Gargiulo Vineyards. Aprile Super Oakville Red. 2017.
This 97/3 blend of Sangiovese/Cabernet Sauvignon includes juicy and hefty aromas of minestrone and cumin. The taste includes that of plump plums and nectarines, as well as a sliver of lime acidity.
Gargiulo Vineyards. Money Road Ranch Cabernet Sauvignon. 2017.
This just released 100% Cabernet Sauvignon is aromatically closed until after a few minutes in the glass—when it pushes out the snap of black pepper. Includes a range of tastes—including salty Dutch licorice, plums and cocoa.
Vines at Gargiulo Vineyards, Oakville, Napa Valley, California Tom Mullen
Gargiulo Vineyards. OVX G Major 7 Cabernet Sauvignon. 2016.
An 84/11/2/3 blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot and Merlot, this ripe, balanced and commanding wine includes a taste of treacle and a sliver of eucalyptus.
Gargiulo Vineyards. Five Seventy Five Cabernet Sauvignon. 2006.
This 100% Cabernet Sauvignon is a fighter and a warrior—commanding and assertive. Aromas include cocoa butter, pepper, leather and mint. Vibrant in the mouth with tastes that include cherries and cocoa. Spectacular.
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/tmullen/2020/11/16/24-excellent-but-lesser-known-wines-to-try-from-southwest-france/?sh=1366fec34ff8
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24 Excellent But Lesser Known Wines To Try From Southwest France
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24 Excellent But Lesser Known Wines To Try From Southwest France
Ancient tower, or 'tour,' in the Graves region of Bordeaux Tom Mullen
The French wine region of Bordeaux includes an annual series of events that are mutually beneficial for both producers and consumers. Named Portes Ouverts, or ‘open doors,’ these are weekends during which dozens of wine châteaux within any one specific wine appellation allow visitors to come taste their wines, and—should guests desire—tour the vines and facilities, all free of charge. There is no pressure to purchase wines and no fees unless you want to purchase lunch or food.
These events take place from spring through fall. Bordeaux has about 60 appellations (although not all host ‘open doors’ weekends) and these events are conducive to marketing as well as to those who want to explore wines. From Graves to Castillon to Bourg to Haut-Médoc, wine châteaux at these events are listed in brochures showing a map of the region pinpointed with participating producers.
French labor laws can make hiring seasonal labor a challenge. This results in most wine châteaux not having regular visiting hours. Instead, visitors often need to call in advance to arrange a tasting. A benefit of this less than consumer friendly system is that often wine tastings are quite intimate: visitors may meet and taste with the owner and/or winemaker rather than with a harried staff member who rattles off memorized tasting notes.
Church in Moulon in the Entre-Deux-Mers region of Bordeaux Tom Mullen
This portes ouverts system serves as one institutionalized solution to wine châteaux tasting rooms not being perennially open.
Alternatively, and sometimes additionally, many wine appellations include one centralized retail store that is funded by winemakers and by the local government—often known as a maison du vin—which sell wines from throughout the region (and from nowhere else). Vintages are priced the same as at individual wine châteaux. These outlets often feature a few wines of the day that are available for free tasting.
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The notes below were made after tasting wines using each of these avenues available for visitors to Bordeaux: portes ouverts, a reserved and personal visit, and a visit to a maison du vin. Listed retail prices are those from the wine châteaux.
Some of the wines listed below include a ‘Value Scoring’ based on a proprietary algorithm used to combine subjective quality scores with winery retail prices to determine optimal local values. These value scores can be ‘Superlative (♫♫♫)’, ‘Excellent (♫♫)’ or ‘Good (♫).’
Vines in Bourg appellation of Bordeaux Tom Mullen
Appellation: Côtes de Bourg, Bordeaux
Located on the right bank of Bordeaux (east of the Dordogne River), the small and attractive medieval town of Bourg is a 45 minute drive northeast from the center of Bordeaux city. This region has produced wine since the time of Romans. The appellation nicknames itself the ‘spicy side of Bordeaux’ because winemakers generally incorporate a greater percentage of Malbec into blends than do producers from other Bordeaux appellations. Considering the price, the quality of wines here is often exceptional.
These Bourg wines listed below score from 92 to 95 points on a subjective 100-point scale.
Le Garagiste. Tutti Fruité. 2018. €15.00/$17.95
This 80/20 blend of Merlot and Cabernet Franc, aged in stainless steel, comes from a producer located in Saint-Ciers-de-Canesse. Aromas include spice, black currants, plums, raspberries and wild strawberries. In the mouth, the fruity taste includes that of oranges and raspberries. This is one of the most fruit forward expressions within the Bourg/Blaye region of Bordeaux. Beautifully light and easy to drink—quite spicy on the nose, but full of fruit in the mouth. ‘The spice hangs in the cheeks,’ says winemaker Ben Hall.
Tutti Fruité wine from Le Garagiste, Côtes de Bourg, Bordeaux Tom Mullen
La Garagiste. Burlesque. 2017. €15.00/$17.95
Ben Hall produced his first French vintage in 2015 (after having produced white wines in the U.K.). His talent and renown grow annually, and his wine production is almost fully converted to organic. This 80/20 Merlot/Cabernet Franc blend is slightly oaked and includes aromas of cinnamon, coffee, mocha and red currants. The wine is burly on the nose and suave in the mouth—easy drinking juice with well integrated flavors that include hints of oranges and sultanas. Serve with a steak or beef from a Moroccan tajine.
La Garagiste. Gran Turismo. 2018. €19.00/$22.50
This 85/15 Cabernet Franc/Merlot blend includes a vegetative freshness and structured, hefty aromas of green grass, black cherries, licorice, lemon, brick and mocha. In the mouth this has Christmas cake layers of flavors: sultanas, allspice, eucalyptus, and a ribbon of lime tinged acidity. Tastes also include chocolate, maple syrup and oranges—a layered but light and easy beauty. Electrifying. Only 2,000 bottles produced.
Château De Côts. Cuvée Prestige. 2015.
‘Côt’ is another French name for the Malbec grape, which this wine château heartily incorporates into their blends. Winemaker/co-proprietor Remí Bergon gained experience working in Bordeaux (Montagne Saint-Émilion) as well as in Australia and in the U.S. (California and Oregon). He also spent ten years working in wine retail in Paris. His father was one of the first to begin making certified organic wines in the Bourg appellation in 1999, and now—with Remi at the helm—the winery received Demeter biodynamic certification for their 2020 vintage. Individual barrel samples from that vintage—of Malbec, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon—show energetic wines with beautiful fruit expression and excellent, confident acidity.
Their 2015 Prestige is a 50/50 blend of Malbec and Cabernet Sauvignon that spent 28 months aging in non-new oak. It includes aromas of violets, orange peels and the scent of forest. The wine is gorgeously approachable and well structured, with flavors that include those of cep mushrooms and oranges—it’s a juicy mouthful that will pair with duck breast or steak and will age for decades.
Vines at Château de Côts in Bourg, Bordeaux Tom Mullen
Appellation: Entre-Deux-Mers, Bordeaux
Entre-Deux-Mers is a huge appellations located ‘between the seas,’ or in this case between the two tidally influenced rivers of Dordogne and Garonne—which converge to form the Gironde Estuary that flows north to the Atlantic Ocean. This region produces red, white and rosé wines, although only white wines from here can receive appellation d’origine contrôlée (AOC) designation.
These wines listed below score from 91 to 96 points on a subjective 100-point scale.
Château Auguste. 2019.
This 74-acre (30 hectare) estate owned by American businessman Tom Sullivan produces rosé and red wines, the reds generally being 80/10/10 blends of Merlot/Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc. The organically produced 2019 red blend (still aging) includes beautifully layered aromas of cherries, blackberries, licorice and black pepper. Tastes include those of licorice and aniseed. Excellent value and quality—solidly produced by winemaker Damien Landouar, working in conjunction with consulting enologist Hubert du Boüard.
Château Auguste winemaker Damien Landouar, Entre-Deux-Mers Tom Mullen
Château Saint-Marie. Chardonneret. 2018. €9.50/$15.00
Named after a small but rare local bird, this blend of Sauvignon Blanc, Sauvignon Gris and Semillon ages in amphorae for 6 to 8 months. It includes aromas of tropical fruits, green apples and iron filings. In the mouth this acidic, rounded wine includes the taste of peaches.
Château Saint-Marie. Alios. 2017. €9.90/$11.70 [Excellent Value ♫♫]
This 74/21/5 blend of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot spends 12 months in oak. Beautiful aromas of cherries and raspberries and tastes that include those of butterscotch and Oreo cookies.
Wine box from Château Sainte-Marie, Bordeaux Tom Mullen
Château Saint-Marie. Asterie (Syrah). 2019. €12.00/$14.20 [Excellent Value ♫♫]
This Vin de France Syrah—unusual because Syrah is typically not grown in Bordeaux—is named after a type of soil and is aged in stainless steel. No sulfites added. Aromas are very fruity and include a hint of blueberries and orange peel. Slightly herbaceous. Suave and fruity in the mouth with a hint of eucalyptus. Lacks the complexity and spice of a more southern Syrah, but is pleasantly easy to drink.
Château Peyredon. Lagravette (Haut Médoc). 2018. €15.00/$17.70
A 63/37 blend of Cabernet Sauvigon and Merlot with aromas of black cherries, chocolate biscuits, licorice and a hint of hickory. Well structured and balanced. In the mouth—same flavors as aromas, but also with a ribbon of citric acidity and a silky mouth feel. Young and bristling with energy.
Château Laurence. Brut Nature Zéro Dosage. €12.00/$14.20 [Excellent Value ♫♫]
From winemaking wizard and enological consultant Philippe Nunes comes this 100% Chardonnay that includes flavorful and energetic aromas of grapefruit, tangerines, honey, butterscotch and toast. In the mouth, chewy caramel, butter and oatmeal. A very distinct beauty that can beat plenty of champagnes for quality. Lively. The key to flavor abundance is ample stirring of lees–or as Philippe says—battonage!
Winemaker Philippe Nunes of Château Laurence, Bordeaux Tom Mullen
Château Laurence. Blanc Sec. 2018. €12.00/$14.20 [Excellent Value ♫♫]
Crisp, precise with aromas of white flowers, rounded tropicals including grapefruit. The mouth feel is creamy and full bodied. The oak is virtually indiscernible although the juice actually ages in 100% new French oak. Excellent.
Appellation: Graves, Bordeaux
‘Graves’ refers to gravels in soils, and this appellation south of Bordeaux city forms a line that hugs the west bank of the Garonne River. It produces not only red and white wines, but the famed sweet wines from Sauternes. The wines listed below score from 89 to 94 points on a subjective 100 point scale.
Château Calens. Graves Rouge. 2018. €9.00/$10.55 [Excellent Value ♫♫]
A 40/60 bend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot that spends 12 months aging in oak. Black cherry aromas, and a pleasing taste.
Château Montesquiou. Graves Rouge. 2018. €7.00/$8.20 [Superlative Value ♫♫♫]
Aromas and taste include a hit of light, refreshing cherries.
Château Trébiac. Graves. 2018. €9.00/$10.55 [Excellent Value ♫♫]
This 100% Semillon includes aromas of honey and grapefruit and in the mouth is beautiful, semi-sweet and silky.
Château Crabitey. Graves. 2019. €13.00/$15.25 [Good Value ♫]
This 70/30 blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon includes sweet, balanced aromas of limes and honey and in the mouth is somewhat dense, but full, sweet and rounded.
Château Crabitey. Graves. 2017. €14.00/$16.40 [Good Value ♫]
This 50/50 blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot includes sweet, succulent and gorgeous aromas of black cherries, crushed Oreo chocolate cookies and blackberries. Round and luscious in the mouth.
Winemaker Arnaud de Butler of Château Crabitey, Bordeaux Tom Mullen
Château de Castres. Graves. 2018. €15.00/$17.55
This Semillon and Sauvignon Gris blend spends 12 months aging in oak and includes powerful, open aromas of white flowers.
Château Pont Saint-Martin. Graves. 2018. €21.00/$24.60
A blend of Semillon and Sauvignon Gris grown without pesticides that includes aromas of flint, lime and grapefruit. Opulent and round in the mouth. A fine, lasting finish.
Appellation: Madiran
Straddling three French administrative and geographical departments in the southern region of France (an hour drive northeast of the city of Pau), Madiran produces Tannat rich wines that were once the preferred fare of pilgrims along the French portion of the Santiago de Compostela trail. These powerful dark wines typically include aromas of raspberry, and sometimes also of spice and toast.
The wines listed below score from 89 to 94 on a subjective 100-point scale.
Domaine Mouréou Madiran. 2016. €7.50/$8.70 [Superlative Value ♫♫♫]
A blend of unwooded 70/30 Tannat/Cabernet Franc that includes a chewy, vegetative quality. Astringent but sleekly so. A wine to pair with venison.
Typical mixed vines, pasture and woodlands from the Madiran appellation of France Tom Mullen
Domaine Sergent. Les Noyers Madiran. 2016. €12.00/$13.95 [Good Value ♫]
This 100% Tannat is made by two sisters and is aged in a combination of old and new barrels for one year. Aromas include violets, orange rind, graphite and even maple syrup. Suave and sumptuous in the mouth, with tastes that include treacle and orange. Beautiful length with a taste of cherries, and lip smacking acidity.
Domaine de Maouries. Les Orchis de Pyren Madiran. 2014. €19.00/$22.05
From a fifth generation producer family that now includes a brother, sister and niece, this 100% Tannat wine aged one year in oak should be decanted before drinking. It includes spicy aromas of pepper, cumin, even cinnamon and cloves. In the mouth it includes that characteristic Madiran Tannat taste of orange segments and treacle. A light wine, though still notably tannic.
Domaine de Moulié. Cuvée Chiffre Madiran. 2016. €13.00/$15.10 [Good Value ♫]
Fresh violet aromas, as well as uplifting, happy and light aromas of mandarins and black cherries. In the mouth this includes a well balanced and suave assembly and an attack of smoky dark fruit.
Cuvée Chiffre from the Madiran appellation, France Tom Mullen
Domaine Laffont. Hecate Madiran. 2016. €25.00/$29.00
Bucket of blueberries, violets and cinnamon aromas. Precious! Tannat odors of lift and dominance. In the mouth—orange rind and sultanas, dark raspberries and bitter chocolate.
Domaine Dou Bernès. Terroir de Rendaou Madiran. 2015. €13.00/$15.10 [Excellent Value ♫♫]
Light aromas of violets, raspberries and cloves. Beautiful and richly balanced shot of molasses, cocoa and cumin in the mouth—a juicy shot of textured spice melded with red fruit. Pair with red meat or a hearty vegetable lasagna.
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/tmullen/2020/11/23/12-rich-south-african-wines-to-sample/?sh=5f2262875117
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12 Rich South African Wines To Sample
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12 Rich South African Wines To Sample
A South African winemaker working in the U.S. once explained the term ‘cellar palate.’ Basically, it refers to what happens when winemakers are so used to tasting their own wines, or wines produced by neighbors, that they have difficulty appreciating or embracing a diversity of styles. The term originated during the apartheid era in South Africa, when economic restrictions reduced travel for winemakers, and diminished many visits from foreign wine producers.
Vilafonté vineyards, South Africa Vilafonté
Such restrictive days (Covid-19 aside, for now) are gone for South Africa. Yet even today, cellar palate can occur in any wine region of the world.
Over a decade ago, a woman who opened a wine store in the town of Sonoma, California, told me how she sold only wines made overseas. Unexpectedly, the store became an instant hit with locals, who craved tasting wines made in different style than local fare.
Harvest in South Africa (AP/Schalk van Zuydam) ASSOCIATED PRESS
For those working in the trade—be they in Marlborough, New Zealand, Rioja in Spain, Napa Valley in California or the Mosel Valley of Germany—it pays to occasionally sit with other professionals and taste wines from different countries. For casual wine drinkers also—be they novice or aficionado—one joy of exploring the world of wine comes from creating comparative mental (and/or written) notes about wines tasted from varied regions. Diversity in tasting diminishes cellar palate. It also increases the intrigue and joys of tasting vintages.
South African wines have changed and diversified greatly since a girlfriend and I first tasted them while hitchhiking across the country (with backpacks) decades ago. Winemakers frequently now travel across the world to work in different countries, and to learn new techniques. As a result, many of the country’s hot climate red wines have become less jammy and more subtle, while South African whites retain their excellent signature acidity, but are now often more vibrant and complex.
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These vines, growing within a southern hemisphere Mediterranean climate and in generally mountainous regions, cover over 350 square miles (920 square kilometers) of land and produce over 100 varieties of grapes. A decade ago, the U.S. was tenth as far as nation/region to which South African wine was exported, in terms of volume. Now, it is fifth.
Tasting notes below cover a dozen South African wines. These notes are distilled from recent comments made from several professional tasters who live not in Stellenbosch in South Africa, but in the wine region of Bordeaux, France. The purpose of tasting these wines made on a different continent and in a different hemisphere was to help freshen our own tasting abilities. Tasters included French winemakers, a South African owner of a Bordeaux winery, a Dutch wine blogger/sales agent, and an American wine writer.
Intriguingly (although expectedly) the land that defined ‘cellar palate’ now also supplies vintages to help cure that affliction in many other renowned wine regions of the world.
The majority of the wines below would score—on a subjective 100-point scale—between (and including) 90 and 96 points.
Various South African wines Tom Mullen
Alheit Vineyards. Broom Ridge. 2019.
This 13% alcohol Chenin Blanc is made from grapes harvested from 35- to 40-year-old vines growing over granite soils in Paardeberg. It is aged for 18 months. Aromas are light and include those of lemon drops, grapefruit, ripe white fruit and pineapples. In the mouth this crisply acidic wine includes such tastes as lime, salt, ripe peach and papayas.
Chris Alheit walks a vineyard in Western Cape, South Africa Tasha Seccombe Photography
Alheit Vineyards. Cartology. 2019.
From bushvines in the Western Cape comes this 90/10 Chenin Blanc/Semillon blend from Chris and Suzaan Alheit’s ninth harvest. It is comprised of grapes harvested from separate high-quality parcels, all from vines at least 30 years old. The juice needs to warm somewhat before releasing aromas of grapefruit, salt, lime and mandarin. Flavors include those of honey, lemon and melon. A well-made, easy drinking wine.
Alheit Vineyards. Huilkrans. 2019.
This gorgeously labeled bottle of 100% Chenin Blanc is made from old, dry farmed bushvines and ferments in 300-liter barrels before spending a total of 18 months on the lees and fine lees. This unfined and unfiltered wine is a sweet, crispy, acidic Chenin with a discernible streak of lime and a hint of flint in aromas. A balanced and focused wine that has a gorgeously cheerful and chewy taste and includes flavors of mandarins, gooseberries and lime. Zippity and awakening; juicy and satisfying. Well done.
Vilafonté. Series C. 2017.
From an estate (named after a soil type) at the base of the Simonsberg Mountains—where a team of three South African and Californian visionaries now work together—comes this Bordeaux blend. This 57/21/9/13 blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Malbec and Cabernet Franc ages 22 months in 70% French new oak. It includes light but powerful and beautiful aromas of black cherries, blackberry jam, plums, chocolate, menthol, fynbos, herbs, roasted coffee and smoke. In the mouth this is a punchy wine with flavors of dark plums and licorice and lingering ripe tannins. A satisfying, hearty, full bodied red begging to be paired with a pepper steak from the barbecue (or ‘braai’), or even foie gras or pasta. A well-made wine that will improve even more in the coming years.
Vilafonté vineyards and Simonsberg Mountains Vilafonté
Vilafonté. Seriously Old Dirt. 2018.
From the Western Cape comes this 13.5% alcohol wine that is an 89/4 Cabernet Sauvignon/Malbec blend, with also 7% Cabernet Franc and Merlot. Although the juice spends 22 months in oak, the aromas are beautifully smooth and gentle with aromas of black cherries, red and black fruit and eucalyptus; smooth and silky on the palate, wonderfully layered in the mouth, full bodied with flavors of chocolate and licorice. Reminiscent of a left bank Bordeaux wine. Long, enjoyable finish.
Vilafonté. Series M. 2017.
This 42/39/19 blend of Merlot, Malbec and Cabernet Sauvignon ages 21 months in less than 25% new French oak. Aromas of chocolate cherry cupcake—a rich and juicy beauty that is balanced, jovial and celebratory. Robust and layered in the mouth. After ten minutes in the glass this mildly tannic and energetic wine opens to include the taste of red fruits and licorice, with a nice length. Only 79 barrels produced.
Vilafonté managing partners Vilafonté
De Toren Private Cellar. Z. 2014.
This estate located in the Polkadraai Hills of Stellenbosch utilizes gravity drainage for all wine tanks and is in the process of converting to organic production. This Merlot dominant (51%) Bordeaux blend also includes more percentages of Cabernet Franc (18%) and Malbec (14%) than Cabernet Sauvignon (12%) and so unsurprisingly includes rich, deep and saturated aromas of dark fruit, prunes, mocha and tobacco, as well as hints of orange rind and nutmeg—a light Christmas cake of layered aromas. Clean, acidic, mildly tannic in the mouth with flavors that include raspberries, maraschino cherries and a ribbon of citric acidity.
De Toren Private Cellar in Stellenbosch, South Africa De Toren Private Cellar
De Toren Private Cellar. Z. 2016.
From Stellenbosch comes this predominantly Merlot Bordeaux blend that is still somewhat wooded but includes rich aromas of dark plums and blackberries. This wine will open up to become even richer in two to three years. Tastes include blackberries, and the wine has good acidity, balance and clear evidence of attention to craftsmanship.
De Toren Private Cellar. Fusion V. 2014.
A 53/16/16/11/4 Bordeaux blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec, Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Petit Verdot with an alcohol level of 14.5%. This ages 12 months in predominantly (90%) French oak with some American oak for the Malbec. Aromas include salt, leather and cassis. In the mouth—somewhat tannic with juicy red fruit and apricots, as well as a mild streak of cocoa in the length. Pair with well cooked beef or lamb (preferably, South Africans might insist, fresh from the braai).
De Toren Private Cellar management team De Toren
De Toren Private Cellar. Fusion V. 2017.
Named after the five included grape varieties in this Cabernet Sauvignon (52%) dominant blend, the wine ages 12 months in predominantly French but also American oak. Well structured, confident, beautiful and focused aromas of cherries, morels, menthol, tar and graphite as well as a ribbon of grapefruit acidity. In the mouth this is a juicy layer cake with flavors that include not only ample red and black fruit, but also sultanas, After Eight mints, candy cane and salty Dutch licorice (’zoute drop’). Suave, with well-balanced acidity and tannins. This is a happy, buoyant juice and will pair well with lamb and apple sauce, seared tuna with yellow peppers, or a chocolate sponge cake. Delightful.
Boschkloof. Syrah. 2018.
From this Stellenbosch producer comes a 14% alcohol wine that includes gorgeous aromas of black cherries, red licorice, menthol and cranberries. In the mouth this easy to drink juice marries acidity and tannins well and blasts flavors of red fruit and chewy brownies. A full and satisfying red. Pair with a lean sirloin or even a dark chocolate dessert or orange sorbet. This is a gorgeous Syrah.
Boschkloof winemaker/co-owner Reenen Borman Boschkloof Wines
Boschkloof. Sons of Sugarland. SH99 Syrah. 2018.
This 14% alcohol 100% Syrah is fermented whole bunch and then aged in oak. Aromas include hearty red fruit—such as black cherries and plums—as well as scents of orange rind, mint, spicy licorice and a little smoke. In the glass it needs 10 to 15 minutes to open up before releasing a sweet taste that includes plums, pepper, cherries and gooseberries. The full fresh acidity is widely balanced and easy drinking; the finish includes spices and red fruit. Pair with Moroccan food, or any sweet and sour dish.
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/tmullen/2020/11/30/an-iconic-restaurant-is-reinvigorated-in-the-heart-of-bordeaux-city/?sh=78240f625f99
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An Iconic Restaurant Is Reinvigorated In The Heart Of Bordeaux City
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An Iconic Restaurant Is Reinvigorated In The Heart Of Bordeaux City
Place de la Bourse, Bordeaux city, France www.Deepix.com 2008
As the 5th most frequented travel destination in France, the city of Bordeaux is growing as an upscale international attraction. In 2019 there were over 800,000 annual visitors, including 42,000 cruise ship visitors, and that year saw an overall 13% annual increase of passengers to the city. It is the largest urban area classified as a UNESCO World Heritage site, and there are at least 10 Michelin starred restaurants within Bordeaux.
The improving quality of restaurants also reflects changing dynamics within the city.
A well-established wine producing family—with a 230-year history—has notched up the level of quality dining within the architectural center of Bordeaux by renovating restaurants at Le Gabriel.
In 1914 and 1940, during two world wars, the capital city of France—Paris—temporarily moved its administrative functions to the southwestern city of Bordeaux. Reasons included defense capabilities, ocean access via the Garonne River, historical legacy as a powerhouse for trade and overall French allegiance. If you visit Bordeaux today, you will notice other parallels to the city of Paris—including architectural beauty.
L'Observatoire du Gabriel Boris Allin - Fisheyes
For those crossing east to west into the center of Bordeaux city on the bridge named Pont de Pierre (its 17 arches—according to legend—matching the number of letters in the name Napoleon Bonaparte) the sight commanding most attention, beside various gothic cathedral spires, is the Place de la Bourse.
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Before construction began, this was considered a prime location for ‘a masterpiece to be handed down to future generations’ by royal architect Jacques Gabriel. He made this observation when he arrived in Bordeaux city in the year 1729. He completed his design ten years later and construction began in 1742, two weeks after his death.
Building took over 40 years, during the 18th century. The resulting architecture of this building sequence is classic and impressive—a straight row of apartments bent at the center by a semicircle, all facing the Garonne River. At the apogee of the semicircle—a prestigious and valuable piece of real estate—is the restaurant venue named after its original architect, Le Gabriel.
Today, Le Gabriel includes a bar and two dining facilities—the 90-seat Le Bistrot downstairs and the 35-seat upstairs restaurant L’Observatoire (which also includes a private room for eight).
The bar at Le Gabriel, Bordeaux city Boris Allin - Fisheye
After months of renovations, Le Gabriel began re-opening in July. It concluded this re-launch with the opening of the Restaurant L’Observatoire (the observatory) in October. This restaurant has succeeded in reaching its goal of combining tradition with excellence.
The new proprietors are the de Boüard de La Forest family, owners of Château Angélus of Saint-Émilion (producers of wine classified as Premier Grand Cru Classé).
Stéphanie de Bouard-Rivoal, CEO of Angélus, spearheaded the purchase and renovation of the property in the hope of revitalizing an emblematic address within Bordeaux city. She also realizes that Bordeaux is increasingly transforming to a international and upscale travel destination. She transported Michelin star know-how from her family’s Le Logis de la Cadène restaurant in the village of Saint-Émilion. She appreciates the results of relaunching L’Observatoire, with its ‘fantastic location, great view and continuing culinary excellence with a great team.’
Owner Stéphanie de Boüard-Rivoal and Chef Alexandre Baumard Boris Allin - Fisheye
The interior design of L’Observatoire is 18th century—and includes parquet flooring, high ceilings, a grand piano, tall windows to allow illumination to flood inside, and an ancient brass telescope pointed toward the water. Views from the windows include the ornate public square and its fountain, as well as the Garonne River. The interior is light and lively—a happy location with a buoyant atmosphere. Acoustics are optimal in these rooms filled with piano music.
Meals at L’Observatoire are classic and sumptuous. Dishes are designed and overseen by Chef Alexandre Baumard and pastry Chef Damien Amilien. Dishes—focused on seafood—include details that are often complex and gastronomically exceptional, leading to tastes that can be as layered as an excellent wine.
Lunch dish at L'Observatoire du Gabriel, Bordeaux Boris Allin - Fisheye
Start with a foie gras tartelette and champagne. From there, move on to a glass of Chardonnay wine in Riedel stemware, together with roasted mini-lobsters from Brittany (langoustine des côtes Bretonnes) with a kumquat confit—including a wildly beautiful taste of citrus, marmalade and a hint of salinity.
Next, try lightly smoked eels with onions (l’anguille)—a creamy explosion of spicy flavors.
Outdoor porch of Le Gabriel Boris Allin - Fisheye
Then, seashells (les coquillages) with a candied celery risotto cooked with phytoplankton. This dish embodies an intricate architecture of ingredients—layered in flavors that are creamy, acidic and earthy.
The next dish might be skate (la raie) roasted with butter, potatoes, aioli sauce and piment d’Espelette (Basque spices). Pair that with a Burgundy, or even a Château Angélus Premier Grand Cru Classé red wine.
Desserts are fresh with layered tastes, and might include a hazelnut soufflé with roasted vanilla ice cream (paired best with coffee).
Pastry Chef Damien Amilien of Le Gabriel, Bordeaux Boris Allin - Fisheye
In a city rooted in Roman history that also served as a backup capital in times of war, it is fitting that its former glory has been highlighted during the past decade. Buildings once blackened by pollution have been cleaned; traffic routing has improved and an excellent tram system now expands across the city.
It is also fitting that as the city improves and re-embraces the world (as it did in the past), it was an established Bordeaux family that made the decision to dramatically improve this set of restaurants within the historical and architectural heart of Bordeaux.
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/tmullen/2020/12/01/shipwreck-and-rescue-as-the-vende-globe-sail-race-enters-the-perilous-southern-ocean/?sh=bc50d981b179
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Shipwreck And Rescue As The Vendée Globe Sail Race Enters The Perilous Southern Ocean
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Shipwreck And Rescue As The Vendée Globe Sail Race Enters The Perilous Southern Ocean
Prysmian Group, skippered by Giancarlo Pedote Giancarlo Pedote / Prysmian Group
Less than a month after leaving the port of Les Sables-d’Olonne on the western coast of France, several sailors in the solo, non-stop Vendée Globe race around the planet have, after passing the equator, plunged into the ‘southern ocean,’ a body of water below 40 degrees latitude south that circles Antarctica. These waters can be perilous.
‘The climate has changed, radically,’ said French-German skipper Isabelle Joschke in her IMOCA class boat named MACSF. ‘Overnight I suddenly felt the cold and put on extra layers. That means we’re entering the south seas, the ‘roaring forties.’
The term roaring forties refers to ocean waters between 40- and 50-degrees southern latitude, where prevailing westerly winds can be at times brutally strong.
Isabelle Joschke skippers MACSF into the 'roaring forties' Isabelle Joschke in the boat MACSF
French Sailor Yannick Bestaven, skippering his boat Maître CoQ IV, described the conditions. ‘I’m sailing at 24 to 25 knots and the waves are five meters high.’
Italian skipper Giancarlo Pedote, on the boat Prysmian Group said, ‘You smell the icebergs here, and feel the ice is near.’
Frenchman Benjamin Dutreux on the boat OMIA - Water Family sealed his boat’s cabin door for the first time since the race began after a massive wave drenched the boat’s interior. ‘The sea is really bumpy,’ he explained on video. ‘With waves in all directions.’
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Skipper Benjamin Dutreux on the boat OMIA - Water Family Benjamin Dutreux / OMIA - Water Family
Unpredicted problems have increased at an accelerated rate during the past ten days. Alex Thomson, who skippers the boat Hugo Boss, is an English sailor in the race for his fifth time, and was considered a favored possible winner. He explained on November 30th how he sailed the ‘boat of my dreams,’ but lamented that after a period of repairs he would need to leave the race. ‘I need to concentrate on taking this beautiful boat home,’ he said—plotting a route to South Africa’s Cape Town as the first step. ‘I gave it everything I’ve got.’ His boat had suffered cracking near the bow, which he was able to repair; a week later his starboard rudder was insurmountably damaged.
Skipper Alex Thomson in the boat Hugo Boss Alex Thomson / Hugo Boss
On November 30th at 1346 hours UTC (or 8:46 a.m., Eastern Standard Time), French sailor Kevin Escoffier on the boat PRB triggered his emergency distress beacon. Located more than 800 nautical miles southwest of Cape Town, he relayed an emergency call that his boat was sinking. Details are still emerging, but perhaps it was collision with an unknown object that basically ripped his boat in half. He rapidly donned his neoprene survival suit and dove into the water with a life raft that opens automatically.
Skipper Kevin Escoffier in the boat PRB Kevin Escoffier / PRB
Immediately, race directors contacted the closest other sailors to alter course and rescue Escoffier. The nearest sailor, Jean Le Cam (on the boat Yes We Cam!) immediately deployed and found Escoffier on his raft, about two and a half hours later. Unable to stop immediately, Le Cam passed and hailed the distressed sailor, then began maneuvering in high waves and winds for his return. On arriving at the same point, however, he could no longer find Escoffier. In the dark Le Cam made five additional unsuccessful passes, and then followed a light which led him to the raft. Escoffier asked Le Cam if he needed once again to return when maneuvering conditions had improved. This time, Le Cam gave an emphatic denial. ‘We’re doing this now!’ he shouted, and threw a life ring. The men’s vessels eventually pulled close enough for Escoffier to board.
French Skipper Jean Le Cam of the boat Yes We Cam! Jean-Louis Carli / Alea
Three other skippers—German Boris Herrmann and French sailors Yannick Besthaven and Sébastien Simon—also diverted their own boats to the scene in case they were needed to provide aid.
Of 33 entrants in the race, two other boats had already retired—Corum L’Epargne (dismasted) and Hugo Boss (rudder damage).
Brief daily video updates from sailors—subtitled in English—are available on the Vendée Globe website. The winner of the race is expected to return to Les Sables-d’Olonne in January.
The boat Charal, skippered by Jeremie Beyou Olivier Blanchet / Alea
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/tmullen/2020/12/17/holiday-vintages-from-six-italian-wine-regions/?sh=47763a8b4729
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Holiday Vintages From Six Italian Wine Regions
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Holiday Vintages From Six Italian Wine Regions
Roman Emperor Aurelian—in the year A.D. 274—declared that the Feast of the Nativity was to take place on December 25th annually, a date that almost coincided with the winter solstice, or shortest day of the year.
Today, some Italians still maintain a strict dietary fast from sundown on December 23rd until sundown the following day, followed by a dinner based on fish rather than meat. The day after that—the 25th—is considered a feast day, although preferred dishes range in variety throughout Italy. During these feasts, ample wine flows, both sparkling and still. Below are Italian wines from six different regions to consider sampling for this holiday season—and beyond.
All wines listed below would score, subjectively on a 100-point scale, above 90. Some would hit the 97, 98 mark.
San Felice Cellars, Tuscany, Italy San Felice
Tuscany -
San Felice. Avane Chardonnay. 2018.
Avane is the ancient traditional name for the region where the San Felice winery is located in Tuscany. This unique and delicious Chardonnay includes aromas of orange peel, lime and earth. In the mouth it has an amazing creamy and oily and juicy cheek feel, with tastes of oranges and honey. This is a rounded, unique Chardonnay.
San Felice. Il Griglio Chianti Classico Riserva. 2016. (DOCG)
This 100% Sangiovese includes aromas of plums, blackberries and minestrone and in the mouth is light and elegant. Easy to drink. As the skilled winemaker Leonardo Bellaccini says, if you open the bottle with two friends, it will be empty before the first lunch course arrives. As Italians say—ecco, la verità—that’s truth.
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San Felice. Poggio Rosso Gran Selezione Chianti Classico. 2016. (DOCG)
From a six acre (2.5 hectare) single plot this 100% Sangiovese is aged for 22 months in 500-liter barrels. Aromas of dark fruit, smoke, plums and prunes. The taste corresponds to aromas, and the wine can be paired with some serious hearty beef—such as wild boar—or with aged pecorino (sheep) cheese.
San Felice. Campogiovanni Brunello di Montalcino. 2015. (DOCG)
2015 delivered rich and tannic red wines in this region of Tuscany, and the aromas of this 100% Sangiovese include those of red and light red fruit—cherries and raspberries. The taste is notably layered, fresh and elegant with harmonious acidity. Beautiful.
San Felice vineyards, Tuscany, Italy San Felice
San Felice. Vigorello. 2015. (IGT)
The original ‘super Tuscan’ wine produced in 1968 using non-appellation international (Bordeaux) grape varieties of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Petit Verdot, as well as local Pugnitello grapes, this is aged for 20 months in French oak barriques and eight to 10 months in bottles. Strong, gorgeous, juicy and sweet rounded aromas of raspberries, plums and black cherries—with a distinct taste of light fruit that is both textured and with quality tannins. This is an approachable wine reminiscent of a Bordeaux, but with a hint of ripe blueberries from the Pugnitello. Pair with lamb and cardamom sauce.
San Felice. Pugnitello. 2017. (IGT)
Pugnitello is an ancient Tuscan grape that—during early experimentations with 270 local varieties at San Felice—highlighted quality and distinction and became the ‘fingerprint’ of San Felice. This 100% Pugnitello shows sweet, round aromas of plums and red fruit. Delicious.
San Felice. Bell’Aja Bolgheri Superiore. 2017. (DOC)
‘Aja’ is the traditional name of the courtyard of an Italian farmhouse—the space for gathering and conviviality. This wine comes from Bolgheri, and includes no Sangiovese but is a blend of Bordeaux varieties: 95/5 of Merlot/Cabernet Sauvignon. Aromas are distinct, earthy and powerful and include fruits such as black cherries as well as licorice, cumin, candied oranges and cedar. In the mouth—tastes to match. A distinct, arresting wine.
Chianti wine region, Tuscany, Italy getty
Castello di Meleto. Chianti Classico Riserva. 2017. (DOCG)
The Meleto Castle, perched in the Tuscan hills, produces wine (on 400-acres, or 160 hectares) as well as virgin olive oil and cinta senese—traditional pigs. This powerful wine from the heart of Chianti includes juicy aromas of plums and dark fruit. In the mouth, firm acidity, well-structured tannins and a taste that includes a hint of raspberries—which helps this wine pair well not only with beef, but with dark chocolate.
Castello di Meleto. Chianti Classico. 2018. (DOCG)
This DOCG quality wine includes aromas of tar, blacktop, licorice, and prunes. An eclectic, smoky dark meld of pasture, riverine and barnyard scents—think licorice, turf, earth and the sparking freshness of young raspberries. In the mouth—plum juice, minestrone soup and fresh grated black pepper. A vortex of dark and tannic tastes that does not shoot, but swirls down the throat. Buckle up.
Castello di Meleto. Gran Selezione Chianti Classico. 2016.
Hefty and commanding aromas crackling with earth tones and flavors that include those of blueberries, cherries and cocoa. In the mouth this is seductive and brash and is a kicking royal flush of blueberries, peaches and Dutch drop licorice with a hint of mint. Seriously structured with excellent acidity.
Franciacorta -
Franciacorta produces sparkling wines made using the traditional method, and is located in the Lombardy region of northern Italy, mid-way between the cities of Milan and Verona, at the base of alluring hills.
Town of Adro in Franciacorta, Italy getty
Castello Bonomi. Dosage Zero Millesimato. 2011.
A ‘millesimato’ must age for at least 30 months in contact with yeast. This is a 50/50 blend of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, of which the Chardonnay first ages in small oak barrels for eight months while the Pinot ages the same length of time in steel tanks. For the second fermentation the wine ages 80 months (six and a half years). Aromas of bread crumbs, salt, caramel and tropical fruit that includes pineapple—this wine opens wide up after a few minutes in the glass. Patience is key. In the mouth the flavors include those of lime, citrus, oatmeal and bread crust.
Castello Bonomi. Cuvée 22 Brut.
From this scenic 59-acre (24-hectare) vineyard at the base of Mount Orfano—which protects it from Alpine winds—comes this 12.5% Franciacorta that includes both zesty and sweet tinged aromas—green grass, green apple, spearmint, caramel. A glass provides a gorgeous and frothy mouth coating of lime, almonds, gooseberries and a hint of peach flavors. Pair with giant shrimp, cashew stuffed olives or parmigiano-reggiano cheese.
Lambrusco -
Venturini Baldini. Cadelvento Spumante Rosato. (DOP)
From the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna—transected by an ancient Roman road—comes stellar food and the sparkling purple wine of Lambrusco. This estate was the first to gain organic certification in the region, and since being founded in 1976, the owners take all work on their 75-acre (30-hectare) vineyard with serious intent. This light orange colored 11.5% spumante is made from the Sorbara and Grasparossa varieties grown on clay/sand soils at 900 feet (300 meters) elevation. It includes aromas of lemons, strawberries, peaches and apricots, while in the mouth the energetic tastes include those of lemons and wild strawberries.
Venturini Baldini. Montelocco Lambrusco Rosso Biologico.
Made from the Salamino variety of Lambrusco, the aromas of this frizzante rosso include those of raspberries and mandarins, while tastes additionally include those of cherries and cocoa.
Sicily -
Duca di Salaparuta includes three estates—spread across the island of Sicily—and was the first Sicilian winery to produce 100% Nero D’Avola in 1984. Its main grape variety remains Nero D’Avola. Fruit is delivered to wineries in refrigerated trucks to maintain freshness.
Duca di Salaparuta. Triskelè Nero D’Avola/Merlot. 2017. (IGT)
This wine spends 10 to 12 months aging in non-new French oak barriques. Fruit and earth merge in aromas that include cherry cola, crème de cassis, butterscotch, green grass and lime. In the mouth the taste includes that of raspberries, cocoa and vanilla. An easy drinking, fruit forward wine to pair with lamb, steak or aged cheeses.
Duca di Salaparuta. Nawari Pinot Nero. 2017. (IGT)
Unusual for the Mount Etna wine region of Sicily comes this wine made exclusively from Pinot Noir. It is cherry colored with aromas of rich, ripe cherries and includes Burgundian finesse, with sweet and gentle aromas that include florals, chocolate chunks and a hint of rum. In the mouth, tastes include orange slices and a hint of licorice.
Valdobbiadene -
From the heart of Prosecco country come these sparkling wines.
Bortolomiol. IUS Naturae. Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore. (DOCG)
Made 100% from Glera grapes harvested in early September over limestone based hilly terrain, and fermented with selected yeasts using the charmat method, this 11.5% alcohol DOCG quality Prosecco includes aromas of peaches, mandarins, green apples, gooseberries and toast. It is a silky, plush, light wine in the mouth.
Prosecco Superiore in Valdobbiadene, Veneto, Italy getty
Bortolomiol. 70 Year Anniversary Valdobbiaidene Prosecco Superiore. 2017. (DOCG)
Aromas of this Brut Nature Millesimato, of which only 8,000 bottles are produced, include bread crust, lemon and mint, while in the mouth the acidity is delicate and balanced and flavors include those of pears and apples. Consider pairing with a crustacean appetizer. A beautiful and convivial holiday sparkling wine.
Piedmont -
Enrico Serafino. Serralunga d’Alba Barolo. 2016. (DOCG)
This family produced wine from the commune of Serralunga has a light prune color and aromas of raspberries, cranberries, plums, graphite, black pepper and young—and yet unpicked—strawberries. Tannic in the mouth, but well matched with acidity and tastes that include those of raspberries, prunes and morel mushrooms. This is fresh and approachable and buzzing with ripe young fruit flavors—consider it the Fleurie of Barolo.
Serralunga d'Alba village, Piedmont, Italy. getty
Enrico Serafino. Alta Langa Oudeis. 2016. (DOCG)
Oudeis means Odysseus, the Greek sailor and adventurer. This 85/15 Pinot Noir/Chardonnay blend sparkling wine is fermented for six months on lees with regular stirring, then spends a further 36 months on lees for the secondary fermentation. This is a very approachable and easy drinking sparkling wine with vibrant acidity that could be lined up to kick off a late afternoon gathering. Full and distinguished aromas of tropical fruits, toast (from the battonage, or stirring), pine needles and honey, and a taste that includes the flavors of mandarins and breadcrumbs.
Mauro Veglio. Classico Barolo. 2016. (DOCG)
Blended from vines from three vineyards (the oldest with 80% vines planted in 1950) and aged in 15% to 20% new oak for 24 months, this unfined and unfiltered wine includes subdued and somewhat smoky aromas but distinct flavors of brandy, licorice and rum in the mouth. Quite well balanced and includes a finish with a taste of sultanas and rum.
Barolo and vineyards in Piedmont, Italy getty
Mauro Veglio. Gattera Barolo. 2016. (DOCG)
From a single vineyard over Tortonian soils (clay, sand, limestone) that include 80% of grapevines planted in 1950, comes this Barolo with truly delicious aromas of smoke, prunes, rum, black cherries, roses, vanilla and raspberries, as well as mandarin slices. This is chewy, layered, luscious and elegant in the mouth and difficult not to love. The finish includes a hint of the taste of sultanas.
Mauro Veglio. Paiagallo Barolo. 2016. (DOCG)
This wine was made by Alessandro Veglio exclusively after he rented the plot when he was in his early thirties. The vines are about 40 years old and the wine ages in 30 hectoliter oak caskets for 24 months before being bottled—unfined and unfiltered. Aromas of blackberries, honey, cranberries, raspberries, licorice, cherries and smoke. Rich and punchy, but with soft tannins. Very approachable and fruity, this juicy wine balances acidity and tannins well. You will want to continue drinking—emblemantic of this generation’s more accessible Barolos than those produced just a decade ago.
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/tmullen/2020/12/21/early-picking-influences-flavors-of-french-wines-from-chteau-gaby/?sh=27470b223301
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Both Music And Early Picking Influence French Wines From Château Gaby
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Both Music And Early Picking Influence French Wines From Château Gaby
Château Gaby, Fronsac, Bordeaux, France Tom Mullen
The limestone hills of Fronsac—west of Saint-Émilion in the Bordeaux wine country of southern France, sit above the meandering Dordogne River—sprawling, attractive and quiet.
American businessman Tom Sullivan, based in Boston, now owns four wine châteaux throughout Bordeaux, including a viticultural jewel in Canon-Fronsac named Château Gaby, which he purchased in 2016. Almost 40 acres (16 hectares) of vines surround this attractive château—which has an interior that is a meld of classical design elements as well as an array of lively, modern photographs.
Winemaker Damien Landouar has been making wine for 23 years, and now directs operations at all Bordeaux estates owned by Sullivan. He is also president of the group of winemakers known as Vignerons de Fronsac, and is dedicated to the use of organic viticultural techniques. At all estates he manages for Sullivan (which also include Château Moya, Château du Parc and Château Auguste) he utilizes organic practices, and in some cases is moving toward incorporating biodynamic principles.
During a visit together after harvest earlier this year, Landouar explained that 250 years ago the Fronsac (which includes Canon-Fronsac) wine region was better known than its now famed neighbors of Saint-Émilion and Pomerol. Historically, Fronsac was also nicknamed the ‘wine doctor,’ because during years with poor vintages, its grapes were incorporated into wines from neighboring regions to elevate their overall profile and quality.
Winemaker Damien Landouar outside Château Gaby in Fronsac, Bordeaux Tom Mullen
Grapes grown at Château Gaby are 80% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon. Future plans include slightly trimming the quantity of Merlot and increasing that of Cabernet Franc. Soils include white clay and a precious vein of blue clay, and vineyards include music boxes that blast—for 10 minute intervals at a time—sounds that have been researched and designed to excite molecular proteins and increase disease immunity in plants. Landouar has found that vines impacted by these sounds also have shorter and more focused periods of flowering. This allows greater quality control—because more grapes remain at the same levels of maturity.
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Landouar’s original interest in organic methods derived not from any abstract wish to save the planet as much as from a genuine practical concern regarding the health of workers. Reducing the use of chemicals reduces the impact of those substances on those who apply them.
‘It’s not just for marketing. I started organic farming to protect people working with me.’
Vines of Château Gaby, Fronsac, Bordeaux, France Tom Mullen
Landouar is also skeptical of overripe fruit, which he says can cut away freshness, as well as reduce signature flavors derived from local terroir.
The choice of when to pick (or harvest) grapes is critical for all winemakers, because it impacts the eventual flavors of wine. Too early, and tannins may be bitter; too late, and higher sugar levels may result in wine that is flabby. Balance is key—as in all aspects of winemaking. Factors that influence when to harvest include visual indicators such as skin thickness and color, as well as measurements of grape sugar (in units known as Brix, after a 19th century German chemist). Although increased ripeness can lead to higher alcohol levels for big, bold wines, those same characteristics may also eclipse subtler flavors that have their own attractions. Ultimately, the decision of when to harvest is human, based on a variety of factors that include experience from previous vintages. Landouar explained.
‘In this region, there is a lot of harvesting when the fruit is very ripe. It was a game among neighbors, to see who would harvest their grapes last. But this year, I was the first around here to harvest. People were surprised. But the only result for me is from tasting the wine.’
The 2020 Gaby wines we sampled from tanks include coherent, focused and energetic aromas. (That ‘energy’ or bristling freshness, may be related to the use of organic or biodynamic techniques.) The Cabernet Franc includes a slight but attractive herbaceous kick (likely related to the choice of when to harvest), while the Cabernet Sauvignon shows beautifully fresh acidity and rich fruit.
Château Gaby, Fronsac, Bordeaux, France Tom Mullen
We also sampled a vertical array of wines from past years—most of which score 94 points and above on a subjective 100-point scale.
Château Gaby. 2008.
From a great but difficult vintage with unusually warm autumn weather comes this exceptional wine with tastes that include those of licorice and prunes.
Château Gaby. 2010.
Aromas of rich plums and orange rinds and a taste that is as rich as port, with flavors that include those of red and black licorice. Includes a long, full and satisfying finish.
Château Gaby. 2011.
Aromas of dark plums, orange rind, rum and tobacco. A gorgeously lush taste of dark fruit.
Château Gaby. 2012.
Deep, balanced aromas of black fruit, rum, chocolate wafers and black pepper.
Château Gaby. 2014.
Still young and tannic, with aromas of treacle, cumin and white pepper and tastes that include those of black licorice and black pepper.
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/tmullen/2020/12/21/fronsac-wines-maintain-their-excellent-price-to-quality-ratio/
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Fronsac Wines Maintain Their Excellent Price To Quality Ratio
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Fronsac Wines Maintain Their Excellent Price To Quality Ratio
Aerial wiev Fronsac Vineyard landscape, Bordeaux, France getty
Earlier this year I wrote about the often stellar value/quality ratio for wines from the Fronsac and Canon-Fronsac appellations of Bordeaux in southwest France.
In his book titled An Encyclopedia of The Wines and Domaines of France by Clive Coates, published in the year 2000, Coates wrote:
‘Of all the non-classic areas of Bordeaux—outside the areas of Haut-Médoc, Pessac-Léognan, Saint-Émilion and Pomerol—Fronsac wines have the most definition, the most personality...A good Fronsac wine will usually cost less than a Médoc cru bourgeois, or a minor Saint-Émilion grand cru classé and is normally a better wine. So the area has value for money, too, on its side.’
Below are nine wines that are of solid quality and which sell for reasonable prices. Consider any for the holiday season—and beyond.
Each wine scores, on a subjective 100-point scale, from 91 to (and including) 94 points. (Prices are local retail cellar prices. Some wines are also ‘scored’ for value using a proprietary algorithm which combines subjective quality ratings with objective price data.)
Vines in Fronsac, Bordeaux, France Tom Mullen
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Cháteau de Carles. Haut-Carles. Fronsac. 2018.
This 15% alcohol Grand Vin de Bordeaux is a 90/5/5 blend of Merlot, Malbec and Cabernet Franc and includes a deep, rich perfume of black cherries, maraschino cherries, guava, plums and spearmint. Magnificent aromas! A focused ray of oozing cherries. In the mouth, a slightly tannic hit of black licorice, Bourbon biscuits and dark chocolate. Not as sweet or succulent in the mouth as on the nose, but as commanding a wine as a Barolo. This will age 15 years at least. Pair with a charbroiled steak with fries, or with macaroni made with strong gruyere cheese.
Cháteau Plain-Point. Fronsac. 2018.
This Merlot dominant blend also includes Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc and is a layer cake of deep, redolent aromas of cherries, raspberries, plums, dark fruit, treacle and cocoa, with a sliver of eucalyptus and lemon meringue. Michelin star on the nose. A rich river of red fruit with a dark chocolate band in the mouth. Textured taste with flavors of cassis, prunes, crème de menthe and flakes of bittersweet chocolate. The initial attack is a flaming cherry, and the finish an After Eight mint.
Château La Brande. La Brande. 2016. €13.00/$15.50 [Excellent Value ♫♫]
A 70/30 blend of Merlot/Cabernet Franc that spends 18 months aging in steel. Light fruity aromas include those of cherries, as well as oranges and cocoa. Easy drinking.
Château La Brande. La Brande Cabernet Franc. 2018. €15.00/$17.85 [Good Value ♫]
This unoaked Cabernet Franc includes juicy and rich red fruit aromas, as well as aromas of charcoal and cranberries. In the mouth the tastes includes those of cola, black cherries and cedar.
Wine tasting during 'open doors' in Fronsac, Bordeaux Tom Mullen
Château du Faure Haut Normand. 2018. €15.00/$18.25 [Excellent Value ♫♫]
From 65 to 70 year old grapes this 100% Merlot includes aromas of cherries, dark licorice, menthol, peaches, chalk and slices of orange. Well integrated in the mouth with flavors that include those of cranberries and menthol.
Château George 7. George 7. 2018. €21.00/$25.00
From 35 year old vines, these Merlot grapes are integrally fermented in 500 liter oak before the juice is placed into smaller barriques. Aromas of licorice, maple syrup, forest and oak and tastes that include eucalyptus, cherries, black cherries and pepper. Gentle in the mouth.
Château George 7, Fronsac, Bordeaux, France Tom Mullen
Château Grand Renouil. Blanc de Grand Renouil. 2018. €10.80/$12.85 [Superlative Value ♫♫♫]
From the Ponty family comes this Semillon/Sauvignon Blanc blend that includes aromas of peach, grapefruit, tangerines, lime and salt. In the mouth this is bright, rounded, honeyed and delicious.
Château Grand Renouil. Petit Renouil. 2017. €10.80/$12.85 [Superlative Value ♫♫♫]
This 80/20 blend of Merlot/Cabernet Franc ages without oak and includes loose red fruit aromas as well as those of gooseberries. In the mouth the gentle taste includes such fruit as raspberries.
Château in Fronsac, Bordeaux, France Tom Mullen
Château du Pavillon. Pavillon. 2012. €14.00/$16.70 [Excellent Value ♫♫]
Also from the Ponty family, this 100% Merlot ages for one year in two and three year old oak barrels and includes aromas of rich ripe cherries as well as earth and loam. It is pleasing, easy, rich and well balanced.
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/tmullen/2021/01/08/vende-globe-sailing-race-rounds-cape-horn-for-final-sprint-to-france/?sh=6bd9c4b910db
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Vendée Globe Sailing Race Rounds Cape Horn For Final Sprint To France
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Vendée Globe Sailing Race Rounds Cape Horn For Final Sprint To France
Apivia - photographed January, 2021, from Royal Air Force aircrew based in Falkland Islands Cpl Phil Dye/BFSAI
The solo, non-stop and unassisted sailing race around the world—Vendée Globe—is notching into final gears as 14 of 27 boats still in the race have passed the third of three international ‘capes’ on their journey, which began on November 8th last year from the port of Les Sables-d’Olonne in France.
The first sailor to pass Cape Horn was Yannick Bestaven, in the boat Maître Coq IV. This French skipper passed 85 miles south of the cape on January 2nd, having already sailed south of the Cape of Good Hope off South Africa, as well as Australia’s Cape Leeuwin. Cape Horn lies off the southern portion of South America—on Chile’s Tierre del Fuego archipelago—where Atlantic and Pacific oceans meet. Passing Cape Horn provides a psychological edge to sailors: the lonely and often cold, rough expanses of the Southern Ocean have passed, and they are on the last stretch of their arduous journeys.
Forty-eight-year-old Bestaven is now 440 nautical miles ahead of Thomas Ruyant (in the boat LinkedOut), and about 5,000 nautical miles from the finish point back at Les Sables-d’Olonne. Bestaven’s last Vendée Globe attempt was in 2008, when his boat lost its mast within 48 hours of the start of the race. Yet his current lead is never certain, as Bestaven explained.
‘I feel the bungee cord is going to snap back and those behind me will start closing the gap…’
Vendée Globe Race Direction Team, Les Sables-d'Olonne, France Jean-Louis Carli/Alea
Overall race weather conditions have been less than favorable during this edition of the event, which takes place every four years. This has likely contributed to Bestaven’s passage of the third cape being eight days slower than the record time set by skipper Armel Le Cléach in 2016.
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In their 60-foot long IMOCA class boats, the 27 sailors (down from an original 33 that began the race) are in the process of transitioning from the often-tumultuous Southern Ocean (seas located south of 60 degrees southern latitude, which fringe on Antarctica) to the Atlantic Ocean. The sailors will now enjoy balmier weather as their craft slip northward parallel to the South American eastern seaboard, then eastward to France.
Sunrise from Clement Giraud's boat Compagnie du Lit - Jiliti Clement Giraud / Compagnie du Lit - Jiliti
In addition to needing to be on alert 24 hours a day for almost three months, sailors are constantly adjusting for conditions and making repairs. Forty-five-year-old British sailor Pip Hare, for example, just discovered on a routine check of her boat Medallia that her port rudder stock was cracked and close to being useless. Like other sailors, she narrated—holding back tears— that she was ‘devastated.’ Because she expected another 30 knot storm from the south to blast over her on a recent night, her priorities switched from competitively racing to just staying safe and stable until reaching more favorable conditions—where she can replace the rudder.
Skipper Pip Hare from the U.K. Mark Lloyd/Alea
Such travails are filmed on brief daily video clips available for all to view for free on the internet. These vignettes provide insights into sailing life that were never available to viewers even a decade ago. They provide racing enthusiasts with a better sense of constantly changing physical environments and psychological challenges faced by skippers. They also highlight unexpected joys and fatigue. On the recently passed race day 60, for example, Swiss skipper Alan Roura on the boat La Fabrique laughed while he watched heavy snows lash his boat. Days later, Alexia Barrier of the boat TSE–4MYPLANET explained how even taking an infrequent shower during this race is no simple task: a device trailing in the water—a hydrogenator—transforms movement through ocean waters to electricity which, together with electricity from solar panels, powers a desalinator able to generate three quarts (liters) of fresh water daily. This results in a brief shower splash to wash off accumulated salt and grime.
Sailor Manuel Cousin, in the boat Groupe Sétin, celebrated New Year’s eve south of New Zealand with a gift of 35 knot winds and superb seas. He narrated how it was, ‘something special to spend Christmas and New Year in the middle of nowhere,’ and told viewers—as sunlit waves crashed around him—that he hoped that their ‘wildest dreams come true.’
The winner is expected to return to Les Sables-d’Olonne within weeks.
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/tmullen/2021/01/25/why-visit-annecy-when-france-fully-reopens/
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Why You Should Visit Annecy When France Fully Reopens
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Why You Should Visit Annecy When France Fully Reopens
Annecy, France getty
Many Americans have heard the French cities of Lyon and Chamonix. Fewer know of Annecy, a lakeshore city that is situated—as the crow flies—about midway between those other two locales. With a mountain backdrop and a crystal-clear lake in the foreground, Annecy is a vibrant locale and a visual jewel. Last year one French organization, after surveying more than 34,000 municipalities, scored Annecy as the best place to live in France.
If you enter by car, take care—the city is splattered with crosswalks, and here pedestrians rule. Shoppers, families and professionals heading out on lunch breaks will not stand on roadsides waiting for cars to halt, but will strut into streets without hesitation—and vehicles must flinch to a halt before them.
Swan on Lake Annecy, France Tom Mullen
This attractive city—a 45-minute drive from Geneva in Switzerland—was home to the Counts of Geneva in the 13th and 14th centuries, as well as to the subsequent Counts of Savoy. The previous residence of these counts is now a handsome white hillside castle and museum which often hosts art exhibits.
In the 16th century the city became a center for the counter-reformation, as well as a refuge for those fleeing the Calvinist Reformation in Geneva. With its splendid lakeshore view of peaks, and its stone arches and colonnaded walkways, the city resembles a semi-Alpine version of Lugano (although with more sports inclined youth, and fewer bankers). With walkways along its canals and the river Thiou, portions resonate as a reminder of Venice.
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Lake Annecy Tom Mullen
Continental France is divided into 13 administrative regions, which are in turn subdivided into departments. The Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes region of southeast-central France includes a dozen departments, including Haute-Savoie, of which Annecy is the largest city and also the administrative center, or prefecture. Its population is about 170,000.
Annecy’s old town includes pedestrian bridges, clock towers, stone public squares and beautiful architecture. Alleys, organically built over centuries, wind and split and increase the joy of getting lost. Near the intersection of brick laid Rue Carnot and Rue Royale streets stand pillars to the commerce of eating: boucheries, boulangeries, chocolateries, crêperies and comptoirs—frequented by often well-dressed clientele. Here you can purchase—to go—homemade candied orange slices coated with chocolate, or ravioli made with butternuts, hazelnut crumble and parmesan cheese.
This is where Sarlat meets Strasbourg—a lively and attractive location buzzing with down to earth daily commerce. Towering ancient stone apartments perch near a river that runs beside (and sometimes under) structures. Bicycles with baskets cruise across cobbled streets past ancient stone water wells.
Annecy Lake with sailboat getty
Annecy prides itself as a green city—boasting 28,000 trees in parks and having captured an award in 2015 as one of nine ‘best flowered’ cities in France. Here, fitness meets finesse; dawn by the lakeshore is routinely seen by ample bikers, hikers, joggers, and even early morning Segway tour groups.
Couples constantly gather on Pont des Amours along the lakeshore—the bridge of love—with its vast and commanding vistas of peaks and water.
Annecy hosts the annual International Animated Film Festival (in June this year; in 2020 it was virtual, with participants paying and watching films at home). It is also a launch point for multiple sports that include golf, paragliding, water activities and mountaineering, as well as an unexpected recent boom in snow shoeing.
Annecy city with walkways getty
Although EU leaders discourage non-essential travel within and between member countries, France may only allow non-EU (or Schengen) residents to enter the country if they they meet certain requirements. If so, as of January 18th, they must now present a negative Covid-19 result that was issued in the previous 72 hours. Yet restrictions still preclude most leisure travel. On January 16th the French national curfew was established as 6:00 p.m., and bars and restaurants in the country (except for take away orders) have been closed since late October. Additionally, France will decide this week whether to impose another lockdown of some sort in February. On a Friday afternoon during a recent January visit, the old town and lakeshore of Annecy bustled, but many other streets appeared desolate.
In time Annecy will reopen. Visitors will—presumably—be back in force. Consider visiting the city at that time, when you can stroll along Quai de Vicenza, then along Quai Napoleon III past barges and tall evergreen trees in the adjacent park. Walk toward the open lakeside, breathe in fresh mountain air and enjoy this beautiful, healthy locale that will rekindle the rewards of travel.
Canal du Vassé and Pont des Amours, Annecy, France Tom Mullen
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/tmullen/2021/01/26/january-snowstorms-may-benefit-european-vineyards/
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January Snowstorms May Benefit Some European Vineyards
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January Snowstorms May Benefit Some European Vineyards
Vines in Premeaux-Prissey in Nuits-Saint-Georges, Burgundy, France Tom Mullen
The Spanish city of Madrid was walloped with a foot of snow earlier this month, shutting down flights, trains and transportation routes as well as schools and universities. Some 400,000 trees were severely damaged. Atlantic moisture collided with a Siberian air mass and battered not only Madrid, but many regions of the country. Named Filomena, this was the largest snowstorm to hit in 50 years.
This January 9th tempest also impacted vineyards, leaving those who tend vines with both challenges and advantages. Winemaker Isabel Galindo Espí from the 54-acre (22-hectare) biodynamic vineyard and winery Las Moradas de San Martin, on the outskirts of Madrid, found their predominantly Grenache vines buried under three feet (one meter) of snow. She described the situation.
Snow covered vines outside Madrid, Spain Las Moradas de San Martin
‘There is no record in the last years of a snowfall like this one here. Due to this historical storm it was impossible to arrive at the winery for three days, since the path is covered with fallen trees and snow—even a week after the storm. It’s very difficult and dangerous and hard to get there. We need snowshoes. But it’s spectacular! A little dramatic, but fantastic and wonderful also.’
In addition to hindering access to winery and vines, the snow also delayed Galindo’s normally one-hour commute from Madrid. That same snow, however, can also be beneficial to vineyards: once it melts the water will recharge the underlying aquifer within an otherwise arid agricultural landscape.
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Winemaker Isabel Galindo Espí with low vines during summer Tom Mullen
After that recent snowfall, temperatures dropped to 14 degrees Fahrenheit [minus 10 degrees Celsius]. Galindo believes this drop is not likely to cause damage because vines are dormant in January.
Although vines might be harmed if the temperature dropped further and remained there for a sustained period, the snow can also protect vines by insulating them from the cold.
‘Cold and the snow is good for the vineyard, as long as it is in the dormant season. In February or March, this snow and cold may be dangerous. But now it’s not a problem. The temperatures fell a lot, but it’s not bad now because the plants are sleeping.’
However, this cold may delay the vegetative cycle. Could this impact wine quality? Isabel believes that, overall, if an elongation of the growing season occurs, it will be beneficial.
‘Based on experience, a slow maturation is better. Grape compounds are then more well balanced and make elegant wines. We have a refrain, a proverb. My grandmother says ‘A year of snow is a year of good wine.’
Pinot Noir grapes in Burgundy before harvest Domaine du Cellier aux Moines
She recalls how the last two winters were warm, and the consequent grape harvests took place in late August, rather than during the usual period of mid-September. These earlier regional harvests, she believes, can produce wines which she disdains as being more sweet and concentrated. In contrast she considers 2007 an excellent vintage, when the harvest took place in October.
On January 16th, one week after this storm hit Spain, snowfall bludgeoned the Burgundy region of France, leaving five inches (13 centimeters) of snow over vineyards—an unusual event for the region. Yet the impact may also be beneficial. Philippe Pascal, owner of Domaine du Cellier aux Moines in the Givry Region of Burgundy, commented on the snowfall, and says he appreciates chilly weather while vines remain dormant.
‘The snowfall melts quickly, but it helps mineralization of a number of elements in the soil to move deeper, and closer to the roots. Ideally, what we need now is more lasting frost to clean up the vines from various pests before spring.’
Regardless of weather, Pascal knows that winemakers can remain obstinately critical of the very natural forces that drive their livelihood.
‘A good vigneron always complains about the weather anyway.’
Snowy vines in the Vully region of Switzerland in late January Rawkingphoto.ch
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/tmullen/2021/01/28/narrow-victory-for-vendee-globe-sail-race-winner/
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Narrow Victory For Vendee Globe Sail Race Winner
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Narrow Victory For Vendee Globe Sail Race Winner
Vendée Globe winning boat Maître Coq IV in Les Sables-d'Olonne Olivier Blanchet/Alea 2
The winner of the solo, non-stop around the globe Vendée Globe sailing race crossed the finish line early this morning at the French port city of Les Sables-d’Olonne.
The overall victor of the ninth edition of this often grueling race that covers some 24,300 nautical miles in 11-plus weeks is 48-year-old French skipper Yannick Bestaven in the boat Maître Coq IV. His last effort at this race, in the 2008-2009 edition, ended prematurely when his boat was dismasted hours after the event began.
Skipper Yannick Bestaven, winner of the Vendée Globe Yvan Zedda/Alea
Second place went to 36-year-old French skipper Charlie Dalin in the boat Apivia. Dalin crossed the finish line at 7:35 p.m. [Central European Time] in an evening of showers and overcast conditions with 20 knot winds and battering waves. This, after he took a final northeastward diagonal route across the Bay of Biscay.
Skipper Charlie Dalin on the boat Apivia Charlie Dalin / Apivia
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In third place was French racer Louis Burton (in the boat Bureau Vallée 2). Burton, who finished 7th the last (2016-2017) edition of this race, has sailed eight transatlantic crossings and this is his third sailing circumnavigation of the planet.
Skipper Louis Burton in Bureau Vallee 2 Louis Burton / Bureau Vallee 2
Somewhat strangely, victor Bestaven crossed the finish line hours after Dalin.
That is because this close Vendée finish was also the most complicated. The sequence of those passing the finish line did not necessarily reflect the order of winners, due to an unforeseen event. On November 30th, skipper Kevin Escoffier’s boat PRB suddenly sank, and he was left alone in a raft hundreds of miles southwest of Cape Town. Those sailors who altered course to assist him (he was rescued by Jean Le Cam in the boat Yes We Cam!) were awarded compensatory time benefits—ranging from six hours, to 16 hours and 15 minutes—depending on an international jury’s calculated times that sailors had deviated from their intended routes.
Yannick Bestaven had been awarded a 10 hour and 15 minute compensatory time benefit, enough to make him winner, even though he arrived hours after Dalin (his boat crossed the finish in the early hours of October 28th, while Dalin reached port on the evening of October 27th). Bestaven’s overall race time, with compensation factored in, was 80 days, 3 hours, 44 minutes and 46 seconds. Dalin, in second place, finished in 80 days, 6 hours, 15 minutes and 47 seconds. Burton, in third, took a total time of 80 days, 10 hours, 25 minutes and 12 seconds.
After Dalin crossed the finish line, it was still a possibility that a sailor who was physically trailing in third position—Boris Herrmann from Germany in the boat Seaexplorer – Yacht Club de Monaco—might become the overall victor because of his six hours of compensation time. He would have been the first ever non-French victor of the Vendée. Unfortunately, 15 minutes after Dalin’s finish, Herrmann’s boat was 90 miles from the finish line when it collided with a fishing boat, damaging his starboard foil and reducing his speed from about 20 knots to less than 10 and knocking him out as one of the top three contenders.
For the past weeks, these boats and other finalists have remained in close proximity.
Although 33 boats started out from Les Sables-d’Olonne on November 8th, only 25 remained in the race at the time the first boat passed the finish line. All remaining contenders have now passed Cape Horn at the tip of South America as they aim for the French coast.
Skipper Boris Herrmann in Seaexplorer - Yacht Club de Monaco Boris Herrmann / Seaexplorer - YC de Monaco
At a press conference after completion, Bestaven commented on this physically draining event.
‘The Vendée Globe is not a race of pure speed, but a mental race. I did it. It transformed me.’
Days before completing the race, second place Dalin had commented on his strength in the home stretch.
‘I’ve been at sea for so long that I forgot that life on land really exists…I’m in my playground, I know the Bay of Biscay better than my own garden. I’ve been crisscrossing this area 10 years.’
Burton, in third place, also manages a racing team based in the French port town of Saint Malo. Days before completion, he spoke about completing the race.
‘I can’t wait for it to end. There’s a bit of fatigue. This is the end of the food and water reserves. It makes you want to arrive, and there’s a lot of excitement in the regatta. ‘
Maître Coq IV, skippered by Yannick Bestaven Boris Herrmann / Seaexplorer - YC de Monaco
Due to Covid-19 restrictions, the port was not filled with thousands of adulating fans. Instead only those working on the event, and media, were allowed into the subdued and relatively quiet race village in the dark of winter.
The winner of the last (2016-2017) edition of the race, French skipper Armel Le Cléac’h, completed the world circumnavigation in 74 days, 3 hours and almost 36 minutes.
The Vendée Globe showcases technological developments in the nautical world, and highlights psychological strength of skippers who must endure months alone in often wretched conditions. It also illuminates how our world is more connected and explored than ever before. During the final stretch of the race, many sailors pass Cape Finisterre on the Spanish coast—so named the ‘end of the earth’ by Romans, who considered that point to be the end of the known world.
Times have changed.
December ocean sunset from the boat Bureau Vallée 2 Louis Burton / Bureau Vallee 2
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/tmullen/2021/02/15/bordeaux-vintage-2018-is-an-excellent-cooking-companion/?sh=410283bd6c46
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Bordeaux Vintage 2018 Is An Excellent Cooking Companion
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Bordeaux Vintage 2018 Is An Excellent Cooking Companion
Cheeses and wines getty
After a frost leveled many Bordeaux vineyards in 2017 and decimated the volume and quality of wines from that vintage, winemakers were excited that the 2018 vintage appeared poised for celebration. An article I wrote in spring of 2019, after tasting vintage 2018 wines, includes wording that the vintage included ‘powerfully and profoundly deep black fruit flavors integrating beautifully with acidity. Think blackberries, plums prunes. Think integration. Superimposed onto this matrix bubble up aromas of lighter red berries.’
Those words match the eventual quality of the 2018 Bordeaux vintage. That vintage, bottled and aged, is now available on shelves. That wine is an apt reminder, before the April and May sampling of the 2020 vintage begins—of the power, beauty, elegance and often great value of Bordeaux wines, both red and white. A rainy spring in 2018 brought on mildew, but the season ended with hot days and cool nights that allowed full maturity and ripening of Merlot, and even exceptional development of Cabernet Sauvignon.
The article continued:
‘This is a coherent, commanding and well-structured vintage that lacks wincing tannins. It drinks well now and will last for decades.’
Red wines listed below are samples from the right bank appellation of Saint-Émilion, as well as its satellite appellations and Pomerol. For the sake of the length of an individual article, representative wines from other Bordeaux appellations—including Médoc, Graves, Fronsac, Francs - Côtes de Bordeaux, Blaye - Côtes de Bordeaux, Entre-Deux-Mers, Bordeaux Supérieur and Pays de l’Atlantique—are listed in this separate article, while white wines are described in this article.
Saint-Emilion village getty
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Château Bernateau. Saint-Émilion Grand Cru. 2018. (93 points)
From the Lavau family comes this 63/35/2 blend of Merlot/Cabernet Franc/Petit Verdot that ages 60% in barrels and the balance in larger oak containers. Rich aromas include raspberries, dank forest, red currants and pine. Low key tannins and rich acidity. The taste includes soft, gentle flavors of red fruit and a lick of licorice, truffle and cranberries—with plums and cherries mid palate. Pair with oxtail soup, a four-cheese lasagna or mint ice cream dessert.
Château La Pointe. Pomerol. 2018. (94 points)
An inviting array of aromas that include those of raspberries, blackberries, black cherries and graphite. In the mouth—deep, dark slab of red and black fruit and licorice flavors. This inviting right bank red includes hefty yet well-toned tannins, is commanding and structured and redolent with rich tastes such as red cherries and a hint of mint. A well-made wine that will age 25 years. Pair with duck a l’orange, pan fried tuna basted with a lime/cilantro sauce or orange sherbet dessert.
Clos de Jacobins. Saint-Émilion Grand Cru. 2018. (93 points)
This 14.5% alcohol Grand Cru Classé from Magali and Thibaur Decoster is an 80/18/2 blend of Merlot/Cabernet Franc/Cabernet Sauvignon from 30-year-old vines planted on clay limestone soils. The wine ages 18 months in 75% new oak. Light, wispy aromas that include a luscious scent of blackberries, strawberries and pine cones. In the mouth—a delightful meld of cherries, After Eight chocolate mints and low-key tannins. A commanding and attractive wine—dark pleasure. Finish includes flavors of licorice and toast. Pair with Hungarian goulash or lighter fare such as wiener schnitzel, or some chocolate-based dessert.
Clos Bertineau. Montagne Saint-Émilion. Merlot. 2018. (94 points)
From this Saint-Émilion satellite appellation comes a raspberry blast of aromas—fresh and light—with a hint of pine. In the mouth this is a silky river of cherries with a beautiful finish. Screaming to be paired with food—poultry or wild game or a clafoutis dessert. An ambassador to, and emissary for, the potential of wines from Montagne.
Château Monlot, Saint-Émilion Alain Benoit
Château Monlot. Saint-Émilion Grand Cru. 2018. (97 points)
This 67/33 Merlot/Cabernet Franc blend includes powerful aromas of red fruit and earth—as well as sage, black pepper, tarragon. In the mouth, well balanced and a complex array of spices and fruit—a wine that will age for decades with classic Saint-Émilion heft and structure that blend a tannic backbone with fruit. Powerful, with a lasting finish that includes the taste of morels. Consider pairing with duck breast and foie gras, a hearty beef stew, or a mushroom and green pepper lasagna.
Vignobles Bardet. Shelby Company. Saint-Émilion Grand Cru. 2018. (94 to 95 points)
Official wine of the Peaky Blinders television series. A 72/22/6 blend of Merlot/Cabernet Franc/Cabernet Sauvignon. Rich ripe aromas of wet earth and cherries—sweetly seductive. This is rich, light, fun, fruit laden and versatile. A candied and ripe mouth feel in this well-made blend with attractively smooth acidity. Pair with a provolone cheeseburger, a green bean bulgur pilaf or a dessert such as pistachio and mint ice cream.
Château du Paradis. Saint-Émilion Grand Cru. 2018. (92 points)
Rich, deep, classic Saint-Émilion aromas that include blackberries, raspberries and a hint of coal, vanilla and caramel. Hefty, yet suave. Balanced and confident in the mouth, with a hefty tannic backbone that is balanced with flavors or red fruit and a hint of figs and licorice. Cellar for 25 years with ease. Pair with a steak and mushroom sauce.
Château Grand Corbin. Saint-Émilion Grand Cru. 2018. (96 points)
This Grand Cru Classé includes aromas bursting with young fruit such as wild raspberries and cherries, as well as a hint of graphite. Well-structured tannins. In the mouth this is a well consolidated package of dark fruit and sultana cake. Difficult to stop drinking this one. Beautiful length with flavors of rum and oranges. Commanding and confident. Pair with bacon quiche Lorraine, a creamy pasta or an orange and oat tart.
Montagne Saint Emilion, Gironde, France getty
Château Adaugusta. Saint-Émilion Grand Cru. 2018. (94 points)
From Gérard and Catherine Canuel comes this 75/25 blend of Merlot and Cabernet Franc from 40-year-old vines. The wine ages for 15 months in French oak. Bountiful and big aromas include those of plums, peaches, rich black cherries, mandarins and aniseed. Not a tame wine. In the mouth a balanced medley of ripe fruit in a well-structured tannic matrix. Flavors include plums, blackberries, candy cane and eucalyptus. A juicy, nicely acidic inviting wine. You’ll ask for a second glass—light, fun, tasty, inviting. Bravo! Pair with lamb and mint sauce, pumpkin/cumin soup or a dessert of chocolate mint brownies.
Château Haut-Surget. Lalande-de-Pomerol. 2018. (90 points)
A blend of Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon that blasts rich aromas including florals, cherries, brownies and leather. Deeply seductive and energetic. Firm and structured tannins and taste that includes a light touch of licorice, raspberries, blackberries and even a sliver of tarragon. Pair with melon and ham, poultry or stir-fried vegetables with a rice and soy pilaf.
Château Maillet. Pomerol. 2018. (95 points)
Aromas are a royal flush of beautiful fruits and herbs—black cherries, sage, lavender, black pepper and cumin. A plush and balanced river of flavors in the mouth. Confidently structured tannins in this wine that is rich with tastes of cherries on the initial attack, a licorice ribbon in the mid palate and a hit of mint on the finish. Pair with seared and blackened tuna steaks, or beef goulash or even mildly curried rice.
Wine and dinner getty
Le Lion de La Fleur de Boüard. Lalande de Pomerol. 2018. (92 to 94 points)
This Merlot/Cabernet Franc blend includes delicate but rich aromas of cherries, mandarins, rum, eucalyptus and licorice. A confident medley that is balanced, friendly, seductive, light and inviting in the mouth. Quiet tannins, beautifully rich acidity. Flavors of ripe red cherries, crunchy chocolate bars, mint ice cream and even balsamic. Cherries and raspberries mid palate, a hit of mocha on the finish. Will cellar for decades. Pair with roasted poultry, a spicy beef stew or wok fried vegetables.
Le Plus de La Fleur de Boüard. 2018. (95 points)
Aromas of candy cane, plums and minestrone. An earthy and mildly tannic matrix with a heart of cherries. In the mouth a tantalizingly rich and balanced assembly of fruit, chocolate brownies, plums, licorice, and a hint of salt. Cherry chocolate mid palate. Focused acidity. Pair with minestrone soup, lamb cutlets with chutney or a creamy risotto with morel mushrooms. Impressive.
La Fleur de Boüard. Lalande de Pomerol. 2018. (94 points)
An 85/12/3 blend of Merlot/Cabernet Franc/Cabernet Sauvignon. Rich, sumptuous aromas of cassis, black cherries, morel mushrooms and a slice of citric acidity. Gorgeous. In the mouth a creamy, indulgent beauty with well-structured tannins. Includes an initial attack of red fruit, a mocha mid palate and slight mint on the finish. Pair with medallions of lamb, a Moroccan tajine or even enchiladas.
Château Laroze. Saint-Émilion Grand Cru. 2018. (89 to 90 points)
Firm, somewhat closed aromas of wet earth, licorice, bramble patch and ferns. Slow to open to a deep heart of blackberry aromas. In the mouth a subdued attack of licorice flavors and a finish of morel mushrooms. Young—drink in six to ten years. Pair with bean and mushroom stew, steak or a dessert of peppermint licorice parfait.
Saint-Émilion village getty
Château Mondou. Saint-Émilion Grand Cru. 2018. (92 points)
Magnificent aromas of bright, scintillating red fruit as well as chocolate and cranberries and black cherries. In the mouth a tannic and bright river of flavors that include under ripe raspberries, cherries, cooking chocolate, peppermint and spearmint, licorice and burnt caramel. This is a complex array of flavors with mild acidity. Pair with wild game such as rabbit or a parmesan cheese omelette.
Château Jean Voisin. L’Espirit de Jean Voisin. Saint-Émilion Grand Cru. 2018. (95 points)
A 95/5 blend of Merlot/Cabernet Franc. Bright aromas that include those of cherries, raspberries, mushrooms, wet earth and caramel chocolate wafers. Layered and complex in the mouth, blending flavors of fruit and cocoa. Quiet but well-structured tannins and focused flavors that include those of plums, red cherries and After Eight mints. A grand wine with stature and generous fruit. Consider pairing with grilled steak, lamb and mint sauce or grilled vegetables with a garlic sauce.
Château Croix Cardinale. Saint-Émilion Grand Cru. 2018. (97 points)
From Fleur Cardinale comes this 75/25 blend of Merlot and Cabernet Franc. Silky, elegant aromas of cherries, raspberries, strawberries and chocolate. In the mouth—structured and statured with silent tannins and spectacular acidity that accentuate a royal flush of flavors: red fruit, figs, peaches and a sliver of eucalyptus on the finish. Bravo. Consider pairing with escargot, a chorizo and mushroom stew or hard cheese such as comté.
Château Fleur Cardinale. Saint-Émilion Grand Cru. 2018. (98 points)
From the Decoster family comes this Grand Cru Classé that is a 74/22/4 blend of Merlot/Cabernet Franc/Cabernet Sauvignon. Deep purple and ruby colored with complex but lively aromas of black cherries, black pepper, orange peel and plums. In the mouth this is a voluptuous, gorgeous wine that balances well-structured tannins with dark fruit and generous, lively acidity. A three-course meal in the mouth, with flavors of plum, aniseed and raspberries mid palate, and a lingering cherry/eucalyptus finish. Pair with beef Bourguignon, crispy pork belly or a spicy Moroccan tajine. Bien fait!
Château Barrail Saint André. Saint-Émilion Grand Cru. 2018. (93 points)
This 100% Merlot ages for 12 months in 50% new French oak barrels. On the nose, aromas include red fruit, cardamom, plum, graphite and a little absinthe. A powerful wine with a beautiful, crackling acidic mouth feel and complex flavors that include red plums and minestrone soup. A taste of walnuts on the attack, juicy acidity with blueberries and raspberries mid-palate and a finish with a lick of mint. Coherent and well structured. Pair with teriyaki steak and well buttered mashed potatoes, blackened tuna steaks or a dessert that includes peppermint. Delightful.
Château Trianon. Saint-Émilion Grand Cru. 2018. (95 points)
Aromas of blackberries, mahogany, black pepper and wet leaves. A complex, joyful, gorgeously layered taste of rich red and black fruits, Dutch licorice, cumin, pepper, chocolate and a sliver of mandarins. Non-obtrusive tannins meld well with the acidity. Impressive overall. Pair with beef such as sirloin, or a mushroom lasagna, or a dessert of chocolate/cherry layer cake.
Wine and appetizers getty
Château de Pressac. Saint-Émilion Grand Cru. 2018. (96) points
This Grand Cru Classé is a 71/16/9/2/2 blend of Merlot/Cabernet Franc/Cabernet Sauvignon/Carménère/Malbec. An ambitious assembly that is wide open on the nose, with aromas of red currants, blackberries, strawberries, cedar and licorice. A complex but approachable medley. In the mouth this is a fantastic Saint-Émilion from Jean-François and Dominique Quenin. The attack includes cherry/chocolate flavors, the mid-palate a well assembled fruit and licorice assembly, and the finish a hint of mint. Well balanced, coherent and enjoyable harmony between tannin, fruit and acidity. Versatile and lovable—another glass, please. Pair with roasted wild game such as rabbit, a four-cheese lasagna or a blueberry tart dessert.
Château Tour de Pressac. Saint-Émilion Grand Cru. 2018. (92 points)
A 71/16/9/2/2 blend of Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Carménère and Malbec. Rich and redolent and beautifully layered aromas—a blast of cherries, blackberries, fudge brownies, licorice and balsamic. In the mouth this is a light, almost fragile assembly of flavors with a mild tannic backbone and a licorice and berry flavored matrix with a sliver of eucalyptus. Pair with venison and mint sauce, or a Caprese salad or a dessert such as orange macadamia tart.
Château Villemaurine. Saint-Émilion Grand Cru. 2018. (96 points)
This Grand Cru Classé 80/20 blend of Merlot and Cabernet Franc includes an open and fruity set of aromas—earth, pine needles, black fruit. A delicious and energetic wine—red and black fruit with a creamy mouth feel that includes a ribbon of citric acidity. A juicy showstopper with well-integrated tannins and a beautiful black cherry finish. Gorgeous. Pair with lamb and mint sauce, barbecued T-bone, or a sage and Pomodoro pasta.
Dame de Boüard. Montagne-Saint-Émilion. 2018. (95 points)
This 60/30/10 blend of Merlot/Cabernet Franc/Cabernet Sauvignon from Coralie de Boüard ages for about a year in 30% new oak. The light plum color is reminiscent of a Beaujolais. The wine includes a lively, feisty set of complex fruit aromas—wild strawberries, raspberries, black currants, cherries and orange peel. In the mouth—confident tannins and an elegant declaration that the potential Montagne-Saint-Émilion can deliver. Flavors of eucalyptus, sage and mint in a dark matrix of black cherries. Mid palate—cherries and a hint or oranges. Pair with duck breast and foie gras, a mango chutney rice pilaf or a dessert of mint/mocha ice cream.
Château Clos de Boüard. Montagne-Saint-Émilion. 2018. (96 points)
This 85/10/5 blend of Merlot/Cabernet Franc/Cabernet Sauvignon ages for 18 to 24 months in 60% new oak, producing a hearty 15% alcohol wine. A sweet and opulent burst of cherry plum aromas, as well as scintillating and rich black cherries, blackberries, soot, sage, melon, red apples and a sliver of citric fruit acidity. A complex and beguiling beauty from Montagne. In the mouth a red fruit attack, cherry cocoa mid palate and a hint of spearmint on the finish. A layer cake of complex and attractive aromas and tastes with well poised tannins. A triumph. Pair with venison, wiener schnitzel or a dessert of strawberry vanilla cake.
Château Croix de Labrie. Saint-Émilion Grand Cru. 2018. (96 to 97 points)
A 97/3 blend of Merlot/Cabernet Sauvignon. Bright, lively aromas that include blackberries, black cherries, strawberries and a hint of peppermint. In the mouth a well-structured wine matching balanced acidity with quiet tannins. Flavors include berries, black pepper, a little salt and herbs—tarragon and sage. Pair with poultry and mint sauce, a morel linguini or a Jura cheese.
Cellar at Croix de Labrie, Saint-Émilion Tom Mullen
Chapelle de Labrie. Saint-Émilion Grand Cru. 2018. (95 points)
This 90/10 blend of Merlot and Cabernet Franc comes from a small vineyard in Saint-Sulpice-de-Faleyrens that lies over clay and chalk soils, as well as Dordogne river gravels and blue clay. Creamy and inviting aromas of chocolate chips and After Eight mints as well as coffee biscuits, licorice and nutmeg. In the mouth flavors include rich fruits and nutmeg, orange rind and black pepper. A stout and hefty spice cake with a healthy tannic backbone. Thoughtfully and carefully produced. Pair with duck breast or wild game or a pasta with a rich cheese sauce.
Château Monlot. Heritage de Monlot. Saint-Émilion Grand Cru. 2018. (94 to 96 points)
Aromas of blackberries, Oreos, licorice, red currants, cola, black pepper and cloves. An elevated and well assembled wine with deliciously sweet perfumed aromas. In the mouth, textured and mildly tannic with juicy acidity and hint of raspberry flavor. Well balanced and rounded with a hint of licorice on the finish. Consider pairing with blackened sausage, pork, or a green pepper and cheddar omelette.
Couvent des Jacobins. Saint-Émilion Grand Cru. 2018. (97 points)
This Saint-Émilion Grand Cru Classé is an 84/11/5 blend of Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. A bucket of aromas of dark fruit, licorice, brick, aniseed and mint. In the mouth, blackberries and cherries, nectarines and cream. Elegant tannins and non-obtrusive acidity. A hearty full flush of lush quality. Finish is both flinty and filled with the flavor of plums. Pair with a range of wild game dishes or rich desserts that include dark fruit or chocolate. Versatile and commanding.
Couvent des Jacobins. Calicem. 2018. (96 to 97 points)
This 100% Merlot is made from grapes grown on sixty-year-old vines on plots that total less than 2.5 acres (one hectare) in size. Aromas include soot, graphite, and cocoa. In the mouth this balanced wine includes flavors of dark fruit and treacle. Opulent and lush with a firm tannic backbone and a hint of the taste of blueberries. Flavors turn creamy and open up after the wine spends just five minutes in the glass. A stout and proud wine. Pair with open fire roasted lamb or a rich, vegetable stew.
Couvent des Jacobins Director Denis Pomarède Tom Mullen
Intuition de Fleur Cardinale. Saint-Émilion Grand Cru. 2018. (93 points)
An 85/15 blend of Merlot and Cabernet Franc. Ripe and generous blast of red fruit aromas. Well integrated tannins and acidity. An easy drinking wine with layers of mocha and fruits that includes cherries. Pair with a creamy pasta, venison or wild game.
Vieux Château Palon. Montage-Saint-Émilion. 2018. (95 points)
Aromas of wet earth, blackberries and cherries and a hint of eucalyptus in this 75/25 blend of Merlot and Cabernet Franc. This well-made wine with gravitas confidently balances silent tannins and ripe acidity. Flavors include morel mushrooms, licorice and dark fruit. Excellent length. Pair with a bacon and cheese soufflé or a grilled steak, such as ribeye.
Château Jean Voisin. Saint-Émilion Grand Cru. 2018. (93 points)
A hefty and somewhat tannic wine that will age for decades, and is best to drink in five years or more. The aromas and flavors are rich but still quiet and the red fruits—cherries and raspberries—will become more pronounced in time. Pair with a beef stew or a cheddar and bulgur pilaf.
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/tmullen/2021/02/15/why-vintage-2018-may-turn-you-into-a-wine-lover/?sh=3a7e6b736d95
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Why Vintage 2018 May Turn You Into A Wine Lover
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Why Vintage 2018 May Turn You Into A Wine Lover
Vineyard and red wine, Bordeaux, France getty
When en primeur wine tastings took place throughout the Bordeaux wine region of France in the spring of 2019—red wines looked stellar: focused with deep fruit flavors, calm and elegant tannins and often spellbinding acidity.
Wines from that vintage have been bottled, aged to some extent and are now available to purchase and enjoy. The quality is generally excellent, and values can be surprisingly good. Most of the red wines are accessible for drinking now (about 15% need to be cellared for another three to five years before their corks should be popped), and will also age well for 15 years and longer in many cases.
What makes many of these wines enjoyable is that—simply—they are delicious. Many are layered with rich flavors that anyone can appreciate without having to make a significant effort. Your taste will tell the truth. That delivery of liquid satisfaction is the goal of winemakers.
Wines listed and described below originate from the appellations of Médoc, Graves, Fronsac, Francs - Côtes de Bordeaux, Blaye - Côtes de Bordeaux, Entre-Deux-Mers, Bordeaux Supérieur and Pays de l’Atlantique.
Wines from Saint-Émilion and its satellite appellations as well as from Pomerol are described in a separate article, while white wines are described here. All scoring out of 100 points is subjective.
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Citadelle in Blaye, Bordeaux, France Tom Mullen
Château Lamothe-Bergeron. Haut-Médoc. Cru Bourgeois Supérieur. 2018. (92 to 93 points)
This 55/45 blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot from 25-year-old vines on the left bank includes light, though pronounced aromas of black cherries, Dutch licorice and oats. In the mouth this is a dark slab of cherries, licorice, rosemary and mild eucalyptus. A well-made wine with agreeable tannins as well as poise and balance. Pair with a roasted steak, cheddar cheese and pepper pasta or even lemon doused trout.
Château Branas Grand Poujeaux. Moulis-en-Médoc. 2018. (95 points)
This 14.5% alcohol left bank blend includes inviting, fresh and gorgeous aromas of black and red cherries, licorice, sage and vanilla. In the mouth—gorgeously light flavors that include cherries, pie crust, black pepper. The attack is light, the mid palate scintillating and the finish includes a flavor of crème de cassis. Light tannins in this open beauty. Pair with duck breast, mildly spicy chicken or blackened salmon.
Hubert de Boüard. Merlot. 2018. (93 points)
An arresting bouquet of rich, ripe aromas that include cherries, licorice and hints of black pepper and cumin from this right bank red. Seriously seductive and well structured. Beautifully light fruit in the mouth with a commanding attack, a creamy mid palate of kiwi fruit, raspberries and cherries and a lingering finish that includes spice. Consider pairing this light, refreshing Merlot with a mushroom beef stew, or even blackened salmon.
Grapes and medieval tower in Medoc, Bordeaux, France getty
Château Deyrem Valentin. Margaux. 2018. (96 points)
This 15% alcohol wine from Jean Sorge is a 50/49/1 blend of Merlot/Cabernet Sauvignon/Petit Verdot that spends 15 months aging in 50% new oak barrels. Includes an earthy set of aromas—morels and ferns—which blend beautifully with a heart of rich and ripe raspberry and cherries. Truly beautiful—includes poise, balance, tannic structure and integrated acidity that are the signature of fine terroir and accomplished winemaking. In the mouth—a delicate, rich and engaging mid palate, and opulent finish that is a placid river of red fruit. Consider pairing with venison and brussels sprouts, veal with cranberry sauce, or a cilantro and soy rice pilaf.
Château Bourdieu. Blaye – Côtes de Bordeaux. Absolu. 2018. (91 to 92 points)
Aromas of red fruit, hedgerow, pine needles, blackberries in this right bank blend. Earthy and calm. In the mouth this is a dark and chocolaty winner from Blaye—Côtes du Bordeaux that includes flavors of red currants, black berries, red licorice and absinthe. Blackberries and mandarins mid palate. Well integrated tannic structure with the fruit flavors. An easy drinking and well-crafted wine from this producer improving his craft annually. Pair with a pepper steak, Caprese salad or a hearty dessert such as butterscotch brownies.
Château Bourdieu. Blaye—Côtes de Bordeaux. 2018. (92 points)
Earthy aromas that include forest, hazelnuts, raisins, clover and orange rind. In the mouth this is a beautifully creamy and light red fruit concoction with a hint of salt. A beautiful Blaye wine. Truly easy drinking—creamy with light red fruit that includes flavors of raspberries. Pair with duck, a red pepper and cheese omelette or with a strawberry based dessert. Well done.
Hubert di Boüard. Cabernet Sauvignon. 2018. (94 to 96 points)
Bursting with beautiful red fruit on the nose. This is reminiscent of a generous fruit forward Napa—jumping with aromas of ample black cherries, mandarins and fresh florals. A juicy and fruity beauty in the mouth that crackles with freshness. Alive and youthful with flavors that include peach, raspberries, blackberries. Rich mid palate with cherries on the lingering finish. Pair with filet mignon, or an edamame salad with goat cheese, or a dark raspberry tart dessert. A winner.
Vignobles Lévéque. Les Oiseaux de Chantegrive. Graves. 2018. (93 points)
A 60/40 Merlot/Cabernet Sauvignon blend that ages 18 months in oak. Deep aromas from this beauty—rich, ripe red fruit including cherries as well as clover, chocolate brownies, fudge and treacle. A perky and energetic wine with flavors that include minestrone and balsamic in a lively red fruit matrix. Pair with roast beef and well buttered oregano dusted potatoes, or with sushi or a caramel flavored dessert.
Red wine and snacks getty
Château Peyredon Lagravette. Haut-Médoc. 2018. (92 points)
A 63/37 blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot in this Cru Bourgeois classified wine that includes earthy and cassis laden, succulent aromas. A pleasing and juicy wine with mild tannins asking for a second sip that includes flavors of black fruit, Dutch licorice and oranges. Rich cherries and a hint of balsamic on the finish. Pair with mushroom velouté, a cheddar and red pepper omelet or a dessert of apple/cranberry tart.
Château Larose Perganson. Haut-Medoc. Cru Bourgeois Supérieur. 2018. (92 points)
Aromas include those of prunes and red fruit. A firm and meaty block of fruit in the mouth with juicy acidity and a hint of melon on the finish. Well-structured tannins. Pair with beef wellington.
Château Arnauld. Haut-Médoc. Cru Bourgeois Exceptionnel. 2018. (94 points)
This blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Petit Verdot includes rich and lively aromas of ripe red fruit—including cherries and currants—as well as aromas of leather and orange rind. A beautiful balance of tannins, fruit and acidity in this harmonious and easy drinking wine. In the mouth the meld of flavors includes blackberries, plums, gooseberries as well as sage. Pair with a chicken salad, roasted venison or an orange sherbet dessert.
Château Haut-Beauséjour. Saint-Estèphe. 2018. (96 points)
A gorgeously balanced symphony of fruit—with invisible tannins and luscious acidity. Aromas include dark blackberries, graphite and birch bark. In the mouth, a flavor of strawberries on the attack and cherries on the finish. Still young and will age well for decades. A winner! Consider pairing with roasted chicken and creamed corn, or an apple and blue cheese salad.
Château Tour des Termes. Saint-Estèphe. Cru Bourgeois Supérieur. (95 points)
A 60/35/5 blend of Merlot, a combination of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc, and Petit Verdot. Aromas include a focused ray of dark fruit such as blackberries and plums as well as earthy scents such as roasted chestnuts and gorse. In the mouth a beautiful package of tannin melded with fruit flavors and coherent, ripe and generous acidity. Flavors include nectarines and mocha. A satisfying, delicious and juicy beauty with a light finish. Pair with lamb, pan seared salmon and risotto, or a cherry tart dessert.
Saint Estephe village, Bordeaux, France Getty
Fleur de Thénac. 2018. (93 points)
From the Bergerac appellation of Bordeaux comes this wine with a truly rich and generous bouquet of lively fruit flavors—think cherries, chocolate. This is a rich dose on the nose, but also in the mouth, with flavors of rum, raisins, Maltesers chocolates, cherries, mandarins and a hint of eucalyptus. Complex, with well-structured tannins and lively acidity. This is a fine ambassador for Bergerac. Pair with chorizo lasagna, a hummus, walnut and apple salad or a dessert of peanut butter brittle.
Château de Francs. Francs – Côtes de Bordeaux. 2018. (97 points)
A 70/20/10 blend of Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon. Wispy light and yet powerful aromas of blackberries, plums, sage, moist earth, morels and licorice. A touch of attractive herbaceous aromas such as ferns. In the mouth this is a rich, silky, juicy beauty: a bucket of fresh, glistening fruit. Generous and opulent flavors of plum jam, mint chocolate and treacle. Well layered tannins underlie complex and satisfying flavors. Glorious! Pair with duck a l’orange, a sirloin steak or a squash/ mushroom rigatoni.
L’Infini de Château de Francs. Francs – Côtes de Bordeaux. 2018. (96 points)
Grown over clay limestone soils and aged in 225-liter French oak barriques, this 14.5% alcohol wine includes initially mellow, subdued aromas which then open to earthy and velvety. These include black cherries, mandarin oranges, treacle and graphite. In the mouth a relaxed wine with unobtrusive tannins that is loaded with quality and gravitas. A well assembled collection of deep flavors—prunes on the attack, a strawberry raspberry medley mid palate and balsamic on the finish. A complex but calm meditation wine and a true tribute to the Francs appellation. Pair with beef bourguignon, a salad with orange slices, fennel and parmesan cheese, or a chocolate dessert.
Château de Francs. Les Cerisiers. 2018. (95 points)
A 90/10 blend of Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon that includes brisk, rich cherry saturated and somewhat earthy aromas—wet forest, turf, mocha, graphite. A gorgeous and happy assembly with almost invisible tannins and attractive acidity with a hint of lemongrass. This lively and generous showstopper will liven any dinner. A versatile, buoyant and optimistic beauty. Pair with spicy meat balls, mole enchiladas, fennel and garlic plaice or a dessert of rum raisin ice cream.
Bordeaux Vineyard Entre Deux Mers, Gironde, France getty
Vignobles Lévêque. Les Oiseaux de Chantegrive. Graves. 2018. (93 points)
A 60/40 blend of Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon with deep aromas of rich ripe red fruit including cherries, chocolate brownies, fudge, clover and tar. An energetic wine—think balsamic and minestrone flavors in a matrix or lively red fruit. Clean and focused acidity, subtle tannins. Pair with roast beef and buttered oregano potatoes or a dessert with caramel.
Vignobles Lévêque. Château de Chantegrive. Graves. 2018. (92 points)
This 50/50 Merlot/Cabernet Sauvignon blend includes aromas of cherries and maquis scrub, as well as mahogany and coal. Rich. In the mouth a linear array of flavors that include roasted chestnuts, blackberries and red plums in a well-defined structure. Pair with roast duck, red pepper and mushroom bulgur or caramel coated ice cream.
Château Peyredon Lagravette. Haut-Médoc. Cru Bourgeois. 2018. (92 points)
A 63/37 blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. Aromas include cassis, Dutch licorice and clover. A pleasing, juicy wine with ripe acidity that begs you to take a second sip. Flavors include black fruit and mild balsamic on the finish. Pair with mushroom velouté or a cheddar omelet.
Château Magnol. Haut-Medoc. Cru Bourgeois. 2018. (93 points)
Inviting light aromas of raspberry tarts, lavender, ripe cherries, licorice, cocoa and plums. Opens up to include a blast of cherry flavors in the mouth after five minutes. Well-structured and still young. Better in four years. Pair with beef or roast veal and mushrooms or pumpkin soup.
River Dordogne and city of Bergerac, France getty
Château Thenac. Bergerac. 2018. (92 points)
This Merlot dominant blend that also includes Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon includes 13.5% alcohol and ages 12 months in barrels. Benedictine monks have made wine on this site since the 12th century. Ripe and deeply rich aromas of blackberries, blueberries, coal, wet leaves, cranberries and cooking chocolate. In the mouth tannins and acidity meld seamlessly and confidently. The attack includes flavors of blueberry, the mid-palate licorice and mocha, and the finish dark chocolate. Deep, dark and hefty. Drink in four years. Pair with a beet and radicchio salad, a grilled T-bone steak with green beans or a dessert of chocolate lava cake.
Château Barrail Saint André. Saint-Émilion Grand Cru. 2018. (93 points)
This 100% Merlot ages for 12 months in 50% new French oak barrels. On the nose, aromas include red fruit, cardamom, plum, graphite and a little absinthe. A powerful wine with a beautiful, crackling acidic mouth feel and complex flavors that include red plums and minestrone soup. A taste of walnuts on the attack, juicy acidity with blueberries and raspberries mid-palate and a finish with a lick of mint. Coherent and well structured. Pair with teriyaki steak and well buttered mashed potatoes, blackened tuna steaks or a dessert that includes peppermint. Delightful.
Château Leroy-Beauval. 2018. (90 points)
From the Entre-Deux-Mers region comes this Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc blend that spends 12 months in oak. Includes a quiet nose of figs, cherries, plums, apricot and mocha. Balanced tannins and lean acidity in this wine that has a subtle attack, a juicy/fruity mid-palate and a lingering finish of licorice/ blueberries. Pair with veal, shellfish, comte cheese or even a dessert of apple crumble.
Pavillon de Trianon. Bordeaux Supérieur. 2018. (94 points)
Light fruity aromas that include cherries and a little black pepper, cedar and strawberries. A silky, plush red fruit taste with a subtle tannic backbone and well balanced, easy drinking acidity. Flavors of cherries and mocha. Pair with goulash, New York strip steak or hard cheese.
Fronsac vines and Dordogne River getty
Château de Carles. Fronsac. 2018. (96 points)
A 90/5/5 blend of Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Malbec from 35-year-old vines. This 14.5% alcohol wine includes an open, approachable stream of fruit aromas such as blackberries, cherries and mandarins, as well as aromas of graphite and moist leaves. In the mouth a delicious meld of ripe flavors—springtime in a glass. A creamy, rich wine with well-structured tannins and mid palate flavors that include pear and black pepper. Beautiful. Pair with barbecued beef or poultry, minestrone soup or cheese such as gouda.
Château Siran. Margaux. 2018. (94 to 95 points)
A blend of Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Petit Verdot. Robust, powerful aromas of black fruit, cherries and a hint of mint. Concentrated and seriously focused. In the mouth, a bramble patch of fruit, as well as mocha and toffee. Opens up to include light raspberries. Still young, and includes bold but well-structured tannins. Cellar 15 to 25 years or more. Pair with barbecued Teriyaki beef strips, oxtail soup and cheddar cheese, or a blueberry tart.
Château Lafitte Carcasset. Saint-Estèphe. Cru Bourgeois Supérieur. 2018. (94 points)
Rich and vibrant aromas that include those of Bartlett pears, chocolate, cherries, plums and gunpowder. In the mouth a light and inviting set of layers of raspberries, pears, cherries, cassis. An easy drinking mouthful with well-integrated tannins and acidity. Easy attack, focused mid palate and an earthy finish. Drink now or in three to five years, although this can cellar for decades. Pair with lamb cutlets and sweet potatoes, a fig and mushroom tajine or a dessert of caramel ice cream.
Cháteau de Carles. Haut-Carles. Fronsac. 2018. (92 points)
This 15% alcohol Grand Vin de Bordeaux includes a deep and rich perfume of black cherries, maraschino cherries, guava, plums and spearmint. Magnificent aromas! A focused ray of oozing cherries. In the mouth, a slightly tannic hit of black licorice, Bourbon biscuits and dark chocolate. Not as sweet or succulent in the mouth as on the nose, but the tannins and structure are as commanding as those of a Barolo. This will age 15 years at least. Pair with a charbroiled steak with fries, or with pasta made with strong gruyere cheese.
Village and vines in Entre-Deux-Mers, Gironde, France getty
Château Plain-Point. Fronsac. 2018. (94 points)
A layer cake of deep, redolent aromas of cherries, raspberries, plums, dark fruit, treacle and cocoa, with a sliver of eucalyptus and lemon meringue. Michelin star on the nose. A rich river of red fruit with a dark chocolate band in the mouth. Well textured tannins in the mouth and flavors of cassis, prunes, crème de menthe and flakes of bittersweet chocolate. The initial attack is rich cherry, and the finish an After Eight mint.
Château La Croix de Roche. Vin Biologique. Fronsac. 2018. Grand Vin de Bordeaux. (91 points)
Aromas include petrol, prunes, raisins and rum as well as raspberries and orange segments. In the mouth the taste includes black licorice, cocoa–an attractively dark concoction. Rich as a mulled wine, with a similar dose of allspice flavors. 14.5% alcohol. Pair with wild game.
Château Senailhac. Bordeaux Supérieur. 2018. (94 points)
This 13% alcohol red wine includes aromas of prunes and minestrone soup, chalk, wet ferns and lavender. After five minutes, it opens up to include aromas of fresh raspberries and mint leaves. A hefty, saturated wine with solid tannins that in the mouth is a layered oscillation between slightly unripe plumbs and a dark, meaty stew. This is a Chianti Classico of Bordeaux: austere, dark fruited and filled with flavors that include licorice, sage and molasses. The attack: plumbs; the mid palate: raspberries; the finish: crème de menthe. Good now, and will be ideal in four to six years. Pair with a crispy shish kebab that includes red and green peppers and chunks of pineapple, or with a bar of mint chocolate.
Cháteau Dorleac. Graves. 2018. (92 points)
This 14% Bordeaux red blend from Yvon Mau—part of a trading family since 1897—includes aromas of ash, mulberry, rich black cherries, Bourbon biscuits and pine needles. In the mouth—a chewy amalgamation of red and black fruit with licorice and cocoa. A snappy attack, rich and voluptuous mid palate and a textured finish. Pair with peppered veal, lentil stew or hard cheese.
Seared fish salad with wine on a wood table getty
Château Mayne Lalande. Listrac-Médoc. 2018. (93 points)
From Bernard Lartigue comes this blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Petit Verdot that includes aromas of chocolate cookies, cherries and menthol. In the mouth this wine has a hefty tannic backbone and the stature and prominence of a classic Barolo style wine. Darkly tannic flush of flavors that include fig, aniseed, plums and acidic raspberries, and an attractive band of acidity. Pair with Angus steak, mild curry, or blackened snapper. Although the producer recommends an hour of decanting, this can be enjoyed without that, as long as each glass is sipped slowly and allowed to aerate.
Château Bourdieu. Bourdieu No. 1. Blaye. 2018. (90 to 92 points)
Aromas of acorns, fresh wet forest floor, red licorice, eucalyptus, mint, raspberries, truffles. Zesty acidity. In the mouth the taste billows caramel and spearmint on mid palate, and also includes salty Dutch licorice on the finish.
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dec3ae47ef67fe854ff545b243b29de5
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/tmullen/2021/12/31/balancing-a-singapore-finance-career-with-overseeing-a-bordeaux-wine-chteau/?sh=5038b3331dd1
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Balancing A Singapore Finance Career With Overseeing A Bordeaux Wine Château
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Balancing A Singapore Finance Career With Overseeing A Bordeaux Wine Château
Owner Xavier Jean (left) and Director Denis Pomarède Serge Chapuis
Though physically disconnected and demographically distinct, the bustling Asian city state of Singapore and the quiet rural French wine region of Saint-Émilion share unexpected commonalities. Both are small, powerfully renowned and tightly regulated export hubs having names associated with brand strength.
Singapore is less than 300 square miles (or less than 700 square kilometers) in area, while Saint-Emilion in the Bordeaux region of France is about one tenth that size. Their names, however, associate with competence, integrity and quality on the international scene.
Now in his mid 30’s, Xavier Jean was born in the rural village of Saint-Émilion. He was only five years old when selected to eventually succeed as eventual owner of Couvent des Jacobins. This small wine château today produces a renowned Grand Cru Classé wine, and has been producing vintages for seven centuries. Jean is technically cousin to the former late owner—Madame Borde—and also great-great-grandson of Jean Jean, the visionary who purchased the property in 1902.
Saint Emilion Sunrise, Bordeaux Vineyard, France getty
At 17 years old, Xavier Jean left France to study in Montreal, Canada. The trip ignited his interest in exploring the world. For the past decade he has worked within Singapore for one of the world’s top credit rating agencies. Beginning almost a decade ago, Jean also began his transition to proprietor of Couvent des Jacobins.
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We recently met at the couvent to discuss his unique position—straddling both Asian finance and Bordeaux winemaking. He is articulate, intelligent and focused, but also a relaxed man who appears comfortable and competent in navigating two worlds.
Before the Covid-19 virus shut down swathes of international travel, Jean used to visit Saint-Émilion at least four times per year: for weeks during harvest, during spring en primeur wine tastings in April, for their annual summer concert series, and for end of year holidays. In 2020 he could only make the end of year journey.
During the past decade Xavier Jean has overseen key changes to Couvent des Jacobins. These include the launch of a new single variety wine label–Calicem. (Whereas Calicem is 100% Merlot, the Couvent des Jacobins wine is a Merlot dominant blend that includes Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. Both are flush with fruit aromas and layered with rich flavors.) The couvent also acquired and is renovating a new vinification and guest facility within Saint-Émilion, and the estate gained Ecocert organic certification in 2020.
Village square in Saint-Émilion, Bordeaux, France getty
Jean spoke of his past.
‘The relationship with the former owners has been for more than 25 years—since I was a kid. I started my involvement with the Couvent—slowly but surely—beginning in 2011/2012. Besides Covid, which has impacted all wineries in the world, the greatest challenge is how to balance the need to invest with the fact that we are a family-owned estate—something very close to our heart. We have to try to find solutions to try to keep being at the top of the game, while not necessarily having the means of institutional investors. Trying to find that balance—trying to know where to invest, how to invest, where we see our label in the next years—that’s the biggest challenge.’
When he is physically distant in Singapore, Jean speaks each day or two to the estate director/winemaker, Denis Pomarède, who has more than two decades of work experience at the couvent. Video calls are instrumental for sensing the pulse of events in Bordeaux—including harvest. In 2020 due to travel restrictions, Xavier Jean missed the harvest for the first time in a decade.
‘Seeing the team is important. We use WhatsApp video and I can see the body language, feel the enthusiasm or fatigue, and get a feel about how the team on site is doing.’
In 2015, the estate began creating their new Calicem label. This 100% Merlot wine is made from grapes grown on vines at least 60 years old. The plot areas total about 2.5 acres (one hectare), limiting overall production.
Calicem Merlot vines in Saint-Émilion, Bordeaux, France Tom Mullen
‘Calicem is our new baby. It doesn’t have the 120 years of family experience that we have for our Couvent des Jacobins wine, so it’s a new page to write—which is exciting. It’s small batch production and we vinify it in a simple, boutique manner. About a year and a half ago we acquired an old house needing heavy refurbishment at the heart of first growth wine estates in Saint-Émilion, on the southwest slope. The idea is to vinify this very small batch wine in the best conditions, without ostentation. We want to preserve the heritage, and the spirit of the family who sold it to us—they had been owners for more than a hundred years. It also has an amazing view of the amphitheater of the southwest slope.’
Jean’s initial foray into Asia satisfied his inquisitive mind.
‘When you are young, you want to discover places which are unique, exotic and full of energy. Asia ticked all the boxes. I left in 2009 when there was a global financial crisis, and maybe less interest in old Europe and the U.S. Asia was really a great place to go to; Singapore is a city that encapsulates much of what there is to know about Asia.
‘The interesting aspect of the financial industry in southeast Asia is it’s still in its infancy. There is a lot to create, a lot of people to meet, a lot of companies who have great ideas and need financing. There are great cultures, a lot of energy—young entrepreneurs and people who try consistently to reinvent themselves because they have the energy to do that.’
Singapore’s residents appreciate quality wines, but are curious about the background of what they purchase.
‘There is significant interest in wine in Singapore. It is actually a very advanced wine market in Asia—very sophisticated and competitive. There are a lot of distributors and restaurants offering wine lists. Not only for wealthier parts of the population—the younger generation also enjoys wine. It’s a discerning market—customers know what they are looking for. Unlike other markets where wine is more about the brand and ratings—in Singapore, customers are looking for wines that have a story. That’s what I like about this market.’
Xavier Jean’s professional life straddles two diverse, yet still complementary worlds—one of agricultural tradition and heritage surrounding an ancient stone village, and the other of business acumen, modern branding and customer service insights gained from a bustling world of cutting-edge finance. Merging both requires respect for the past, but the ability to look forward intelligently. Jean remains vigilant toward the future of Couvent des Jacobins.
Aerial view of Saint-Émilion, Bordeaux (credit: Mehdi Fedouach) AFP via Getty Images
‘I think the future is about the identity of the wine. We try to think 10, 20, 40 years ahead and want to anchor the identity and convince more clients and people who enjoy our wines that it is recognizable from vintage to vintage. That’s a long-term objective. The second is wine tourism. Our new team member Nassima Benrabia will take care of that. We want to emphasize that we are right in the middle of the village, as well as our history and organic certification. With the guest house we will be able to welcome visitors in a more comprehensive way.’
Jean considers 10 years a minimum time to witness changes that result from investing in winemaking, or strengthening brand identity. He has been involved with Couvent des Jacobins for almost a decade.
‘We’re starting to see the results of the hard work we’ve put in. It’s exciting, because I can see it in the wine, the winery and in the vineyard.’
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b5039a1d15cca2efa22648965c48d1d1
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/tobyshapshak/2015/11/17/facebook-adds-more-free-services-in-africa/
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Facebook Adds More Free Services In Africa
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Facebook Adds More Free Services In Africa
Facebook's Free Basic services will be provided with free mobile data for its users on Bharti Airtel Africa in 17 countries in Africa.
Facebook announced the deal - which will begin in Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon and Niger – at AfricaCom, a big, annual mobile industry event in Cape Town.
Free Basics is part of Facebook's Internet.org initiative and aims to provide basic websites and other services "to introduce people to the internet and demonstrate how it adds value to their lives". Part of this is providing basic information about health, education and finance to people in emerging markets.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg called it "a big day for connecting Africa". In a Facebook post, he wrote: "Connecting people across the African continent is critical to our mission. We’re going to keep pushing forward to develop new ways to bring people online until the whole world is connected. Internet.org first launched in Zambia and today half of the 30 countries with Free Basics are in Africa."
Zuckerberg posted a video of one of the beneficiaries of Free Basic, a service in Kenya called Girl Effect, which seeks to empower young girls. The video had 1.1m views in nine hours.
"We've also partnered with the Praekelt Foundation to give developers the tools they need to build free basic services to reach people just coming online."
Facebook recently announced it was launching a satellite with Eutelsat to provide internet coverage across sub-Saharan Africa form next year.
"More than one billion people have access to Internet.org's free basic services across Asia, Africa and Latin America today," said Chris Daniels, VP of Internet.org. "Our intention is to help people in Africa access relevant basic services that will help them improve their lives and also lead to more adoption of the internet.”
Airtel customers will not pay for data for Free Basics, which is a key part of the social network's Internet.org initiative which aims to spread internet access in the developing world where such data costs are often prohibitive.
Bharti Airtel Africa will also offer Free Basics for free in Zambia, Kenya, Malawi, Ghana, Seychelles and Rwanda, where it has already been working with Facebook's Internet.org initiative since its launch last year.
"We are cognisant of the power of the internet in changing lives of communities and this partnership with Facebook will aid in bringing more people online and reduce the digital divide,” said Christian de Faria, MD and CEO of Airtel Africa, which operates in 17 countries in Africa.
Facebook announced in June that it had 120 million users in Africa, 80% of which (or 96 million) use mobile to access the internet.
Facebook has also introduced a developer platform called Free Basics by Facebook, in partnership with the highly respected Praekelt Foundation.
"The partnership is centred around a unique programme, the Praekelt Foundation Incubator for Free Basics, that will provide 100 independently-selected social change organisations with open source tools and strategies to create life-enhancing online services for the developing world," Facebook said.
Praekelt Foundation will use the incubator programme as a springboard to empower hundreds of other organisations to create sites and services, for the Free Basics by Facebook platform and the web, by opening up the technologies and strategies for public access, it added.
"We’re excited to partner with the Praekelt Foundation to provide more organisations and content creators with the tools and support they need to bring their services to Free Basics. The incubator programme will help developers bring important health, education and jobs information to the more than 1 billion people with access to the internet through Free Basics," said Ime Archibong, Facebook's director of strategic partnerships.
Gustav Praekelt, the founder and CEO of the Praekelt Group, added: “Praekelt Foundation believes that access to essential information and basic services is a human right. When people have access to the tools and knowledge that the internet and other digital communication technologies provide, they have access to opportunities that will make their lives better.”
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4a516d8d2492a982f946ca7ae592da9a
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/tobyshapshak/2016/05/07/exclusive-real-solutions-to-real-problems-named-in-innovation-prize-for-africa-2016-finalists/
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Exclusive: Real Solutions To Real Problems Named In Innovation Prize For Africa 2016 Finalists
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Exclusive: Real Solutions To Real Problems Named In Innovation Prize For Africa 2016 Finalists
An anti-malaria drug made from a local plant, a 25-minute test for malaria, an organic low-cost fertiliser, software to determine which ARV drugs will be most effective, imaging technology to dramatically improve breast cancer detection and solar-powered water heating are among the 10 finalists named for the 2016 Innovation Prize for Africa (IPA).
Launched in 2011, the IPA is an initiative of the African Innovation Foundation (AIF) and has a total prize of $150,000. "It's purpose is to strengthen African innovation ecosystems and spur the growth of market-driven African solutions to African challenges," says Pauline Mujawamariya Koelbl, director of the IPA.
"The IPA is significant because it provides a unique platform to identify, reward and mobilise support for African innovators in order to unlock their potential. Through IPA, innovators receive not only validation of their innovations, but also exposure needed to attract more investments and other support from innovation enablers needed to unleash their innovations," she told me. "The powerful examples of Africans solving African problems and the world unveiled by IPA each year serve as a testimony that the African innovation story did not end with the building of the Pyramids."
She adds: "We are proud to have attracted more than 6,000 innovators from 50 African countries, which is a testimony that Africans are not passively waiting for help, but using what they have around them to solve problems they see every day. In addition, we have also seen how African innovators are also innovating for the whole world." The 2016 winner will be named at a gala event to celebrate the IPA's fifth anniversary in Botswana in June.
"The most important highlights include the fact that IPA winners have been able to attract more support and investments from their countries and beyond. One of the great examples is the AgriProtein team from South Africa who were able to attract $11 million within a year after winning the 2013 IPA grand prize of $100,000."
"Innovation is not just about high-tech and not just about technology. For us at AIF, innovation is about solving problems innovatively; and this can be done with high tech, low tech and business processes. There is a saying that 'necessity is a mother of inventions,' and we are blessed with lots of problems in Africa which need to be solved."
The focus is not just on technology and mobile, as is often the case when viewing innovation, says Mujawamariya Koelbl. "IPA welcomes any innovative solution whether it falls into what is dubbed 'frugal, grassroots, or hidden innovation,' high-tech innovation and those which involve R&D. We do not give preference to any type of innovation. We focus on the problems being solved, the solution, and what kind of impact this will have on the community, country or continent. It is all about proposing innovative solutions which add value and solve real challenges, whether high-tech or not. Finally, one has to link innovation with its utility and place it within a cultural context and specific environment."
Listing previous winners Mujawamariya Koelbl says "we need high-tech, R&D-type innovations such as Altis Osteogenic Bone Matrix (the IPA 2014 grand prize winner), Alternative to Antibiotics (2015 winner), as well as frugal innovations such as Foufou Mix (2014 second prize winner) and Aybabar BBM (2014 special prize for social impact)".
The 2016 top ten finalists, in no particular order, are:
Api-Palu is an anti-malaria drug treatment that is extracted from an abundantly available plant in Africa; and is significantly cheaper than existing medicines. More than three billion people around the world are at risk of malaria, the IPA says, citing World Health Organization (WHO) figures from 2015 which showed sub-Saharan Africa has 88% of malaria cases and 90% of malaria deaths reported globally. "Some African governments spend up to 40% of their public health budgets on treatment of malaria. Clearly this is a big concern for the continent and this innovation seeks to address this challenge," the IPA said. "In this context, Api-Palu, an improved traditional medicine that was developed by Dr Valentin Agon a researcher from Benin, can be considered as a significant contribution to the fight against malaria. It has great inhibitory effects on 3D7 strains of Plasmodium falciparum, the causative agent of malaria within few hours." "Api-Palu is a remarkable product that is distinguished by affordability, a very good safety profile, and potent parasiticidal activity that manifests as a fast rate of malaria parasite clearance from the blood following a short-term treatment and at relatively lower doses. It is available in the form of tablets, capsules or syrup. The drug has been approved as an anti-malarial drug in Benin, Burkina Faso, Tchad, and Central Africa Republic." Exatype is software that enables healthcare workers to determine which antiretroviral (ARV) drug treatments their HIV-positive patients would be most responsive. According to the World Health Organisation, 71% of people living with HIV/AIDS are in Africa. The focus of governments has, until now, been to ensure that as many people as possible are put on ARV treatment. Unfortunately, a growing number of people on these courses are showing resistance to drug regimens, leading to failure of the therapy and increasing the continent’s HIV/Aids disease burden. Exatype has been developed by South African scientist Dr Imogen Wright from Hyrax Biosciences, to help address this challenge." "The software processes the highly complex data produced by advanced 'next-generation' DNA sequencing of the HIV DNA in a patient’s blood. Exatype determines and reports in a simple format which drugs a patient is resistant to and therefore avoided. The selection of Exatype by the IPA judges was influenced not just by its potential contribution towards managing HIV/AIDS on the continent, but the future promise it carries to help in detecting drug resistance for other diseases like TB and malaria." Safi Sarvi Organics is a low-cost fertiliser made from organic products and harvest waste that can improve yields by up to 30 percent. It was founded in Kenya by Samuel Rigu. "The problem that Safi Organics is trying to solve is that many rural farmers in sub-Saharan Africa pay a high cost for their fertilisers, which are often produced abroad and imported," the IPA judges say. "Due to this high costs, many farmers can only afford the cheap, synthetic and acidulated fertiliser varieties. In many areas, where the soil is inherently acidic, the use of acidulated fertilisers can lead to long-term soil degradation and yield loss, at about four percent per year." "Safi Sarvi is locally produced at the same price as traditional fertilisers, and can reverse soil degradation and lead to improved yield and income. The product uses biochar-based fertiliser which can counteract the soil acidity, and it is also much better at retaining nutrients and moisture in the soil. Additionally, the carbon-rich fertiliser sequesters carbon from the atmosphere with estimations of up to 2.2 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per acre of farm per year." Aceso is an imaging technology that is capable of performing full-field digital mammography and automated breast ultrasound. This is done at the same time therefore dramatically improving breast cancer detection. It was developed by Dr Kit Vaughan, CEO of CapeRay Medical and a biomedical engineer from Cape Town, South Africa. "Annually, there are more than half a million cancer deaths in Africa and these numbers are expected to double in the next three decades. If diagnosed early enough, the cancer can be treated successfully. However, because 40% of women have dense tissue, their cancers cannot be seen on X-ray and a false negative finding can have devastating consequences. "Kit has successfully developed a breakthrough product: a single device that can acquire dual-modality images – full-field digital mammography and automated breast ultrasound – of the breast at the same time. This system, which is a world-first, is protected by international patents and has been successfully tested in two separate clinical trials of 120 women. The IPA judges are excited at the possibility such an innovation could offer in managing the cancer burden facing the continent." The Urine Test for Malaria (UMT) is a non-blood diagnostic medical device that can tell in 25 minutes or less whether a patient has malaria. It was developed by Dr Eddy Agbo a molecular biologist from Nigeria and CEO of Fyodor Technologies. "Africa is host to the highest number of malaria cases worldwide. It has been quite a common practice that every time a patient is detected with fever, they are administered anti-malaria medication. On the other hand, the inability to quickly diagnose and commence treatment for malaria could lead to various complications including kidney failure, build-up of fluid in the lungs, aplastic anaemia and even death." "UMT makes it possible to conduct a test for malaria using a dip-stick like the one used for pregnancy tests and receive accurate results within 25 minutes. The technology is based on the detection of malaria parasite proteins in the urine of patients with fever due to malaria. The process is simple; the test strip is dipped into about 10 drops of urine, and the reaction allowed to proceed for 25 minutes. The result is read visually: two lines indicate a positive test; one line indicates no malaria." "Because of its simplicity, the UMT can be performed by anyone, even in resource-constrained settings, enabling immediate targeted treatment. The simplicity and affordability of this test could represent a game changer in the way malaria is managed on the continent, hence the nomination by the IPA judges. Using solar power, Green Tower is an off-grid water heating and air conditioning solution that uses advanced thermodynamics to create up to 90 percent savings in electricity consumption. it was developed by Andre Nel, an electronics and software engineer from Pretoria, South Africa. "Water heating and air conditioning systems can account up to 60% of energy consumption in a home or building. Green Tower improves efficiency of a solar heat pump with solar thermal collectors, low-pressure storage tanks and heat exchangers. Software monitors performance and energy consumption, which reduces the size of the solar panel system while surplus energy is stored in a Lithium battery and used for LED lighting and essential appliances." The Tryctor is a three-wheeled, mini-tractor based on a motorcycle, to which various farming implements can be attached, and aimed at small-scale farmers. Developed by Olufemi Odeleye an automotive engineer from Lagos, Nigeria, it is easy-to-use and cheaper to maintain as 60 percent of its parts and components are locally sourced. "Farming for most small-scale farmers in the continent is tough, laborious and characterised by low productivity. These farmers are constrained by the costs involved in switching to mechanised agriculture. However, through inspired alterations to a motorcycle’s engine, gearing system and chassis, this innovation has made it possible to mechanise agriculture in Africa for small-scale farmers in a way that was previously inaccessible. The judges were captivated by the clever adaptation of a motorised solution, that is ubiquitous in Africa largely for transportation, into a solution for mechanised farming for small scale farmers on the continent." PowerGuard enables consumers to work out the maximum amount of electricity they need for their homes or businesses. This reduce the demand for power, especially during peak times, which can help with the efficiency of delivering power and helping reduce power cuts. Developed by Johan Theron, an electrical engineer from Randburg, South Africa, it can be installed by any certified electrician and does not require any infrastructure redesign or expensive inverters. "The use of electricity fluctuates during day and night, with the highest peaks occurring in the evening. However, electricity companies have to design and size all their supply infrastructure to cope with the highest possible demand. Also, power utilities tend to provide up to six times the average consumption of the average domestic consumer in order to cope peak demand. This makes power delivery very inefficient and expensive." "The most common way for electricity supply companies to manage this is through limiting electricity supply to consumers which is experienced as power cuts and blackouts. PowerGuard addresses this challenge by smoothening out (reducing) the peaks, and therefore relieves pressure on the electricity network. It works by allowing the consumer to set the maximum peak power usage ensuring the consumer only receives the power they need when they need it." Tuteria is an online platform that connects people who are seeking to learn anything with those who live near them and are available to teach them. Developed by Godwin Benson, a systems engineer from Lagos, Nigeria, it provides an environment that offers safety, accountability and quality. "The platform is a simple but innovative peer-to-peer learning platform that allows people who want to learn any skill, whether formal or informal, to connect with anyone that is offering that skill. For instance someone wishing to learn to play a violin or improve their maths skills can connect with someone near them who can offer such lessons. The tutors and the learners form an online community where they connect and if suitability is established, then they meet offline for the exchange. Both tutors and learners are thoroughly vetted to ensure safety, accountability and delivery of quality learning experiences." "Globally, conventional methods of education and learning are being challenged. They are moving from centralised to distributed, from standardised to personalised. These trends have repeatedly demonstrated their ability to deliver better learning outcomes and Tuteria fits in well with this trend and it is a trend that the IPA judges would like to encourage on the continent." The Plate Package (PLPAK) software package perform structural analysis of the technical drawings or designs of a building to check if the slabs and foundations will be structurally sound. It was conceived of by Dr. Youssef Rashed, a professor of Structural Engineering at Cairo University. The PLPAK system analyses, and designs, building slabs and foundation plates. It enables engineers to easily model huge practical building slabs over sophisticated foundation models in a more realistic way, eliminating human error, the judges say. "African cities are growing rapidly and with it the need for infrastructure developments to support the growing population. Unfortunately, most of African infrastructure growth, especially buildings, are unplanned and untested in large part due to the huge costs associated with verifying the integrity and stability of these structures." "PLPAK seeks to cure this deficiency by providing a low-cost, easy-to-use tool for the building industry. Additionally, as a platform technology, PLPAK showcases Africa’s R&D capacity while also allowing researchers to develop their own add-ons on the platform leading to the developments of centres of excellence at universities in different countries."
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4b5f77bbce1ee94e67b8464f132ef58e
|
https://www.forbes.com/sites/tobyshapshak/2016/05/16/xero-launches-in-south-africa/
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Forbes Most Innovative Growth Company Xero Launches in South Africa
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Forbes Most Innovative Growth Company Xero Launches in South Africa
Xeroxes ranked as No. 1 in Forbes’ list of the World’s 100 Most Innovative Growth Companies.
Online accounting software firm Xero, which ranks as number one on the Forbes Most Innovative Growth Companies, is launching into South Africa tomorrow.
"Out of all the regions we could move into, we're most excited about SA. We already have several thousand existing South African customers, so we’re keen to help a lot more small businesses thrive," Gary Turner, Xero's managing director for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, told me. South Africa is Xero's sixth country, after its five main markets: United Kingdom, USA, New Zealand, Australia and Singapore.
Xero provides online accounting software for over 600,000 small and micro businesses (SME) in a variety of sectors, and overs mobile apps.
"We were particularly proud when in May 2015, Xero was ranked for a second year running as No. 1 in Forbes’ list of the World’s 100 Most Innovative Growth Companies, as a firm that is innovative now and is expected to remain so in the future," Turner adds.
South Africa has been the economic powerhouse in Africa, until it's economy was overtaken by Nigeria and Egypt. Egypt's unexpected leapfrog was announced last week in a shock analysis by KPMG using International Monetary Fund ( IMF ) data. South Africa still has the "continent’s most developed economy, and has a more diversified economic base than the Egyptian economy… [but] this development is largely attributed to weakness in the Rand that, in turn, has largely been as a result of domestic issues," KPMG Financial Risk Manager Christie Viljoen wrote last week.
However, the SME sector in South Africa (SA) remains strong, and is clearly what Xero intends to tap into. "Since small businesses make up the majority of all enterprises in South Africa, and the fact that a third of South Africa's GDP comes from small businesses means that even a modest improvement in SMB productivity can have a significant impact on the overall economy," says Turner.
"SA has had its fair share of economic challenges over the last few years, however the country's entrepreneurial spirit is amazing. We believe South African SMEs in particular have real potential that can be unlocked by the arrival of new technologies… that can optimise businesses' efficiency. SMEs have been historically not been very well served by technology. A new generation of technology, like ours, is empowering SMEs and we're proud to be part of that."
Based in Wellington, New Zealand, Xero was started in 2006 has rapidly expanded globally. It now has 600,000 users in over 180 countries. "We're one of the fastest-growing mature [software as a service (SaaS] companies in the world and are aiming to hit $1billion in annual revenue in the next five years, and achieve $200 million annual revenue by next financial year," adds Turner.
Initially priced in US Dollars, the billing will change to South African Rand in the near future, he says. Xero currently costs for $5 per month for its starter option in South Africa, $7 for the most popular standard option and $10 for premium.
"At Xero, we truly believe that small businesses are the lifeblood of the global economy, so we’re focused on boosting small business success through technology and networks. Cloud technology and SaaS are opening up a new world of opportunity by increasing access to affordable technologies."
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01b20d05eaf228f1a26efbf6222a3577
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/tobyshapshak/2016/06/22/new-solar-products-to-boost-small-businesses-in-africa/
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New Solar Products To Boost Small Businesses In Africa
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New Solar Products To Boost Small Businesses In Africa
As electricity access is one of the most pressing problems for businesses in Africa, a solar energy company – backed by Elon Musk's SolarCity – is expanding from providing solar kits for homes to offering clever solar power for small businesses.
Off Grid Electric, which already has 100,000 customers in Rwanda and Tanzania, announced a new range of solar products aimed at rural entrepreneurs today at President Barack Obama's 7th annual Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES) at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California.
Called Kazi na Zola (which means “Work with Zola” in Swahili), the kits are aimed at three small enterprises: barber shops, charging stores, bars and restaurants
"Nearly every country in Sub-Saharan Africa has an energy problem. Even those who have grid access suffer from unreliable electricity that is as much as 10 times more expensive than electricity in the US," Xavier Helgesen, the CEO and co-founder of Off Grid Electric, told me. "Sub-Saharan Africa represents approximately half of the under-electrified population around the world."
Citing figures from the International Energy Agency, he says nearly 600-million people in sub-Saharan Africa lack access to electricity, with the electrification rate as low as 14.2% in rural areas. More people in Africa have a mobile phone than access to electricity, while the UN estimates 1.5-billion don't have access to electricity.
Off Grid won the Zayed Future Energy Prize in the SME category in January and has also been recognized by the Ashden Award. It's backers include Omidyar Network, Vulcan Capital, Zouk Capital and SolarCity, of which Elon Musk is chairman, while his cousin and CEO Lyndon Rive, sits on Off Grid's board.
Last year the GES summit was held in Kenya, where Obama praised Africa's entrepreneurial spirt: “Africa is one of the fastest-growing regions of the world. People are being lifted out of poverty. Incomes are up. The middle class is growing. And young people like you are harnessing technology to change the way Africa is doing business”. This growth, he said, "creates incredible opportunities for Africans and for the world. It means more growth and trade that creates jobs in all our countries. It's good for all of us.”
Helgesen echoes these sentiments: “Africa is a continent of entrepreneurs. From the farmer selling her harvest, to the salon owner serving his neighborhood, to the shopkeeper charging mobile phones, these are the businesses that are the lifeblood of local communities. We built this offering as a tool to enable entrepreneurs to start and grow the businesses they've always wanted to, but haven't had the power to be able to."
The Kazi na Zola kits comprise of a solar panel, battery box, tube light, three LED lights, a multi-port USB charger, and a radio. On top of this barber shops get two electric hair clippers, charging stores get eight solar lanterns to rent out, and bars get a TV.
"These are the three most common small businesses in our markets that require reliable energy to generate profit," says Helgesen. "We are also developing additional products that will generate even more power and will be capable of running small refrigerators, internet cafes, and powering small facilities like health clinics and school computer labs."
Using mobile money, including M-Pesa, customers pay about $6 a month for the entry-level systems and between $15 and $20 a month for the income-generating products, depending on the number and type of appliances used.
"The total cost to the consumer is between $200-$1,000 depending on system capacity, financing term and included appliances. We offer flexible payment terms and multiple lease periods to suit the needs of customer income streams," Helgesen says.
"We are moving as fast as we can to expand our services to all of the customers who need it." Apart from sub-Saharan Africa, he says other key markets include India, Pakistan, Burma and Afghanistan.
"I’ve always been drawn to businesses that are mission-driven, which is why I’ve started two myself – Better World Books and Off Grid Electric," says Helgesen. "Better World Books has raised over $20-million for literacy and become the leading donor of textbooks to Africa. I fell in love with the culture and opportunity in Africa, and hoped I could find a way to build something great there in the future."
Started by three friends – Helgesen, Erica Mackey and Joshua Pierce – Off Grid Electric was founded with the vision of making solar accessible and affordable to the mass market in Africa. "At the time Off Grid was founded, solar adoption was very low and mostly limited to solar lanterns. Yet solar held so much potential and made so much sense. So we set about systematically attacking the barriers to mass market solar. We increased the power to allow more appliances to run longer. We set up a 24/7 call center and in-home service to ensure that our systems keep working. We set up pre-paid low cost financing so that our customers could pay us out of savings or income. All of this lowered the price and lowered the risk of adopting solar."
Helgesen adds: "As entrepreneurs ourselves, we love and are humbled by the tenacity and creativity of other entrepreneurs. And we also know some of the challenges they face when getting their businesses up and running. From our years of working in Africa, we’ve witnessed an unwavering entrepreneurial spirit. These are the businesses that keep local communities vibrant. Yet, it’s hard for entrepreneurs to build and grow their businesses if they lack the electricity to plug in their barber clippers or put on the radio to attract customers. Lack of electricity is one of the biggest barriers to entrepreneurs starting businesses in the region. That’s why we knew we needed to provide a solution to enable them to start and successfully run their businesses. The result is Kazi na Zola."
The founders have racked up an impressive list of accolades themselves. Helgesen was named the Best Social Entrepreneur by Businessweek in 2009 and given the Fast Company Social Capitalist award. Mackey, the company's chief operating officer, was named by Forbes as one of “30 under 30 Social Entrepreneurs" in 2012; while CTO Pierce was a 2012 Rainer Arnhold Fellow.
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4594fb3c3f585a63f982aefb2393231d
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/tobyshapshak/2016/07/06/whatsapp-shut-down-in-zimbabwe-during-protests-following-burundi-drc-uganda/
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WhatsApp Shut Down in Zimbabwe During Protests - Following Burundi, DRC, Uganda
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WhatsApp Shut Down in Zimbabwe During Protests - Following Burundi, DRC, Uganda
Zimbabwe's increasingly totalitarian government on Wednesday shut down access to messaging service WhatsApp for the morning, but it appeared to be working in the afternoon after outrage swept Zimbabwe's internet users.
Similar clampdowns on internet access during anti-government protests have occurred in in Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2015, and Uganda earlier this year.
"WhatsApp constitutes about 34% of all mobile internet traffic in Zimbabwe and understandably, it being down affects messaging for a lot of Zimbabweans," the Techzim blog reported, adding that the service was down for about four hours from 7am.
One of the major cellular networks – Econet – confirmed to Techzim its service had been disrupted: "Econet would like to confirm that WhatsApp is currently down. We will notify you once it is working again."
Zimbabwe's controversial higher education minister Jonathan Moyo appeared to confirm the shutdown was state-sanction: "If there's a stay away as you claim then stay away from WhatsApp. What's gud [sic] for the goose is gud [sic] for the gander!" the former information minister tweeted.
Strikes in the form of stay-aways by civil servants, teachers, doctors and nurses have swept Zimbabwe as its collapsed economy has seen severe cash shortages, resulting in salaries not being paid. Minibus taxi drivers held a strike on Monday to complain about police extorting money during road stops. The hashtags #ThisFlag (started in April by Harare pastor Evan Mawarire) and #ZimShutDown2016 have been trending on Twitter .
Zimbabwe's economy has been in freefall for years, under the rule of President Robert Mugabe, with hyperinflation causing the Zimbabwe dollar to be replaced with US Dollars and South African Rand. This latest round of unrest follows a ban last month on imported goods from neighbouring South Africa and riots at the Beitbridge border crossing. Traders regularly import basic food stuffs, grains and cereals, dairy products and bottled water as well as furniture, building materials, steel and kitchen products from South Africa.
The Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ) issued a warning about "the gross irresponsible use of social media and telecommunication services" and warned "that anyone generating, passing on or sharing such abusive and subversive materials which are tantamount to criminal behaviour, will be disconnected and the law will take its course".
POTRAZ added: "All sim cards in Zimbabwe are registered in the name of the user. Perpetrators can easily be identified. We are therefore warning members of the public that from the date of this notice, any person caught in possession of, generating, sharing or passing on abusive, threatening, subversive or offensive telecommunication messages, including whatsapp [sic] or any other social media messages that may be deemed to cause despondency, incite violence, threaten citizens and cause unrest, will be arrested and dealt with accordingly in the national interest."
Last year Burundi also shut down WhatsApp access during turmoil over attempts by controversial President Pierre Nkurunziza to serve a third term in office after his constitutionally mandated two-terms were completed.
Government forces loyal to Nkurunziza destroyed independent radio stations during an abortive coup last May. Radio is used by the majority of Burundi's population for news, meaning people use social media like WhatsApp, Facebook and Twitter to share news.
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e8f4f3081fc1a88275d074e8340a5d6e
|
https://www.forbes.com/sites/tobyshapshak/2017/03/17/cinema-chain-ster-kinekor-hacked-in-south-africas-biggest-data-breach/
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Cinema Chain Ster-Kinekor Hacked In South Africa's Biggest Data Breach
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Cinema Chain Ster-Kinekor Hacked In South Africa's Biggest Data Breach
Ster-Kinekor Ster-Kinekor
South Africa has joined the world's massive data breaches when the country's largest cinema chain, Ster-Kinekor, had its website hacked in 2016 exposing over 6-million accounts. This is thought to be South Africa's largest data breach.
Security website Haveibeenpwned.com reported the breach this week, which occurred in 2016, in an email that alerted registered users if their email addresses have been compromised, including mine.
"In 2016, the South African cinema company Ster-Kinekor had a security flaw which leaked a large amount of customer data via an enumeration vulnerability in the API of their old website," according to an email from Haveibeenpwned.com on 13 March. "Whilst more than 6-million accounts were leaked by the flaw, the exposed data only contained 1.6-million unique email addresses. The data also included extensive personal information such as names, addresses, birthdates, genders and plain text passwords."
News of this South African hack comes as the United States authorities this week indicted two Russian intelligence officers for the 2014 hack into 500-million Yahoo accounts.
Details including "dates of birth, email addresses, genders, names, passwords, phone numbers, physical addresses, [and] spoken languages" were compromised, according to Haveibeenpwned.com. Some 1,619,544 email addresses were also revealed.
On its website the company describes itself as: ""Ster-Kinekor Theatres is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Primedia Group and is acknowledged as one of the jewels in the group's crown, particularly in financial terms, with attendances increasing annually despite the recessionary environment – attesting to the belief that going to the movies is a perfect way to escape the pressures of daily life, even if just for a few hours".
It adds: "To most South Africans, the word 'movies' is synonymous with the name 'Ster-Kinekor'; the biggest movie exhibitor by far (more than double the size of it's [sic] nearest competitor), Ster-Kinekor owns some 60-65% of the market, boasting some 54 movie complexes in South Africa (more than 400 screens and 63 000 seats) with 58 state-of-the-art 3D cinemas, giving Ster-Kinekor the largest 3D footprint in this territory, as well as 4 complexes in neighbouring territories."
Numerous phone calls to Ster-Kinekor's head office, including to the CEO's office, were put through to voicemail.
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e0d14e11f6ad43a4a33199a3390e8d0a
|
https://www.forbes.com/sites/tobyshapshak/2018/11/13/africas-largest-mobile-network-to-sell-25-smart-feature-phone/
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Africa's Largest Mobile Network To Sell $20 'Smart Feature Phone'
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Africa's Largest Mobile Network To Sell $20 'Smart Feature Phone'
MTN's $25 device is "the world’s first 3G smart feature phone" . MTN
A new attempt at giving emerging markets a cheap smartphone – this time costing about $20-$25 – was launched by MTN, Africa's largest cellular operator, in a partnership with China Mobile, chipmaker Unisoc and feature phone operating system KaiOS.
Calling it "the world’s first 3G smart feature phone," MTN CEO Rob Shuter said the device will beginning selling in the first quarter of next year in Nigeria and South Africa first, which are its biggest markets. MTN has 225,4-million subscribers in 21 countries in Africa and the Middle East.
Shuter said it is a "wonderful bridge device" for the vast number of Africans who still use feature phones because they cannot afford smartphones.
"This initiative contributes to the achievement of one of our key goals to provide affordable data enabled handsets to our customers, and by so doing, remove some of the barriers to mobile internet adoption in Africa," he said at a press briefing at the annual AfricaCom conference in Cape Town.
"This device is very familiar to our 150-million customers who are not yet on a smartphone. It has a keyboard, it doesn't have a touchscreen, and a very long battery life, which is important for many of our customers that still struggle for regular recharging of devices."
Of the partnership, he added: "our collaboration has been to design the world's first 3G smart feature phone". It will run a feature phone operating system called KaiOS that is used by 50-million handsets in emerging markets and can run on handsets like the Nokia 8110 4G.
The phone will have dual-SIM functionality, which is important in Africa where people often have SIM cards for different networks, and take advantage of competing specials for data and airtime or to make cheaper on-network calls. It has Bluetooth, GPS, a 2.4-inch screen and a large 2,000mah battery. It will be made by China Mobile and will also be offered by France's Orange network.
Earlier Shuter used his keynote address to say MTN would reintroduce its Mobile Money into South Africa and Nigeria next year, as it aims to be “the biggest provider of mobile financial services in Africa”.
The retro Nokia 8110 4G phone runs KaiOS Nokia
Mobile Money (MoMo) was widely hailed when it launched in 2012, allowing people to open rudimentary bank accounts at supermarket chain Pick n Pay and Boxers stores with the South African Bank of Athens. But, like Vodacom's attempt at introducing M-Pesa into both cellular giant's home market, MTN shut down its South African MoMo in the same year, 2016.
But on the rest of the continent, MTN has 24.1-million active MoMo users in 14 countries at the end of June.
"Many operators have tried many times with mobile money in SA, MTN amongst them," he said. "But if you look at everything we have learned across the markets, where it is scaling in the other markets, we believe this is a service that is really competing with cash, but you have to find the pockets of the population that are still predominantly transacting in cash and give them an easy, affordable and high-quality service, and we really believe MTN Mobile Money can still work very well in South Africa."
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fe7c089368a4c9f01f5eb1da44312fe8
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/tobyshapshak/2019/05/09/south-africa-has-second-most-android-banking-malware-attacks-as-cyber-crime-increases/
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South Africa Has Second Most Android Banking Malware Attacks As Cyber Crime Increases
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South Africa Has Second Most Android Banking Malware Attacks As Cyber Crime Increases
Android smartphones in South Africa are the second-most targeted for banking malware, as malicious software attacks in general saw double-digit increases in the country, new research has revealed.
South Africa saw malware attacks increase by 22% year-on-year in the first quarter of this year, according to Kaspersky Lab, which held its annual Cyber Security Weekend in Cape Town.
There are 13,842 cyber attacks per day in Africa's most sophisticated economy, says Amin Hasbini, Kaspersky's head of global research and analysis for in the Middle East, Turkey and Africa. That equates to just less than 577 attempted attacks every hour, or just over nine every second.
Kaspersky said there was an 8% increase in malware detections in the first quarter of the year over the previous year, while mobile malware increased at over 17%, more than computer malware.
Mobile banking fraud incidents have doubled in the January to August period from 2017 to 2018, according to the South African Banking Risk Information Centre's (SABRIC) inaugural digital banking crime statistics report.
"We are all too aware that the advent of digital technology has seen the exploitation of digital platforms by criminals," the report states.
In 2017, there were 13,438 incidents using banking apps, online banking and mobile banking which cost the industry over R250 million in gross losses, it found.
From January to August 2018, there was a 64% increase, but the increase in gross losses was just 7% when compared to the same period in 2017. But comparing the same period to 2017 there was an increase of more than 100%, with gross losses of R23,5 million. Online banking incidents increased 44% in the same period with gross losses of R89 million and banking app incidents increased by 20%, with gross losses of R70 million. SIM swops increased 104% in the same period, the report found.
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932603504b830cf50652deba6d26092b
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/tobyshapshak/2019/06/12/quantum-computing-comes-to-africa-through-ibm-and-wits-university/
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Quantum Computing Comes To Africa Through IBM And Wits University
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Quantum Computing Comes To Africa Through IBM And Wits University
IBM Q Network for quantum computing. IBM
African academics and researchers will have access to quantum computing after IBM announced it was bringing its Q Network to South Africa in a collaboration with the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg.
Quantum is the next frontier of computing development and promises much more powerful data crunching, which is especially useful for academic research in complex fields that require simulation and modelling. This includes chemical simulations and types of optimization which traditional computers can't solve.
This is the latest development in its joint partnership with Wits University after IBM opened its second lab in Africa in 2016 at Wits's Tshimologong Digital Innovation Precinct in the Braamfontein suburb.
"One of the most promising indicators that Africans should move quickly and invest in nurturing the skills around the burgeoning field of quantum computing is that there is already a long history of academic activity in South Africa," says Professor Zeblon Vilakazi, Wits deputy vice-chancellor for research and postgraduate affairs
IBM's Q Network includes Fortune 500 companies, startups, academic institutions and research labs working on quantum computing and its potential applications. Wits University is the first African partner on the Q Network and will be the gateway for academics across South Africa and to the 15 universities who are part of the African Research Universities Alliance (ARUA).
Wits researchers will investigate use of quantum computing and machine learning for cosmology and molecular biology, with a specific focus on HIV drug discovery.
"There are unique opportunities in Africa, which should be addressed by Africans. As we know, African genetics have more diversity than the rest of the world combined. Such diversity is a treasure chest of genetic information," Vilakazi told me.
"This all points to the need for Africans to mine the jewels of the own genetic heritage, including the development of techniques that could soon harness quantum computing for genetics and drug discovery."
Quantum computing is seen as an aid for understanding the increasing volume of data and scale of problems facing humanity. "Africa needs to be ready to embrace this new computing paradigm so we can compete and contribute to the world stage. We cannot let Africa fall behind in technology. We need to get our students quantum ready today, so they can benefit from this incredible technology tomorrow," he says.
African-based researchers, academics and students will now have "access to decades of quantum computing capabilities at the click of a button,” says Vilakazi,
"South Africa has a history of innovation in quantum physics to draw on (for example, the Nobel prize for the invention of the CAT scan) and even recent surprising successes in a field very much related to quantum computing: supercomputing. Over a recent four-year period, the South African Supercomputing team were world champions three-times in the International Supercomputing Competition," he adds.
Dr Solomon Assefa, vice president of emerging market solutions and director of IBM Research in Africa, believes the initiative is just as important to train future computer engineers. “For Africa to remain competitive for the coming decades we must get the next generation of students quantum ready,” he said.
"AI is certainly one of the technologies which is expected to benefit from quantum computing. AI systems thrive when the machine-learning algorithms used to train them are given massive amounts of data to ingest, classify and analyze. The more precisely that data can be classified according to specific characteristics, or features, the better the AI will perform. Quantum computers are expected to play a crucial role in machine learning."
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2570073d83e57e063b8d08378d7a4f77
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/tobyshapshak/2019/07/01/dataprophet-only-african-firm-named-in-wefs-2019-technology-pioneers/
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DataProphet Only African Firm Named In WEF's 2019 Technology Pioneers
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DataProphet Only African Firm Named In WEF's 2019 Technology Pioneers
DataProphet is a Cape Town-based machine learning startup focussing on the manufacturing industry. DataProphet
DataProphet is the only African company to be named by the World Economic Forum as one of 56 emerging tech firms for its 2019 cohort of Technology Pioneers who "shaping their industry and their region in new and exciting ways".
The Cape Town-based machine learning startup focuses an artificial Intelligence (AI) in manufacturing and has helped modernize manufacturing plants through deep learning. Founded in 2014, it operates in the automotive, foundry and mineral processing industries; and its customers include BMW and Mercedes Benz.
"Our new tech pioneers are at the cutting edge of many industries, using their innovations to address serious issues around the world,” says Fulvia Montresor, WEF"s head of Technology Pioneers. “This year’s pioneers know that technology is about more than innovation – it is also about application. This is why we believe they’ll shape the future.”
The announcement was made at the WEF's Annual Meeting of the New Champions, often called the “Summer Davos,” in Dalian, China.
The WEF said "of the 56 firms selected, 25% of them are female-led and they are drawn from a pool that stretches beyond the traditional tech hubs like Silicon Valley".
The 59-member selection committee was made up of academics, entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and corporate executives. Healthcare app DabaDoc from Morocco was considered to be part of the Middle East (Mena) region.
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Previous recipients have included Airbnb, Google, Kaggle, Kickstarter, Mozilla, Palantir, Scribd, Spotify, Twitter and Wikimedia.
“It’s a huge achievement to be acknowledged as a pioneer by the World Economic Forum,” says DataProphet co-founder and CEO Frans Cronje. “It is great to receive affirmation that our AI technology is unique and valuable when it comes to reducing defects and improving processes for manufacturers. We are excited to partner with the Forum to shape the future of manufacturing.”
In June, the Cape Town firm also won the AIconics Award for Best Innovation in Deep Learning.
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c4af9ff307d70da6af14eb0bd92121b1
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/tobyshapshak/2019/10/15/nigerian-sme-digital-lender-lidya-expands-to-europe/
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Nigerian SME Digital Lender Lidya Expands to Europe
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Nigerian SME Digital Lender Lidya Expands to Europe
Lidya is a digital SME lender launched in Nigeria. Lidya
In an increasing trend where African technology companies are finding a global audience, Nigerian digital SME lending platform Lidya has expanded to Poland and the Czech Republic.
Having opened an office in New York, Lidya now has operations in Warsaw and Prague, it says, which is part of its aim to create 100-million jobs globally.
Lidya’s fintech platform lets small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) register online for loans from $500 and get that credit within 24 hours. This process helps SMEs build a credit history for the first time.
The Nigerian lender had dispersed more than 10,000 loans to 2,000 businesses in its home market, as of July 2019. In its first year, Lidya issued $2 million of loans growing to $10 million in year two. It is on track to become the biggest digital lender in Nigeria by the end of the year, it says.
Lidya was founded by Tunde Kehinde, also the co-founder Jumia Nigeria, and Ercin Eksin, former CEO of Jumia Nigeria and COO of Jumia Africa. It has raised nearly to $10 million from Accion Venture Lab, Flourish, Bamboo Capital Partners, Alitheia Capital, Goodwell Investments, and Newid Capital.
“We have built a world-class business that is helping SMEs to access the credit they need to grow, often for the first time," says Eksin. "Our technology is proven in Nigeria where we have helped thousands of businesses to create wealth and employment. Improving access to credit for SMEs is a global problem and we have ambitious international expansion plans to meet this challenge.
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“Through Lidya, we have the opportunity to empower the growth of SMEs in Africa, Europe and around the world. SMEs create the most number of jobs and significantly contribute to GDP. We are on a mission to support the creation of 100 million jobs in fast-growing economies.”
Lidya believes that the Central and Eastern European region is home to some of the fastest growing economies in the world, with the region being a key global trading partner and a hub for financial services. Lidya’s launch in the region is led by Tomasz Sekalski, the former CEO of Idea Money, one of the largest lenders in Poland, and Libor Vanicek, the former head of retail banking for ING Bank Czech Republic. Tomasz and Libor join as country directors for Poland and the Czech Republic, respectively.
Tunde Kehinde is the CEO of Nigerian digital lender Lidya. Lidya
Kehinde says of this European launch: “We see a big opportunity to expand into the region given our technology, history of execution and uniquely talented team. We plan to disburse 1 billion euros to small businesses in Poland and the Czech Republic and over the next five years and are excited to have Tomasz and Libor, two seasoned executives with deep experience in the market lead our expansion into the region.”
Kenyan tech startups M-Pesa and Ushahidi have expanded around the world, while the South Africa-based ShowMax streaming service launched a pure-play service in Poland.
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0bc3c5eb5bf5641d3e1431ba4cb5860b
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/tobyshapshak/2019/11/28/amazon-launches-africas-first-virtual-b2b-technology-business-accelerator/
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Amazon Launches Africa’s First Virtual B2B Technology Business Accelerator
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Amazon Launches Africa’s First Virtual B2B Technology Business Accelerator
Technology accelerator Sw7 has teamed with Amazon Web Services to provide what they say is Africa’s ... [+] first Virtual B2B Technology Business Accelerator. Sw7
As more startups focus on the booming cloud computer business, Amazon Web Services (AWS) has combined with technology accelerator Sw7 to provide what they say is Africa’s first Virtual B2B Technology Business Accelerator.
Focussing obviously on AWS technology, they believe the new virtual accelerator will assist founders of business-to-business (B2B) and software-as-a-service (Saas) businesses who want to scale their offering
“We are excited to team up with AWS, to offer an inclusive, community-supported, data-driven approach that assists B2B technology businesses to effectively scale” says Sw7 co-founder Odette Jones. “Businesses pay for the level of support they want without giving up equity and avoid the constraints imposed by traditional programme-centric approaches. This cost-based model is appealing - it’s the best of all worlds”.
The programme starts on 13 January 2020 and will run until April. The application deadline for the AWS Activate program is 15 December.
Sw7 co-founder Keith Jones adds “the OKR (Objective Key Result) structure Sw7 uses, enables us to move away from a programme-centric curriculum and batch-based ‘transmit’ approach, and moves to a more business needs and outcomes-based approach where the content, tools and templates are curated for each business, offering market and sector relevant support in context."
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850580876e96ec310ce50e2b0de92716
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/tobyshapshak/2020/04/06/vodacom-and-safaricom-acquire-m-pesa-to-accelerate-mobile-money-services-in-africa/
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Vodacom And Safaricom Acquire M-Pesa To Accelerate Mobile Money Services In Africa
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Vodacom And Safaricom Acquire M-Pesa To Accelerate Mobile Money Services In Africa
In a photo taken in April 2007, a man is sending money through a pioneering mobile phone service ... [+] called M-Pesa, in Kenya's capital, Nairobi. 2007 AFP
M-Pesa, the first and most successful mobile money payment service, has been acquired by South Africa's Vodacom and its Kenyan subsidiary Safaricom in a new joint venture that they hope will spur the growth of this novel new form of payment on the continent.
The GSMA already says half of all the world's mobile money services are in Africa, which is a testament to how successful this trend, originally launched by Safaricom in 2007, has been.
Safaricom was a Vodafone subsidiary at the time, and its ownership was transformed to Vodacom, another subsidiary, in 2017 to consolidate the London-based Vodafone's subsidiaries in sub-Saharan Africa.
M-Pesa is Africa's largest payments platform with some 40-million users in Kenya, Tanzania, Lesotho, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Mozambique and Egypt. It processes over a billion transactions every month, according to Vodacom.
Interestingly only 25% of all 40m M-Pesa customers have a smartphone, but this is growing by 10% every year.
Originally announced in 2019, this transaction will allow it to accelerate M-pesa’s growth in Africa by giving both operators full control of the M-pesa brand, product development and support services, and additionally allow expansion into new African markets, Vodacom says.
“This is a significant milestone for Vodacom as it will accelerate our financial services aspirations in Africa," says Vodacom Group CEO Shameel Joosub. "Our joint venture will allow Vodacom and Safaricom to drive the next generation of the M-PESA platform – an intelligent, cloud-based platform for the smartphone age. It will also help us to promote greater financial inclusion and help bridge the digital divide within the communities in which we operate.”
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Michael Joseph, the outgoing CEO of Safaricom, praised the management, support and development of the M-Pesa platform being relocated to Kenya, "where the journey to transform the world of mobile payments began 13 years ago". The new partnership will allow the platform development to be consolidated, synchronise product roadmaps, and "improve our operational capabilities into a single, fully converged centre of excellence”.
Nick Read, the CEO of Vodafone Group, said: “M-Pesa is hugely successful and enables millions of unbanked people in Africa to transfer money, pay bills and trade. It benefits communities and helps create a multitude of small and micro-business ventures. However, with the rapid increase in smartphone penetration, the evolution into financial services and the potential for geographical expansion, we believe the next step in M-Pesa’s African growth will be more effectively overseen by Vodacom and Safaricom.”
The disposal of the M-PESA brand, support and product development services to Vodacom and Safaricom is broadly financially neutral for Vodafone Group, it said.
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89d24c02e71e374adb6de596d5e6f79f
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/tobyshapshak/2020/05/14/to-connect-africa-facebook-vodafone-mtn-orange-consortium-announces-2africa-undersea-cable/
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To Connect Africa, Facebook, Vodafone, MTN, Orange Consortium Announces 2Africa Undersea Cable
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To Connect Africa, Facebook, Vodafone, MTN, Orange Consortium Announces 2Africa Undersea Cable
The 2Africa undersea cable will be one of the world’s largest subsea cable projects at 37,000km ... [+] long. It will connect 23 countries in Africa, the Middle East, and Europe, with 21 landings in 16 African countries. 2Africa
A new undersea cable connecting 16 countries in Africa has been announced – by a consortium including China Mobile International, Facebook, MTN GlobalConnect, Orange, stc, Telecom Egypt, Vodafone and WIOCC – and promises more that the total combined capacity of Africa's current cables.
Called 2Africa, it claims be one of the world’s largest subsea cable projects at 37,000km long. It will connect 23 countries in Africa, the Middle East and Europe, with 21 landings in 16 African countries.
Expected to go live in 2023/4, "2Africa will deliver much needed internet capacity and reliability across large parts of Africa, supplement the fast-growing capacity demand in the Middle East and underpin the further growth of 4G, 5G and fixed broadband access for hundreds of millions of people".
The fully-funded project, which has a design capacity of up to 180Tbps, will be built by Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN). The 2Africa cable will implement a new technology, SDM1 from ASN, allowing deployment of up to 16 fibre pairs instead of the eight fibre pairs supported by older technologies. Cable burial depth has also been increased by 50% compared to older systems, and cable routing will avoid locations of known subsea disturbance, 2Africa says.
"The 2Africa cable has been designed to improve resilience and maximise performance, including the option of a seamless optical crossing between East Africa and Europe," the company says. Considering the two major cables breaks this year alone, and the impact that has had on connectivity throughout the continent, this extra cable will be welcomed.
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"In countries where the 2Africa cable will land, service providers will obtain capacity in carrier-neutral data centres or open-access cable landing stations on a fair and equitable basis. This will support healthy internet ecosystem development by facilitating greatly improved accessibility for businesses and consumers alike," the company says.
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1bc2c3b5f7e11e9e231b3af5513f7a78
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/tobyshapshak/2021/01/21/despite-covid-19-african-tech-startups-raise-700m-in-record-breaking-2020/
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Despite Covid-19, African Tech Startups Raise $700m In Record-Breaking 2020
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Despite Covid-19, African Tech Startups Raise $700m In Record-Breaking 2020
The African Tech Startups Funding Report 2020. Disrupt Africa
Even though many economies in Africa were hamstrung by Covid-19 lockdowns, one sector has outperformed its growth last year. African tech startup ecosystem experienced “a record year for investment… with more startups raising more money, from more investors, than ever before,” according to the African Tech Startups Funding Report 2020.
During the year 397 startups raised an impressive $701.5 million in total funding, according to this annual report by Disrupt Africa, an Africa-focused news and research portal. Both these figures are up substantially on the previous year, it says, with the number of funded startups increasing 27.7% on 2019, and the funding total growing by 42.7%.
Disrupt Africa has been tracking investments for several years, and this year it has realesed the previously paid-for report for free, thanks to Catalyst Fund, RTB House, Quona Capital, 4Di Capital, Villgro Africa, Lateral Capital, and Otundi Ventures.
More to follow.
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4b06132f92c72817af935d180310aa9d
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/toddessig/2012/05/31/is-pathological-video-gaming-a-failed-solution-or-an-addiction/
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Is Pathological Video Gaming A Failed Solution Or An Addiction?
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Is Pathological Video Gaming A Failed Solution Or An Addiction?
One of the startling facts about adolescents and young adults is how remarkably resilient they are. Despite how difficult life is for so many, so many make their way successfully into the world. But not everyone. Some kids get stuck. And one of the still relatively new and not well understood ways they get stuck is by developing pathological patterns of video game play. What remains unanswered is why they get stuck, what happens when they do so, and what is to be done about it.
Out-of-control gaming behavior is no small problem. A well-done 2009 nationwide survey of youths between 8 and 18 by Douglas Gentile of Iowa State University and the National Institute on Media and the Family found
“8.5% of video-game players exhibited pathological patterns of play as defined by exhibiting at least 6 out of 11 symptoms of damage to family, social, school, or psychological functioning.” via Pathological Video-Game Use Among Youth Ages 8 to 18: A National Study
Clearly, the question of what to do is both timely and important. As a psychologist who treats college age and older patients, one who also has a reputation as a technophilic shrink, I have encountered many patients for whom video game play has transformed from an engaging source of epic fun into a serious problem, a time-sink into which they pour their youthful potential.
Some say the problem is an addiction. Pathological gamers are as addicted to gaming as a drunk is to liquor or a junkie to smack. Consequently, the clinical approach should be first to get them away from the screen and second, well, second is also to get them away from the screen. Send them to rehab. Get them into a program.
But not everyone, me included, thinks the addiction model applies. In the approach that makes sense to me “addiction” is metaphor not diagnosis. "Video game addict" works as metaphor because it captures the out-of-controlness and abject misery of the experience. But as diagnosis it over-simplifies, prematurely closing off further inquiry and mis-directing clinical interventions. Because addiction is taken to be the explanation, the need to really understand what is going on gets lost. Among the questions the addiction model oversimplifies is what might keep someone glued to the screen when life beckons, how they got to such a place, and what might be done about.
We need to do better than prematurely closing off inquiry. One way to open questioning is by viewing pathological gaming behavior as a failed solution, a trap that won’t open until both the problems that led to the pathological gaming are addressed along with the negative consequences of the pathological gaming.
One way to think about what I am saying is as a clinical extension of the argument Jane McGonigal makes in her excellent book Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World and her 2010 TEDTalk. Simply stated, as she does at the 3:35 point of her TEDTalk, in general for all gamers “we feel we are not as good in reality as we are in games.” And for some people that difference is so large as to drive significant pathology. Some people have a reality, be it from trauma or shame or depression or some other wellspring of human suffering, that is far more broken than for others. For them, for those caught in “game world,” until they get the help they need to participate in ordinary broken reality they remain entrapped by the simulation of life they find on their screen; in comparison to gaming, life is simply unbearable.
Of course, the addiction-modelers will say it is the gaming addiction that broke their life. Two lines of evidence suggest otherwise.
First, we have clinical anecdotes. Anecdotal evidence, things like clinical experience, is the weakest evidence of all. At best it points to research that needs to be done. While it’s value should not be over-estimated, it should also not be ignored. And what I’ve learned from treating pathological gamers is that they can be helped to find their way back to life by finding out what broke their reality so as to make life on the screen the best option available and then helping them fix it, as well as deal with the problems caused by the out-of-control gaming.
Second is the experimental evidence starting to emerge. While much data is consistent with the addiction model, as would be expected, there is also evidence that pathological gaming is symptomatic of other problems. A 2011 report published in Computers and Human Behavior titled “Psychosocial causes and consequences of pathological gaming” is an excellent example. Studying Dutch teens and using some pretty high-powered statistical methods, the researchers found:
• lower social competence, increased loneliness, and lower self-esteem all predicted increases in pathological gaming six months later
• more gaming led to more loneliness, so that loneliness as both cause and consequence of pathological gaming can fuel a negative feedback loop
• more boys than girls develop patterns of pathological gaming, but for both genders the same combination of lower social competence, increased loneliness, and lower self-esteem predicted increases in pathological gaming six months later.
The authors concluded,
adolescent gamers with pre-existing psycho-social vulnerabilities, such as loneliness, low social competence, and low self-esteem, are more likely to become pathologically involved with games, and pathological gaming will increase adolescent gamers' feelings of loneliness. via Psychosocial causes and consequences of pathological gaming
And that just makes sense. It gets at the complexity. Pathological gaming is both symptomatic and a failed solution creating it’s own problems. Understanding and explaining how people get caught on the screen requires us to go beyond the allure of a convenient addiction metaphor.
Games are far too important to leave to metaphor.
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3db6bc6176876eb4304cd2338a012860
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/toddessig/2013/05/19/will-angelina-jolie-help-end-climate-change-denial-and-help-the-republican-party/
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Will Angelina Jolie Help End Climate-Change Denial, And Help The Republican Party?
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Will Angelina Jolie Help End Climate-Change Denial, And Help The Republican Party?
Angelina Jolie (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
File this one under unintended consequences. Angelina Jolie, by announcing her preventative double masectomy, will likely have significant influence well beyond women’s health. By modeling how to think with data when data do not tell us what we would otherwise want them to say, she displayed a level of decision-making courage that business and political leaders should strive to emulate. For example, her leadership just may end up helping those fighting in the Republican Party to end ongoing anti-science climate-change denial.
What do I mean by decision-making courage? Jolie started with the data, however imperfect and probabilistic scientific data are. On the basis of this data she embarked on an inconvenient (at times painful) course of action so as to significantly lower the chances of experiencing an absolutely catastrophic outcome. She choose preventive surgery to increase the chances of staying cancer-free.
But it’s all based on probabilities, not certainties. The BRCA genetic testing result gave a probability of getting cancer. The surgery significantly lowered that probability. There are no guarantees, only values to protect. The only certainty was the certainty of taking action, the preference for living with the realities of acting over the likelihood of dying from not acting. That is decision-making courage.
Compare that to Paul Ryan’s infamous comment dismissing with a wave of his hand the scientific consensus about human-caused global warming: “statistical tricks to distort their findings and intentionally mislead the public on the issue of climate change.” If you dismiss the data, then no action needs to be started.
Imagine if Jolie had responded similarly to her physicians? Science is done and applied by people; there’s always a human element to caricature. Imagine if she had gone public urging women not to fall prey to Myriad Genetics marketing the BRCA1 genetic test. Or some other way to wave a dismissive hand. It would be outrageously irresponsible. Cowardly even.
Currently, there are many in the Republican Party waking up to the fact that their leaders have adopted a stance of decision-making cowardice. They want to change the Republic Party. They do not want it to be full of head-in-sand climate-change denial. They want science-based and data-driven attempts to craft small-government, conservative solutions to human-caused global warming. They want to emulate Jolie’s decision-making courage. Good for them.
This change was told in a May 9th article in the National Journal, titled “The Coming GOP Civil War Over Climate Change” by Coral Davenport. The article states:
“There is a divide within the party,” says Samuel Thernstrom, who served on President George W. Bush’s Council on Environmental Quality and is now a scholar of environmental policy at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank. “The position that climate change is a hoax is untenable." via The Coming GOP Civil War Over Climate Change - NationalJournal.com.
Davenport describes several grass-roots and think-tank based movements to bring scientific credibility back to the party. They deserve support.
An uintended consequence of Jolie’s brave action is showing that the only real question is how to craft Republican, conservative, small-government solutions to climate-change. That would show decision-making courage. Anything else, well, is cowardly denial.
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f941be0d4f09cf0556ee269235b18c6b
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/toddessig/2013/06/30/why-junk-food-cant-end-obesity-the-milkshake-study-vs-the-atlantic/
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Why Junk Food Can't End Obesity: The 'Milkshake Study' Vs. 'The Atlantic'
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Why Junk Food Can't End Obesity: The 'Milkshake Study' Vs. 'The Atlantic'
(Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife)
Food is a real flashpoint. Questions of what, how, and how much to eat inspire quasi-religious beliefs, and quasi-religious wars. And I participate. I even got into a twitter-brawl this week with David H. Freedman about my response to his offensive, misguided article in The Atlantic “How Junk Food Can End Obesity.”
Especially for obese non-affluent non-white people, Freedman’s answer is buidling better junk food. If McDonald's would just shave 100 or so calories off the typical meal, well, soon all would be well. Whole foods, most vegetables, and not too much is fine for him and his well-to-do neighbors. But that kind of educated self-control is not for “the poor.” They just don't have the wherewithal to pull it off. Consequenly, proclaims Freedman, let them eat better junk food!
Better life through better junk food begins with the idea that calories are calories, regardless of where they come from and how they are consumed. Freedman says “(t)he fact is there is simply no clear, credible evidence that any aspect of food processing or storage makes a food uniquely unhealthy.” Well, now there is. Clear, credible evidence that some processed foods are uniquely unhealthy can found in the new article in the The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. What you eat, and not just how many calories you consume, can be a uniquely unhealthy influence on your next meal.
The researchers document how so-called “calorie-independent effects” work. While they studied only men and the sample size was small-ish, they used a gold-standard “randomized, blinded, crossover design” and the results were large enough to overcome the sample size. The study looked at consequences 4 hours after consuming one of two different milkshakes. One milkshake rapidly raised glucose levels in the blood (high-GI) while the other (low-GI) did not. GI is glycemic index and processed foods tend to be high GI while whole foods tend to be low GI. Processed junk foods shoot quick jolts of glucose into the bloodstream. Other than differences in glycemic index the milkshakes were identical in terms of taste, calories, and nutritional balance.
4 hours after consuming a milkshake, about the time one might be getting ready for the next meal, the researchers measured glucose levels in the blood, subjective feelings of hunger, and brain activity in an area that processes pleasure and cravings (the nucleus accumbens). The results were clear: you consume processed high-GI food and by the time you are ready for your next meal your blood sugar will have dropped as a consequence of the initial jolt, you are feeling hungrier, and the pleasure/reward/craving center in your brain is firing like mad.
Apparently, your brain is adapting to the lowered glucose levels in your blood by getting you ready to consume more, and then more more. Sounds uniquely unhealthy to me, and like a brilliant junk-food business plan. How hungry you are at dinner depends not just on how much you ate for lunch but on what you ate for lunch. The same calories at the junk food drive-thru will prime you for a bigger dinner than had you been able to eat a lunch-time meal that avoided industrialized calorie-delivery systems. What you eat matters.
So sorry Freedman and The Atlantic, junk-food is not the answer. As loudly as you tried to ridicule all us "Pollan-ites," Michael Pollan's 2007 distillation of the best of nutrition science remains as right as ever: “Eat food. Mostly plants. Not too much.” And to do that, one just might want to change how one eats, to develop a non-judgmental culinary mindfulness that takes food to be an opportunity for well-being rather than a problem screaming for an immediate industrialized solution.
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d2e5d5f05eea0974bb32729ab50b9531
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/toddessig/2013/11/27/mindfulness-is-a-useful-business-skill-new-research-suggests/
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Mindfulness Is A Useful Business Skill, New Research Suggests
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Mindfulness Is A Useful Business Skill, New Research Suggests
Getting drunk on success can be just as dangerous, and just as heady, as the liquid kind, especially in business. When investors or traders surf success-highs trouble ensues. Those feelings, sometimes even extending to feelings of invincibility, distort subsequent decisions with a dangerous mindset: I’m a proven winner so don’t worry about risk, just stay in the game! Of interest is some new research suggesting mindfulness, of all things, just may help reduce the danger.
That’s right, it’s time to consider mindfulness, usually associated with practices like meditation and yoga, as a money-making business skill.
Mindfulness is already known to be a rich concept. In psychology it means being both aware of one’s thoughts and feelings and non-judgmentally accepting of them. While mindfulness can be a state resulting from those practices with which it is usually associated, it can also refer to an enduring feature of one’s personality, i.e., a trait.
The new research out of the University of Toronto suggests that higher levels of trait mindfulness provides some protection against potentially dangerous emotional highs by attenuating reactivity to positive feedback. For those high in mindfulness, it’s just not as thrilling when the world gives you a high-five.
The researchers, Rimma Teper and Michael Inzlicht, used EEG to record how participants’ brains responded to rewarding, aversive, and neutral feedback. They also measured mindfulness, levels of both awareness and acceptance. As they state in their article, their findings suggest "that individuals who report a high level of nonjudgmental acceptance of thoughts and emotions display less neuroaffective reactivity to immediate rewards."
In other words, mindfully accepting one’s thoughts and feelings can protect against getting drunk with success.
Good managers and savvy investors already know this. They know they have to attenuate the high that can come from successful investing because the high hides risk. As much as a feeling of invincibility says otherwise, yesterday’s success does not lower tomorrow’s risk. The odds of success are what the odds are, whether you’r flipping coins, real estate, or companies.
But it’s not easy to keep this in mind. To illustrate is a fascinating pair of case studies by Byron Woollen, a friend and colleague who is the principal at Podia Consulting, a NYC-based consulting firm offering leadership and organizational expertise to CEOs and senior leaders. His article, “Investment risk and the mind of the financial leader” in Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research (2011), documents how an organization can succeed or fail at integrating risk management and control functions with investment decisions so as to avoid the illusion that previous success protects against future risk.
The CEO of the successful company example did many things right, including articulating basic principles and then propagating them throughout the organization. The first of his three principles, as Woollen stated them, illustrates the problem mindfulness can help solve: “An investor who does not monitor his own potential for greed and for the ability of money to generate other psychological distortions is unlikely to appropriately attend to the inherent risks of his investment."
As Woollen described to me over lunch one day, this hedge fund founder/CEO was serious about his principles. He would not even let any of his financial analysts finalize an investment decision until they understood that greed distorted even seemingly objective judgements. Smart call on his part.
Which brings us back to mindfulness as a business skill and the new study. Clearly, these findings need to be replicated, along with similar results achieved using different methods and procedures.
But still, the research is worth noting because mindfulness is already linked to so many different dimensions of psychological, and even physical, health. Like I often say to patients in my clinical practice, “all mindfulness is good mindfulness.” There are lots of reasons already established for developing ways of life that increase and support mindfulness. This is just one more. And while it is still preliminary, the idea that increasing mindfulness (especially “nonjudgmental acceptance of thoughts and emotions”) might protect against bad decisions is worth attention.
There are lots of practices I’ve seen increase both awareness and acceptance of thoughts and feelings. Mindfulness meditations and mindfulness-focussed psychotherapies all put mindfulness front and center. But there are other practices in which mindfulness grows as a matter of course. I’m thinking of psychodynamic psychotherapies, yoga and other body-based practices like Pilates and dance, and even nature-based activities like hiking and cycling.
Not only is all mindfulness good mindfulness, all roads to mindfulness are good roads. Find one (or two or more) that work for you.
And remember, being drunk with success is no way to drive a business. When decision-makers are flushed with success from the last choice, the next choice becomes more dangerous. Developing mindfulness may help. And if it doesn’t, even if this new research does not pan out, you’ve still improved your life and health, still accrued additional mental wealth.
For updates on “Managing Mental Wealth” and related news and links follow me on Twitter
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709ef0dd41a4122bd8d7e88dae45462e
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/toddessig/2014/09/29/the-mysterious-popularity-of-the-meaningless-myers-briggs-mbti/?sh=2cc436ea1c79
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The Mysterious Popularity Of The Meaningless Myers-Briggs (MBTI)
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The Mysterious Popularity Of The Meaningless Myers-Briggs (MBTI)
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) assessments are extremely popular, as well as profitable for both the publisher and the many certified consultants who use them. In fact, they are so popular as to be nearly ubiquitous in corporations and large organizations, including 89 of Fortune 100 companies. But they are also part of a mystery, a mysterious theft of rationality in which reducing anxiety again overwhelms reason.
According to the web-site of its publisher CPP, as you might already know, the MBTI “measures four pairs of opposing preferences, which are inborn and value-neutral, to form a person’s four-letter type.” The self-report tool discerns a preference for either “Extraversion (E) or Introversion (I),” “Sensing (S) or Intuition (N),” “Thinking (T) or Feeling (F),” and Judging (J) or Perceiving (P).” The result is 16 different personality types, like an ISTF or ENTP. They claim doing so allows “companies to maximize individual and team effectiveness from entry to executive levels."
Sounds pretty good, no mystery here, except for one thing. The MBTI is pretty much nonsense, sciencey snake oil. As is well-established by research, it has no more reliability and validity than a good Tarot card reading.
To fully appreciate the mystery of its popularity one has to appreciate what a nonsensical procedure the MBTI really is. Using it to make career, personnel or leadership development decisions is like baking cookies with a saxophone; it’s just not the right tool for the job. To show the absurdity let’s avoid academic jargon about reliability and validity and rely instead on imagination.
Consider an imaginary single-letter Myers-Briggs Weight Indicator. The fictional MBWI, just like its namesake, is an either/or designation. You stand on the MBWI scale and it says your weight type is either obese (O) or anorectic (A). Can you imagine taking that seriously? Saying one’s weight is either obese (O) or anorectic (A) is not just lacking validity, it’s actually pretty absurd. And so too is the MBTI itself with its “four pairs of opposing preferences.” Personality traits just don’t fit the either/or structure of the MBTI any more than weight does. And like our absurd fictional example, it is absurd to say they do.
Let’s continue with this fiction because it gets worse. You stand on the MBWI scale and you get your letter, (O) or (A). You thought you were pretty average but it’s nice to know your sciencey-sounding “weight type,” especially because you know your job likes to promote (O)s. Except, like the real MBTI, half of the people who stand on the scale again a few weeks later get a different type. One month you’re an (O) and the next an (A). And this is what actually happens with the MBTI where about half the people who take the test more than once get different results. In other words, not only is it not valid, it is not even reliable.
Which brings us to the mystery: Why are 2 million people a year using an assessment tool that generates approximately $20 million in fees for its publishers when the results are essentially meaningless? Why not just save all the money and time by using a horoscope with employees, job applicants, and students? Or maybe use something that actually predicts success, details strengths and weaknesses or supports skill development?
Maybe people just don’t know the MBTI is so empty and meaningless. That would explain the mystery. Except that as early as 1993 experts have been warning that there is “a large body of research that suggests that the claims made about the MBTI cannot be supported.” In 2005 the research showed that “using the MBTI as a consulting tool in corporate settings may be, in some instances, the equivalent of making promises that one cannot keep.”
OK, but who reads the professional psychology literature except some psychologists? Business people, career counselors, academic advisors and others who decide to use the MBTI for personnel decisions and career planning cannot really be faulted for not having read an academic article saying “the instrument should not be used for career planning counseling.” Maybe they just don’t know.
Except there are lots of journalists who have done a great job bringing results from the professional literature into the mainstream popular press. Just do a google search on Myers-Briggs criticism and sample some of the recent work. One of the best is a recent piece in Vox by Joseph Stromberg titled “Why the Myers-Briggs test is totally meaningless.” Adam Gant’s “Say Goodbye to MBTI, the Fad That Won't Die” is also worth a look.
So, the information is out there, deepening the mystery of the MBTI’s popularity.
The NY Times recently suggested the enduring popularity of the MBTI is because people like to take the test: “part of its appeal may be that regular people just like taking it,” like a Buzzfeed quiz. And the MBTI has actually been shown to be useful in this way as a method for starting conversations about personality issues within workgroups and teams. For example, after first showing that MBTI profiles did not predict team development, a 2009 study of “1,630 people working in 156 teams in a Swedish industrial organization” concluded that MBTI personality profiles could be “a vehicle for group members to gain a better understanding of each other” because it gives them something to talk about.
But can being an entertaining “sciencey" conversation starter, providing what David DiSalvo Forbes Contributor and author of Brain Changer, calls “easy to digest truthy nibbles,” really account for $20 million of sales a year? I don’t think so. More must be going on.
Part of it is that popularity is self-reinforcing. Like those popular but mean kids in high school who were popular because they were popular, the MBTI is popular because it’s popular. People use it because other people use it. Loren Comstock, an executive coach and partner at The Sigma Group, told me “if an organization uses it, I will work with it.” However, in her own individual coaching work with senior level leaders, “I never use the Meyers Briggs.” But she goes along with what is popular. When she then does a good job, sometimes despite the MBTI, its popularity swells.
In addition to popularity breeding popularity and that people enjoy taking it, a raft of cognitive biases—like the confirmation bias–push people to find value in what they do and have already done. Our biases lead us to overvalue a warm thank-you from a recently promoted and grateful “ESTJ” while minimizing an academic paper questioning the value of the MBTI in leadership development. Our inevitable cognitive biases further embed irrational MBTI practices.
Finally, what I eventually realized is that there are psychological realities in organizational life locking-in the MBTI’s popularity precisely because it provides easy to digest truthy nibbles. The absurdity of a Myers-Briggs assessment is actually its strength . MBTI profiles give organizations the comforting illusion of understanding something important about human complexity. And if the MBTI did not do this, I think something else just might. Let’s look closer.
Psychological reality is often at odds with organizational mission. The “endless permutations of greed, fear and delusion within an organization’s ranks will continue to be the biggest challenge that any business leadership will ever face,” according to Byron Woollen, founder and Managing Partner of Podia Consulting. He went on that when it comes to anxiety, the “behavior of those serving under any chief officer will always be the greatest source.”
No leader can rest if they think they have entrusted their organization to people who should not be trusted. But how to know? Well, you can't, not completely. There are always rogue traders, engineers ignoring problems (think the culture of NASA ignoring the Challenger’s O-ring vulnerabilities) and routine personality-conflicts derailing mission. No organization can function optimally with all that anxiety. By reducing all this messy human complexity to 16 easy to manage categories much of the anxiety is brought under control. The organization can then function day-to-day.
In what Woollen describes as the “classic exchange between an organization and an outside consulting expert” the MBTI also gives the outside consultant an easy to deploy tool. No need for consultants to get their hands dirty by “genuinely entering and subjecting oneself to the dark, confusing and sometimes painful mysteries of an organization’s inner life.” Instead there’s this popular assessment tool that people like to take, like a valium or xanax. Plus the 16-types make the messy human complexity within an organization seem easily manageable. Organizations deploying the MBTI end up “being assured that what feels so volatile and complex is, in fact, pretty simple.”
This trade-off seals the deal and solves the mystery. The popularity of the MBTI, or some other meaningless but science-y thing, seems almost inevitable.
Finally, the problems with this trade-off are significant—and hopefully obvious. Most important, the comforting illusion of being able to control the emotional weather is just that, an illusion. And it works well enough for most conditions. But watch out when there is an organizational hurricane or drought, some other unexpected condition or even just time moving on. When everything falls apart, leadership may regret having used the MBTI to hide from the messy human complexities of organizational life. Obviously, when problems are ignored they are not solved; when inevitable conflicts are ignored they are not managed. And the MBTI is so popular because it provides the illusion of solution when, in reality, the problems and conflicts remains as real as ever.
For updates on “Managing Mental Wealth” and related news and links follow me on Twitter. To contact me click the mail icon above.
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bae351696d2827728887bd38e05aade2
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/toddessig/2016/05/10/the-benefits-of-non-virtual-reality-n-vr-just-may-make-it-the-next-big-trend/
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The Benefits Of 'Non-Virtual Reality' (N-VR) Just May Make It The Next Big Thing
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The Benefits Of 'Non-Virtual Reality' (N-VR) Just May Make It The Next Big Thing
Virtual reality headsets are poised to take over the world. Investors are betting on revolutions in leisure time, all forms of entertainment from games to music to movies, healthcare and communications. So, the time is ripe to to appreciate the unique benefits that can accrue from VR’s main competitor: non-virtual reality (N-VR), or what used to be called “going outside to play.” Plus, the regular yearly update to N-VR called “summer” is once again about to land making it even easier to experience the benefits of N-VR.
While more research needs to be done, it usually does, N-VR has already been shown to have a surprisingly large range of positive benefits: reducing depression and stress, increasing well-being and overall health, even improving memory and attention. One review study even showed that activity outside in a natural environment provided significant benefit relative to comparable indoor activity.
Gallery: The World's Most Scenic Workouts 10 images View gallery
N-VR is also incredibly robust. You don’t have to wait for creative types to catch up with technological possibility. N-VR already conveys significant benefits across a wide range of experiences. If you’re privileged enough to have easy access to a wilderness area, a nature conservancy , or even a beach then good for you. But if your N-VR platform is “just” a garden or urban park then you can also reap significant benefit. In fact, a study that looked at the “dose” of “green exercise” showed large benefits from even short periods of outside activity. One take-home is try your best to take a walk at lunch in the park or garden near your office. Go ahead. Do it for a few months. You’ll feel better.
I admit it. I’m biased. I now spend as much time as I can in N-VR. It has become my tonic. A recent N-VR experience actually cut through decades of residual cynicism and disappointment with a deeper appreciation for resilience, friendship and nature. The event was a 50-mile trail run/hike fund-raiser for the Mohonk Preserve called “Rock the Ridge.” The Mohonk Preserve is a protected area on the Shawangunk ridge cited by The Nature Conservancy as one of the “Last Great Places” on Earth. It really is. And the event? Well, I almost didn’t finish. But thanks to my team-mates I did.
The "Nimble by Nature" team (Daniel Lucas, the author, Mel DeLancy, and Keith Paine) posing with... [+] their finishers' medals. A small slice of the Shawagunk Ridge can be seen in the background. (May 1, 2016)
I also must admit that for years the only time I went outside was to walk to a restaurant or grab a cab. I was living my life on screens. (Yes, dear millennials, a whole bunch of us early adopters started living lives on screen 30 or more years ago when, to be blunt, you were being conceived.) But after years of career and urban constraint I started to slowly step-by-step explore the benefits of N-VR—too many trees all at once can be overwhelming. Soon the benefits worked their magic. And I still love screens. So when you are out there to explore N-VR world go ahead and Instagram your experience. No harm done, other than creating N-VR envy among all your followers.
I love it when research and personal experience overlap. N-VR is a prime example of such overlap. So, heed my call, finish reading this piece and go outside to experience what’s left of the natural world as directly as you can. You don’t have to run/hike 50 miles, or even 5. Start with 5 minutes and work your way up. That’s what I did. That’s what the research says you should do if you want to have a better life. Go outside. Get off that treadmill with the built-in Internet and take a walk on a trail or in a park. Even better, go with someone. No deeper friendships are formed than ones you build outside (our rallying cry, "there is no 'I' in 'Rock the Ridge'!”).
I’m sure VR will prove wonderful in many ways. I’ve already dabbled a bit and find it fascinatingly rich with possibility across many applications. But let’s not forget the incredible benefits that accrue from actual reality, from N-VR that is already infinitely rich.
So I’ll say it again. Go outside.
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7374c612a132181f0a544b350a191689
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/toddessig/2016/07/15/psychologists-warn-be-careful-with-horrific-social-media-images-from-the-nice-terror-attack/
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Psychologists Warn: Be Careful With Horrific Social Media Images From The Nice Terror Attack
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Psychologists Warn: Be Careful With Horrific Social Media Images From The Nice Terror Attack
By all means, #PrayForNice. Put a French flag overlay on your Facebook Profile. Learn about what happened. Mourn those who were killed. Hold on to hope for the injured. But at the same time, please be careful. Some of the imagery flooding social media from Bastille Day terrorism in Nice can itself do harm.
We know from the aftermath of 9/11 that repeatedly viewing media images of an attack can be traumatizing, especially if you identify with the victims. Intimate—and horrific—images, like many from Nice, can be especially traumatizing.
According to Dr. Shane Owens, Chair of the NYS Psychological Association Suicide Prevention Task Force, in a posting on a psychologist listserv, some of “the footage from this attack is unusually graphic, and it is raw and widely available.”
People visit the scene and lay tributes to the victims of a terror attack on the Promenade des... [+] Anglais on July 15, 2016 in Nice, France. (Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images)
There are few things to do. First, we should do our best to protect children and vulnerable adults from the potential damage viewing such imagery can cause. We need to be, wrote Dr. Owens, “very careful about what you watch and what you click on when around those of tender age or sensibilities.”
But there is more to do and keep in mind because this imagery is different, even though the horror is the same as that experienced in other terror attacks. Some of this imagery is incredibly close-up and immediate. Making it more immediate is the familiar everyday experience of being in crowds near trucks. No weapons nor explosives were needed to kill and maim this time. The experience of running something over, and of being hit by a vehicle, is so experience-near as to afford these images a traumatizing power unlike that found in the imagery from other terror attacks. Even writing these words has an uncomfortable intimate immediacy unlike other times I’ve written about mass killings.
Because of the experience-near quality of the imagery it would be wise to also limit one’s own exposure. Dr. Owens advises you “limit your exposure to any media over the next couple of days. I have noticed that people who are usually unshaken by events like those we've seen in the past week or so are starting to let it get to them.”
Remember, things seen can’t be unseen. A feeling of “I can’t believe this is real” can lead even the resilient into traumatizing loops of repetitive viewing , each time hoping the imagery would look different, less horrific.
So, try not to put yourself or others at psychological risk in the process of informing yourself about what happened after the fireworks ended in Nice. Please be careful.
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b8864699d9b361d75703922eb428c139
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/toddganos/2013/01/12/why-the-java-bug-is-a-big-deal/
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Why The Java Bug Is A Big Deal
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Why The Java Bug Is A Big Deal
U.S. Department of Homeland Security Official Seal Websafe Colors (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
In Carl Reiner’s movie “Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid,” Steve Martin plays detective Rigby Riordan, who investigating the “accidental” death of a scientist. The film being filled with gags, each time the gumshoe makes his signature cup of java, he’s shot. With the help of actress Rachel Ward, he survives and finds that the unassuming case he is working on has far greater stakes than he could have imagined. It seems that a recent stir with a different cup of Java is no gag and is leading to big stakes for the Internet. We are, of course, referring to the Java programming language.
Just about every electronic device conceivable uses some amount of Java programming. Computers and cells are the obvious users of Java. DVD players, lottery ticket machines, medical devices, parking payment stations, and automobile navigation systems are just a few examples of others. Originally developed by Sun Microsystems, the language is currently developed and maintained by Oracle.
Recently, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced that there is a major security flaw in all versions of Java. If the announcement is correct, hackers might obtain access to any and all data that resides on an individual’s computer, cell phone, or other device. It is uncertain whether a hacker might be able to activate a computer’s video camera. According to some reports by technical publishers, the instructions needed to exploit the security flaw are readily available on the Internet. Until the security flaw is patched, Homeland Security is advising people to disable Java in any computer or device that accesses the Internet.
Computers and cell phones use Java to accomplish certain essential functions when accessing the Internet. For example, the primary method that investment advisors place trades at one major securities brokerage firm is via a Java application. If investment advisors follow Homeland Security’s recommendation and disable Java on their computer systems, the likelihood is that trades would be phoned in and the trading desks might be pushed to their limit with trades being placed manually by phone. At the time of this writing, the security team at the brokerage firm had not released a notice to its employees of the problem.
The reality is that the security flaw in the Java programming language will likely find vulnerabilities in a wide range of industries. Perhaps a firm’s research and development system is hacked and that company’s trade secrets and intellectual property find their way to a low-cost competitor in another country. Perhaps a firm's inventory system is hacked and knowledge of shortages in certain equipment is used to squeeze the company by a supplier. And then, there are the banks with all of our financial data. Let your imagination run.
Alternatively, we can all disable Java. The electronic wheels that drive business (and our lives) will likely not stop completely. But, they will turn slower. And, it’s hard to estimate the dollar value of the friction such a disabling will induce.
UPDATE #1
The security issue relates to ALL Java versions from 4 through 7; the security issue is NOT limited to plug-ins and applets alone. This can be verified in the National Vulnerability Database, which can be found at:
http://web.nvd.nist.gov/view/vuln/detail?vulnId=CVE-2013-0422
UPDATE #2
It appears that on Sunday, January 13th, Oracle released Java Version 7 Update 11, which is supposed to fix the security issue.
UPDATE #3
Several commenters have stated that the warning released by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security might be misinterpreted and that -- based on release notes from Oracle -- the security issue is limited to Java 7 alone. We have contacted the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for a clarifying statement. We will provide that information upon receipt.
UPDATE #4
As of 1/20, we have not received a response from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to clarify its assessment of the threat.
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e34087c99ddbc4fd7d6d99e7a750abed
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/toddganos/2015/04/03/family-office-oversight-is-your-brokers-1099-correct-part-2/
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Family Office Oversight: Is Your Broker's 1099 Correct? -- Part 2
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Family Office Oversight: Is Your Broker's 1099 Correct? -- Part 2
In the first installment of this series on a family office’s oversight and administration of cost basis, we gave a few simple illustrations of how a brokerage firm’s 1099 can provide incomplete or even incorrect basis information. Using a brokerage firm’s 1099 summary information is a risky proposition at best. It can lead to either understatement of gain or overstatement of gain. In this episode, we will turn our attention to bonds.
If a bond is bought at any amount above par, its basis is reduced from acquisition date to maturity via a straight-line calculation. This is the case for taxable and tax-exempt bonds. This process is called amortization. Whether you hold a bond to maturity or sell a bond prior to maturity, you cannot claim the dollar amount of amortization as a capital loss. Thus, if held until maturity, basis is reduced to par value and you can claim no loss. If the bond is sold prior to maturity, you need to determine the amortized basis on the date of sale and compute the gain/loss relative to that amortized basis. It is a two-step process.
For taxable bonds, buying at a premium is particularly stinging. Consider two five-year bonds. One is priced at par and has a 4% coupon. The second is priced at 105% of par and has a 5% coupon. Both bonds have a yield to maturity of 4%. However, the holder of the premium bond will pay tax on the full 5% and receive no deduction for the 1% per year decline in value as it moves towards maturity.
As we turn to bonds purchased at a discount, things get a little complicated. If a bond is bought at a discount, you need to determine whether the Original Issue Discount (OID) rule applies. The rule applies to taxable and tax-exempt bonds. The rule applies even if you buy a bond that was purchased subsequent to its original issue and whether or not the OID rule applied at its original issue. In essence, if the discount from par value is less than 0.25% multiplied by the years to maturity, then the OID rule does not apply. If the discount from par value is greater than that calculation, then the OID rule does apply.
If the OID rule does not apply and you hold the bond to maturity, the entire discount is taxed at maturity and it is taxed at your capital gain rate. If the OID rule does not apply and you sell the bond prior to maturity, you calculate the gain or loss as you would for the disposition of any other capital asset.
If the OID rule applies, the rule does the reverse of what the premium rule does for premium bonds and the process is called accretion. Basis is increased from acquisition date to maturity via a straight-line calculation. Again, the rule applies to taxable and tax-exempt bonds. If the bond is sold prior to maturity, you need to determine the accreted basis on the date of sale and compute the gain/loss relative to that accreted basis. If the bond is held to maturity, basis is accreted to par value.
With bonds purchased at a premium, the decline in basis attributable to amortization is not recognized as a loss. However, with bonds purchased at a discount, the increase in basis attributable to accretion is taxed . . . and it is taxed as ordinary income as opposed to a capital gain. This is very much a “heads I win, tails you lose” proposition in the Internal Revenue Code. What is worse is that accretion on tax-exempt bonds is taxed.
The key take-away is that if the OID rule applies to a given bond – including tax-exempt bonds – one must calculate two things: 1) accretion that will be taxed at your ordinary income rate and 2) gain/loss relative to accreted basis that will be taxed at your capital gain rate.
For tax-exempt bonds, buying at a discount is a problem. The part of your yield to maturity attributable to accretion will be taxed as ordinary income.
To make things a little flexible, if the OID rule applies to a given bond, you can 1) claim the accreted basis as income each year or 2) you can claim the accreted basis as income at maturity/upon sale.
To make things a little more complex, if that is even possible, some brokerage firms track amortized/accreted basis on bonds and some don't. Of the brokerage firms that do, some allow the account to elect whether or not to include accretion on your 1099. For others that do track these, some automatically include accretion on your 1099. You need to check.
In our next installment, we will discuss various types of asset acquisitions and how brokerage firms can record incorrect basis information.
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b3a9491fe72828176b7e45a27eafa5bf
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/toddganos/2019/07/12/out-of-state-trusts-with-north-carolina-beneficiaries-apply-for-tax-refund-now/
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Out-Of-State Trusts With North Carolina Beneficiaries, Apply For Tax Refund NOW
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Out-Of-State Trusts With North Carolina Beneficiaries, Apply For Tax Refund NOW
In the last article of this column, we discussed two big taxpayer wins delivered by the US Supreme Court. One of those wins struck down North Carolina’s statute that imposed income tax on out-of-state trusts with in-state beneficiaries.
To quickly recap, under long-standing rules:
The trustee’s state of residency could tax all trust income from sources worldwide. If the trust received income from another jurisdiction -- such as rental income or business operations -- that other state could tax that income and the trustee’s home jurisdiction would offer a tax credit to the trust to avoid double-taxation. If a beneficiary received distributions of income, a few things happen. First, the beneficiary will pay tax to trustee’s state of residency (if that state has income tax). Second, the beneficiary will pay tax to her / his home state and that home state would offer a tax credit to the beneficiary to avoid double-taxation. Third, the trust would receive a deduction equal to the amount distributed to the beneficiary to avoid double-taxation.
How much income does a beneficiary recognize? The amount actually distributed to the beneficiary AND the amount to which the beneficiary has a non-contingent right to receive (whether received or not).
This “non-contingent right to receive” sounds odd. But, it has an analogue that should seem familiar to many. When does a shareholder recognize a dividend as income for tax purposes? When it is declared as opposed to when it is received. A dividend declaration is when the board of directors grants a non-contingent right to the shareholder of the dividend amount. At some later point in time, the dividend is paid. Similarly, a beneficiary recognizes income for tax purposes when a trustee declares a non-contingent right to the beneficiary of the distribution amount. At some later point in time, the distribution is paid.
So, under these long-standing rules, if 1) the trustee is not a resident of a state, 2) the trust has no assets in that state, and 3) the trust has no income from that state, then the only thing that state has the ability to tax is income distributed (if any) to an in-state beneficiary.
But, under these exact circumstances, in utter disregard of these long-standing rules and over 150 years of US Supreme Court cases affirming these rules, North Carolina sought to assess income tax on ALL trust income instead of the amount distributed to in-state beneficiaries.
One taxpayer wasn’t going to put up with it, fought it, and won. As a result of its loss, the North Carolina Department of Revenue issued a notice (click here) that describes how similarly situated trusts / trustees who paid taxes to the state can apply for a refund. Review the notice. If your trust fits the bill and is within the statute of limitations to claim a refund, you should immediately file a claim.
If your trust fits the bill but is past the statute of limitations, talk with an attorney. It might be argued that North Carolina was acting under “color of law” when it violated your Constitutional rights and, as such, the statute of limitations is invalid. Don’t know if this argument would stand the test in court but it might be your only / best theory.
Best of luck.
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ce1c9c09b5428d7ca7f3cbb58f353e00
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/toddhixon/2012/04/04/is-crowdfunding-a-boon-or-a-disaster/
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Is CrowdFunding A Boon, Or A Disaster?
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Is CrowdFunding A Boon, Or A Disaster?
The JOBS act is good news for entrepreneurs and venture investors in several ways. An easier the path to public markets for start-ups is a huge strategic win, as the venture community’s biggest problem has been a shortfall in exit proceeds. Kudos to those in Congress, NVCA, and the venture community who made this happen.
Usually attributed to Gartner Group
The most interesting feature of the JOBS act is legalization of “CrowdFunding”, which allows private companies to raise capital from any investor (not just deep-pocketed “accredited” investors) subject to simple rules: no more than $1 million per year, no more than $10,000 or 10% of an investor’s annual income or net worth. [However, the SEC will make more rules.] And, the JOBS act authorizes companies to solicit investments from the public via typical marketing channels. Previously advertising and other broadcast marketing was strictly prohibited; companies could only solicit investments from people with whom they had a relationship or an introduction. Let’s explore what this means for the venture community.
1. CrowdFunding will bring more money to the table, which will enable more companies to be started. How much more is hard to gauge, however, here’s a stab at it. Pre-CrowdFunding, investors in private companies (“angels”) were required to have wealth and/or income that put then in or near the notorious top “One Percent” of U.S. households. The One Percent owns 61% of financial securities*. Hence, extending angel investing to “Joe and Josephine Ordinary” expands the pool of money by 64% at most. Probably the effective expansion of the pool is much less due to the [hopefully] smaller risk appetite of people with less wealth: my SWAG is 10%-20%. But near term there could be a surge of money into ventures since J. Ordinary presumably has appetite for private stocks and none on the balance sheet. This wave is likely to be followed by a trough as J. Ordinary satisfies his/her appetite and pauses to evaluate how it’s going.
2. Intermediaries Will Emerge. It’s likely that CrowdFunding portals will emerge where entrepreneurs present their businesses, perhaps via video, written materials and FAQs are available, and investors can subscribe. Raising $1 million in sub-$10k checks face-to-face would be painful. Probably only the first “micro-seed” round will be face-to-face.
3. Entrepreneurs will give it a hearty try. CrowdFunding is a new source of money, and raising a CrowdRound may be simpler than an angel or venture round. Conventional angel fund-raising can be frustrating: the process can be slow, entrepreneurs have to respond to questions coming from many people with different perspectives, and some angels want to get involved in management. VCs are frustrating too: another process to deal with, they say no 95% of the time, and they really get involved. CrowdFunding via a portal could be much more simple and time-efficient.
4. The mix of businesses funded will be different. J. Ordinary will probably invest in things that s/he finds understandable and exciting. So Internet media, smart phone apps, medical devices, and perhaps new categories might do well, while optical add/drop multiplexers and enterprise software might find less support. There’s a similar phenomenon with angel investing: e.g., medical devices, which are often easy for laymen to understand, are twice as popular with angel investors than with venture funds**.
5. CrowdFunding capital may be available in regions where angel capital is scarce. Nearly half of angel investment occurs in California and New England**. If portals develop, CrowdFunding could be a national market, making more capital available in other places like the Mid-Atlantic, where there are good entrepreneurs but very few angels.
6. Follow-on funding will be a challenge. Angels often re-up in their investments, and VC funds almost always invest at least twice. A re-up from J. Ordinary will probably be hard to count on, due to a lack of cash or loss of interest in private investing.
7. There will be a correction. Much has been said about the potential for promoters to abuse the naiveté of J. Ordinary. I expect that the CrowdFunding market will follow an innovation cycle like many others [see chart above], with a peak of enthusiasm followed by a trough of disillusionment, before achieving fruitful maturity.
Democratization of venture investing will be a good thing on balance. Venture capital thrives by trying new things. And, as one of the Congressional sponsors of the JOBS bill put it, “venture capital is no longer the protected preserve of the rich.” Some new investors will prosper, and a few become expert. Others will learn what a senior colleague kindly told me when I became a VC 13 years ago: “It’s a lot harder than it looks.” The odds that an angel investment performs like Facebook are about 500,000:1: tens of thousand of companies receive angel funding annually, a few thousand receive venture funding, a few hundred achieve a good exit, and a Google or Facebook happen once in a decade. CrowdFunding will increase the number of new starts, making this success funnel even steeper. Only a few CrowdFunding investors will strike it rich. But, we all win when a broader range of Americans get involved in entrepreneurship.
* E. Wolff of NYU: http://www.levyinstitute.org/pubs/wp_589.pdf
** 57% of angel health care investment dollars went to medical devices in 2010, versus ~33% of venture capital health care investments. Source: Silicon Valley Bank 2011 Halo Report, NVCA 2010 Yearbook.
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48392eb7b68415b0d22b929c3937356f
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/toddhixon/2013/08/19/are-all-those-android-tablets-really-collecting-dust/
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Are All Those Android Tablets Really Collecting Dust?
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Are All Those Android Tablets Really Collecting Dust?
Android Tablets: Tim Cook is not a fan. (Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife)
CHART OF THE DAY: When Will People Actually Use Android Tablets? - Business Insider.
I often see data/analysis that says Android smart devices (phones and tablets) are used much less than iOS devices. The latest installment is linked above: its main points:
1. Android tablets have about 50% market share worldwide, but only about 25% share of web browsing via tablets. It's a similar story for Android phones: well above 50% global market share, but only 30% browsing share.
2. Android tablets are off to a bit slower start than Android phones as measured by browsing share, especially outside of Asia.
Apple CEO Tim Cook uses data like this to diss Android: "I don't know what these other tablets [code for Android] are doing. They must be in warehouses, or on store shelves, or maybe in somebody's bottom drawer!" (source).
What is happening? I'm putting up some hypotheses here, partly supported by data.
Data from a survey of 1,400 tablet owners conducted by CivicScience.com
1. The primary application for tablets (and certainly phones) is communication, some of which involves the browser but most does not: it's e-mail, chat, Skype, etc. The other main usage modes, media/games and work, are also not browser-centric. So browsing share is not a strong indicator of device usage.
2. Android devices sell for a lot less than the corresponding i-devices: the popular Android tablets sell for about $250, which is probably half of Apple's average price. They are selling to people with less propensity to spend on digital toys, which probably carries over to the apps and media used on tablets and phones. Many people I know have given these tablets to children who use them to watch movies and play simple games.
3. Android market share is weighted away from the U.S. and towards Asia: for phones and more so for tablets. That points to lower income customers (as above), and also potential cultural differences.
4. App downloads from Google Play recently passed app downloads from the Apple App store. This was powered by a surge in Android app downloads in Japan and South Korea in Q1 2013, followed by another surge in India and Russia during Q2 2013. Apple still leads Google Play in app revenue by 130%, but Google is catching up fast: two years ago Apple's lead was 400%. See more in the first article linked at left.
The picture that emerges for me is: Apple is strong with high-income western customers who are web-savvy, early adopters, and brand-conscious. Android is strong with second-wave buyers of smart mobile devices who are lower-income, eager to participate in the mobile web with more-constrained resources, and frequently Asian. Android is also strong with the geek community. Android's challenge is to monetize this customer base, especially on the tablet (the phone monetizes via the subscriber plan). Free downloads with a back-end revenue model (ads, "fremium", in-app purchase, etc.) make sense here; much of this revenue will not show up in the app store. Look for other creative ideas too, like a generalized platform for the lock-screen ads similar to the ads Amazon displays on its lower-priced Android tablets.
The center of gravity of the customer base is shifting to Android, especially in Asia, which grows steadily in strategic importance. As these customers become wealthier and more web-savvy, and as the content offerings and business models aimed at them develop, the revenue will shift too. Apple's challenge is to be competitive in this market. The iPad mini and the expected lower-priced iPhone 5 variant are moves in this direction.
So no, I don't believe all those Android tablets are just gathering dust. And, while a certain amount of trash-talk is part of business, I hope that the boys and girls in Cupertino are taking the Android threat very seriously.
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d6c6a47079990d64edd92d4bca24153a
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/toddhixon/2013/08/28/beware-of-start-ups-that-want-to-pivot/
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Beware Of Startups That Want To Pivot
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Beware Of Startups That Want To Pivot
The term "pivot" has gained aura and prominence, in large measure due to its place in Eric Ries' "lean start-up" method. Eric outlines some of his thinking in the video linked below.
Eric uses "pivot" to mean a change in the path you take to achieve your vision: maintain the vision, but keep experimenting to find the best path. He has some great examples of successful pivots. My experience lines up with this: almost every successful start-up that I know stumbled, learned, and modified key aspects of its approach along the way.
And, the successful start-ups that I know all succeeded with a vision that bore a strong resemblance to vision we bought into. Their pivots typically focused on go-to-market strategy:
The target customer or market The key elements of the product or value proposition The business model: how to develop revenue Channels of distribution
One of my first successful venture investments, Site59.com, had a brilliant vision: create mini-vacation packages assembled at the last minute from air travel, hotel accommodation, and other travel services and sell them on the web. They key insight was: airlines and hotels know two weeks out that they will have unused inventory, and they will sell it very cheap if the price is not revealed. The mini-packages disguised the price of each component, and made it easy for customers to buy. The market was potentially large, and we could imagine this idea spreading fast among busy urban professionals. It takes relationships and real technology to pull information from reservations systems and construct packages automatically, so there were barriers to entry. And the team, by the way, was terrific. Michelle Peluso, the CEO, who was mid-twenties at the time, went on to be CEO of Travelocity and is now Chief Marketing Officer at Citibank.
But, the business did not quite go viral, even among the young sophisticates in Manhattan, despite energetic "guerrilla marketing", and acquiring consumers one by one can be slow and expensive. We felt this almost as a personal affront and redoubled our efforts, but money was running short. I think it was a potential investor who suggested to us that we pivot to a wholesale distribution strategy ("B2B2C", in the argot of the time). We partnered up with Yahoo travel, and eventually Site59 powered last minute package offers for airline sites, travel portals, and other sites. We almost got a great exit and then September 11 happened, but we regrouped, grew further, and sold successfully to Travelocity. In hindsight it was a bit of an acqui-hire, as the Site59 team soon took over Travelocity. This is a good example of a pivot: the vision was realized, a strong team learned and adapted fast, and entrepreneurs and investors alike had a happy ending.
And, here's how a pivot can be a money pit. The team has been pursuing its vision for several years. The product looks good (it usually does, in the eyes of its true believers) but the dogs are not eating the dog food. Product variants and go-to-market strategies have been tried, with incremental success. At a board meeting the team unexpectedly rolls out a detailed proposal for a new line of business that you can see will quickly become the focus of the company. In fact, they've done some experiments already and the early numbers look good. But, the new vision is only loosely related to the original vision for which the investors signed up.
This is an awkward situation. The investors and the entrepreneurs have been working together for a long time, supporting each other, and have a close relationship. As an investor, you can see that the team has given up the original vision and is committed to the new one. And, you know that any new investor in the company will pay close attention to the support coming from the inside investors, who know the situation best. If you say "no", it's probably going to be a write-off and maybe broken relationships.
But, take a step back here, and be a good, hard-nosed steward of other people's (and your own) money, which is what we VCs are. This is basically a new investment with a team we know. Ask all the key questions about market potential, the power of the value proposition, competitive advantage, technical feasibility, scalability, exit opportunities, etc. Do you really believe in this new vision? Can the company focus its efforts on the new vision effectively, or is it burdened with obligations and complexity due to its history? And, honestly, how do you feel about the team, now that you've lived with them for some years? Fundamentally, the question is: is this your best new investment opportunity? Maybe not, and maybe the team would be better off to wind this one down, go back to concept mode, and found a fresh company based on a terrific, new idea.
I've seen one of these big, late pivots succeed brilliantly, although for us it was a fresh deal, as we entered at the restart. I've seen a lot of them fizzle: they usually turn out to be mediocre ideas. Are the odds different than early-stage deals as a whole? Hard to say.
The key point is: investors and entrepreneurs both need to do a mental pivot to a fresh perspective on the company, and not get trapped by inertia. Big/late pivots are a new commitment. Go ahead if you believe strongly in the vision and the team. Otherwise it's time to take your lumps.
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8f575cf8197284a38586af6b5c32c0ed
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/toddhixon/2013/10/04/for-most-small-companies-patents-are-just-about-worthless/
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For Most Small Companies Patents Are Just About Worthless
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For Most Small Companies Patents Are Just About Worthless
Update (Oct 7, 2014): It looks like patents are often useless for big companies, too. See the linked article on the wasteful smart phone patent litigation.
A widespread meme in the tech community holds that patents are a path to riches: an entrepreneur who solves a key technical problem and receives a patent can build a business on the technology and ride to glory. Xerox and Polaroid are celebrated examples (both now nearly extinct). But, IMHO, for most small companies today, patents are just about worthless. Many entrepreneurs misunderstand the value patents create, and how difficult they are to enforce.
It's not that simple ...
A patent is a sword, not a shield. It gives you the right to attack a competitor who makes commercial use of ("infringes") your patented technology. Contrary to common belief, it does not give you the right to practice your technology free of interference.
Patents are often quite narrow and hence can be circumvented: they might apply to a specific design element or combination of characteristics. They have effect only in the jurisdiction of the patent-granting authority: effective world coverage requires six to ten patents in different geographies.
The patented intellectual property is usually not sufficient to deliver the product. Lots of other intellectual property is needed, too, and others often have patents on some of that.
And, frequently two issued patents arguably describe the same thing. I once encountered two electronic circuit design patents that were identical except for the way in which the components are laid out (which does not affect function). Each design had received a patent (and the same person at the patent office had awarded both patents).
A murky situation often results. Let's say a new company ("TechCo) solves a key technical problem that enables new value for customers and launches a new business. But, TechCo will need to use a lot of other technology to build and deliver a complete product, e.g., the product design might be protected by a patent, but the manufacturing process might be subject to another company's "blocking" patent. And it won't always be clear how effective that blocking patent is: perhaps it's been issued, but arguably it’s vague or not original (grounds for invalidation), and until now the patent holder has not enforced it. Does TechCo have a problem? That’s a “definite maybe". The choice is to just go ahead and see, or seek a license, which could well be denied and will definitely get the patent holder's attention.
Enforcing your patent in the courts is a nightmare. Plan on 3-5 years and $3-$5 million to get to a judgment. And then there is the appeal ... Usually the stakes and time frame will be too much for a start-up. One of my portfolio companies sued a big company for infringement, and the judge has ruled that infringement occurred, but there are many legal maneuvers available, and the litigation clock and meter tick on in year four. We think the big company wants to make a statement: "let this be a lesson to small companies that have the temerity to sue us for infringement ..." Patent litigation is the true sport of kings.
It costs $20k-$30k to file a final (“utility”) patent. Some small companies make dozens of filings, spending a good fraction of a million dollars. When might this investment pay off?
There are situations where patents pay off. Drugs are a good example. Drugs are based on unique molecules that sell mainly on technical merits: efficacy, side effects, etc. Once this data is in, most successful drug start-ups are bought by a big drug company that has sales and manufacturing capability and lots of lawyers. The patent is indeed the lynchpin of value.
In the information technology world, patents have the most value in the hands of big companies, as part of patent “portfolios” so large that any competitor is bound to infringe some of them. They use this weapon to attack competitors (usually smaller ones) that lack patent portfolios: e.g., the lawsuits against Google ’s Android operating system. To defend itself, Google acquired Motorola, which owned a large relevant patent portfolio. Now Google can counter-sue. The usual result among the big companies is a stand-off, reciprocal licensing, or a patent pool wherein the major competitors share their patents, and new entrants are out in the cold. Five of the top global producers of light emitting diodes, for example, have established a formidable patent pool.
So it’s true that patents will be worth something when a company is acquired, but in my experience the value here is often not large. E.g., a company that had about 100 patents, some of them significant, was sold recently. The offers received indicate that the value of the patents alone was on the order of $10 million: under $100,000 per patent, which pays for the lawyers but very little of the R&D.
Ironically, patents can have more value to “patent trolls” than to small operating companies. Patent trolls buy up patents and use them to extract royalties from operating companies that have infringed them. They don’t sell any products, so they are not vulnerable to counter-suits. Patent trolls have had some notable successes, e.g., the $800m settlement RIM paid in its heyday.
My suggestions for a small technology companies*:
Don’t base your business strategy on patents. And don’t try to raise money primarily on the basis of patents; most likely this will fail and you will appear naïve. It’s worthwhile to file patents for your key inventions in the U.S. (what patent-savvy universities do), but don’t go much beyond that. Pay close attention to patents that others hold which might enable competitors to block you. In my experience “freedom to operate” is more important when evaluating a business plan than patent ownership. It will rarely make sense for a small company to sue a big company for patent infringement. The lawyers will probably be the winners. Non-patent intellectual property strategies can hold off copycats effectively. Trade secrets (parts of the product or production technology that are hard for competitors to replicate), knowledge of customers, and superior rate of innovation work best. Build your business on real competitive advantages: product value-in-use, customer relationships, rapid innovation. Don’t count on patents to defend you from your competitors.
==================
*With some exceptions, such as drug companies.
Image credit: marigranula / 123RF Stock Photo
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d785d744cc236ea56c8f8fcc28a62cd6
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/toddhixon/2014/07/18/how-to-recognize-a-great-entrepreneur/
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How Do You Recognize A Great Entrepreneur?
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How Do You Recognize A Great Entrepreneur?
Investors mostly agree that choosing top-performing entrepreneurs is probably the most important factor in their success. But how you identify a great entrepreneur is not so clear cut.
What do we look for? When we (an early stage venture fund) decide to back an entrepreneur, want to see a track record of success, ideally as a CEO, or C-level executive in a successful startup, deep knowledge of the industry the venture wants to disrupt (to fix it you need to understand it), and high-level contacts with potential customers and partners. Investor contacts are good too.
And, we look for key skills and personal characteristics. High-potential CEOs have these traits:
• Drive is probably most important factor: ferocious focus on success, and pragmatic willingness to do whatever it takes (within ethical bounds). For me this helps explain why recent immigrant CEOs are so successful — they are driven to “make it” in the US — and why some done-it-before executives are not successful — they may have acquired a bit of “affluenza”.
• CEOs need to be very effective in sell mode. This is oxygen for a venture: the CEO is the sales force, fund-raiser, and head recruiter at the beginning. His or her sales skills need to be flexible and sophisticated to adapt to different types of selling situations. Fund-raising is a litmus test: the CEO needs to be able to create excitement and credibility with investors, not just us but also other investors whose help will be needed down the road.
• Startup CEOs must have vision: a big, exciting opportunity is the reason that everyone comes to the party.
• And startup CEOs need to be strategists: they can’t win by brute force, so they need to see how to exploit the weaknesses of incumbents, find dissatisfied and under-valued customers, and build a business model that gains power as it grows and ultimately disrupts incumbents. Then they need to adapt the strategy when circumstances change or it fails to work.
• At the same time, they need to be doers: to get the product finished and shipped, the sales pipeline prioritized and closed, and the customers delighted, all with minimum spend.
• Last but not least, startup CEOs need to be leaders who can motivate the team to work together and make extraordinary efforts in the face of deep adversity: money running out, lead customer is going slow, product not quite working yet, etc.
These traits are also good, if kept in balance:
• Startup CEOs need to be very persuasive (recall Steve Jobs' "reality distortion field"), but maintaining trust is vital. Investors, customers, and partners rely on their estimate of what they can deliver. Forecasts are always wrong, and venture CEOs are always optimists, but if this goes to far, it becomes manipulation and breaks trust, and that usually leads to disaster.
• CEOs need to persevere and stay the course when the going gets tough. But, this cannot extend to inflexibility. Few plans carry through to exit without major changes; hence teams that can’t adapt typically fail. The best CEOs constantly ask themselves and their teams what could kill their strategy, and they adapt, before the money runs out.
At the end the decision to back an entrepreneur is a gut call: some data mixed with a lot of experience and intuition. Often we face a decision to back a a first-time CEO. Why would you do this? Because so many landmark startup successes have been led by a first time CEO: Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Michael Dell, Jerry Wang (the first time), Jeff Bezos, and Mark Zuckerberg, to name a few. Sometimes you need to look beyond the objective data to the person. Bear in mind that talent can overcome lack of experience, but experience rarely overcomes lack of talent.
It’s common to pair a brilliant but unproven young CEO with a more experienced executive. This can be quite successful: e.g., Larry Page and Eric Schmitt, or Mark Zuckerberg and Cheryl Sandberg. But it’s tricky and can blow up dramatically if the chemistry is not right: Steve Jobs and John Sculley come to mind.
The investor/CEO relationship is a five to ten year commitment, and the stakes are high. You have to enter the relationship with conviction: gather all the facts you can, decide if you truly believe, and take the leap.
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09e2a9c16d365fb9712c55ca82fabd01
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/toddhixon/2015/10/22/are-we-patients-consumers-or-customers/
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Are We Patients, Consumers, Or Customers?
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Are We Patients, Consumers, Or Customers?
Dr. Robert Pearl posted on this question two weeks ago. His background is medicine, and mine is business, so I will offer my own take from a business perspective.
Dr. Pearl concludes that we are both consumers and patients. In some situations we can be consumers, voting with our dollars when we engage with the health care system. When you need a basic pain medication, for example, you can choose a branded product like Advil® or its generic, Ibuprofen, you know that there are many places to buy it, and the risk from making once choice versus another is not great. And sometimes we really can’t be consumers: when we are incapacitated, in need of technically-complex advice, or facing hard facts and decisions, consumerism is not an option. In this situation we depend on guidance and treatment from medical providers.
This ebb and flow of the power relationship between provider and consumer is not unique to medicine. Many markets cycle between conditions where consumers have the upper hand (“buyers’ market”) and those where providers have the upper hand (“sellers’ market”). And many businesses have some components that are commoditized (like Ibuprofen) and some that are “sticky”, meaning that it is hard to substitute one provider for another.
For business people, the concept of a "customer" transcends the ebb and flow of power in the buyer/seller relationship. Business people know that their businesses exist because they create value for customers and earn their trust. Respect for the customer is core to the ethos of businesses that are built to last. Businesses that fail to show respect for customers often pay a harsh price, as happened to various financial institutions in the last decade.
Consumerism is gaining ground in medicine, but the concept of the customer has a long way to go, particularly for individual customers. Daraprim is a dramatic example: Turing Pharmaceuticals bought this old drug with no good substitute and raised its price 50x, putting the cost per year for a patient into the $100s of thousands. This shows zero respect for the customer.
Although less dramatic, there are numerous other examples in healthcare. Many new drugs have been priced at 5 or 6 figures per year or course of treatment, and while the justification is typically better than for Daraprim, it appears that some pharma companies are exploring how high they can take pricing. Individual patients mostly have little recourse here. However, pharma companies benefit from a great deal of public support: patent protection, NIH-funded research, and the forbearance of the U.S. government from using tough tactics to hold down drug prices as other rich countries do. Failure to respect customers (collectively) here may prove costly, as evidenced by Hillary Clinton’s plan to take on excessive drug pricing.
Stephen Brill in his famous article unearths similar behavior by hospitals: outrageous charges to uninsured patients at a time of great vulnerability. The reaction from the public and political leaders has been less sharp here, but government has taken action. Massachusetts, for example, has imposed overall price increase caps on hospitals, and CMS released Medicare data showing that hospitals in the same region charge dramatically different prices for the same service, with no apparent justification.
The term “patient” lies at the root level of this issue. Calling your customer a “patient” inevitably communicates a lack of respect. For me it calls to mind the image of a sick person waiting long past appointment time to see a doctor. Perhaps the doctor is late due to a medical emergency. But it’s also believable that s/he is late due to overbooking to squeeze every last dollar out of the day, a golf game that ran a bit long, or just a lack of commitment to keeping the schedule. Personally I have seen all of these situations. Using the word “patient” is not just a tradition, as Dr. Pearl characterizes it. It’s a mindset, too.
The increasingly fragmented and transactional nature of medicine weakens the relationships on which the concept of customer is based. Fifty years ago the family doctor provided most of the medical care needed by a family and followed family members into the hospital. Today most doctors are specialists who are brought in to provide a specific service; they often have little or no continuity with the patient. Family doctors’ time budget with patients is squeezed, so more care is passed on to specialists, and family doctors hand off hospitalized patients to “hospitalists”.
Some health care innovators are basing their businesses on the concept of customer and benefitting from it. CVS is a good example. It has expanded its range of services to include a large part of primary care: common illnesses, vaccinations, minor wounds, wellness services, and common lab tests. CVS aims to strengthen the relationship with the customer, keep him or her coming back to the store, and make money across its mix of products and over time. Health insurance companies are learning to identify their most attractive customers and making extra efforts to keep them loyal. Retainer-based primary care providers like Iora Health (a venture-backed start-up) and forward thinking corporate plan sponsors like Comcast are investing more resources in strong relationships between primary care providers and their customers because they see multiple benefits: better health and lower and more cost-effective usage of advanced medical care.
As individuals, we are sometimes patients, and sometimes consumers, but we are always customers, and healthcare providers that embrace that view will do better in long run.
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2c29694a831470f47c82fd7a92453954
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/toddhixon/2015/12/09/digital-therapeutics-have-huge-promise-and-they-are-real-today/
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Digital Therapeutics Have Huge Promise And They Are Real Today
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Digital Therapeutics Have Huge Promise And They Are Real Today
Digital therapeutics have made surprising progress. This is good news, because digital therapeutics are typically cheap, and they have shown impressive ability to change behavior, one of the most important challenges in healthcare.
Dr. Joe Kvedar of Partners Healthcare and his co-authors recently published a very useful book, The Internet Of Healthy Things. Joe has led Partners’ efforts in connected health (using technology to connect Partners’ medical resources to patients outside the hospital) for 20 years, beginning before the era of smart phones and web-based services. Much of his material is familiar to me, however, I was quite impressed by the progress he describes on multiple fronts with digital therapeutics.
The term “digital therapeutics” refers to using a digital system to treat a medical condition, much as one might use a drug, a human counselor, or surgery. Digital therapeutics are used both stand-alone and in combination with conventional therapies.
Digital therapeutics excite me because they can effect behavior change, and behavior change is vital to progress against two major challenges facing healthcare in developed countries: chronic diseases, which drive over 80% of U.S. healthcare spending are strongly rooted in unhealthy behaviors, and poor drug compliance, a $300 billion problem in the U.S. (1). Conventional medical treatment struggles to change patient behavior and has not been able to solve the drug adherence problem.
Kvedar cites a surprising number of successful digital therapeutics (2):
Proteus (a California startup) has developed an ingestible radio tag that, when incorporated into pills, communicates with a sensor device worn on the abdomen. Together they track when medications are taken and continuously record vital signs of the user. The data enables providers to monitor drug adherence and analyze the effect of the drug and the user’s vital signs. This data is motivating for users: they know their providers are tracking their progress [Kvedar calls this the “sentinel effect”], and they can see better the connection between taking their medication, their lifestyle choices, and how well they are doing. The Proteus product has received FDA clearance as a medical sensor and is in commercial use in the U.S. and by the U.K. National Health Service.
Partners Connected Health conducted an internal study of teen-agers with asthma. They are a notoriously hard population to manage to compliance with medication and behavior regimens, for just the reasons you might suspect. As a result, they are frequent fliers to the emergency room creating high family stress and costs. Partners created a private Facebook group for it’s asthmatic teen-agers. The results were remarkable: engagement and compliance soared. The level of asthma control achieved was equal or better than that measured for a new asthma inhaler product. And the teen-agers liked the approach so much that they petitioned Partners to extend the study.
In another internal study, Partners designed an app to help cancer survivors manage pain during cancer treatment. Pain is common, but survivors report it to providers in only 35% of occurrences. The app, which made it easy to report pain without feeling like a complainer and order refills of palliative medications, increased the reporting rate to 80%. The pay-off here is quality of life.
Omada Health (a startup) has created “Prevent”, a digital, on-line, interactive lifestyle intervention program targeted to people with pre-diabetes. The Omada program involves human health coaches, however, the digital platform enables them to be highly efficient and timely in their interactions with users. It is approved by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. Peer-reviewed studies show that Omada works as well and sometimes better than face-to-face counseling. Users of Prevent achieved significant reductions in weight and A1c (a blood sugar measure that is a key biomarker for diabetes risk) and sustained them for two years, with average A1c levels dropping below the pre-diabetic threshold, in contrast to the expected progression to higher levels.
WellDoc’s BlueStar product guides diabetic people to optimize their insulin doses (amount and time) to control their blood sugar, and it shows them how their need for insulin interacts with their behavior. The app uses data and algorithms to provide what the FDA considers medical advice. In 2013 BlueStar was the first mobile therapy to be approved by the FDA as a Class II medical device. BlueStar’s results are impressive: clinical trials showed that BlueStar produced reductions in A1c levels over 2x the reductions achieved by people using the usual standard of care, and 2x the threshold for approval for a new diabetes drug.
Twine is a startup digital therapeutics company helping people with hypertension (high blood pressure). Its approach is broadly similar to Omada. And results have been strong: a 2014 study reported that 100% of users brought their blood pressure down to 140/90 (below the threshold for Stage 1 hypertension) within 90 days, versus about 30% typical success rate with conventional therapy (3).
And, there are other examples of digital therapeutics that are building impressive records of engagement effectiveness, particularly in the area of nutrition and healthy eating.
The take-aways: digital therapeutics can be as or more effective than conventional therapies which are typically based on drugs and intermittent face-to-face coaching. Digital therapeutics are much more scalable than drug-based therapies and human providers, which have high variable cost, and can be highly cost-effective for that reason. And [this bears repeating] they are effective in changing behavior, which is the biggest challenge to 21st century healthcare in the U.S.
But digital therapeutics require new skills and approaches to design, often drawn from the consumer internet, and new types of interaction and skill sets for providers. People across the medical spectrum will need to learn to think a bit outside the [pill] box.
I am a partner in NAV.VC, a venture capital fund. Neither I nor NAV.VC have a financial interest in any of the companies mentioned in this post. We do invest in similar companies.
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d8f89a0517cdc749a691e4c503dfe50a
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/toddhixon/2016/04/08/the-boston-tech-start-up-ecosystem-is-making-a-strong-comeback/
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The Boston Tech Startup Ecosystem Is Making A Strong Comeback
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The Boston Tech Startup Ecosystem Is Making A Strong Comeback
It has been a tough decade for tech startups (businesses driven by information and physical technologies) in Boston (1). This seems odd because Boston has enormous core strengths in tech derived from MIT, Harvard, and other universities and a long history of computer science technology development.
You can see the struggle in tech startups most clearly in the exit data: exits are the main pay day for entrepreneurs and their investors. In the last five years there have been just 19 tech exits valued above $200 million with a total value of $11.4 billion in the Boston tech sector. Only three of them were "unicorns" valued above $1 billion. The total US market saw 246 tech exits valued above $200 million, with a total value of $326 billion, and 37 unicorn exits (2). Boston tech investing was only 5% of the action. The lack of exits has re-shaped the venture capital industry in Boston. Many firms have reallocated their staff and capital to either their west coast offices or to life sciences investing. Several Boston tech focused firms have had difficulty raising new funds.
Beyond a focus on business customers, the Boston exits lack a shared driving force. The biggest exit, Wayfair , a consumer-facing e-commerce company, is not a typical Boston tech company. Computer science is a diffuse underlying theme, taking in Endeca, Trusteer, Rapid7, Demandware, Vertica, Dynatrace, and Aveksa, about 1/3 of the exits. But these companies' specific technologies are diverse. There are a couple of deals is rising areas -- Amazon Robotics (fka Kiva) in robotics, Care.com and HealthcareSource in healthcare. The rest are scattered across the tech map.
This is quite different from Silicon Valley, where the web and social networking are pervasive driving forces for innovation with many companies in each category, or the Boston bio-tech ecosystem, which is powered by new understanding of disease processes at the gene and protein level, and the application of big data to healthcare. Silicon Valley is a big market so the number of companies in any category there is likely to be bigger, but this speaks to the need for smaller markets to have focus, and that is what Boston has achieved in biotech, where it leads the world in startup activity.
Source: Pitchbook database
The pace of venture capital investment is now rising again strongly in Boston, as you can see from the chart above. The boom in life sciences investing is driving a large part of this resurgence. But there is good growth in tech investing as well.
Source: Pitchbook database
The rising tide of mobile and SaaS based businesses is the biggest driver of tech growth. This reflects nationwide strength in investment driven by the mobile ecosystem and SaaS business models, and Boston is getting a good share. On top of that, businesses driven by Intelligent Systems (including Robotics, & New Manufacturing) and Digital Healthcare are showing good growth, and FinTech, EdTech, and Internet of Things have long term potential but are still small. These areas more than offset the decline in E-Commerce and Marketing businesses, which are maturing, and CleanTech and NanoTech, which have never delivered on their promise.
The good news for Boston is the surge in innovation in an area where Boston is strong: Intelligent Systems, embodied in both the cloud and physical systems at the edge of the network (i.e., robots). This wave has been building for a long time, going back to the founding of the MIT Artificial Intelligence Lab in 1959. The recent victory of a computer over a human champion in the very complex game of Go marks a threshold and indicates that the business opportunity in intelligent systems is now real. And the major tech companies are putting huge effort in this area, which will carve out part of the market for them but also drive a great deal of technology development and spin-off.
A recent mini-conference at the Google office in Kendall Square showed how much is happening now. [Kendall Square is in Cambridge, Ma, bordering MIT. Some argue it is the birthplace of Intelligent Systems.] The conference showcased a series of startups that are building out infrastructure for Intelligent Systems, or pushing it to practical applications:
Sentenai is providing data capture APIs for machine learning. Availability of large amounts of machine-readable data on the web is a key reason that machine learning is taking off. Nara Logics "does recommendations": they are pushing Intelligent System analytics into practical decisions for business. Neurala is creating software brains for robots: a complete usable system for self-driving vehicles, drones, and sophisticated toys. Talla is building Siri for business tasks, initially marketing and HR: "Siri, what is the maximum HSA deduction in 2016 for a couple both under age 50?"
The roboticists are part of the scene, too. In a sidebar conversation Helen Greiner (an iRobot founder) pointed out that robots are "embodied intelligence": intelligent systems that can take physical actions independently. Many of the practical applications require independent action, e.g., self-driving vehicles, or the robotic spacecraft the Air Force is building to repair satellites in high earth orbit.
Rob May, CEO of Talla, remarked that Intelligent Systems are hard to sell to the popular imagination: "Artificial intelligence has a 0% click-through rate", as he put it. But the recommendations we receive on Amazon and Netflix are based on sophisticated machine learning. We buy the results and don't pay attention to the technology behind them.
Boston is due for a tech resurgence. All the pieces of the ecosystem are here with good quality and scale. For a decade we have needed a big market driver on which Boston can focus and attain leadership. Intelligent Systems are a natural opportunity. But, the west coast is also working hard on Intelligent Systems, so time to get a move on. Entrepreneurs, take note!
Notes:
"Boston" refers to the greater Boston area, much as "Silicon Valley" usually refers to the San Francisco bay area. Source: Pitchbook database. I am a partner in NAV.VC, a venture capital firm. Neither NAV nor I have a financial interest in any of the companies mentioned in this post. We do invest in similar companies. On May 8, 2016 I updated the Boston exit statistics thanks to reader feedback that identified exits my search had missed.
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d5423cf173b5f39e12037f19fb7795dc
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/toddkenreck/2015/08/03/why-the-joker-is-the-best-villain-of-all-time/
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Why The Joker Is The Best Villain Of All Time
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Why The Joker Is The Best Villain Of All Time
From the comics, the video game and the movies; The Joker is one of our favorite villains of all time. But why?
Why does this character capture our imagination? The answer might lie in his destructive relationship with The Batman. I spoke with Batman Arkham Knight developer Guy Perkins about our love for The Joker.
"The relationship between The Joker and Batman is really interesting, its very complex," Perkins told me. "There are elements of each within each other ... its almost a love story."
"One plays off the other, its this chaotic versus organized, manic versus methodical ... that's probably why it resonated so well with the fans. It's a great relationship"
See also: Why The 'Deadpool' Director Should Helm A 'Star Wars' Film
Why do you think the Joker is the best villain of all time? If you don't, who is? What do you think of Jared Letto's new Joker and do you believe the fan theory that he might actually be a deeply disturbed Jason Todd (aka Robin)? Leave your comments and your theories in the comments below.
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d2852f84c29db700a3dff306289c9bab
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/toddkenreck/2015/09/14/felicia-day-opens-up-about-living-with-anxiety/
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Felicia Day Opens Up About Living With Anxiety
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Felicia Day Opens Up About Living With Anxiety
In the fourth of a seven-part series of interviews with author, actress and gamer Felicia Day, Forbes contributor Todd Kenreck talks to Day about how she learned to deal with anxiety and the importance of finding help and removing the stigma. Last week, Day discussed why diversity in gaming matters, how video games helped her find community and how she helped make YouTube the new Hollywood.
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5057acb0879fa364212cd54a3c34aefc
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/toddkenreck/2015/09/24/minecraft-story-mode-is-building-a-plot-from-scratch/?ss=tech
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'Minecraft: Story Mode' Is Building A Plot From Scratch
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'Minecraft: Story Mode' Is Building A Plot From Scratch
The massively popular game Minecraft is getting a story for the very first time, thanks to Telltale Games. Telltale's Job J. Stauffer speaks with Forbes contributor Todd Kenreck on the challenges of bringing story to the Minecraft universe and adding crafting to a Telltale-style game. Minecraft: Story Mode's first chapter is due out October 13th on Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PC, Mac and on October 13th for iOS Devices, Android and Amazon Fire TV.
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f531678f15f50a6742b04e37e7fd0d03
|
https://www.forbes.com/sites/toddkenreck/2016/09/27/behind-dds-resurgence/
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Behind The 'Dungeons & Dragons' Resurgence
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Behind The 'Dungeons & Dragons' Resurgence
Dungeons & Dragons is an icon, a foundation from which so many video game developers, writers, film-makers and artists have built upon. Every child loves to daydream, but D&D gave me the tools to dream bigger. In the 80s I read my Dungeon Master Guide, Monster Manual and Tome of Magic over and over again, imagining worlds that could only exist in my mind. So, finding myself at the Wizards of the Coast headquarters in Renton, WA where D&D is developed felt like, in many ways going home again. D&D has been the gateway drug for so many artists that it was difficult not feeling like I was on hallowed ground. I spoke with Nathan Stewart (D&D Brand Director), Chris Perkins (Principal Story Designer) and Jeremy Crawford (Managing Editor & Lead Rules Developer of D&D) about why D&D is now seeing a resurgence in this part one of my interview.
Nathan Stewart: Dungeons & Dragons provides two fundamental human needs.
Chris Perkins: Ever since we were primitives sitting around campfires, we've been telling stories to each other and listening to each other tell stories to each other.
Nathan Stewart: Humans have always been storytellers sitting around the campfire doing that, we want to tell stories and this just gives us a framework.
Chris Perkins: There's really nothing out there that can perfectly emulate it digitally.
Nathan Stewart: Whether we like it or not, we crave human interaction. We're not all very good at it and a lot of people need some help. Dungeons & Dragons gives you this safe environment to communicate when you're not necessarily the best communicator. It fills these needs for people who maybe are having anxieties over it.
Chris Perkins: Storytelling is complicated, it requires intuition and improvisation when you're doing it orally and when it's shared storytelling and the players are contributing to the story, there's a sense that you don't really know where the story's going to go. That's a wondrous thing to see the story evolve in the moment, in the live time. It's like watching The Lord of The Rings if The Lord of The Rings didn't have a script and the actors were just in the world reacting to real situations, you don't know where it's going to go and you don't know how it's going to end. Those things are decided by the players and the DM in the moment or by the fate of the dice and that is compelling.
D&D's resurgence I attribute to two big thing, either of which is me. The people who grew up playing earlier editions of the game are now in very influential positions and are the leaders of cultural movements now in the world. They're running companies that are driving game experiences, that are getting out there to millions upon millions of fans. They're people who work at Blizzard, they're people who work at Cryptic, they're people who work at BioWare and in Hollywood.
Nathan Stewart: A couple of years ago we celebrated our 40th anniversary. With that we really re-energized and recharged Dungeons & Dragons and started really big annual stories set in the forgotten realms.
Image: Wizards of the Coast
Jeremy Crawford: A theme that we embraced in our work on the system for 5th edition was finding what's best not only in 3rd and 4th edition, but also 1st and 2nd edition and also basic D&D.
Chris Perkins: With the advent of technology now, shows like Critical Role which is on Twitch have demystified the game. The live games that we do at the shows have demystified the game and shown that D&D is above and beyond anything else entertainment. The barriers to entry don't seem as high anymore
Nathan Stewart: My favorite thing I've ever read about Dungeons & Dragons was a mom who wrote this piece about how Dungeons & Dragons taught her how to communicate with her autistic son because it taught her the framework and gave her son boundaries and for the first time ever they were able to sit down for a couple of hours and really communicate back and forth. Dungeons & Dragons enabled that. I think when you have something that is so special and touches people on such an emotional level, it's always going to be popular and I think right now people are just craving more and more of that connection with other people.
Dungeons & Dragons now in this generation, it's really just storytelling these big, epic adventures and how friends are going on and being successful together and the stories and memories that you form doing this and also the bonds of friendship that get formed along the way.
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511eb1366cae71cc358e9a3fbd8f6dfb
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/toddkenreck/2016/12/01/watch-the-star-wars-battlefront-for-rogue-one-scarif/
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Watch The 'Star Wars: Battlefront' Trailer For 'Rogue One: Scarif'
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Watch The 'Star Wars: Battlefront' Trailer For 'Rogue One: Scarif'
Death Troopers, Scarab Troopers, Jyn Erso and Orson Krennic all go to war in the latest trailer for Star Wars: Battlefront's DLC titled Rogue One: Scarif. The new content is "inspired by" the upcoming Star Wars: Rogue One film and will also include vehicles from the film like the AT-ACT (presumably just a skin change for the AT-AT), Tie Striker and U-Wing. Rogue One: Scariff will be available to season pass holders December 6th and everyone else can by December 20th.
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4311d7e90d91c6e08dcb3dc00062cb9b
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/toddnordstrom/2020/02/19/7-unmistakable-traits-of-highly-influential-leaders/
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7 Unmistakable Traits Of Highly Influential Leaders
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7 Unmistakable Traits Of Highly Influential Leaders
“I just can’t seem to get people to truly understand,” she said. “I feel like I’ve tried everything. I tell them they need to be better. I tell them what they need to fix. And, they just don’t respond.” These words came from a woman who was recently promoted. She was now leading a department of nearly eighty people. “I feel like I’m failing.”
I’m a nice a guy. I really am. But, as I spoke to this woman, and inquired about her leadership style, I felt an immediate disconnect between who she was, and who she thought she should be as a boss.
“Let me ask you a question,” I said. “Tell me about the three most influential people in your career.”
She thought for a second, and then began telling me stories about the people who helped her, motivated her, and influenced her to become the person she is today. Her stories were heartfelt and inspiring.
“When my bosses spoke, I listened,” she exclaimed. “Why won’t my employees listen to me?”
“That’s simple,” I responded. “You’re different than your employees simply because you had better leaders.”
While those words may sound harsh on the exterior, the woman immediately understood my point—that she was trying to be a boss, instead of being an inspiration. And, this conversation made me think about the many thousands of leaders I’ve interviewed throughout my career. Which were the most influential, and why? Which leaders built the strongest cultures? Which seemed to create the most loyal following—sometimes dragging their teams from one organization to the next? Those are all great questions. And, from my experience both working for many eclectic people, and interviewing many of the top executives in the world, here are the 7 unmistakable traits I’ve seen amongst highly influential leaders.
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1. They’re good storytellers. Think about the most influential people in your life and career. They either had a great story, which inspired you to be like them, or they told great stories about people you wanted emulate. Basically, these people were interesting to you because they were interested in allowing a good story to impact you—to make you see yourself as the protagonist of a great story, and improve yourself accordingly. They, quite frankly, believed in you.
2. They understand the other people who played a role in their success. The best leaders, more often than not, will give credit to the people who helped them become who they are. Sometimes they’ll tell stories about people who inspired them, and other times they’ll tell stories about people who taught them “what not to be.” Either way, they’re giving credit to others. They understand that they didn’t achieve their position without the help of others. If you want to be great, start by recognizing the people who helped you get to where you are today.
3. They’re unafraid of disagreement. The best leaders are quick to disagree. And, they’re also the people quick to seek disagreement. Great leaders understand that disagreement can achieve greater thinking and results. And, they don’t see disagreement as arguing. They see it as productive brainstorming. If you want to be influential, find people who have the nerve to disagree with you. Respect their opinion. Honor it.
4. They actually care about purpose—your purpose. The concept of purpose gets tossed around frequently in today’s corporate world. Of Course, your organization has a purpose. But, when I ask people about the most influential people in their lives and careers, I’ve never heard the answer, “They convinced me to believe in their purpose.” Instead, I’ve heard, “They truly understood where I wanted to go and what I wanted to do.” Your job as a leader isn’t to convince someone to change. It’s to convince them that they should become the best version of themselves at work everyday.
5. They actually care about people. Words and actions are two very different things. You know this. I know this. The most influential leaders actually care about the person, and the bottom line. How does that work? Well, it’s simple. Most likely you have past leaders in your life who have, for some reason, stayed in your life. And, I would bet that these are some of the people you think of as your most influential leaders—whether you moved on, or the company no longer needed you. The most influential people in your life care about you whether you’re creating monetary value for them or not.
6. They don’t care when they’re being watched. You might get surprised from time to time. However, the most influential people in your life are probably the most likely to act the same inside of the workplace, as they do outside of the workplace. They’re real. They’re honest about who they are—with all their strengths and weaknesses. And, you would bet money on the fact that they are the person you know whether someone is watching or not. That’s called integrity. It’s called transparency. And, if you want to be influential, it’s invaluable.
7. They understand criticism can be the ultimate act of kindness. We all live in an oversensitive world. And, here’s the rub. When you look back at your own life and compare your worst leaders (the people who made you feel belittled), to your best leaders (the people who made you feel empowered), they both had the same goal—to make you better. What’s the difference? Great leaders approach others with kindness—knowing that they’re cheating themselves, the company, and you if they can’t communicate how truly great they think you could become. Criticism isn’t mean. It’s a belief someone can do better. The words you choose make all the difference in how someone perceives it.
When you’re a leader, influence is your job. But, unless you understand that influence is also your opportunity to positively change the course of someone’s life, you’ll never be great.
Choose to be a positive inspiration. As a leader, it’s the most rewarding and influential thing you can do.
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84df3ecd753612a9f649a889d494bb69
|
https://www.forbes.com/sites/toddwasserman/2020/05/20/the-8-best-ads-from-the-coronavirus-lockdown-so-far/
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The 8 Best Ads From the Coronavirus Lockdown, So Far
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The 8 Best Ads From the Coronavirus Lockdown, So Far
MADRID, SPAIN - MAY 13: A client picks up an order in the Autoking service on a tray to avoid ... [+] contact, while the employee wears a mask, mask and gloves, within the Safer than ever plan that the chain has implemented in all its open establishments with a series of strict security measures, including capacity limit and separation partitions on May 13, 2020 in Madrid, Spain. (Photo by Jesús Hellín/Europa Press via Getty Images) Europa Press via Getty Images
This is a weird time for advertising. As with Sept. 11, 2001, an event has occurred which has shaken our belief in our occupation, our future and our country. And yet, as with the early days after 9/11—another major news event that for a while upended our natural discourse—many advertisers appear to be caught with nothing to say.
Of course, after 9/11, we saw Old Spice’s The Man Your Man Could Smell Like, Volkswagen’s The Force and Bud Light’s Dilly Dilly, among other memorable and iconic campaigns. So it’s hard to believe that the industry has been left speechless.
According to EMarketer, first-half ad spend will fall 22.3% to 29.3% — or $10 billion to $12 billion. In the first half of 2019, broadcast and advertisers spent $33.9 billion. EMarketer now estimates that TV networks could collect $24 billion to $26.3 billion in the first six months of this year.
In addition to lower spending, the Coronavirus has brought caution and fear into advertising. Many fear that the worst is yet to come.
In fact, if you look closely you can find good ads that came after the coronavirus pandemic hit. Some even show a bit of the humor and humanity that got your respect in the first place. Here are eight of the best:
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Guinness “St. Patrick’s Day.” Amidst all the frenzied precautions in mid-March, Guinness offered the following comforting sentiment: “A while back, we signed a 9,000-year lease on our brewery…” The key is that the ad acknowledges the changes Coronavirus has wrought, but also points to a spirit of resilience.
Apple “Creativity Goes On.” Apple’s commercial format should be played out right now. Instead it’s comforting. This ad shows the U.S. during coronavirus lockdown. There’s some people social distancing at a park and John Krasinski putting together his Some Good News web show. And, of course, there’s Oprah. Beneath it all is a positive message: You can still be creative.
Burger King One of the few advertisers to strike the right tone during this lockdown, Burger King revels in the absurdity of staying home and watching TV to be a responsible citizen.
Coors Light America #CouldUseABeer. Another ad that gets the tone right. A narrator bemoans the “sucky, suck, suck, suckiness of historic proportions” of today’s crisis. It’s appropriately downbeat, but with enough wit to drive the point home.
Domino’s The pizza chain pays tribute to the 1983 film Risky Business with a nod to its oft-parodied singing-into-hairbrush moment. Not the most original, but it does get across Domino’s promise of “Contactless Delivery.”
Uber “Thank You For Not Riding.” The rare ad thanking consumers not to use its product, Uber provides a heartfelt message that reflects well on the brand.
AT&T “AT&T is Keeping Students Connected.” A slice-of-life, 2020 style from AT&T, which has a legitimate claim to helping keep students connected to their schools.
Budweiser “One Team” Budweiser urges us to set aside petty divisions amid visions of empty stadiums, front-line workers and other signs of the pandemic.
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92c2b872f77027c135db48ead7637429
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/toddwasserman/2020/06/15/tv-adapts-to-the-age-of-a-million-niches/
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TV Adapts To The Age Of A Million Niches
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TV Adapts To The Age Of A Million Niches
Most people don’t see cancer survivors as another underserved “niche media” opportunity, but then most people aren’t Steve Alperin.
Alperin is the brains behind SurvivorNet, a new lifestyle brand in the ever-expanding media sphere.
SurvivorNet provides news and information on cancer treatment. At the moment, SurvivorNet is eyeing video. In May, it launched SurvivorNetTV, an over-the-top service with video programming.
Alperin has said his vision of SurvivorNet began shortly after he graduated college. At that time, Alperin’s father was diagnosed with esophageal cancer. His father succumbed to the disease and Alperin was bothered by the fact that neither he nor the doctors could save his father.
SurvivorNet is envisioned to be the resource he was missing at that time. His vision of SurvivorNet is a go-between straddling the patient and the medical system. He points out that 70% to 80% of Americans never visit a comprehensive cancer center and those who aren’t treated in such a center face an overall death rate that is 10% higher.
The introduction comes as the media landscape is increasingly Balkanized. Thanks to over-the-top transmission, everything from newly released films to YouTube videos are showing up on people’s TV screens.
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Following such a line of thought, the future may well be in niches rather than broad entertainment designed for mass consumption.
The niche SurvivorNet is aiming for is small, but of intense interest to many. In 2020, the National Cancer Institute estimates that about 1.8 million Americans will be diagnosed with cancer and about 600,000 will die from it. Since 1950, cancer rates have held relatively steady. There are currently more than 15 million cancer survivors in the U.S.
While that figure is a small portion of the overall population, the current coronavirus pandemic has shown how quickly consumers can change habits. For instance, many liquor stores have seen a big jump in delivery sales since the panic took hold. A portion of consumers will likely maintain deliveries after the pandemic subsides.
As Blake Morgan, a fellow Forbes.com contributor, has written, the future of TV calls for “highly personalized, niche content will be delivered straight to the people who really want to watch it” and companies will increasingly use data for personalization. Part of Netflix’s appeal is its ability to tailor programming suggestions based on a user’s viewing habits.
There are already TV networks that cater to African-Americans and Hispanic consumers. Some over-the-top services provide thousands of channels, including The Mower Repair Channel on Roku. If SurvivorNet is the future of media, that means there will be programming for every stage of life and for every happenstance. That will likely drive us all both further apart and closer together.
TV analyst and Forbes.com contributor Marc Berman said the current situation isn’t a winner-takes-all phenomenon. “I think what’s happening with our business is it’s becoming an arena of so many outlets from linear to digital. I don’t think one’s going to replace the other,” he said. “Netflix has the best product, hands down, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to replace a linear platform.”
For his part, Alperin doubts the dire warnings. “I don’t think mass media is dead,” he said. “It’s evolving.”
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ad3839d2179b86b9e0949bcbdff1a772
|
https://www.forbes.com/sites/toddwasserman/2021/01/08/why-anchor-worldwide-sees-relatively-smooth-sailing-in-2021/?sh=38a145324f22
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Why Anchor Worldwide Sees Relatively Smooth Sailing In 2021
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Why Anchor Worldwide Sees Relatively Smooth Sailing In 2021
Sebastian Eldridge, CEO of Anchor Worldwide. xx
Anchor Worldwide’s website features video of men bowling with Kentucky Fried Chicken buckets on their heads along with Sarah Jessica Parker shoe shopping and a prominent place reserved for David Hasselhoff. It’s all a quirky introduction to the agency, which handles such clients as BMW, KFC and Spotify, among others.
Sebastian Eldridge, CEO of Anchor, cofounded it along with four others (none of whom were from the ad industry) four years ago. Anchor has an unusual geographic footprint for the agency world. It has offices in New York and Los Angeles, but also one in Miami and one in Santiago, Chile and one in Bogota, Colombia.
David Hasselhoff stars in ads for BMW from Anchor. xx
Given the cultural considerations the agency has to take into account, it’s not surprising that Eldridge sees flexibility as one of Anchor’s main strengths. “We see 2021 as being a gangbusters year for us, most definitely looking forward to increasing our creative output,” he said. “I am hopeful that we can have a lot more creative output, as well as double down on some of those levers that we pulled over the course of the pandemic in order to increase our revenues, meaning media and consultancy services, to increase those as well.”
Eldridge attributes his success in part to being able to function in an environment in which other agency heads might get distracted. He likens his job to spinning eight plates at once. That acumen has served the agency well in the time of the Covid pandemic. “Yeah, I mean, luckily for us, we've actually excelled and done probably better than we ever have, during this time,” he said.
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“A big reason for that, is that we're not hampered by legacy costs of some of the old bigger holding companies like massive monthly rent situations or new giant payroll with pensions. Our payroll is hefty, but we've continued to actually grow that payroll by hiring, I believe, January one will be 11 people and zero layoffs, during the pandemic itself. And, yeah, it's due in large part mostly just because all of us are, you know, the founders and the culture of the company, we don't like to fail.”
A big part of that culture is written in Anchor’s handbook, which literally says, “Give a fuck.” Eldridge said Anchor truly understands that. ”This is in part in our culture and into every one of our employees that if our clients don't do well, and we don't do well for our clients, then somebody else will do that better,” he said.
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9d9d462fa52ed0584004f6bf637528ad
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/toddwasserman/2021/02/19/a-much-needed-service-newsguard-cracks-down-on-fake-news/
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A Much-Needed Service: NewsGuard Cracks Down On Fake News
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A Much-Needed Service: NewsGuard Cracks Down On Fake News
The President of International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent, Francesco Rocca speaks ... [+] during a press conference on Greece-Turkey border near Kastanies, on the Greek side on March 5, 2020. (Photo by Sakis MITROLIDIS / AFP) (Photo by SAKIS MITROLIDIS/AFP via Getty Images) AFP via Getty Images
NewsGuard formed in 2018 and was arguably one of the few companies poised to benefit from the pandemic. Created by Steven Brill and Gordon Crovitz in early 2019, NewsGuard’s mission is to suss out fake sources.
Now, in 2021, Francesco Rocca, president of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies has called on governments and various institutions to crack down on such fake news.
Though NewsGuard wasn’t created with advertising in mind, Brill said that the issue of “brand safety” has come up several times since its inception.
I spoke with Matt Skibinski, general manager of NewsGuard. Below are some excerpts of their conversation:
Todd Wasserman: Why did NewsGuard launch?
Matt Skibinski: It was not as an advertising-related company at all. We were really formed to address the problem of misinformation and disinformation online. The way we approach that is by rating the credibility of news and information sites, and licensing that data to tech platforms, researchers, educational institutions, etc. So, the advertising part of our business actually kind of came after the fact when we got approached by some advertising companies. The company was founded by Steve Brill, who founded Court TV, the American Lawyer and a handful of other businesses before this. And the other co founder is Gordon Crovitz, who was the publisher of The Wall Street Journal for many years. So they both have journalism backgrounds and publishing backgrounds. And each site we rate gets an overall designation of is it generally trustworthy or, generally not trustworthy, gets a score of zero to 100, based on those nine criteria, and it gets the detailed, what we call Nutrition Label, which is, for consumers is a detailed explanation of why we gave the site the rating that we did.
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Wasserman: That's an interesting analogy. Is the hope that every news site will have this kind of disclosure, and people will be able to rate the site and judge what they're reporting as news by that?
Skibinski: Some publishers, if they get a good rating from us, obviously they might tout their rating on their website. But the way that most consumers see our ratings is we have a browser extension and mobile app that displays our ratings as you're browsing Facebook, or a Google search result. Next to each links that's from a new source, you'll see an icon of either the red or green rating, and you can hover over that, and see all the details behind it, including the criteria and that full nutrition label. And, you know, our long-term vision for that data is that we can license it to the platforms that themselves are involved in distributing this content. If you're a user and assessing a list of links in a search result, it might be incredibly helpful to know which of those links are credible, and then how credible and whether they have a conflict of interest and who's behind them and things like that.
Wasserman: What is the news literacy?
Skibinski: One of the problems on the Internet is that, in most cases, nowadays, the way that people encounter a news link is as a headline, in a feed on some platform. And if a headline is from a website that publishes falsehoods it looks exactly the same as The New York Times or The Wall Street Journal in a Facebook feed. It’s just a link to an article, and you barely can tell what source it is. And so because there's this kind of separation between the source of the information and the information, when it's funneled through a platform, that creates a problem where consumers don't always know that they're looking at a website that's owned by a political action committee or something or funded by a foreign government. So news literacy is really about making sure consumers have that information. And that over time, if they're using credibility signals, like the ones we create they're going to start to understand the different dynamics involved in assessing the credibility of information, whether or not they see our label with it. So we actually have a program, we work in like hundreds of libraries worldwide, that offer our browser extension on library computers or offer it to patrons for free. And we work in a large number of schools as well through various partners we've made in the education space. So that's that is a big part of what we do.
Wasserman: Is there more fake news since COVID-19?
Skibinski: We did a report at the end of last year, and we did see an increase in engagement with misinformation in 2020. The way we would describe it is it's not that there was an increase in fake news, because of COVID. COVID-19 did not cause the misinformation problem. And it ending is not going to end the misinformation problem. I think what happened with COVID is that every news story, both real news and misinformation was centered on a single topic. And that topic happened to be a matter of life and death. So the impact of misinformation was a lot greater in 2020, because it's one thing to [spread] a falsehood about some celebrity divorce that isn't going to hurt anybody that much but a falsehood thing said about whether or not you should get a vaccine for COVID is a big deal. You hurt a lot of people. So that's less about the amount of misinformation and more about the impact of the misinformation.
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022918528ca5da44756d1bd977724e00
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/toddwoody/2011/04/20/engine-startup-ecomotors-signs-deal-with-chinese-manufacturer/
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Engine Startup EcoMotors Signs Deal with Chinese Manufacturer
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Engine Startup EcoMotors Signs Deal with Chinese Manufacturer
Move over Detroit.
In another sign that the internal combustion enginee isn't dead yet as well as China's emergence as a player in the global automotive market, startup EcoMotors on Wednesday said that it has signed a partnership with Zhongding Holdings to commercialize its opposed piston power plant.
“This contract represents an important step in providing our game changing internal-combustion engine technology to customers in emerging markets," Donald Runkle, EcoMotors' chief executive, said in a statement.
Zhongding is Chinese automotive parts supplier and maker of small commercial vehicles, according the company's website.
EcoMotors, a Detroit area startup backed by Khosla Ventures and Bill Gates, is one of several American companies bankrolled by Silicon Valley venture capitalists that are developing opposed piston engines.
Startups such as EcoMotors, Pinnacle Engines and Achates Power claim their technology results in engines that are up to 50 percent more fuel efficient than conventional counterparts while emitting fewer greenhouse gases - all at a lower cost.
And how, you might ask, are they accomplishing that?
Opposed piston engines are an old new thing. Used during the World War II era in warships and planes, the engines were considered far too expensive and problematic for cars and trucks.
The engines do away with expensive cylinder heads where fuel combustion takes place. Instead, two pistons face each other and the space between them serves as the combustion chamber. That allows for lighter, more efficient engines.
The startups' innovation has been to make a reliable, affordable opposed piston engine that transforms more waste heat into energy to propel a vehicle. (For more details, see a story I recently wrote about the three startups.)
EcoMotors and Achates are developing two-stroke, opposed piston diesel engines while Pinnacle is working on a four-stroke opposed piston gasoline engine.
Tellingly, EcoMotors and Pinnacle, based in Silicon Valley, have both signed development deals with Asian manufacturers. EcoMotors, which also has inked a deal with U.S. truck engine company Navistar, actually signed the agreement with Zhongding in December but on Wednesday finally revealed its partner's identity.
Pinnacle has a deal with a major Asian scooter manufactuer, which it has declined to name, and Achates' chief executive told me his company has been in discussions with automakers in the United States, China and India.
Whether these engines live up to their developers' promise remains to be seen, but one thing is clear: Motor City is heading east.
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3475457e76093d4bb77d303db3c9f827
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/toddwoody/2011/06/07/the-worlds-first-wind-solar-natural-gas-power-plant/
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The World's First Wind-Solar-Natural-Gas Power Plant
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The World's First Wind-Solar-Natural-Gas Power Plant
A day after General Electric announced it would take a stake in California solar startup eSolar, the company on Tuesday said it will supply the technology for the world’s first power plant fueled by natural gas, wind and solar energy.
The 530-megawatt project, to be built by Turkish firm MetCap Energy Investments in Karaman, Turkey, will feature a 22-megawatt GE wind farm, a 50-megawatt eSolar “power tower” solar thermal system and GE’s new FlexEfficiency turbine technology. A FlexEfficiency natural-gas fired power plant is designed to rapidly ramp up and down electricity generation in response to intermittent production of power from renewable energy sources such as wind and solar.
GE is calling the Turkish power plant the first “Integrated Renewables Combined Cycle” system.
“This project combines two renewable technologies and natural gas in the same power plant and demonstrates the benefits it can offer to power the future grid,” Paul Browning, chief of GE Energy’s thermal products division, said in a statement. “Integrated renewable combined cycle power represents a significant growth opportunity for GE Energy.”
GE said the Karaman plant will be 69 percent efficient though other combined natural gas-renewable energy projects could be more than 70 percent efficient.
ESolar deploys fields of television screen-sized mirrors called heliostats that focus the sun on a water-filled boiler that sits atop a tower. In a standalone solar power plant, the heat creates steam that drives an electricity turbine.
In the Karaman project, the solar fields will generate steam that will be fed to the plant’s steam turbine to generate additional power without using more natural gas.
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f1410c42fba68b46cbae79e939c72bd9
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/toddwoody/2011/11/28/brightsource-strikes-worlds-biggest-solar-energy-storage-deal/
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BrightSource Strikes World's Biggest Solar Energy Storage Deal
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BrightSource Strikes World's Biggest Solar Energy Storage Deal
BrightSource Energy said Monday that it has struck a deal to add energy storage systems to three massive solar thermal power plants it will build to supply electricity to utility Southern California Edison.
Energy storage will allow the plants to operate into the night, meaning that BrightSource can now forgo building one 200-megawatt solar station that previously was needed to meet its obligation to generate 4 million megawatt-hours of electricity annually for the utility.
“It’s a huge advantage,” John Woolard, BrightSource’s chief executive, said in an interview Monday. “We came out very strongly with what I believe is the largest solar storage deal in the world.”
BrightSource spokesman Keely Wachs said in an e-mail that only six of the seven planned solar “power tower” stations will need to be built, saving some 1,280 acres of desert land. If approved by state regulators, the amended contracts with Southern California Edison will also result in lower costs for utility customers, the company said.
Both issues have come to the forefront as some environmentalists increasingly object to industrializing swaths of California’s Mojave Desert for solar power plants. Solar thermal developers, meanwhile, compete against ever-cheaper photovoltaic power plants as the price of solar modules continues to fall.
When four of the nine big solar thermal power plants approved by the California Energy Commission last year changed ownership, the new developers announced they would switch to solar panels like those found on residential rooftops and which convert sunlight directly into electricity.
Earlier this month, the staff and some members of the California Public Utilities Commission objected to the high cost of utility Pacific Gas & Electric’s contract with Abengoa Solar to supply electricity from a power plant that will use an older solar thermal trough technology.
BrightSource, on the other hand, has developed a new solar thermal technology that deploys vast arrays of mirrors called heliostats that focus the sun on a water-filled boiler that sits atop a tower. The intensive heat creates steam that drives an electricity-generating industrial turbine. Such solar thermal plants produce electricity more efficiently and consistently than photovoltaic stations, which are subject to fluctuations caused by passing clouds and other weather conditions and thus have less capacity to generate power.
For Southern California Edison, BrightSource will install a molten salt system called SolarPLUS that can store solar heat so it can be released to create steam after dark or when electricity demand spikes. The systems, which will come online in 2016 and 2017, will extend the operating time of the power plants by at least two hours, according to Woolard.
“It’s good from an environmental perspective and it lowers capital costs and permitting costs,” Woolard said, adding that he expected most solar thermal power plants completed after 2016 to feature energy storage.
Last year, the California Legislature passed a bill that requires regulators to determine if they should set energy storage targets and require the state’s three big investor-owned utilities – Pacific Gas & Electric, San Diego Gas & Electric and Southern California Edison – to meet such a mandate by 2015.
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e945638dc1144da651efffb1d7dc7808
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/toddwoody/2012/02/22/how-apple-went-from-environmental-laggard-to-leader/
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How Apple Went From Environmental Laggard To Leader
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How Apple Went From Environmental Laggard To Leader
Over the Presidents’ Day holiday on Monday, Apple quietly released a surprisingly detailed update to a report on its “environmental footprint,” including plans to build the world’s largest private solar array and fuel-cell farm to power its massive new North Carolina data center.
“Apple is committed to pursuing energy-efficient growth by increasing our renewable energy participation to match the growing needs of our data center—through our own projects as well as partnerships with utilities and renewable energy providers,” the company stated.
It’s quite a turnaround from Apple’s past public indifference to environmental concerns. Given the company’s other initiatives to slash its greenhouse gas emissions, Apple is emerging as a leader rather than a laggard on the environmental front.
For years, environmental groups, most notably Greenpeace, resisted being sucked into Steve Jobs’ “reality distortion field,” slamming Apple for its refusal to disclose in any detail its carbon footprint or the environmental impact of its wildly popular iPhones, iPads, iPods and MacBooks. Google, eBay, Adobe and other Silicon Valley tech giants, on the other hand, jumped on the green bandwagon, very publicly investing millions of dollars – more than a billion in the search giant’s case – in solar arrays, fuel cells, wind turbines and electric car infrastructure.
Apple, meanwhile, appeared near the bottom of Greenpeace’s ranking of “green electronics,” dinged for the secretive company’s lack of transparency. Whether Apple’s iconic white gadgets were green or brown was more or less anybody’s guess.
That began to change in 2007 Jobs wrote a letter promising greater openness – a green glasnost, if you will – and revealed details on Apple’s efforts to remove toxics from its products. Monday’s report details efforts far beyond those initial steps.
Facilities – such as office buildings, retail stores and data centers – represented only 2% of Apple’s self-estimated 23.1 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions attributed to its operations in 2011– from manufacturing of products (61%) to transporting them (5%) to their use by consumers (30%).
Yet the company has been aggressive in slashing their environmental impact, which means saving energy and improving the bottom line.
Let’s start with the sexy stuff.
Greenpeace last year gave Apple an “F” in its “How Dirty Is Your Data” report on the environmental consequences of cloud computing. The failing grade came from Apple’s decision to build a billion-dollar data center in Maiden, N.C., , to power iCloud services such as Siri. According to Greenpeace, coal-fired power plants supply 61% of the state’s electricity.
Now Apple says it is building a 20-megawatt photovoltaic array to offset the data center’s electricity consumption as well as a five-megawatt biogas-powered fuel-cell farm. (Greenpeace estimates the iDataCenter will consume 100 megawatts of electricity.)
Apple hasn’t revealed the supplier of the fuel cells but one can assume that among those in the running is Silicon Valley’s Bloom Energy, which has built its sleek metal cubes that resemble gargantuan Mac mini’s for a host of tech companies. It would take 50 of the 100-kilowatt Bloom Boxes, which sell for between $700,000 and $800,000 each, to supply five megawatts.
Such an installation would be the largest non-utility fuel cell farm in the U.S. and certainly the biggest outside California, which provides lucrative incentives for the technology. While Apple’s solar farm qualifies for a 30% federal tax credit, North Carolina does not offer the generous subsidies for renewable energy like those given for projects in the company’s home state of California.
A Greenpeace official on Wednesday offered qualified praise for Apple’s moves.
“Greenpeace welcomes the first investment by Apple into renewable energy in North Carolina, but it appears the company has a lot of work to do to make this facility powered by a ‘high percentage’ of renewable energy that Apple is currently claiming,” Gary Cook, a senior policy analyst at Greenpeace in San Francisco, said in an e-mail.
“Apple still refuses to disclose its total energy demand in N.C.,” he added, saying that Greenpeace estimates that renewable energy will provide “at best supply less than 10% of Apple’s estimated annual electricity demand for its energy intensive iCloud facility.”
Cook noted that on Tuesday Apple confirmed that it had bought land for a much smaller data center to be built in Prineville, Ore., near a huge Facebook data center. The Facebook data center prompted a Greenpeace campaign against the social networking juggernaut because electricity in the region is supplied by coal-fired power plants.
Apple’s North Carolina facility has become the largest data center to achieve LEED Platinum status, the highest ranking for energy efficiency and other environmentally beneficial features bestowed by the U.S. Green Building Council.
Back home in California, Apple disclosed that it has installed a 500-kilowatt biogas-powered fuel cell system at its Cupertino headquarters and purchased renewable energy for other facilities.
“We secured regulatory authority to supplement our energy needs in Cupertino and the Santa Clara Valley with offsite, grid-purchased renewable energy, which was not previously possible,” the company stated in the report. “This paves the way to achieve our goal of powering these facilities with 100 percent renewable energy.”
High-tech irrigation systems cut water consumption by 40% at its offices in Cupertino and Austin, Texas. A fleet of biodiesel buses shuttle employees to work and hybrid electric cars comprise for more than half the corporate automotive fleet, according to Apple.
Manufacturing in China, of course, accounts for the lion’s share of Apple’s greenhouse gas emissions – 61%. To cut those emissions, the company says it has steadily reduced its products' size and weight and thus the amount of materials needed to make iPhones, iPads and other devices. It claims carbon emissions associated with the production of Apple TV have dropped 90% between 2007 and 2011 while carbon spew from making the 15-inch MacBook Pro fell 21% between 2006 and 2011.
By reducing packaging for the iPhone by 42% between 2007 and 2011, Apple says it can now can pack 80% more of the gadgets in each airline shipping container, saving one 747 flight for every 371,250 phones transported.
Such efforts as well as the energy efficiency of Apple products – the company says they all have earned the federal government's Energy Star rating – prompted Apple to move up to fourth place in Greenpeace's most recent ranking of green electronics.
All this good green news comes on the heels of a stinging investigative report by The New York Times that uncovered harsh working conditions at the Chinese factories that make Apple products.
Despite Apple’s environmental efforts, expect groups like Greenpeace to keep the heat on. Its message: Be like Google.
“If Apple is really interesting in having a ‘high percentage’ of renewable energy for the iCloud, it will have to look beyond the initial steps for on-site generation, put pressure on its electric utilities and follow the path chosen so far by Google, who has used its large profits to make substantial investments in renewable energy and secure large long term purchases of wind power,” says Cook.
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4bc8efa1531d54970ba14a8acb23bcbf
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/toddwoody/2012/03/15/google-greens-up-data-center-with-recycled-water-for-cooling/
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Google Greens Up Data Center With Recycled Water For Cooling
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Google Greens Up Data Center With Recycled Water For Cooling
The data center has become the coal-fired power plant of the tech industry – the most visible symbol of the online world’s environmental impact. And in recent years, Apple, Facebook, Google and other Silicon Valley giants have undertaken efforts, voluntarily and under pressure from groups like Greenpeace, to slash their massive electricity consumption and secure power from renewable energy sources.
Now Google has opened a new front on a less-noticed impact of data centers – water consumption. Like power plants, data centers, with their acres of servers, suck up millions of gallons of water a year for cooling (as an alternative to using electricity-hogging mechanical chillers).
On Thursday, Google said it had switched to using recycled water at its Douglas County, Ga., data center rather than continue to tap drinking water as it had when the facility opened in 2007.
“But we soon realized that the water we used didn’t need to be clean enough to drink,” Jim Brown, Google’s data center facilities manager, wrote in a blog post. “So we talked to the Douglasville-Douglas County Water and Sewer Authority (known locally as the WSA) about setting up a system that uses reuse water – also known as gray or recycled water – in our cooling infrastructure. With this system in place, we’re able to use recycled water for 100% of our cooling needs.”
Google built a “side stream facility” five miles from the data center that treats and diverts as much as 30% of the recycled water and send it to the data center to be used for evaporative cooling. What water remains is sent to Google’s own Effluent Treatment Plant where it is disinfected and cleaned before it flows into the Chattahoochee River.
“We care a tremendous amount about our management of our overall water footprint at Google,” Joe Kava, a senior director for data center construction and operations at Google, said in a video the search giant released about its water conservation efforts. “We don’t want to be taking fresh drinking water away from the local communities that we work in.”
Google did not reveal exactly how much water the Douglas County data center consumes but in an e-mail company spokeswoman Kate Hurowitz said, “It varies from day to day, but a typical data center of this size can use hundreds of thousands of gallons a day.”
Peter Frost, executive director of the Douglasville-Douglas County Water and Sewer Authority, said Google is saving taxpayer money as the local government now does not have to treat as much wastewater.
“That saves capacity for future homeowners as well as businesses,” he said in the video.
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7dbf7f7f77d2b160d63d220e9ebfd525
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/toddwoody/2012/04/03/collapse-of-german-solar-companies-threaten-californias-big-solar-projects/
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Collapse of German Solar Companies Threatens California's Big Solar Projects
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Collapse of German Solar Companies Threatens California's Big Solar Projects
California may be the solar Promised Land but Delaware is where those big green dreams go to die.
On Monday, Solar Trust of America became the latest solar developer to file for bankruptcy in Delaware federal court, putting into jeopardy photovoltaic power plant projects utilities were counting on to generate 2,000 megawatts of electricity – enough t0 light hundreds of thousands of homes at peak output. Among the projects was what would have been the world’s largest solar station, the Blythe Solar Power Project, a 1,000-megawatt power plant to be built in the Mojave Desert that had received a $2.1 billion federal loan guarantee offer.
Solar Trust’s parent company, German developer Solar Millennium, filed for bankruptcy in Germany in December and moved to sell its U.S pipeline of projects to a German photovoltaic power plant developer called Solarhybrid. Then late last month Solarhybrid itself sought bankruptcy protection, citing a cutback in German subsidies for solar energy.
According Solar Trust’s bankruptcy filings, the company has liabilities of $20 million and missed a $1 million rent payment on April 1 to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management for the 7,025-acre Blythe site. Solar Trust this week faces deadlines to pay $30.9 million in security deposits to related to its right to connect its projects to the power grid.
NextEra Energy Resources (formerly FPL), the big Florida-based wind and solar developer, has expressed interest in some of the projects, according to an affidavit filed by Solar Trust president Edward Kleinschmidt on Monday.
The collapse of Solar Trust, based in Oakland, Calif., shows once again how vulnerable the U.S. solar industry is to upheavals in the global market and just how difficult it has become to get big solar projects built absent a deep-pocketed backer with the financial muscle of, say, a General Electric.
The Solar Trust saga began in 2009 when Solar Millennium created Solar Trust as a joint venture with German industrial giant Ferrostaal to build solar thermal power project in the American Southwest. Solar Trust was to develop power plants that deployed solar troughs, an older technology that uses long rows of parabolic mirrors to heat tubes of synthetic oil to create steam that drives an electricity-generating turbine.
Solar Millennium had joined the great solar land rush of 2007-2008, staking lease claims on thousands of acres of federal land in the desert Southwest and filing applications to build three massive power plants in California and one in Nevada. The company immediately ran into opposition from local communities and state regulators over its plan to use huge volumes of water to cool its solar power plants and eventually was forced to switch to a more expensive dry cooling technology.
Then the company’s Ridgecrest solar project was effectively scuttled due to its feared impact on the imperiled Mohave ground squirrel. (When I interviewed Solar Trust executive Rainer Aringhoff for a New York Times story in September 2009 he seem a bit bewildered and frustrated by California’s extensive environmental review of solar project.)
Nonetheless, the California Energy Commission approved two of Solar Trust’s big projects and the federal government offered a $2.1 billion loan guarantee for Blythe. But plunging prices for photovoltaic modules made Solar Trust’s trough technology increasingly uncompetitive and last August the company announced it would turn down the $2.1 billion loan guarantee so it could switch to solar panels.
Back in Germany, meanwhile, Solar Millennium faced intense competitive pressure as cheap Chinese solar panels flooded the market and the government moved to ratchet back the subsides that had created the German solar boom. When Solar Millennium filed for bankruptcy in December, it ceased to fund Solar Trust. The other joint venture partner, Ferrostaal, has not provided any cash to Solar Trust for the past two years, according to the bankruptcy filing, and the company is down to nine full-time employees.
Still, Solar Trust’s Blythe and 500-megawatt Palen project in California may prove attractive to a potential buyer, given that they are licensed and have much-sought transmission rights. Another sweetener: utility Southern California Edison has committed to $300 million in transmission upgrades to bring electricity from the desert projects deto the coast, Solar Trust said in its filing.
Hello, GE.
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405d85a8830d1a43fc62cac0fccb42cf
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/toddwoody/2012/04/17/first-solar-shuts-german-factory-idles-malaysian-production-lines/
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First Solar Shuts German Factory, Idles Malaysian Production Lines
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First Solar Shuts German Factory, Idles Malaysian Production Lines
In another sign that 2012 is shaping up to be a rocky year for the solar industry, First Solar on Tuesday said it would shut down its German photovoltaic module factory and idle four of 24 production lines at its Malaysia manufacturing facilities.
The move comes a day after SunPower, the Silicon Valley solar panel maker, announced it would close a factory in the Philippines.
“After a thorough analysis, it is clear the European market has deteriorated to the extent that our operations there are no longer economically sustainable, and maintaining those operations is not in the best long-term interest of our stakeholders,” Mike Ahearn, First Solar’s interim chief executive, said in a statement. “We are committed to treating all affected associates fairly, and to building our relationships with European business partners that are aligned with our strategy of pursuing utility-scale solar opportunities in sustainable markets around the world.”
The closure of the German and Malaysian production lines and other layoffs will result in the loss of 2,000 jobs, or 30% of First Solar’s workforce, the company said. First Solar will take a charge between $245 million and $370 million and record costs savings from the factory closures of between $30 million and $60 million in 2012 and future annual savings of $100 million to $120 million.
Once the driver of the global solar market, Germany has moved to slash subsidies following a similar move by Spain. Several German solar module manufacturers and developers – including Q Cells, Solar Millennium and Solarhybrid – have filed bankruptcy in recent months. The 75% plunge in photovoltaic module prices over the past three years, driven in large part by Chinese competitors, has also upended the solar market.
“The solar market has fundamentally changed, and we are quickly adapting our market approach and operations to maintain and build upon our competitive advantage,” Ahearn said. “After a period of robust growth, First Solar is scaled to operate at higher volumes than currently exist following the reduction of subsidies in key legacy markets. As a result, it is essential that we reduce production and decrease expenses to reflect the smaller volume of high-probability demand we forecast.”
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a97426370100a877b1e7dd328c8b55f1
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/toddwoody/2012/04/19/californias-sungevity-moves-into-australian-solar-market/
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California's Sungevity Moves Into Australian Solar Market
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California's Sungevity Moves Into Australian Solar Market
Sungevity, the California solar installer, said Thursday that it is expanding its operations to its native Australia, a market rich in sunshine but whipsawed by every-shifting subsidies for renewable energy.
The Oakland, Calif., startup is forming a joint venture with Down Under solar installer Nickel Energy to launch Sungevity Australia. The company will offer the country's first power purchase agreements that will let homeowners install a rooftop solar array with no upfront costs. Instead customers a pay a monthly fee to Sungevity for the electricity generated.
"We’re taking advantage of the high and increasing electricity rates in Sydney, Brisbane and other cities," says Danny Kennedy, Sungevity's president and co-founder.
Sungevity uses imaging technology and proprietary software to view customers’ roofs’ online and design the appropriately sized solar panel system. The company cuts marketing and installation costs by allowing clients to go online to obtain a price quote and preview how a photovoltaic array would look on their homes.
Initially, Sungevity Australia customers in southeastern Queensland and Sydney – the company's initial markets – will have their rooftop systems designed remotely in Oakland, Kennedy said.
The move marks Sungevity's second overseas foray. Last November, the company took a minority stake in Dutch solar installer Zonline, which uses Sungevity's remote design services.
Kennedy would not disclose the financial terms of the Australian joint venture but says Sungevity has taken "a significant minority stake."
He says Sungevity has put together an initial small fund from investors to finance the residential power purchase agreements and would be looking to banks, leasing companies and other institutions for further financing.
Kennedy and co-founder Andrew Birch, Sungevity's chief executive, started the company in Sydney but launched the startup in Berkeley, Calif., in 2008 to take advantage of California's generous subsidies for residential solar. The company has since expanded to the Southwest and East Coast.
"It's bloody good to be going back to Australia," says Kennedy.
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a31c0b67a0bc18d20e477e5f175befad
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/toddwoody/2012/05/03/morgan-stanley-backs-300-million-fund-to-install-residential-solar/
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Morgan Stanley Backs $300 Million Fund To Install Residential Solar
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Morgan Stanley Backs $300 Million Fund To Install Residential Solar
Morgan Stanley is backing a $300 million fund to finance installation of residential photovoltaic systems – yet another sign that the turmoil roiling solar panel manufacturers has been a boon for installers.
Plummeting costs for solar panels have driven several solar manufacturers and developers into bankruptcy in recent months but the 75% price plunge of photovoltaic modules in the past three years have made rooftop solar increasingly attractive to homeowners and financiers like Morgan Stanley.
On Monday, SolarCity, a Silicon Valley solar installer backed by Tesla Motors chief Elon Musk, said it plans to file for an initial public offering. And two weeks ago, Sungevity, SolarCity’s cross-Bay rival, revealed plans to expand into the Australian solar market.
In the deal announced Thursday, Clean Power Finance – a San Francisco startup that offers software tools and financing to solar installers – Morgan Stanley's MS Solar Solutions Corp, Zions Bancorporation and solar installer Main Street will create MySolar, a lease program to finance up to $300 million of rooftop solar arrays for homeowners in California and Arizona.
“The MySolar lease gives Clean Power Finance’s qualified network of solar professionals another affordable option to help homeowners immediately save money on their electricity bills,” Nat Kreamer, Clean Power Finance’s chief executive, said in a statement.
The success to date of the five-year-old startup backed by Silicon Valley venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Byers itself indicates that software and financial engineering is driving the solar industry as much as advances in photovoltaic panels.
Clean Power Finance never gets near a homeowner’s roof but provides a software platform to solar installers so they can design solar systems, generate price quotes for clients as well as financing options.
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ae76fe8f155b52b2d618528a37d44682
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/toddwoody/2012/10/10/california-grants-tesla-10-million-to-build-the-model-x-electric-suv/
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California Grants Tesla $10 Million To Build The Model X Electric SUV
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California Grants Tesla $10 Million To Build The Model X Electric SUV
Photo: Tesla Motors
California regulators on Wednesday approved a $10 million grant to Tesla Motors to help manufacture its next electric car, the Model X sport utility vehicle.
Tesla will pony up $50 million to match the California Energy Commission grant, which will be used to expand manufacturing capacity at its factory in Fremont, Calif., and to purchase equipment to make components for the Model X.
It was something of a love fest for Tesla at the energy commission meeting in Sacramento as commissioners and other regulators praised Tesla as an innovator that has brought automotive manufacturing back to California while creating clean cars and more than 1,500 jobs.
“Tesla has the unique distinction of being the only automaker to actually ask us to increase our targets under zero emission rules,” said Ryan McCarthy, the science and technology policy advisor to the chair of the California Air Resources Board. “I think the Model X is going to be the next embodiment of delivering on that unique vision and capability.”
“Tesla’s Gen 3 vehicle could ultimately be a game changer for electric vehicles and air quality and public health in California,” added McCarthy, referring to Tesla’s plans to build an electric car in the $30,000 range.
Its latest car, the Model S sedan, sells between $50,000 and $100,000 and the Model X, which is based on the Model S platform, is expected to sell in that price range.
“Too often we’re portrayed in the press as only producing an electric sports car,” Mike Taylor, Tesla’s vice president of finance, told the commissioners. “I think that misses the point of what Tesla Motors is trying to do and why it’s important for California. Our mission has always been to aggressively promote electric vehicles for the masses.”
Taylor said the $10 million grant would contribute to the hiring of an expected 700 additional workers when the Model X goes into production in 2014.
“I particularly applaud you for your continuing efforts to diversify the vehicle fleet,” commissioner Carla Peterman told Taylor. “The introduction of the sedan and now the SUV model will allow for further penetration and mass adoption.”
“I look forward to these vehicles becoming cheaper over time so that even government employees can afford them,” she added.
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177398cceb4d69b1cb085c6871d59099
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/toddwoody/2012/11/01/californias-new-solar-wind-hybrid-power-plant-greens-the-grid/
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California's New Solar-Wind Hybrid Power Plant Greens The Grid
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California's New Solar-Wind Hybrid Power Plant Greens The Grid
Catalina Solar. (Photos courtesy of EDF Renewable Energy)
One of the raps against solar and wind power is that they’re intermittent sources of energy, generating electricity only when the wind is blowing or the sun is shining and thus creating potential headaches for grid operators who must keep the supply and demand for electrons in balance.
Pacific Wind
One solution: The hybrid solar-wind power plant. This week EDF Renewable Energy officially unveiled the 140-megawatt Pacific Wind farm in the Tehachapi-Mojave region of Southern California and the nearby 143-megawatt Catalina solar power station. The wind farm went online in August and Catalina is set to start generating electricity by year’s end.
The wind in California tends to blow the strongest at night and in the winter while the sun obviously is at its strongest during the day and in the summer months. Combining the two resources in a single project allows for the more efficient use of transmission lines like the multibillion-dollar one being built to carry 4,500 megawatts of renewable energy from the Tehachapi to coastal metropolises.
“Instead of using the transmission lines 35% to 40% of the time, we’ll will use the lines 50% to 60% of the time,” Mark Tholke, vice president of EDF Renewable Energy’s Southwest region, told me.
EDF Renewable Energy, formerly known as EnXco, built Pacific Wind and Catalina Solar as individual projects and sells the electricity to utilities under separate power purchase agreements. But given their proximity to each other, the two projects were able to cut costs by sharing electrical and transmission infrastructure.
Some 500 workers are installing 1.2 million thin-film solar panels at Catalina Solar with Japan’s Solar Frontier supplying 82 megawatts of its CIGS panels and the U.S.’s First Solar providing 61 megawatts of its cadmium telluride photovoltaic modules.
Now EDF Renewable energy is planning a new wind-solar project in the region that will be designed as a hybrid from the start and the electricity will be sold to a utility under a single power purchase agreement, according to Tholke. The Avalon wind project will generate up to 300 megawatts while the solar part of power plant will produce 100 megawatts.
The foothills of the Tehachapi range drop down to the sun-blasted Mojave, creating some of the country’s top wind speeds as well as the most intense sunshine – perfect conditions for a hybrid power plant. Tholke says there are a few other places in the Southwest U.S. that offer similar opportunities.
The Tehachapi has experienced a wind farm building boom in recent years (which as I wrote last year has also collided with the return of the iconic but critically endangered California condor).
But the pending expiration of a crucial incentive, the federal Production Tax Credit, is likely to bring the wind boom and any future hybrid wind-solar projects to a halt unless Congress extends the subsidy that pays producers a premium for each kilowatt-hour they generate. Congress typically extends the PTC two years at a time, creating a boom and bust cycle for the wind industry as the uncertainty about whether the tax credit will be renewed plays havoc with long-term planning.
The stakes are higher this time: Over the past decade wind component manufacturers have set up shop in the U.S. to make turbines, blades and other parts for the massive machines near where wind farms are being built. Those companies have already started to lay off workers in anticipation that the tax credit will disappear at year’s end.
Tholke worries that the U.S. will lose its wind manufacturing muscle unless Congress acts. “There’s concern in the industry that if those manufacturing facilities shut down, they will never come back,” he says, noting that in 2011 more than 60% of an average wind turbine was made in the U.S., up from 25% in 2005.
EDF recently laid off workers due to the uncertain market conditions, Tholke says, and is contemplating shifting more resources into developing solar and biomass projects.
“Our company has been mostly wind and we’re diversifying into other technologies but if the bottom falls out of the wind market it’s problematic,” he says.
Gallery: Anatomy of a Solar Car 18 images View gallery
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e7871806340f127362296a8b7c92b98c
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/tomalexander/2018/01/09/knowing-when-to-exit-why-i-turned-down-a-30-million-offer/
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Knowing When To Exit: Why I Turned Down a $30 Million Offer
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Knowing When To Exit: Why I Turned Down a $30 Million Offer
I launched PK4 Media eight years ago as the advertising industries first Omni-Channel media company. Having worked in the industry for many years, I saw pain points and opportunities to solve them.
After several years, we became a multimillion dollar business. Our proprietary XPS technology was serving, monitoring and collecting data on ads across all platforms. This was when everyone was focused on migrating from websites to mobile content. We knew that the ability to provide a seamless customer journey across all platforms was the future.
I was not seeking an exit but had regularly received offers through the years of up to $30+ million to buy PK4 Media. After some deliberation, I turned down those offers.
PK4 Media was my baby. I was a young man who had the passion, energy and desire to see my vision continue to grow. Plus, I was confident that within a year, those offers would double or triple in size and then I could revisit whether I wanted an exit.
Therein lies the rub. Digital advertising is one of the most rapidly evolving -- and some would say volatile – industries that exist. The explosion of AdTech crowded our space. We saw the industry increasingly shift to mobile and video, as well as the launch of programmatic and an increase in competition. Moreover, in general, companies were still reticent to spend big in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis.
After years of being a young, confident and successful entrepreneur, I experienced a chink in my armor and began to wonder. Should I have sold? Did I miss my chance to exit?
If you ever meet an entrepreneur who tells you they did not face adversity, they are probably lying to you. Being a disrupter will have peaks and valleys, highs and lows and countless wins and failures. Multinational behemoths may launch a division to copy your idea and regain market share, while other entrepreneurs may see what you’ve accomplished and come up with a newer iteration.
Knowing when to exit is among the trickiest decisions an entrepreneur will ever have to make. It is akin to investors today who are debating whether to stay in the current crypto currency craze. Or even an aging boxer like Floyd Mayweather who must decide whether it is time to hang up the gloves with a perfect record or go for one more big pay day.
The bottom line is that there is no magic bullet or one-size-fits-all approach. Every individual must make their decision based on their life goals and circumstances.
In my case, I am completely at peace my decision. I was not ready to cash out. Like most entrepreneurs, I am self-driven and while the fantasy of a white sandy beach sounds nice, I am not there yet.
Instead of second guessing my decision, I channeled my energy to adapt to meet the changing needs in the marketplace. Programmatic advertising created a seismic shift in our industry but in 2017 the pitfalls of programmatic open exchanges became magnified. This included record advertising fraud, fake impressions, invalid traffic, hidden agency fees and inconsistent measurement of data. It was nearly impossible for a CMO to know how effective their digital advertising campaigns were.
Just like when we launched, we shifted PK4 Media’s business model to address those pitfalls and the response has been overwhelming. We recently acquired a company called TruEngage which is seeing consumers engage with pre-roll video ads in record numbers. In 2018, having an Omni-Channel approach will provide a seamless customer journey. These advances in digital technology will make 2018 the year challenger brands can take on their industry champions with a more effective and efficient digital business plan.
As PK4 Media has grown and our model has evolved, we are continuing to receive more inquiries into selling the company. Again, I can unequivocally say that I am not ready. I want to dream big, compete against the best, and when I look back on my life I want to be able to say that I made a positive difference in the world.
In my humble opinion, my advice to fellow entrepreneurs is that if you still have that fire in your belly, then you should continue to bet on yourself. Especially during periods of adversity, remember why you started on this journey and continue to see it all the way through. If you feel content with what you have been able to accomplish, it might be time to cash out. Only you are going to know and that is what makes knowing when to exit such a tricky decision.
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f78eac6a34fe7d3a8bd0f48fcdb4f389
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/tomalexander/2018/07/09/bootstrapping-secret-spend-every-day-trying-to-make-money-not-save-money/
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Bootstrapping Secret: Spend Every Day Trying To Make Money, Not Save Money
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Bootstrapping Secret: Spend Every Day Trying To Make Money, Not Save Money
Wining and dining clients Getty Images
My father was an entrepreneur and like him I always wanted to start my own company. When trying to build a business from scratch, one of the most important lessons he taught me is that you must spend every day trying to earn $1, not trying to save $1.
While I heard him growing up, I never quite understood what he meant until I started my own company.
After years of working for others in the burgeoning digital advertising space, I made the leap right after the great recession and launched PK4 Media.
After some contemplation, I made the decision to bootstrap so I would have complete control of my vision and destiny. As a result of that decision, I began to better understand what my father was trying to tell me.
When I realized how much personal risk I was taking on, I felt a heightened sense of anxiety. I did not want to squander a lifetime of savings I had acquired working long hours for someone else. The myriad of bold, game-changing moves I was planning to make started to feel risky.
That was exactly when what my father told me became crystal clear. To be one of the very few startups that succeed, you need to have self-belief, be willing to take calculated risks and seize opportunities when the time is right.
When I started PK4 Media, I vowed to overcome those fears and made a pact that I would never play with scared money.
If you decide not to speak at a high-visibility conference because there is a nominal sponsorship fee, you are playing with scared money; If you decide not to hire a great candidate because their salary requirement was a bit higher than you allotted, you are playing with scared money; and if you don’t invest in new technology that can transform your business and help you surpass your competitors, you are playing with scared money.
Spending every day trying to earn $1, not trying to save $1 means being hyper-focused on generating revenue and less focused on controlling costs and saving money.
To get a fledgling company off and running, you must always be networking, meeting with clients and getting your name into the marketplace quickly and in a meaningful way. It is critical to trust in the business model you've created and remember that revenue is the life blood of your company.
On the flip side, it is a huge mistake to waste time combing through an employee’s expense report line by line. The energy you waste focusing on whether to approve a dinner expense is time not spent growing your business.
It confirms a tried and true principle I recently highlighted in Forbes, which is that that 20% of your efforts will produce 80% of your results. Leaders must stay focused on the high ROI activities if the company is to succeed.
Yes, expenses can add up and some employees may be building up quite a tab. In the event it becomes clear that an employee is taking advantage without producing results, it is time to have a talk and maybe let that person go.
On the other hand, I have personally invested in sales people who haven’t closed any significant revenue their first year and worked with them to become the top sales person at our company. If I was solely concerned with saving the company money, we would not have seen the personal growth of this sales person or benefited from the enormous revenue they generated.
Bottom line, if the spending is strategically being done in search of revenue, those losses on your balance sheet can be recovered with a single new client signed. And betting big on yourself is the only way your business will ever grow to the point where it matches your original vision.
The key to being one of the very few entrepreneurs who “make it” is to identify a need, believe in yourself and trust your business model. When I find myself in a tricky predicament and I am feeling tentative, I always remind myself not to play with scared money and to spend every day trying to earn $1, not trying to save $1.
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1216779ba6cb0b34d8441887ce2a3777
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/tomangell/2017/09/19/dr-oz-says-medical-marijuana-could-help-solve-opioid-addiction/?sh=7161e1954219
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Dr. Oz Says Medical Marijuana Could Help Solve Opioid Addiction
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Dr. Oz Says Medical Marijuana Could Help Solve Opioid Addiction
Opponents of legalizing marijuana have long claimed that it is a "gateway drug" that leads to use of other substances. But one of the country's most famous physicians says the opposite might be true.
"The real story is the hypocrisy around medical marijuana," Mehmet Oz -- better known as Dr. Oz -- said in an appearance on Fox News on Tuesday morning. "People think it's a gateway drug to narcotics. It may be the exit drug to get us out of the narcotic epidemic."
.@DrOz: "Medical Marijuana... it may be the exit drug to get us out of the narcotic epidemic." pic.twitter.com/VjlPgHybwk — Fox News (@FoxNews) September 19, 2017
Oz also criticized marijuana's current status under federal law.
"We're not allowed to study it because it's a Schedule I drug, and I personally believe it could help," the physician, TV host and author said.
Fox & Friends host Steve Doocy simply responded, "Wow."
Photo by Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images for Advertising Week New York
The Controlled Substance Act's Schedule I -- the most restrictive category -- is supposed to be reserved for drugs with no medical value and a high potential for abuse. Researchers have long complained that marijuana's classification there creates additional hurdles that don't exist for studies on other substances.
Heroin and LSD are also in Schedule I alongside cannabis, yet cocaine and methamphetamine are classified in the less restrictive Schedule II category.
California lawmakers passed a joint resolution last week officially urging the federal government to reschedule marijuana.
Also last week, while introducing legislation to remove hurdles to marijuana research, U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) suggested the possibility that cannabis could be an alternative to opioids.
A growing body of research suggests that legal marijuana access is associated with reduced opioid addiction and overdose rates.
Oz has previously spoken about medical marijuana's potential as a safer alternative to opioids.
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338c26f43cc7d5334a9b853c6ce93d10
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/tomangell/2017/09/25/drug-arrests-on-the-rise-in-us-new-fbi-data/
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Drug Arrests On The Rise In US: New FBI Data
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Drug Arrests On The Rise In US: New FBI Data
Drug arrests are increasing in the United States, new FBI data shows.
MARVIN RECINOS/AFP/Getty Images
The numbers, released on Monday, show that there were 1,572,579 drug arrests in the U.S. in 2016.
That's an average of one drug arrest every 20 seconds.
The total number is up roughly 5.6% from the 1,488,707 arrests for drug crimes in the country in 2015.
The increasing drug bust rate stands in contrast to the public-health-focused rhetoric from Obama administration drug officials who consistently tried to move away from "war on drugs" terminology.
“Locking people up for minor drug offenses, and especially people with substance-use disorders, is not the answer,” Michael Botticelli, then Obama's White House Office of National Drug Control Policy director, said in a 2015 interview. “It’s cruel. It’s costly. And it doesn’t make the public any safer.”
In a PBS appearance last year, Botticelli, commonly referred to as the drug czar, called treating substance misuse as a crime "inhumane" and said, "we can’t arrest our way out of the problem."
Similarly, he told 60 Minutes: "We can't arrest and incarcerate addiction out of people. Not only do I think it's really inhumane, but it's ineffective and it cost us billions upon billions of dollars to keep doing this."
But despite its chief drug policy official sounding a bit like a decriminalization activist in interviews, the Obama administration in its last year in office oversaw a sharp rise in drug arrests.
And while the vast majority of drug arrests are made by local and state police, not DEA or FBI agents, the federal government does support those enforcement activities with grant programs that in some cases incentivize more and more drug arrests.
The Obama Justice Department did issue directives discouraging the use of harsh mandatory minimum sentences in many drug cases and allowing states to generally implement their own marijuana legalization laws without federal interference. And in the waning days of his administration the president said that marijuana should be treated "as a public-health issue, the same way we do with cigarettes or alcohol."
It is also worth noting that drug arrests were down over the course of the entire Obama administration from the 1,702,537 that occurred in 2008, the year before he took office.
But the administration consistently officially opposed marijuana legalization, and President Obama and his drug policy officials never endorsed decriminalizing substance use or policies that would end low-level arrests.
Under the Trump administration, current anti-marijuana U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has rescinded the Obama-era guidance on mandatory minimums and has said he is currently reviewing the old memo on state cannabis laws.
Unlike in years past, FBI didn't immediately make available data breaking down overall drug arrests into separate categories for marijuana and other substances.
NOTE: After this story was originally published I subsequently obtained the cannabis-specific data and analyzed it in a separate post.
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3f1791821eda364e960658493e79744f
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/tomangell/2017/10/26/sessions-cant-comment-on-marijuana-crackdown-plans/
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Jeff Sessions 'Can't Comment' On Marijuana Crackdown Plans
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Jeff Sessions 'Can't Comment' On Marijuana Crackdown Plans
U.S Attorney General Jeff Sessions is a longtime opponent of marijuana legalization. But in an interview on Thursday, he was guarded about the Trump administration's plans to push back against the growing number of states that are ending cannabis prohibition.
"I can't comment on the existence of an investigation at this time," he said, adding that he doesn't think changing state laws have taken away the Department of Justice's power to enforce the ongoing federal ban.
"I do not believe there is any argument that because a state legalizes marijuana that the federal law against marijuana is no longer existence," he said. "I do believe that the federal laws clearly are in effect in all 50 states, and we will do our best to enforce the laws as we are required to do so."
SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images
Sessions was responding to a suggestion from conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt about using federal racketeering laws to go after marijuana businesses.
"A lot of states are just simply breaking the law," Hewitt argued. "A lot of money is being made and banked. One RICO prosecution of one producer and the banks that service them would shut this all down. Is such a prosecution going to happen?"
Sessions replied that he's not sure an enforcement strategy could be so simple.
"I don't know that one prosecution would be quite as effective as that," he said. "We will analyze all those cases and I can't comment on the existence of an investigation at this time. I hear you. You're making a suggestion. I hear it. You're lobbying."
In a separate appearance at the Heritage Foundation on Thursday, Sessions elaborated on his disdain for society's shifting attitudes toward marijuana and other drugs.
"We've got to reestablish first a view that you should say no. People should say no to drug use," he said. "This whole country needs to be not so lackadaisical about drugs. ... Much of the addiction starts with marijuana. It's not a harmless drug."
While a senator, Sessions was one of Congress's most vocal opponents of cannabis law reform. During one hearing, for example, he said, "Good people don't smoke marijuana."
He also spoke out against legalization last month.
"I've never felt that we should legalize marijuana," he said. "It doesn't strike me that the country would be better if it's being sold on every street corner."
Also last month, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein expressed concerns about state cannabis reforms and said that the Justice Department is considering rescinding Obama-era guidance that has generally allowed local marijuana laws to proceed without much federal interference.
"We are reviewing that policy," he said. "We haven't changed it, but we are reviewing it. We're looking at the states that have legalized or decriminalized marijuana, trying to evaluate what the impact is."
But last week, Sessions indicated in appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee that he is open to at least allowing more marijuana cultivation for research purposes.
“I think it would be healthy to have some more competition in the supply,” he said in response to a question from Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT), who has in recent weeks become a leading Congressional champion for medical cannabis.
A Gallup poll released on Wednesday found that 64% of Americans support legalizing marijuana. For the first time in the firm's 48 years of polling on cannabis, a majority of Republicans are on board with ending prohibition.
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d965a0d0caa26520ae0c8a42a85d7477
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/tomangell/2017/12/05/no-bankruptcy-aid-for-marijuana-businesses-justice-department-officials-say/
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No Bankruptcy Aid For Marijuana Businesses, Justice Department Officials Say
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No Bankruptcy Aid For Marijuana Businesses, Justice Department Officials Say
The U.S. Department of Justice is issuing another reminder that marijuana businesses don't have a right to bankruptcy proceedings.
AP Photo/Susan Walsh
"Marijuana continues to be regulated by Congress as a dangerous drug, and as the Supreme Court has recognized, the federal prohibition of marijuana takes precedence over state laws to the contrary," Clifford J. White III, director of the Justice Department's Executive Office for U.S. Trustees, and John Sheahan, a trial attorney for the agency, wrote in an article published on Friday.
The United States Trustee Program's position, they say, is that the bankruptcy system cannot aid in liquidating or restructuring any assets associated with cannabis.
"The USTP’s response to marijuana-related bankruptcy filings is guided by two straightforward and uncontroversial principles," the two Justice Department officials wrote in the ABI Journal. "First, the bankruptcy system may not be used as an instrument in the ongoing commission of a crime and reorganization plans that permit or require continued illegal activity may not be confirmed. Second, bankruptcy trustees and other estate fiduciaries should not be required to administer assets if doing so would cause them to violate federal criminal law."
White and Sheahan, who are career Justice Department officials, not Trump administration political appointees, say the prohibition on handling cannabis assets goes beyond activities that directly touch the plant and also extends to real estate leases and investments.
"Thus, not only would a trustee who offers marijuana for sale violate the law but so, too, would a trustee who liquidated the fertilizer or equipment used to grow marijuana, who collected rent from a marijuana business tenant, or who sought to collect the profits of a marijuana investment," they wrote.
Under the Controlled Substances Act, the federal officials say, "there is no distinction between the seller or the grower of marijuana and the supposedly more 'downstream' participants... [A]ll are in violation of federal criminal law."
The new article is a follow-up to a memo White issued in April explaining the office's position and urging private trustees who administer bankruptcy cases to report any marijuana activity they notice to Justice Department officials.
"In recent months, we have noticed an increase in the number of bankruptcy cases involving marijuana assets," he wrote at the time. "This is to reiterate and emphasize the importance of prompt notification to your United States Trustee whenever you uncover a marijuana asset in a case assigned to you. Our goal is to ensure that trustees are not placed in the untenable position of violating federal law by liquidating, receiving proceeds from, or in any way administering marijuana assets.”
The Justice Department's Trustee Program is essentially a watchdog for bankruptcy proceedings. The 21 regional U.S. trustees, appointed to five-year terms by the attorney general, are charged with appointing and supervising the more than 1,100 private trustees who primarily handle individual bankruptcy cases across the country.
White and Sheahan's new article sheds more light on the federal government's position on marijuana-related cases, and comes as a response to a previous piece in the American Bankruptcy Institute-published journal that pushed back on the April memo.
Cannabis industry cases are distinct from others involving illegally-derived assets such as bankruptcy proceedings stemming from "Ponzi schemes and other criminal activities – seen in such notorious cases as Enron, Dreier LLP, and Madoff," they argued.
Those filings, they say, "deal with the aftermath of fraud, usually after individual wrongdoers had been removed from the business."
Cannabis cases, on the other hand, "involve companies that openly propose to continue their illegal activity during and after the bankruptcy," the federal officials write. "Those cases present a challenge to the bankruptcy system because they generally involve assets that are illegal even to possess. In contrast to other types of cases involving illegal businesses, in which the criminal activity has already terminated and the principal concern of the bankruptcy court is to resolve competing claims by victims for compensation, a marijuana bankruptcy case may involve a company that not only is continuing in its business, but is even seeking the affirmative assistance of the bankruptcy court in order to reorganize its balance sheet and thereby facilitate its violations of the law going forward."
The new article comes as the Justice Department's overall position on marijuana remains uncertain. U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has in recent weeks sent mixed signals about his plans for federal marijuana enforcement policy under the Trump administration.
Last month, Sessions testified before Congress that an Obama-era Justice Department memo that generally allows states to implement their own marijuana laws without interference remains in effect. But last week he told reporters at a briefing that his department is actively conducting talks about potential changes to the policy.
For now, White and Sheahan argue that the trustee program's position is not to "turn a blind eye to bankruptcy filings by marijuana businesses."
"Rather than make its own marijuana policy, the USTP will continue to enforce the legislative judgment of Congress by preventing the bankruptcy system from being used for purposes that Congress has determined are illegal," they write.
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bed1db1d035582338e4c96f8446b298a
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/tomangell/2018/03/13/gop-leaders-bill-could-let-patients-use-medical-marijuana/
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GOP Leaders' Bill Could Let Patients Use Medical Marijuana
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GOP Leaders' Bill Could Let Patients Use Medical Marijuana
A Republican-backed bill working its way through Congress could have the unintended consequence of allowing seriously ill patients to use medical marijuana.
PHOTO BY CHRIS WALLIS // SIDE POCKET IMAGES PHOTO BY CHRIS WALLIS // SIDE POCKET IMAGES
Under legislation set to be voted on by the House of Representatives on Tuesday, patients with terminal diseases would be able to access drugs that have not yet been approved by the Food and Drug Administration.
The proposal, known as the "Right to Try Act," lays out certain criteria for what can be considered an "eligible investigational drug," all of which marijuana appears to meet.
In order to qualify, a drug has to have completed a phase 1 clinical trial, be under active development and not yet have been approved or licensed for any legal use by the federal government. An eligible medicine also needs to be the subject of an active investigational new drug application and under investigation in a clinical trial intended to form the basis of a claim of effectiveness in support of approval or licensure by the FDA.
Thanks to research being funded by the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS), cannabis seems to fit the bill.
The organization, which began its quest for investigational new drug status for marijuana in 2010, is currently in the middle of Phase 2 clinical trials on the use of cannabis by military veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder. The goal is to turn whole-plant marijuana into a legal, FDA-approved prescription medicine.
In the meantime, while the congressional bill appears to open the door to legal access to marijuana, only the most gravely ill patients would qualify.
To access cannabis, they would need to be in "a stage of a disease or condition in which there is reasonable likelihood that death will occur within a matter of months, or a disease or condition that would result in significant irreversible morbidity that is likely to lead to severely premature death."
They would also need to have "exhausted approved treatment options" and not be eligible to otherwise participate in ongoing clinical trials on the drug because they don't meet inclusion criteria or live within geographic proximity of where the study is taking place.
"Making medical marijuana available for terminally ill patients would certainly be a significant step forward for federal policy. If MAPS’s current Phase 2 clinical trial of marijuana for symptoms of PTSD in military veterans qualifies marijuana for use under the proposed Right to Try Act, then the trial will already have helped a lot of people," Brad Burge, MAPS's director of strategic communications, said in an interview. "Still, only making marijuana available for those on the verge of dying isn’t nearly enough, and the best thing the federal government can do for patients is to end the federal monopoly on marijuana for research currently being upheld by Jeff Sessions."
Under longstanding U.S. policy, all marijuana used in scientific research is grown at a University of Mississippi farm licensed by the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Researchers have long complained that it is difficult to obtain cannabis from the government-sponsored lab and that the product is often of low quality. In 2016, the Obama administration moved to allow more cultivation facilities, but the Department of Justice under U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has reportedly blocked the Drug Enforcement Administration from acting on any of the license applications it has so far received.
Because the Right to Try bill is being brought forth on an expedited basis known as "suspension of the rules," it needs support from two-thirds of House members present and voting, with a roll call expected to take place Tuesday evening. A similar bill was approved by the Senate last August.
If the House passes the legislation, the two chambers will work to reconcile the versions into a single proposal to be sent to President Trump, who pledged his support during his State of the Union address in January.
Republican and Democratic staffers for the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which has jurisdiction over food and drug safety, did not respond to a request for comment.
State-based legislation that explicitly outlines a right to try cannabis for terminally ill patients has advanced this year in Utah and Missouri.
UPDATE: The bill fell just short of getting the necessary two-thirds support it needed to pass the House under suspension of the rules on Tuesday evening.
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e1b00464f943bdcce983945e64b66331
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/tomangell/2018/04/19/top-senate-democrat-pushes-bill-to-end-marijuana-prohibition/
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Top Senate Democrat Pushes Bill To End Marijuana Prohibition
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Top Senate Democrat Pushes Bill To End Marijuana Prohibition
In one of the clearest signs yet that the politics of marijuana are rapidly shifting in favor of those who support legalization, one of the most vocal, longtime proponents of the war on drugs in Congress is filing legislation to end federal cannabis prohibition.
Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York announced on Thursday that he will soon introduce a bill to remove marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act altogether so that states can set their own policies.
Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
"The legislation is long overdue," Schumer said in an interview with VICE News. "I've seen too many people's lives ruined because they had small amounts of marijuana and served time in jail much too long."
The news comes on the same day that Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) joined two other potential 2020 Democratic presidential candidates in sponsoring even more far-reaching marijuana legislation.
That bill, the Marijuana Justice Act, would not only exempt cannabis from the Controlled Substances Act, but would also withhold funding from states that have racially disparate marijuana enforcement rates.
“With this announcement, Senator Schumer has effectively made it clear that a legislative priority for the Democratic Party is to end the federal prohibition of marijuana," Justin Strekal, political director of NORML, said. "As Democratic Leader, it is his role to ensure that the caucus as a whole falls in line with this public policy position -- a position that is held by more than 60 percent of Americans."
Schumer's bill would also "create some funding for minority and women-owned marijuana businesses, provide money for research into overall effects of marijuana and its specific effect on driving impairment," VICE News reported.
In 2004, Schumer was recognized by the Partnership for a Drug-Free America as a "Guardian of a Drug-Free America" for his work on drug enforcement legislation. In 2011 he sought to crack down on Bitcoin, seeing it as facilitating illegal drug transactions on the Internet.
Schumer first showed signs he was shifting away from his support for outright cannabis prohibition in 2014, when he said during an MSNBC interview that he supported letting states enact their own marijuana laws without federal interference.
Describing states as “laboratories,” he said, "I think having the states experiment is a good idea.”
The next year, in 2015, he started turning that talk into action by signing on as a cosponsor of legislation to allow states implement their own medical cannabis laws without federal interference.
Earlier this year, the Democratic Senate leader criticized the move by U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions to rescind Obama-era guidance that has generally allowed states to implement marijuana legalization policies.
I believe that the States should continue to be the labs of democracy when it comes to recreational & medical marijuana. Jeff, this is one place where states’ rights works. Let each state decide. — Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) January 6, 2018
Now, Schumer is introducing a bill to end the federal war on marijuana altogether.
BREAKING: Senator Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) changes position and says he will submit a bill aimed at decriminalizing marijuana. See the exclusive interview on VICE News Tonight at 7:30PM on @HBO pic.twitter.com/2FvF7IvMQS — VICE News (@vicenews) April 19, 2018
By removing the drug from the Controlled Substances Act altogether, a process known as descheduling, states will be free to set whatever marijuana laws they want, and people following those laws will be protected from federal intervention as long as their cannabis activity doesn't cross state lines or violate local policies.
Schumer also told VICE News that he has no problem supporting legalizing marijuana on the state level in New York.
“My personal view is legalization is just fine,” Schumer said. “The best thing to do is let each state decide on its own.”
But Strekal, of NORML, said that simply ending criminalization isn't enough, and that communities harmed by the drug war should be able to benefit from the newly legal economy.
“As states start dialing back their war on marijuana consumers, it is important that those who were impacted by this oppressive prohibition are able to see previous harms remedied, and be provided the opportunity to participate in the benefits that come along with legalization and regulation," he said.
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b240e72ed26ce9afa252c11698507daf
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/tomangell/2018/07/11/medical-marijuana-reduces-opioid-prescriptions-another-study-finds/
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Medical Marijuana Reduces Opioid Prescriptions, Another Study Finds
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Medical Marijuana Reduces Opioid Prescriptions, Another Study Finds
The latest in a string of studies to demonstrate a link between medical marijuana legalization and lower opioid use rates has just been released.
Photo by Tom Sydow Photo by Tom Sydow
"In this study, we found that statewide medical cannabis legalization implemented in 1993 - 2014 in the US was associated with close to 30% reductions in Schedule III opioids received by Medicaid enrollees," the researchers, from the University of California San Diego and Weill Cornell Medical College, wrote in the journal Addiction.
Calculating the cost of opioid pain drugs that patients would have otherwise purchased, the study estimated that medical cannabis legalization in states that have so far adopted it saves the federal government $7.46 million in annual Medicaid spending. Add to that an additional $6.54 million in savings for states.
"[I]f all the states had legalized medical cannabis by 2014, Medicaid annual spending on opioid prescriptions would be reduced by 17.8 million dollars," the study projected.
While the research showed a clear reduction in prescriptions of Schedule III opioids, it did not find a correlation between allowance of medical marijuana and use of drugs classified under the more restrictive Schedule II of the Controlled Substances Act.
"[E]vidence suggested that cannabis provides mild to moderate relief from pain, on par with Codeine, making cannabis a better alternative to Schedule III opioids," the researchers wrote in the study, published this week. "Although there is emerging evidence suggesting that cannabis is effective in treating severe pain, no studies compared the analgesic efficacy of the cannabinoids with Schedule II opioids. Due to the concern of cannabis’ lack of efficacy on severe pain symptoms, patients prescribed Schedule II opioids might be less likely to switch to medical cannabis and physicians might be less likely to recommend medical cannabis to these patients."
The new results expand on findings of other studies released earlier this year which found that "medical cannabis laws are associated with significant reductions in opioid prescribing in the Medicare Part D population" and that state marijuana policies "have the potential to lower opioid prescribing for Medicaid enrollees."
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6c0f2e58e26824185e49b61004b896f7
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/tomangell/2018/08/09/denver-having-success-regulating-legal-marijuana-mayor-says/
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Denver 'Having Success' Regulating Legal Marijuana, Mayor Says
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Denver 'Having Success' Regulating Legal Marijuana, Mayor Says
Denver Mayor Michael Hancock (D) campaigned against Colorado's marijuana legalization measure in 2012. But he now admits that in the years since voters ignored his advice and ended prohibition anyway, the city has been able to effectively regulate the cannabis industry in a way that creates jobs and generates tax revenue.
Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images
On Thursday, the Denver officials released a progress report tracking the impact of legalization to date.
“This new report demonstrates Denver’s coordinated approach between multiple agencies to manage marijuana is working,” Hancock said in a press release. “We took on the daunting challenge of becoming the first major city in America to manage legalized recreational marijuana and we are having success."
Findings from the new report include:
Retailers in the city sold $584 million worth of medical and recreational marijuana products in 2017.
Denver marijuana sales City of Denver
The city took in $44.7 million in cannabis tax revenue last year, an annual increase of 20%.
Denver marijuana tax revenue City of Denver
There are now more than 1,100 licensed marijuana businesses in Denver.
Licensed marijuana businesses in Denver City of Denver
Marijuana industry-related crime represented less than ½ of 1% of overall crime in the city. 82% of that stemmed from attempted burglaries or thefts from cannabis businesses.
The full report has a lot more datapoints and graphs.
Meanwhile, a state-funded report released this month found that Colorado's overall "licensed, regulated commercial marketplace is working well," the executive director of the Colorado Department of Revenue said.
While Hancock, the Denver mayor, opposed legalization six years ago, he is now leading a nationwide coalition of local officials to push the federal government to modernize its approach to cannabis.
Mayors are the ones implementing legal marijuana. We know what works & what doesn’t. Teaming up w/ @MarkFarrellSF, @MayorJenny, @LibbySchaaf, @tedwheeler & @mayorheidi in a first-of-its-kind coalition to help cities, states & Congress prepare for legalization #MayorsMJCoalition pic.twitter.com/M6TCORQc5P — Michael B. Hancock (@MayorHancock) June 11, 2018
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90ccbe90b344ecd23ca992fd780fd9e3
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/tomangell/2018/08/20/wells-fargo-closes-florida-politicians-account-due-to-marijuana-donations/
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Wells Fargo Closes Florida Politician's Account Due To Marijuana Donations
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Wells Fargo Closes Florida Politician's Account Due To Marijuana Donations
It's well known that many banks are reluctant to open accounts for marijuana businesses out of fear of running afoul of the U.S's government's continued criminalization of the drug.
But one major institution just took the financial services industry's cannabis cash paranoia a step further, saying—in what appears to be a first—that it won't do business with a political candidate because she has received donations from cannabis industry interests.
PHOTO: TOM SYDOW PHOTO: TOM SYDOW
Wells Fargo, the fourth-largest bank in the U.S., fired Florida agriculture commissioner candidate Nikki Fried as a client this month because her campaign has received donations from "lobbyists from the medical marijuana industry," according to copies of emails her campaign made public on Monday.
"As part of the onboarding of the client it was uncovered some information regarding the customers [sic] political platform and that they are advocating for expanding patient access to medical marijuana," Antoinette Infante, a vice president and senior relationship manager at Wells Fargo, wrote in a July 11 email to the Fried campaign's compliance officer.
Wells Fargo email Photo courtesy of Nikki Fried
After the campaign confirmed in a reply that Fried has indeed received contributions from cannabis industry leaders—and had no intention of stopping—Wells Fargo confirmed the closure of the account in an August 3 letter.
"Periodically, we review our account relationships as part of our responsibility to oversee and manage banking risks," the letter said. "As a result of a recent review of your account relationship, we determined that we need to discontinue our business relationship and close the account above within 30 days from the date of this letter."
Wells Fargo letter Photo courtesy of Nikki Fried
If the move represents a new companywide policy—whether or not it spreads to other banking institutions—it could have implications for dozens of members of Congress and other politicians who regularly accept campaign contributions from people involved in the marijuana industry.
It could also affect the bank accounts for campaign committees and nonprofit groups working to advocate for marijuana policy change through legislatures and via ballot measures.
"This is yet another clear signal to Congress that they need to address the banking issue for the cannabis industry," Mason Tvert, a spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP), said in a statement. "It is absurd enough that state-regulated businesses are being denied standard banking services, but it is absolutely ludicrous that political candidates and nonprofit advocacy organizations are also being affected. There is no rational reason for Congress to go another session without fixing this growing problem, which has serious societal implications."
MPP itself had its account closed by PNC Bank last year.
Fried, a Democrat, held a press conference at the Florida capitol on Monday morning to "address this arbitrary, unprecedented action against the fundamental rights to speech of a candidate for public office, and call attention to the out of touch institutions, laws and politicians that allowed this transgression to occur in the first place," according to a news advisory.
In an email on Monday afternoon, Michael H. Gray, a Wells Fargo assistant vice president for corporate communications defended the company's move.
"It is Wells Fargo's policy not to knowingly bank or provide services to marijuana businesses or for activities related to those businesses, based on federal laws under which the sale and use of marijuana is illegal even if state laws differ," he said. "We continually review our banking relationships to ensure we adhere to strict regulatory and risk guidelines."
When asked if that meant the company would be canceling the accounts of members of Congress who bank with Wells Fargo, Gray responded, "The policy applies to everyone."
Because of ongoing federal marijuana prohibition, many banks have remained wary about working with marijuana businesses, even as a growing number of states move to legalize the drug for recreational or medical purposes.
But Wells Fargo's move appears to be the first time a financial institution has denied banking services to a candidate for public office as a result of donations from the cannabis industry.
Florida voters overwhelmingly approved a medical cannabis ballot measure in November 2016, but its implementation has been slow and contentious as advocates and state officials battle over issues such as a ban on smoking the drug.
While Fried would not have significant oversight of medical marijuana issues if elected as commissioner of agriculture and consumer services, she has regularly mentioned the issue during the course of her campaign.
"There is no clearer example of our broken government than medical marijuana," she said in video announcing her candidacy.
In 100 days we need to elect a Commissioner of Agriculture and Consumer Services that will fight for the rights of medical marijuana patients, protect our coastline and support our farmers. Join my campaign by contributing here: https://t.co/Q3OFZoPk8zpic.twitter.com/dGnreudKJL — Nikki Fried
Fried herself was a medical cannabis lobbyist prior to running for office.
Despite the fears that many banks have about working with the marijuana industry, recent federal data shows that a growing number of financial institutions are actively opening and maintaining accounts for cannabis businesses.
This piece has been updated to include comment from Wells Fargo and the Marijuana Policy Project.
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256374b638009fd888ecab42d859aa49
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/tomangell/2018/10/22/marijuana-support-grows-two-out-of-three-americans-back-legalization-gallup-says/
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Marijuana Support Grows: Two Out Of Three Americans Back Legalization, Gallup Says
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Marijuana Support Grows: Two Out Of Three Americans Back Legalization, Gallup Says
Two-thirds of Americans now support legalizing marijuana, the highest percentage ever in Gallup's ongoing decades-long series of national polls on the topic.
The new survey released on Monday shows that U.S. adults back ending cannabis prohibition by a supermajority margin of 66 percent to 32 percent. That's more than a two-to-one ratio.
It is the third year in a row that the firm, which has been polling about marijuana for 49 years, has found a record-breaking increase in support.
When Gallup first polled Americans on legal marijuana in 1969, just 12 percent said they were in favor. As recently as 2005, barely a third of Americans were on board.
Last year, the survey pegged legalization's favorability at 64 percent. In addition to the two-point bump in support since then, opposition also decreased two percentage points from 2017's level of 34 percent.
Gallup Gallup
Support for legalization has spiked considerably in several key demographics over the past year. For example, there has been a nine-point increase among older Americans, with 59 percent of those aged 55 and over now saying it is time to end marijuana's criminalization.
And Republican support is rising as well, with 53 percent backing legal marijuana this year as compared to 51 percent in 2017, the first year the poll found a majority of GOP voters in favor.
Gallup Gallup
Just 45 percent of Republicans told Gallup this year that they oppose making cannabis legal, a four-point drop from 2017. Combined with the jump in those saying they favor the policy change, there was a net six-point swing in GOP attitudes toward marijuana legalization and away from prohibition over the past twelve months.
Legal marijuana support is also at an all-time-high among Democrats—75 percent—and independents, who are on board to the tune of 71 percent.
The poll also found that regional differences in attitudes about cannabis are starting to dissipate. People on the East Coast are now slightly more likely to back legal marijuana than those out West , with all areas of the country favoring the policy change at roughly the same rate—67 percent in the East and 65 percent in the each of the Midwest, South and West.
And there's no sign the year-over-year increase in support is slowing down.
"Like support for gay marriage—and in prior years, interracial marriage—support for marijuana legalization has generally only expanded, even if slowly, over the course of multiple decades—raising the question of where the ceiling in support might be," Gallup's Justin McCarthy wrote.
Indeed, support is huge among younger Americans, with 78 percent of those aged 18 to 34 calling for cannabis to be legal.
"It is time for lawmakers to acknowledge the data-driven and political realities of legalization," said NORML Political Director Justin Strekal. "It is time to stop ceding control of the marijuana market to untaxed criminal enterprises and implement common-sense, evidence-based regulations governing cannabis' personal use and licensed production by responsible adults."
"Our time has come," he added.
The survey was conducted between October 1 and 10, prior to Canada's cannabis legalization law going into effect last week.
Several other recent national polls have shown strong support for cannabis reform. Earlier this month the Pew Research Center, for example, found that 62 percent of Americans support ending marijuana prohibition.
"There is a growing sense among the U.S. population that it is time to end our nation's failed experiment with marijuana prohibition," Steve Hawkins, executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project, said. "There are not many issues out there that enjoy majority support among both of the major political parties and in every region of the country. This support is consistently translating into wins at the ballot box, and it should further motivate elected officials to take action at the state and federal levels. Hopefully lawmakers are paying attention to this clear trend in public opinion."
"If they ignore these poll numbers, they do so at the risk of seeing a drop in their own," Hawkins added.
The positive reports of legalization's favorability come as several U.S. states prepare to vote on cannabis measures in November.
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9c044e9e355dc78baac74489acd9b97f
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/tomangell/2018/11/07/marijuana-won-the-midterm-elections/
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Marijuana Won The Midterm Elections
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Marijuana Won The Midterm Elections
Tuesday's election results were a mixed bag for partisans: Democrats regained control of the House, while Republicans extended their Senate majority.
But one clear winner in the midterm elections was marijuana.
Michigan voters approved a ballot measure making their state the first in the midwest to legalize cannabis.
Missouri approved an initiative to allow medical marijuana, as did Utah.
Voters in several Ohio cities approved local marijuana decriminalization measures, and a number of Wisconsin counties and cities strongly approved nonbinding ballot questions calling for cannabis reform.
While North Dakota's long-shot marijuana legalization measure failed, cannabis also scored a number of big victories when it came to the results of candidate races.
When new pro-legalization governors take their seats next year, marijuana bills in several states will have a good chance of being signed into law.
In Illinois, Democrat J.B. Pritzker won the governor's race after making marijuana legalization a centerpiece of his campaign.
"We can begin by immediately removing one area of racial injustice in our criminal justice system," he said during his primary night victory speech earlier this year. "Let's legalize, tax and regulate marijuana."
Minnesota Gov.-elect Tim Walz (D) wants to "replace the current failed policy with one that creates tax revenue, grows jobs, builds opportunities for Minnesotans, protects Minnesota kids, and trusts adults to make personal decisions based on their personal freedoms."
Michigan voters who supported the state's marijuana legalization measure will have an ally in the incoming governor, Gretchen Whitmer (D), who supported the initiative and is expected to implement it in accordance with the will of the people. She has called cannabis an "exit drug" away from opioids
In New Mexico, Michelle Lujan Grisham (D), who won the governor's race, said legalizing marijuana will bring “hundreds of millions of dollars to New Mexico’s economy."
In New York, while easily reelected Gov Andrew Cuomo (D) had previously expressed opposition to legalization, he more recently empaneled a working group to draft legislation to end cannabis prohibition that the legislature can consider in 2019, a prospect whose chances just got a lot better in light of the fact that Democrats took control of the state's Senate.
In Wisconsin, Democrat Tony Evers supports decriminalizing marijuana and allowing medical cannabis, and says he wants to put a full marijuana legalization question before voters to decide. He ousted incumbent Gov. Scott Walker (R) on Tuesday.
States that already have legalization elected new governors who have been vocal supporters and will likely defend their local laws from potential federal interference. California's Gavin Newsom, Colorado's Jared Polis, Maine's Janet Mills and Nevada's Steve Sisolak, all Democrats, fit that bill. Oregon Gov. Kate Brown (D), also a legalization supporter, was reelected in her state, which ended prohibition in 2014.
Speaking of the federal government, when it comes to congressional races, one of the main impediments to cannabis reform on Capitol Hill won't be around in 2019.
Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX), who as chairman of the House Rules Committee, has systematically blocked every single proposed marijuana amendment from reaching a floor vote this Congress, is now out of a job after having lost his reelection bid to Democrat Colin Allred.
And the fact that the Democrats, who have been much more likely than Republicans to support cannabis reform legislation than GOP members, retook control of the chamber means that the chances of ending federal prohibition sooner rather than later just got a lot better.
Lat month, Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) published what he called a "Blueprint to Legalize Marijuana" in which he laid out a detailed, step-by-step plan for Democrats to enact the end of federal cannabis prohibition in 2019. It's not clear whether Democratic leaders will embrace the idea, but a look at polling on the issue should give them the sense that marijuana reform is a popular issue with bipartisan support.
Last month, a national Gallup survey found that 66 percent of Americans support legalizing marijuana, including a clear majority of Republicans.
That said, while Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has championed legalizing hemp, he does not support broader marijuana law reform and seems unlikely to bring far-reaching cannabis bills to a vote without substantial pressure.
But President Trump earlier this year voiced support for pending legislation that would respect the right of states to implement their own marijuana laws. If Democrats pass that bill or similar proposals out of the House, the president's support could be enough to get it through the Senate, where a number of GOP members have already endorsed ending federal prohibition.
Meanwhile, a number of likely 2020 Democratic presidential candidates have embraced cannabis legalization, setting up an uncertain situation where the issue could potentially be viewed through a partisan lens or perhaps emerge as a rare area where the two major parties can work together to achieve a popularly supported goal.
For now, it seems clear that marijuana reform supporters had a good night on Tuesday.
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7aaa9dd5b96297d55b4eb98343a45d0d
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/tomangell/2018/12/06/marijuanas-ten-biggest-victories-of-2018/
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Marijuana's Ten Biggest Victories Of 2018
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Marijuana's Ten Biggest Victories Of 2018
This year was a pivotal one for marijuana.
It began with then-U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions sending waves of uncertainty and fear over the cannabis industry and legalization supporters on January 4, when he formally rescinded Obama-era guidelines protecting state marijuana laws.
But as 2018 went on, even more states ended up changing their laws to allow for legal recreational or medical cannabis use despite the conflict with federal law. Efforts to end national prohibition in Congress picked up steam as well. And several nations moved to significantly overhaul their marijuana laws.
Here's a look back at marijuana's 10 biggest victories of the year:
Lawmakers Start Passing Marijuana Legalization Bills
It didn't take long for pro-legalization forces to get a victory on the board after Session's anti-cannabis attack. Just hours later, on the very same day the attorney general threw the previous administration's federal cannabis protections in the trash, Vermont lawmakers voted to approve a marijuana legalization bill. Gov. Phil Scott, a Republican, went on to sign the legislation, which allows adults to grow and possess small amounts of cannabis but does not provide for a system of legal sales. That made Vermont the first state in the nation to enact legalization by an act of lawmakers instead of through a ballot initiative.
In September, lawmakers in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), a U.S. territory, also enacted a marijuana legalization bill that was later signed into law by Gov. Ralph Torres (R). Unlike the Vermont policy, CNMI's approach does include legal cannabis commerce. The territory, which previously did not have a medical marijuana law, became the first place in the U.S. to go straight from having cannabis illegal across the board to allowing recreational use.
These two new laws—signed by Republican governors—mark an evolution in the country's move toward legalization. Whereas the other states that had previously ended prohibition did so through acts of voters, it is now clear that politicians are comfortable enough with the issue to take matters into their own hands.
Three Red States Legalize Medical Cannabis
Support for marijuana reform transcends party lines, a political reality made clear by the fact that voters in Missouri, Oklahoma and Utah all overwhelmingly approved medical cannabis ballot measures this year while at the same time voting to elect Republicans to the U.S. Senate or nominate conservative candidates for statewide office. In Oklahoma, medical marijuana was on the primary election ballot—a situation legalization supporters have long sought to avoid because younger and more progressive voters who have been thought more likely to support cannabis reform don't show up as reliably in non-presidential elections. But the decisive win in the red state during an off-year primary shows that medical cannabis can pass almost anywhere any time it is put before voters, whether presidential years, primaries or midterms.
First Midwestern State Legalizes Marijuana
During last month's midterms, voters in Michigan strongly approved a ballot measure making their state the fist in the Midwest to legalize adult-use marijuana. No longer relegated to the coasts, legal markets for recreational marijuana are now an emerging nationwide trend. Separately, while not nearly as far-reaching as ending prohibition and allowing legal sales, voters in five Ohio cities also approved local cannabis decriminalization ballot measures on Election Day, signaling that a regional Midwest movement for marijuana reform is on the rise.
Pro-Legalization Candidates Win Governors' Races
Aside from the wins at the ballot box for cannabis measures this year, voters also elected a number of new governors who campaigned on promises to legalize marijuana.
In Illinois, Democrat J.B. Pritzker sailed to victory after a campaign in which he made marijuana legalization a centerpiece of his platform. Minnesota Gov.-elect Tim Walz (D), who has worked on cannabis issues in Congress, also backs ending prohibition.
In addition to approving a legalization ballot measure, Michigan voters elected Gretchen Whitmer (D), who publicly supported the initiative and called cannabis an "exit drug" away from opioids, as governor. In New Mexico, Michelle Lujan Grisham (D), who won the governor's race, said legalizing marijuana will bring “hundreds of millions of dollars to New Mexico’s economy." Connecticut Gov.-elect Ned Lamont (D) said that legalizing marijuana will be among his "priorities" in 2019.
While reelected New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) previously called marijuana a "gateway drug," in recent months he appointed a working group to draft a bill to end cannabis prohibition for lawmakers to consider in 2019, and the chances of that passing were improved as Democrats took control of the state's Senate in the midterms.
Members of Congress Act To Fix Federal-State Marijuana Gap
The rapid evolution of the politics of marijuana isn't just happening on the state level. Many more members of the U.S. House and Senate became active in the fight to end federal cannabis prohibition in 2018.
More than just being ineffective in stopping states from changing their marijuana laws, Sessions's anti-cannabis move seems to have actually spurred more federal lawmakers to view ending national prohibition as an important issue, with dozens of members of Congress quickly weighing in on the need for reform in the wake of his rescission of the Obama-era memo.
One legislator, Sen. Cory Gardner (R-CO), went so far as to place a hold on President Trump's Justice Department nominees over the dispute.
And while congressional Republicans blocked dozens of cannabis amendments, refusing to allow any to reach the House floor for votes, more bills to end or amend federal marijuana prohibition were filed in the 115th Congress than ever before, and they garnered record numbers of cosponsors.
And with the Democratic takeover of the House in the midterms, many observers believe that the chamber will pass far-reaching marijuana reforms in the 116th Congress, a plan for which Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) laid out in a comprehensive step-by-step "blueprint" toward federally legalizing cannabis in 2019.
Longtime Prohibitionists Flip To Support Marijuana Reform
Several of the lawmakers who vocally spoke out for ending federal marijuana prohibition this year have historically been actively hostile to cannabis reform.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), long one of Congress's most ardent legalization opponents, announced during the course of a tough primary challenge that she finally came around to the notion that her constituents who follow California cannabis laws shouldn't be arrested by federal narcotics agents.
Feinstein's home state colleague, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA), who many believe to be preparing for a 2020 presidential run, once simply laughed in the face of a reporter who asked her about marijuana legalization. Now, the former prosecutor is all-in on ending prohibition, signing her name this year onto a far-reaching bill that would punish states with discriminatory cannabis enforcement.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), who has rarely met a federal drug criminalization policy he didn't like, changed his mind on marijuana in 2018 and filed his own bill to remove cannabis from the Controlled Substances Act.
And one of the Democratic Party's rising stars, Rep. Joe Kennedy III (D-MA), who opposed legalization in his home state of Massachusetts and consistently voted against even limited medical cannabis amendments in Congress, also evolved and now supports legalization.
While it is likely true that some of this position flipping is at least partially motivated by genuine rethinking about the policy of prohibition, it's hard to believe that politics doesn't have something to do with it as well. Polling now consistently shows that a growing majority of the country supports legalizing cannabis. Gallup, for example, found in October that 66% of Americans—including a majority of Republicans—are now on board with legalization.
This new politics of marijuana is likely to become more and more apparent to politicians who are still reluctant to embrace cannabis reform as a growing number of states change their laws.
President Trump Voices Support For Marijuana Bill
In a situation that stemmed directly from his own attorney general's anti-cannabis moves, President Trump ended up lending his support to a bill to end federal marijuana prohibition.
Following Gardner's blocking Justice Department nominees in protest of Sessions's rescission of the Obama-era marijuana memo, the senator spoke directly with the president and elicited a pledge for the administration to respect local legalization laws in exchange for lifting his hold. Following that, he teamed up with Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) to file legislation to shield state marijuana policies from federal interference.
When asked about the proposal during an impromptu press conference outside the White House, Trump said he "really" supports the bill, a comment that made him the first sitting president to embrace legislation to end the federal prohibition of marijuana.
Hemp Is About To Become Legal
After decades of being caught up in the broader prohibition of cannabis, marijuana's non-psychoactive cousin hemp is poised to finally become a legal crop.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), no fan of marijuana, nonetheless actively championed the legalization of hemp through this year's Farm Bill, going so far as to take the unusual step of naming himself to the conference committee charged with reconciling the Senate version, which had his hemp language in it, with the House version, which did not.
McConnell and other congressional leaders announced recently that the negotiated bill that will be sent to President Trump'd desk includes provisions to finally and officially remove the crop from the Controlled Substances Act. The legislation, which will bolster the growing market for hemp-derived cannabidiol (CBD), is expected to be enacted by year's end.
Canada Legalizes Marijuana
In addition to having prohibition-free zones within its own borders in a growing number of states, the U.S. now has a whole country where cannabis is legal just over its northern border.
While Canada is the second nation in the world to end prohibition after Uruguay, it is the first major global economic player to do so. The move has spurred the creation and growth of several huge publicly traded cannabis companies.
As the Canadian system of legalization gets off the ground, it is likely to spur the U.S. and other nations to more seriously consider modernizing their approaches to marijuana.
Mexican Presidential Administration Backs Legalizing Cannabis
Speaking of legalization just over U.S. borders, the new administration of Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, which took office this month, is already making moves to end cannabis prohibition.
In late October, the nation's Supreme Court struck down the criminalization of using, possessing and growing personal amounts of marijuana as unconstitutional. But López Obrador's team was already considering legalization even before the ruling. Weeks earlier, members of his incoming cabinet spoke about cannabis policy with Canadian officials during a trip to that country.
Subsequently, Sen. Olga Sánchez Cordero filed a bill to legalize and regulate cannabis production and sales. She is now the nation's interior secretary. The government hasn't said when it plans to push the legislation, but its party and partners control the legislature, so advocates expect that the U.S. could soon be surrounded on both its northern and southern borders by countries where marijuana is legal nationwide.
There May Still Be More Marijuana Wins By The End Of The Year
Aside from the seeming inevitability that more states will legalize marijuana and federal reform efforts will progress in 2019, it is possible that there are still more huge cannabis wins yet to come before 2018 is over.
For example, lawmakers in New Jersey advanced a marijuana legalization bill out of committee last month. Gov. Phil Murphy (D) supports ending prohibition, and the legislation could still end up on his desk for signing by the end of the year.
In any case, 2018 has already been a year that saw marijuana policy reform significantly advance on the state, federal and international levels , a scenario that bodes extremely well for the legalization movement heading into 2019.
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a9a000572b387746f48ae073febc0a9a
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/tomangell/2018/12/12/chicago-mayor-wants-legal-marijuana-revenue-to-fund-pensions/
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Chicago Mayor Wants Legal Marijuana Revenue To Fund Pensions
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Chicago Mayor Wants Legal Marijuana Revenue To Fund Pensions
Tax revenue from legal marijuana sales should be earmarked to fund pension programs, the mayor of Chicago said on Wednesday.
"Illinois legislators will be taking a serious look next year at legalizing recreational marijuana," Mayor Rahm Emanuel (D) said in a speech to the City Council. "Should they follow that course, a portion of that revenue could go toward strengthening our pension funds and securing the retirement of the workers who depend on them."
The comments stop short of the outright endorsement of legalization previewed by the Chicago Tribune, which reported in a Tuesday article that Emanuel would "call for state lawmakers to legalize marijuana."
In fact, the mayor said during the speech that he believes "recreational marijuana has social costs that must also be considered."
"And like a casino, revenue would take time to be realized. But if the state goes down that path, those resources can and should be used to further solidify our pensions without, again, asking anything more of Chicago taxpayers in general."
In a document released to accompany the speech, the mayor's office said he "recommends ensuring that Chicago shares in revenue from recreational use of legalized marijuana and allowing Chicago to raise its own revenue from marijuana by establishing a home rule taxing authority."
Emanuel's thoughts on how potential legal cannabis revenue should be spent come roughly a month before Gov.-elect J.B. Pritzker (D), who campaigned on ending marijuana prohibition, is set to take office. He has pledged to get to work on legalization "right away."
Emanuel, who previously served as President Barack Obama's White House chief of staff, had a mixed record on marijuana while a member of Congress.
He reversed his position several times on an amendment to protect state medical cannabis laws from federal interference, voting no on the measure in 2003 and 2004, before flipping to a yes vote in 2005. Then, in 2006, he reversed himself again to oppose the amendment before changing his mind one more time to support it in 2007.
As Chicago mayor, Emanuel oversaw the implementation of a 2012 local policy to avoid arrests for many low-level marijuana possession offenses.
While his new comments don't explicitly call for the state to legalize marijuana, his focus on where revenues should be directed help to highlight the fiscal impact of doing so, and help feed a narrative that the end of prohibition in Illinois is all but certain in the near future.
A University of Illinois study released last month projected that legalizing cannabis in Illinois would create 24,000 jobs, generate more than $500 million in tax revenue and infuse about $1 billion into the state economy overall by 2020.
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Subsets and Splits
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