critics

One of the biggest wine critics is French and has toured China. There is no good news for French wine

by

TO Michel Bettane he likes wine. In fact, it is more than a hobby: he has developed a career around it, until it became one of the wine critics most influential in the world. For two decades he worked at ‘La Revue du vin de France’, a prestigious magazine that covers current events in the wine industry, until he decided to become independent and, together with a colleague from the magazine, founded the Betanne and Desseauve Guide. Bettane is one of the most authoritative voices worldwide in terms of wines and one with weight within the sector. He recently completed a tour of China in which has tasted more than 300 premium Chinese wines and its conclusion is as resounding as it is hurtful to French pride. The chinese wines They are superior to many of those found in France. And this guy doesn’t try cheap wines, but rather high-end ones. Chinese wines >> French wines These incendiary statements came after the sixth edition of the Bettane + Desseauve Wine Tasting in China. Held in Beijing and Shangri-La (Yunnan), the critic and five other international wine experts tasted more than 300 premium wines produced in China. Bettane has indicated that China is experimenting an “amazing awakening of the terroir”, and it is something that is not out of place if we take into account the international position of the country’s industry. If just 15 years ago it was a desert, now They are sneaking into the conversation like a power. The strategy of the Chinese industry is not to attack in quantity, but in quality, and for this there are wineries that have studied in the most powerful wine and wine regions in Europe to learn and then apply that knowledge to their field. Taking advantage of the particularities of each of its regions, there are wines that are becoming some of the most sought-after without having a French surname. Bettane stated that what has impressed him most is the technical precision when controlling the grape ripening and fermentation processes. “We found almost no wine with serious defects”he assured, adding that “the overall strength of the production standard is, in fact, higher than what we often find in our annual tastings in France.” It looks like a Scottish castle, but it’s a Chinese winery Above all, he highlighted two wine regions: Ningxia and Yunnan. We have already talked about Ningxia recently in Xatakaa very complicated area in winter for which they have developed a technique that consists of burying the vines so that the snow does not affect them. Those responsible have “copied” Bordeauxand it is something that catches the critic’s attention. The other is Yunnan, one that, he says, left him speechless. Especially for a white wine, a ‘Shangri-La Chardonnay‘ which, for Bettane, “can play in the league of the world’s great whites”. A wine strategy modeled on that of smartphones The interesting thing is something that the critic comments about the change in strategy of the Chinese producers, and it is something similar to what has happened in the technological world, especially with the smartphone industry. At first, as happened with Ningxia producers, they dedicated themselves to “copying” Bordeaux, but now Bettane has seen how are beginning to experiment and discover synergies between the grapes, the land and its climatic conditions instead of simply continuing to imitate the European model. As I say, it is similar to what happens with the mobile phone industry and, specifically, with an Apple with which all Chinese brands are compared at any given time. When Apple presents a new feature for the iPhone, we begin to see a rapid adaptation of Chinese mobile phones to include those features, while adding some new functions. The iPhone dynamic island and his twin in other brandsvisual elements in the operating system or the photo button (which existed long before Apple integrated it, but the influence of the apple brand is what it is) are three examples. For Bettane, the possibilities that China’s vast territory offers when it comes to creating and perfecting grape varieties are “unlimited.” And if you read me from France or are a lover of La Mancha wine and right now your fist is clenched… at least we have the cheese left. That, at the moment, has no Asian rival. Images | WBC, Treaty Port In Xataka | If the question is what is the future of wine, more and more Bordeaux wineries are clear about it: non-alcoholic wine

The most complex nuclear reactor in the world is underway in the United Kingdom. His critics directly call him “a monster”

by

Two figures are enough to understand the scope of the British challenge: 38,000 million investment pounds and six million homes fed with nuclear electricity for sixty years. This presents Sizewell C, the center that Downing Street describes as a clean energy and employment engine. His detractors, on the other hand, see it as a financial well and the last attempt to give life to a nuclear design so complex that in France it already call it “the monster.” The crown jewel. The objective of the British government is to double the nuclear capacity of the country by 2050 and guarantee a stable supply of low carbon energy. Sizewell C, With two EPR type reactors (European pressurized reactor), is the key piece of that strategy. According to the BBCthe project is the successor of Hinkley Point C, in Somerset, which accumulates a decade of delays and a runaway cost: more than 18,000 million pounds planned in 2010 to about 46,000 million today. Minister Rachel Reeves declared The Guardian that investment is “a powerful support to the United Kingdom as the best place to do business and as a global center of nuclear energy.” Instead, Henri Proglio, former director of the French electric EDF – developmentator of the project -, assured the Financial Times that the reactor design is “scary” and “almost impossible to build.” Faced opinions. The detractors have it clear. Proglio describes it as “a machine with more reinforcement rods than concrete.” Another engineer, Also cited in the FThe spoke of a “colossal error.” And Greenpeace warned the BBC That this time will be taxpayers, not EDF, who pay the inevitable cost overruns. But there are also moderate voices. Tony Roulstone, Professor of Cambridge and exejecutive of Rolls-Royce, declared to FT That Sizewell could be ready “one or two years before Hinkley” and cost 20 % less. Thanks to the fact that much of the design is already tested since the supply chain was consolidated in Somerset. There are already works in Suffolk. The project is not just paper. In Suffolk, 1,700 operators are already working in preliminary works, According to the Financial Times. The first one: a perimeter wall 55 meters deep and 3 kilometers long to drain the marsh before placing the foundations. In addition, Hinkley errors will be avoided. This time the concrete structures will be pregnant in workshops and not in the work, which should accelerate the deadlines. Even so, the official calendar – entered into operation in the middle or end of the 2030s – raises doubts. Flamanville, in France, and Hinkley have shown that deadlines in projects of this type are usually wet paper, As Critica Nils Pratley in his column for The Guardian. It is very complex. It is more complex than it seems to the naked eye. EPR are nuclear reactors of generation III+, the result of Franco-German collaboration between EDF and Siemens. According to World Nuclear Associationare designed to offer a net electrical power of between 1,600 and 1,650 MW, although they can reach 1,770 MW. In addition, they incorporate advanced security measures: double containment, four independent cooling systems, a Core Catcher to catch the nucleus in case of merger, and structural capacity to resist impacts and earthquakes, in addition to diesel generators and backup batteries that guarantee operability to multiple failures. They also stand out for greater energy efficiencyconsuming up to 17% less fuel than old reactors and producing up to 14% more energy. All this with a projected life of 60 years. This technical complexity is, at the same time, a strength in terms of safety and efficiency, and a challenge for the delays and costs that it has shown in its construction. The invoice reaches the British pocket. The cost of the central already exceeds twice the first estimates, According to BBC. The majority (36.6 billion) will be covered with public debt through the National Fund of Wealth. While the financing is distributed among the State (the largest shareholder with 44.9%), followed by the Canadian Caisse (20%), Centrica (15%), EDF (12.5%) and Amber Infrastructure (7.6%). The great novelty is the “Regulated Assets Base” model (Rab) in which households will begin to pay £ 1 per month in their electrical invoices for at least a decade, Julia Pyke explained to the BBC. This scheme mainly protects investors, As Nils Pratley recalled in The GuardianCentrica ensures returns of more than 10% even if the costs reach 47.7 billion pounds; Any excess will be assumed by taxpayers. France already tried. Although with problems. The first French EPR reactor, Flamanville 3, in Normandy, connected to the network In December 2024 after 12 years of delays and with a final cost of € 13.2 billion, four times budgeted. As explained in Financial Timesthe French experience forced to redesign the concept, so EDF no longer prioritizes the EPR, but the EPR2, a simplified and cheaper version that hopes to build in six units here to 2038. Meanwhile, in China they have shown that its Taishan center that has operated for years with an EPR of 1.75 GW, is one of the most powerful reactors in the world. A continent that turns nuclear. The British bet arrives in a contradictory European context. Germany He closed his last central in 2023 and Spain plans to close them in 2027. France, on the contrary, Maintain nuclear as a pillar (70 % of its electricity) and accelerates new EPR2 projects. The board moves: under Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Germany has stopped blocking France and accepts that the nuclear receives the same treatment as renewables in EU legislation. The agreement includes giving “green” status to pink hydrogen and opens the door to European financing, although Austria continues against and countries such as Belgium and the Netherlands reevaluate their policies. In the midst of this continental debate, the United Kingdom, outside the EU, advances alone with Sizewell C: an EPR that even EDF has relegated in favor of the EPR2, while in Europe the SMR and nuclear fusion gain space. … Read more

According to a new study, the holy sheet never covered Jesus Christ. The strange thing is that he has put defenders and critics in agreement

by

Turin’s shroud, also known as ‘Santa Slack’, is one of the most important relics of Christianity. This 4.4 x 1.1 -meter linen fabric has been a historic controversy focus among those who defend that it was the blanket that was placed on the body of Christ at the time of their burial and those who believe that it is a subsequent fabric. Now a new study has been published to add more firewood to the fire by stating that the Holy Sheet is false. And what he has achieved is to unite both defenders and critics of the authenticity of the fabric. Short. Cicero Moraes is a Brazilian researcher specialized in three -dimensional reconstruction. I already warned in 2024, but in the recent study published in the magazine Archaeometry He has presented the conclusions that lead him to consider the holy sheet as a false relic. Using Open Source software and three -dimensional models, Moraes approached the formation of the image of the sheet performing digital simulations. He analyzed how a fabric behaves when covering different three -dimensional forms, observing the patterns of the sheet and concluding that they adapt much better to a solid model and without too much depth, such as a bas -relief, than to something more “soft” and in depth, such as human anatomy. This, for him, would already rule out that it was the sheet that covered the body of Jesus Christ, arguing that, in that case, the distortion of the image and the folds would be much more evident if a human body had covered. Here you can see the video of the simulation of Moraes: So? The researcher holdsbased on those 3D models such as those used in cinema and video games for Simulate objects of objectsthat the image of the shroud could only have been created if it had been placed on a bas -relief of a human figure, such as a stone or wood size. If a human body had covered, the image of the shroud would not be so perfect and should be more distorted due to the greater depth of the body, especially on the sides. Come on, that the royal sheet shows a “photocopy” of a sculpture or bas -relief, not a human body. Having covered a body, I would have presented the documented effect “Agamemnon mask“ Moraes’ study shows what the silhouette of Jesus Christ really would be if the sheet had been on a body, on the left, in the face of the perfect representation of the body that shows the shroud, to the right Previous studies. Moraes’ is just One of the many analysis which have been done to verify the authenticity of the relic. The most famous, perhaps, is the test carried out in 1988 by Laboratories of Oxford, Arizona and Zurich in which the Carbon-14 and determined that the fabric had occurred at some point between 1260 and 1390 AD Apart from the studies, to dismant Godofredo de Chany He exposed it for the first time in a French town. And there are also no writings of the Christian tradition that mention the sheet. Of course, on the other hand, defenders of their authenticity argue that The most solid testthat of 1988, It could have been contaminated with materials after the time of Christ, and that the sheet would be about 2,000 years old. Another recent study He pointed out that the spots of the shroud corresponded to the blood that could occur with torture and crucifixion, but there are also those to indicate opposite. The shroud Criticism. The problem of the new study is what you can be imagining: it is an extremely powerful statement based on a theoretical analysis with strictly digital data such as those of a 3D simulation. And criticisms have not taken to arrive. The International Center for Syndonology of Turin (who are responsible for the study of the sheet), directlypoints out that Moraes’ work does not provide direct evidence on the historical piece and, although the 3D modeling It is valuable from the perspective of visualization of the tissue on the body, does not take into account variables such as the elasticity of the fabric, among other factors. And that it is a visual representation of a theory with a century behind it without adding much more. Other experts have commented that, although the study is interesting, the simulations, by themselves, They cannot replace direct analysis of the object. Convulsive context. The First statements De Moraes in 2024 on his study arrived at a complicated moment, since the Santa Neck was going to be an important piece in the 2025 jubilee acts. Not showing the real element, but a series of Very precise digital representations. And what does the Vatican? Interestingly, they have not spoken. But not with this 3D study, but historically. The official position is to promote the interdisciplinary study of the piece, without issuing a conclusive judgment. And this is something that is valued in the scientific community, since it maintains the living and open debate, allowing new study approaches in future research. Therefore … Is the holy sheet false? Moraes defends that its origin is that of a medieval art work, but its research through simulations cannot be definitive. Therefore, it follows the debate on whether it is the original sacred relic or if it is a medieval creation and, like Matteo Borrini, one of the researchers who maintains that it is a medieval artifact, commented A few years ago, “our faith is not based on the shroud, but on the gospels”, so it would give the same if the shroud is original or something much later, since the faith is above it. In Xataka | Boadilla del Monte is not famous for many things. So now he wants to lift a statue of 37 meters

Log In

Forgot password?

Forgot password?

Enter your account data and we will send you a link to reset your password.

Your password reset link appears to be invalid or expired.

Log in

Privacy Policy

Add to Collection

No Collections

Here you'll find all collections you've created before.