Technology and wine

Did a piece for yesterday's Independent on how technology is changing the face of winemaking. It's not illustrated in the web version, but it included a nice picture of a tank with staves bolted into it. There was also a small picture (one of mine) of Mario Andrade of the Falua winery in the Ribatejo holding a used barrel stave that had been in a tank. They didn't use the picture I have them of Mario's reverse osmosis machine.

Last night was spent at my parents' place in Lidgate, Suffolk. This is where RTL will be spending her holidays. I went out a few times with her during the evening: out in the country the stars are amazingly bright. It's a night sky you don't see in light-polluted London. It was also amazingly quiet, with no residual traffic noise. Utterly beautiful.

Watched the cricket: a fascinating tense battle between England and Sri Lanka that went down to the last ball. Gripping stuff. Very disappointed to see Fernando stop on the last ball - I don't think that's in the spirit of the game at all, even though it is lawful. There's a difference (mostly forgotten in today's society) between what is legal and what is moral.