Latest news with #Provencal
Irish Independent
3 days ago
- Irish Independent
Bargain and blowout whites to pair with summer seafood
They also provide us with excellent cold-water seafood — so good that we export much of it to the likes of France and Spain, where we end up eating it on our holidays. Maybe it's time to channel those holiday flavours at home? Today's wine recommendations are all chosen as seafood-friendly pairings and include midweek into-the-basket bargains as well as special blowout options. As always with food and wine pairings, drink what you enjoy. If you're not a white wine fan, then a dry rosé is an obvious alternative, whether a simple bargain like Le Bijou de Sophie Valrose 2023 Coteaux de Beziers (€12, SuperValu) or a complex Provencal star like Clos de l'Ours 'l'Accent' Rosé 2024 (€30, Don't rule red wines out either. Opt for fresh, light-bodied, low-tannin styles that won't overpower the seafood: brighter styles of Pinot Noir (as opposed to heavy-hitter Burgundy), floral Gamay from Beaujolais crus like Fleurie, Spanish clarete or other 'vin de soif' red wines that suit a light chilling... the list goes on. However, white wine is classic with seafood for a reason — especially those produced with freshness in mind, and where the grapes' natural acidity has been preserved along with its aromatic characteristics. They say that 'what grows together, goes together', meaning that local foods and wines from particular regions often pair well together. Coastal wines often work with local seafood, as several of today's examples bear out. Margaret River in south-western Australia, Muscadet where the Loire meets the Atlantic, Rias Baixas in Galicia where the Albariño grape is queen: these are all wine-growing regions where cooling sea winds help to slow the ripening of the grapes and preserve their natural acidity. For fans of the classic pairing of flinty Sancerre with shellfish-like oysters, today's Greek island wine makes a fascinating alternative with lots of smoky volcanic minerality. Or for seafood dishes with sunnier, bolder flavours — say of a Thai-style curry — think riper wines such as new world Sauvignon Blanc or a Cotes de Gascogne blend like La Salette l'Essentiel (€15, O'Briens Wines) with its tropical fruit and flower notes. These punchier styles also work well with more robust fish like mackerel or — that ultimate taste of sea and sunshine — grilled sardines. Wines of the week Fillaboa Albariño 2023, Rias Baixas DO, Galicia, Spain, 12.5pc, €27 Saline Albariño from the coastal Val do Salnés subregion is a classic pairing for local lobster, octopus, mussels, clams and fresh fish, but don't rule out inland subregions like Condado de Tea, where this wine hails from a steep riverside plot. Fermented with indigenous yeasts and aged 13 months on the lees, the complex result has honeysuckle, white tea and savoury aromas, silky weight and great length but also taut acidity with grapefruit and green apple freshness balancing riper pineapple notes. Wines Direct (Mullingar and Athlone); Margaret River Sauvignon Blanc 2024, Western Australia, 13.5pc, €10.99 ADVERTISEMENT Learn more This generous but bone-dry Sauvignon (and a touch of Semillon) with exotic fruit aromas and hints of grassiness on the fresh palate is a robust match for Thai spiced seafood, as is Aldi's organic Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc (€9.99) with fragrant peach, papaya and nettle notes. Aldi Livia Sous le Végétal 2019, Samos, Greece, 13.5pc, €33 If you're looking to wow with an aperitif pairing for Irish oysters, this electric-fresh natural wine from the Aegean island of Samos just west of Turkey is made from old-vine Moschato Aspro (Muscat Blanc à Petits Grains) aged in old barrels to add layers to its smoky, mineral, flinty profile. MacCurtain Wine Cellar (Cork), Fallon&Byrne, Ely (Maynooth); Isolado Branco 2023, Douro, Portugal, 12.5pc, €10.99 Portugal delivers value in general, but Lidl's two Douro whites are real steals. Fresh, dry and crisp with attractive lemon peel and fresh pear character, this high-altitude blend of Verdelho and Rabigato is €8.99 until July 23 with Lidl Plus. Or try the simpler but crisp and clean Parcelas Douro Branco (€9.99). Lidl Domaine Haute Févrie Muscadet-Sèvre et Maine sur lie, France, 12.2pc, €22 Bright, lemony, crisp and bone dry, and a versatile pairing for any seafood — or raise the bar with Haute Févrie's lean, mineral Clos Joubert Muscadet (€24.50, Barossa Wines) or Jerome Bretaudeau's earthy, linear Granite 'Clos de Perrieres' Muscadet (€45, Green Man Wines). The Arch (Cobh), Pinto Wines, Blackrock Cellar,
The Star
4 days ago
- Science
- The Star
The great dinosaur egg hunt
AT the foot of Sainte Victoire, the mountain in Provence, France, immortalised by Impressionist painter Paul Cezanne, a palaeontologist brushes meticulously through a mound of red clay looking for fossils. These are not any old fossils, but 75-million-year-old dinosaur eggs. Little luck or skill is needed to find them: scientists believe that there are more dinosaur eggs here than at any other place on Earth. The area, closed to the public, is nicknamed 'Eggs en Provence', due to its proximity to the south-eastern city of Aix en Provence. 'There's no other place like it,' explained Thierry Tortosa, a palaeontologist and conservationist at the Sainte Victoire Nature Reserve. 'You only need to look down to find fragments. We're literally walking on eggshells here.' Children searching for dinosaur eggs at the Mount Sainte-Victoire site, near Aix-en-Provence in southern France. Around 1,000 eggs, some of them as big as 30cm in diameter, have been found here in recent years in an area measuring less than a hectare – a mere dot on a reserve that will span 280ha once it is doubled in size by 2026 to prevent pillaging. 'We reckon we've got about one egg per square metre. So there are thousands, possibly millions, here,' said Tortosa. 'Eggs' is not in the business of competing with other archaeological sites – even though Tortosa finds the 'world record' of 17,000 dinosaur eggs discovered in Heyuan, China, in 1996 vaguely amusing. 'We're not looking to dig them up because we're in a nature reserve and we can't just alter the landscape. We wait until they're uncovered by erosion,' he said. 'Besides, we don't have enough space to store them all. We just take those that are of interest from a palaeontology point of view.' Despite the plethora of eggs on site, the scientists still have mysteries to solve. Those fossils found so far have all been empty, either because they were not fertilised or because the chick hatched and waddled off. 'Until we find embryos inside – that's the Holy Grail – we won't know what kind of dinosaur laid them. All we know is that they were herbivores because they're round,' said Tortosa. Fossilised dinosaur embryos are rarer than hen's teeth. Palaeontologists discovered a tiny fossilised Oviraptorosaur that was at least 66 million years old in Ganzhou, China, around the year 2000. But Tortosa remains optimistic that 'Eggs' holds its own Baby Yingliang. 'Never say never. In the nine years that I've been here, we've discovered a load of stuff we never thought we'd find.' Tortosa showing dinosaur eggs found at the site. — AFP Which is why experts come once a year to search a new part of the reserve. The location is always kept secret to deter pillagers. During a recent visit, six scientists were crouched under camouflage netting in a valley lost in the Provencal scrub, scraping over a few square metres of clay-limestone earth, first with chisels, then with pointy-tipped scribers. 'There's always something magical – like being a child again – when you find an egg or a fossilised bone,' specialist Severine Berton said. Their 'best' finds – among the thousands they have dug up – include a small femur and a 30cm-long tibia-fibula. They are thought to come from a Rhabdodon or a Titanosaur – huge herbivores who roamed the region. In the Cretaceous period (89-66 million years BCE), the Provencal countryside's then-flooded plains and silty-clayey soils offered ideal conditions for dinosaurs to graze and nest, and perfect conditions to conserve the eggs for millennia. The region, which stretched from what is now Spain to the Massif Central mountains of central France formed an island that was home to several dinosaur species found nowhere else in the world. Alongside the endemic herbivores were carnivores such as the Arcovenator and the Variraptor, a relative of the Velociraptor of Jurassic Park fame. In 1846, French palaeontologist Philippe Matheron found the world's first fossilised dinosaur egg in Rognac, around 30km from Eggs. Since then, museums from across the world have dispatched people to Provence on egg hunts. Everyone, it seems, wants a bit of the omelette. Despite efforts to stop pillaging, problems persist, such as when a wildfire uncovered a lot of fossils in 1989 and 'everyone came egg collecting', Tortosa said. Five years later the site was designated a national geological nature reserve, closed to the public – the highest level of protection available. The regional authorities are now mulling over ways to develop 'palaeontology tourism', a move Tortosa applauds. 'France is the only country in the world that doesn't know how to promote its dinosaurs,' Tortosa said. 'Any other place would set up an entire museum just to show off a single tooth.' — AFP
New York Post
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- New York Post
Wine experts reveal which celeb rosé — from Meghan Markle, Cameron Diaz, Jon Bon Jovi and Brad Pitt — is the best
Meghan Markle's acting career might have peaked with 'Suits,' but she's besting A-Listers with her new wine. In a blind taste test, Markle's As Ever rosé beat out pink vinos from Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, Cameron Diaz, Sarah Jessica Parker and Jon and Jesse Bon Jovi. 'This wine is good enough to be poured at Buckingham Palace,' said Christian Bendek, a certified sommelier from downtown Brooklyn who was part of a panel of top New York City wine experts The Post assembled for a tasting of celebrity wines. Markle's As Ever 2023 Napa Valley rosé swirled into the crowded celeb stunt wine space on July 1 — on what would have been Princess Diana's 64th birthday — selling out within an hour of its launch. The rosy sipper, which retails for $30 and is made from a blend of cabernet sauvignon, mourvedre, grenache and syrah grapes, is described on the As Ever website as having 'soft notes of stone fruit' with 'gentle minerality' and 'reminiscent of the finest Provencal styles.' 6 Meghan Markle's As Ever 2023 Napa Valley rosé hit the crowded celeb stunt wine market on July 1 — on what would have been Princess Diana's 64th birthday — selling out within an hour of its launch. JAKE ROSENBERG/NETFLIX 6 Markle's pink wine, which retails for $30, is made from a blend of cabernet sauvignon, mourvedre, grenache and syrah grapes. It's described on the As Ever website as having 'soft notes of stone fruit' with 'gentle minerality' and 'reminiscent of the finest Provencal styles.' Panelist Nikki McCutcheon, a sommelier and the wine director at Tao Group's Cathedrale and Sake No Hanna, said the rich and complex wine is worth its $30 price tag. 'It has a touch of cherry red fruit on the finish,' she enthused. 'This you could drink on its own or paired with food. It could pair very well with French, Mediterranean food. This one gets a star.' Bendek described the wine as 'coconut-ty, very tropical' and said it was more 'interesting' than many celebrity entries. The panel's second favorite wine was Miraval Rosé Cotes de Provence ($24.99). The French vineyard was purchased by Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie in 2008 and has been a $500 million sticking point in their nasty divorce battle. 6 In a blind taste test, Markle's new As Ever rosé (far right) beat out four other celebrity pink vinos. Other contenders included Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's Miraval (from left), Jon and Jesse Bon Jovi's Hampton water, Cameron Diaz's Invivo X, SJP by Sarah Jessica Parker and Cameron Diaz's Avaline. Emmy Park for NY Post But there's no drama in the easy drinking wine. 'It's really approachable. Nice minerality,' McCutcheon said of the widely available quaff, which is made with grenache, syrah and rolle grapes from the Provence region of France. Panelist Chris Miller, the managing partner at The Lamb's Club and co-founder of the Times Square wine window, also deemed it an 'approachable' summer sipper but said it 'needs more of a backbone.' (The same cannot be said for either Pitt or Jolie's divorce lawyer.) Our panel also liked the aptly named Hampton Water ($25.99) from Jon Bon Jovi and son Jesse Bon Jovi, rating the rock star rosé third. 6 The Post enlisted a panel of wine experts and sommeliers, including Chris Miller (from left), the managing partner at The Lamb's Club and co-founder of the Times Square wine window; Nikki McCutcheon, a sommelier and the wine director at Tao Group's Cathedrale and Sake No Hanna; and Christian Bendek, a certified sommelier from downtown Brooklyn. Emmy Park for NY Post Miller picked up on the wine's strawberry flavors, dubbing it 'crisp' and 'refreshing.' 'It's enjoyable,' McCutcheon said. Bendek immediately knew what he was drinking.'This is Hampton Water,' he declated after one sip. When it came to Sarah Jessica Parker's Invivo ($23.99), panelist couldn't help but wonder why the 'Sex and the City' star's wine wasn't better. 6 'This wine is good enough to be poured at Buckingham Palace,' said Bendek of Markle's pink wine. JAKE ROSENBERG/NETFLIX Miller noted it was 'not as refreshing' as some of the competition and wasn't suited for drinking on its own. Bendek was diplomatic but hardly enthusiastic. 'I don't hate it. Would I buy it? I don't know … How much would I pay for it? I'd keep it in the $15 range,' he said. 'The acid levels are a little higher here.' But it was Cameron Diaz's Avaline rosé ($19.99) that really missed the mark. 6 'It has a touch of cherry red fruit on the finish,' McCutcheon said of Markle's wine. 'This you could drink on its own or paired with food. It could pair very well with French, Mediterranean food. This one gets a star.' Emmy Park for NY Post It's 'a little dull' and 'missing something on the nose,' said Bendek of the last place winner, which is made in France and marketed as being organic and free of added sugar and artificial colors. Miller called the 'There's Something About Mary' star's vino 'very one dimensional' and not something he'd recommend serving to aficionados. McCutcheon agreed. 'This is for the masses,' he sniffed.
Local France
02-07-2025
- Science
- Local France
Eggs en Provence: France's unique dinosaur egg trove
histoThese are not any old fossils, but 75-million-year-old dinosaur eggs. Little luck or skill is needed to find them: scientists believe that there are more dinosaur eggs here than at any other place on Earth. The area, closed to the public, is nicknamed Eggs en Provence, due to its proximity to the southeastern city of Aix-en-Provence. 'There's no other place like it,' said Thierry Tortosa, a palaeontologist and conservationist at the Sainte Victoire Nature Reserve. 'You only need to look down to find fragments. We're literally walking on eggshells here.' Around 1,000 eggs, some as big as 30 centimetres in diameter, have been found here in recent years in an area measuring less than a hectare – a mere dot on a reserve that will span 280 hectares once it is doubled in size by 2026 to prevent pillaging. 'We reckon we've got about one egg per square metre. So there are thousands, possibly millions, here,' Tortosa told AFP. 'Eggs' is not in the business of competing with other archaeological sites – even though Tortosa finds the 'world record' of 17,000 dinosaur eggs discovered in Heyuan, China, in 1996 vaguely amusing. 'We're not looking to dig them up because we're in a nature reserve and we can't just alter the landscape. We wait until they're uncovered by erosion,' he said. 'Besides, we don't have enough space to store them all. We just take those that are of interest from a palaeontology point of view.' Despite the plethora of eggs on site, the scientists still have mysteries to solve. Those fossils found so far have all been empty, either because they were not fertilised or because the chick hatched and waddled off. 'Until we find embryos inside – that's the Holy Grail – we won't know what kind of dinosaur laid them. All we know is that they were herbivores because they're round," said Tortosa. Advertisement Fossilised dinosaur embryos are rarer than hen's teeth. Palaeontologists discovered a tiny fossilised Oviraptorosaur that was at least 66 million years old in Ganzhou, China, around the year 2000. But Tortosa remains optimistic that 'Eggs' holds its own Baby Yingliang. 'Never say never. In the nine years that I've been here, we've discovered a load of stuff we never thought we'd find.'french hi Which is why experts come once a year to search a new part of the reserve. The location is always kept secret to deter pillagers. When AFP visited, six scientists were crouched under camouflage netting in a valley lost in the Provencal scrub, scraping over a few square metres of clay-limestone earth, first with chisels, then with pointy-tipped scribers. 'There's always something magical – like being a child again – when you find an egg or a fossilised bone," specialist Severine Berton told AFP. Their 'best' finds – among the thousands they have dug up – include a small femur and a 30-centimetre-long tibia-fibula. They are thought to come from a Rhabdodon or a Titanosaur, huge herbivores who roamed the region. In the Cretaceous period (89-66 million years BCE), the Provencal countryside's then-flooded plains and silty-clayey soils offered ideal conditions for dinosaurs to graze and nest, and perfect conditions to conserve the eggs for millennia. The region, which stretched from what is now Spain to the Massif Central mountains of central France formed an island that was home to several dinosaur species found nowhere else in the world. Alongside herbivores were carnivores such as the Arcovenator and the Variraptor, a relative of the Velociraptor, of Jurassic Park fame. Advertisement In 1846, French palaeontologist Philippe Matheron found the world's first fossilised dinosaur egg in Rognac, around 30 kilometres from Eggs. Since then, museums from across the world have dispatched people to Provence on egg hunts. Everyone, it seems, wants a bit of the omelette. Despite efforts to stop pillaging, problems persist, such as when a wildfire uncovered a lot of fossils in 1989 and 'everyone came egg collecting', Tortosa said. Five years later the site was designated a national geological nature reserve, closed to the public – the highest level of protection available. The regional authorities are now mulling over ways to develop 'palaeontology tourism', a move Tortosa applauds. 'France is the only country in the world that doesn't know how to promote its dinosaurs,' Tortosa said. 'Any other place would set up an entire museum just to show off a single tooth.'
Daily Mirror
02-07-2025
- Business
- Daily Mirror
Meghan Markle forced to give away free jam to customers after awkward blunder
Meghan Markle has been forced to give away some of her jam for free after an awkward glitch on her As Ever website. Last month, Meghan dropped brand new items from her lifestyle brand, including an apricot spread, as well as restocking other products including her flower sprinkles. But it has emerged that some customers who thought they had secured the £7 apricot spread have now been sent emails telling them that they would not be receiving the products, due to high demand. And to rectify the situation, not only would they be receiving a full refund but also be sent a jar of the spread for free when it is back in stock. The email sent to customers said: "'Due to high demand, we are unable to fulfil your order of the apricot spread at this time. We are refunding the purchase of this item by the end of this week. "In addition to the refund, we want you to know that when the apricot spread is back in stock, you will be the first to receive it, free of charge." The glitch emerged as Meghan's new rose wine, which is said to "capture the essence of sun-drenched outdoor moments" and costs more than £20 a bottle, sold out within an hour yesterday. Meghan launched her As Ever Napa Valley Rose 2023, described as having "soft notes of stone fruit, gentle minerality, and a lasting finish", on Tuesday. The beverage, priced at more than £65 for a minimum three-bottle order, had only appeared to be available for US customers to buy, with shipping addresses limited to America. The wine went on sale at 4pm UK time, but the site was updated less than an hour later to signal stocks were sold out. In a post on Instagram, the duchess' As Ever brand said: "It's here! Raise a glass to the newest addition to the As Ever family. Our beautiful Napa Valley rose is now available". A short clip showed the wine being poured into a glass, with an accompanying sound. The pale pink wine, in a clear bottle with a white gold-rimmed label, was launched on a dedicated where an over-21 birth date must be inputted to enter and where the drink was described as: "A delicately balanced rose with soft notes of stone fruit, gentle minerality, and a lasting finish." The site adds: "Reminiscent of the finest Provencal styles, it's crisp, pale in color, and effortlessly elegant – crafted for slow afternoons and golden-hour gatherings. This rose captures the essence of sun-drenched outdoor moments through its thoughtfully crafted blend." The wine was not available to buy in orders of less than three bottles. Three bottles cost 90 US dollars (£65.64), six bottles cost 159 dollars (£115.97) including a 12 per cent discount, and 12 bottles are priced at 300 dollars (£218.81) including a 17 per cent discount. Shipping, which begins on July 9, costs an additional flat rate 20 dollars (£14.59) per order. Napa Valley wine country is in northern California, around 50 miles from San Francisco. Be first to get the biggest royal bombshells and exclusives to your phone by joining our . We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice. Or sign up to the to get all the biggest royal news and exclusive pictures, straight to your inbox.
