A I Perold's
A Treatise
on Viticulture
A I Perold (1880-1941) was South Africa's first Professor of Viticulture and Oenology. He dedicated himself to improving the quality of grapes for wine, brandy and the table. He studied wine and brandy production in Europe, imported more than 60 varieties to the Cape and bred new ones. Perold said this book “is intended to serve both the student and the practical grape-grower. There are in it technical passages that will appeal more to the student, e.g. the chapters dealing with the biology of the vine, its external and internal morphology, the theory of grafting. My remarks on the practice of viticulture, such as those dealing with the propagation, manuring and pruning of the vine, the production of table grapes for export, will, it is hoped, assist the practical grape-grower as well as the student.” This is a newly typeset reprint, not a photocopy. Text on the 712 pages have been aligned to match the original pagination so any external references to pages in the Treatise will be valid in this edition
Available in paperback and hardback editions. 712 pages
A Year in Paarl
with
A I Perold
Dr Perolds report on his Paarl experiments 1915 - 1916 reprinted with glossary, introduction and brief biography. Fascinating historical document on viticulture for wine and table grapes, wine and brandy making.
Sunny warm wind free so walked through Childwickbury to see the avenue of Rhododendrons. Most had not yet flowered.
BA348 to Nice landed at 19:46 on Friday 25 April and by the time we'd de-planed, gone through immigration, waited for luggage we arrived at our hotel in time for bed. So my dinner was an aeroplane tray with uninspiring slabs of tofu in a bland sauce with rice. But 3 glasses of Pannier Champagne was good.
Cannes Riviera &Spa Best Western Plus, 16 Boulevard d'Alsace was by the rail station and about 10 minutes from the beach. Reception and ground floor bar were inviting, but the room was Travel Lodge standard. The rooftop pool was closed, and didn't look like it had been open for a long time.
Joan had Veal Milanese with pasta in a tomato sauce, I had burger, and we shared a bottle of
Restaurants were heaving that evening but we found a table inside, out of the wind that had come with dusk, at the old harbour and with chicken breast cooked in lemon juice and herbs we had a jolly expensive wine (though cheapest on list) about which I can find nothing.
Sunday was overcast with showers, but it brightened at lunchtime so we went Ciro's beach restaurant.
a lovely clean refreshing dry wine, a blend of Rolle and Sémillon in a classy bottle.
Pre dinner on Sunday we usually have a glass of fizz so we called into a bar on Plages du Midi and ordered two glasses of Champagne, but whatever they brought out in our glasses wasn’t Champagne…
For dinner we found another restaurant on the old harbour where Joan had lasagne and I had fillet steak, and a bottle of
at a bargain price (for Cannes) of €28 but when the bill came it showed €63 for the wine. Luckily the bottle was still on our table, so we managed to get a corrected bill. Was it an honest mistake? No.
Home on Monday to a dinner of Chicken Tikka Masala and Pillau rice purchased from M&S at T5 Arrivals and a bottle of Beyerskloof Pinotage 2022. We got our (real) Champagne aperitifs on the 'plane.
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| Gorleston-on-Sea |
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| Rhubarb dessert |
We walked the length of Gorleston's promenade behind its sand beach,
To Aylesbury for a small party for Jack's imminent third birthday, with Toby and Emma, Chris and Carole and ourselves. There's another party tomorrow with Jack's friends and their parents.
Two weeks in Puerto Calero , staying at Costa Calero fully inclusive for the fourth time. This year we departed on 23 February, a bit later than last year in order to miss the half-term crush.
Much later than the last six years, but today the first daffodils opened in the front garden
We arrived in Criccieth on Thursday 23 January for four nights at Ty Gem to see Dan & Krisie and Aladdin, the Starlight Player's 2025 Pantomime on Friday evening.
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| Ty Gem |
Weather was cold and, apart from Saturday which was sunny, very windy and rainy so we mostly stayed in the house except for a brief stroll along the sea front on Saturday.
