Part 1 of a nice review of the new MX-5.

The new Mazda MX-5 is the car I always wanted. It’s a small, sexy, sure-footed sports car that outwits all those huge, over-embellished, slow-witted American muscle machines. The only problem is, I wanted the MX-5 back in ’75. Things have moved on. There’s now a wide range of well-balanced sports cars vying for the enthusiast’s attention. Some of them are even American. And none of them are as dangerous as Mazda’s diminutive roadster.

Endless reviews praise the MX-5’s purity of form, clarity of purpose and banquet of sensations. None mention the pint-sized roadster’s lack of “compatibility.” In other words, when the MX-5 hits something, the something’s driver gets out, scratches his head and says “Dang!” whereas the MX-5 driver… doesn’t get out. No wonder the official website’s safety section begins with “Beyond the safety benefits of having a car that allows you to react quickly to avoid hazardous situations…” and touts “systems that help make it easier to avoid accidents in the first place.”

2006 Mazda MX-5, Part 1 [Jalopnik]

Aging is a chemical process, but to “speed it up” relegates the process to pure, mechanistic forces. The result might be an “older” wine but is it the same wine you’d get if it aged naturally?

Squirrelled away in his chemical engineering laboratory in rural Shizuoka, Hiroshi Tanaka has spent 15 years developing an electrolysis device that simulates, he claims, the effect of ageing in wines. In 15 seconds it can transform the cheapest, youngest plonks into fine old draughts as fruit flavours are enhanced and rough edges are mellowed, he says.

Reds can become more complex, and whites drier. A wine costing £5 a bottle could taste the same as one costing twice that, which “will create huge changes to the global wine industry”.

Umm, OK.

Premature ageing device that puts old wine in new bottles [TimesOnline]

The Perrin Family have created a blog to discuss their latest vintage, Beaucastel 2004. The interweb shore is complex!

For the very first time, we have decided to give you the opportunity to follow our harvest day by day, thanks to this “blog”. We will try to convey the intensity of the event as we live it, almost as if you we here with us. This will help you to understand how our Southern Rhone wines are produced, via photographs and comments.

Website [Beaucastel 2004 Blog]
Product Page [Beaucastel]