RKS 2024 Wine: The Great Gamay Comeback in Ontario?

Was it a decade or so ago that Gamay in Ontario looked like the next oenological prince of the Ontario wine kingdom? Then it faded like Harry and Meaghan and then made a comeback like Camilla?

No discussions please on royalty who in Canada are seen as ready to meet the fate of Marie Antoinette by some and worshipped by others like the grannies, 6 six-year-old school children still relishing fair tales and subscribers to “Hello” the National Enquirer for the monarchy. How many craps did that Corgi have at Balmoral’s juniper bushes anyways?

We move from this delicate discussion to sample a Vineland Estates 2022 Gamay.

No oak treatment.

Aroma: Light smoky goodness of raspberry and Niagara cherry.

Palate: That lightness carries through on the palate. Not much tannic impression. Quite a connective match to the aroma as the influence is cherry and raspberry. Short and juicy finish.

Personality: I have no pretensions of sophistication and elegance. A decent lightweight but not a Manny Pacquiao.

Food Match: Grilled wild run salmon with maple syrup glaze. And yes turkey with cranberry sauce and not gravy.

Cellarbility: Consume by 2025-year end.

Movie Match: Most likely a rom com like the Greek “Listen to Who’s Talking”. My review of this film is here https://setthebarlifestyle.wordpress.com/2024/07/31/the-4th-annual-greek-international-film-festival-tour-canada-listen-to-whos-talking-yes-greeks-can-make-romcoms/

Price: $23.

RKS 2024 Wine Rating: 88/100.

(Vineland Estates Winery 2022 Gamay, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Vineland Estates Winery, Vineland, Ontario, 11%, 750 mL.).

RKS Literature: The Never-Ending Imprisonment of Soviet Soldiers Who Fought in The Second World War: Seen as Spies! (Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn)

“Only a prisoner in his first years of sentence believes, every time he is summoned from his cell and told to collect his belongings, that he is being called to freedom. To him every whisper of an amnesty sounds like the trumpets of archangels. But they call him out of his cell, read him some loathsome documents and shove him into another cell on the floor below, even darker than the previous one but with the same stale used-up air. The amnesty is always postponed-from the anniversary of victory to the anniversary of the Revolution to the Supreme Soviet session. Then it bursts like a bubble, or is applied to thieves, crooks and deserters instead of those who fought in the war and suffered.”

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, “Cancer Ward”, 1968.

RKS 2024 Film: “Zombie Town”: Don’t Be Sucker Punched by Rent a Star

If you aren’t zombified by the time the final credits roll you are a superhuman and perhaps ready to star in the 467th Marvel movie.

Not being attracted to zombie films I watched “Zombie Town” because Dan Aykroyd and Chevy Chase were featured actors. Their screen appearance was minimal all for the better as the poor writing gave them and all the other actors little to work with. Don’t be duped into watching this film by the rent a star strategy of the film producers.

9ELLYDASSAS.com

Neither does the film work as a teen romance film. Aside from a few skillful twinkles in Madi Monroe’s eyes any romantic inclinations or possibilities must have been hiding under a rock.

Pick out a few contradictions in the script as part of your viewing fun. For example in the beginning of the film Len Carver (Dan Aykroyd) as director of a 1978 film tells the press he will never make any more films yet at the end of the movie one discovers he has made many.

And the convoluted explanation of the rise of the zombies is nonsensical and confusing. An interesting soundtrack but too little of it.

It will be released in Canada on the Hollywood Suite Network on 25October2024.

RKS 2024 Film Rating 56/100.

RKS Literature: Comrade Rusanov Once a Proletarian and Now a Party Bureaucrat Despises the Proletarian Kind (Alexsandr Solzhenitsyn)

“Gradually over the years he and Kapitolina developed an aversion to teeming human beings, to jostling crowds. The Rusanovs found streetcars, buses and trolley-buses quite disgusting. People were always pushing, especially when they were trying to get aboard. Insults were always flying around. Builders and other workers were always climbing in in dirty overalls, and you could get lime or oil all over your coat. The worst thing was their inveterate habit of clapping you familiarly on the shoulder and asking you to pass a ticket or some change along the car. It meant you were at their beck and call, endlessly passing things on.”

Alexsandr Solzhenitsyn, “Cancer Ward”, 1968.

RKS 2024 Wine: Boas Quintas Dão’s 2020 Gandarada

I had the pleasure of a recent visit to Boas Quintas in the Dão region of Portugal. After a hearty breakfast we headed off in a slight November fog to the winery. It was strangely North American in set up both in tasting room design and in marketing. Special Christmas combo packages were available rather surprising for the Portuguese wineries I have visited.

A blend of Touriga Nacional, Tinta Roriz and Alfrochiero. Has spent three months in oak.

I do not recall tasting this wine but the wines I tasted at the winery were all high quality.

Aroma: Black cherry, cactus pear, raspberry and a smidge of chocolate and black licorice.

Palate: Cassis, blueberry and blackberry with moderate tannin with a thin seam of acidity and a slight peppery finish.

Personality: A perky red wine am I. Not complicated but satisfying and yes there is more to Portuguese red wine than the Douro a mere 3 hours away.

Cellarbility: Will not improve in the cellar. Drink by 2025-year end.

Food Match: Arroz de Pato (Duck with rice casserole).

Price: $14 (CDN).

RKS 2024 Wine Rating: 89/100. Wine Align 88.

(Gandarada 2020, Dão DOC, Boas Quintas, Mortagua, Portugal, 750 mL, 13%).

RKS 2024 Film: “Inedia”: A Deadly Convergence of Flummox and Eating Disorders

Cora’s aversion to eating spirals out of control to the point that she considers herself allergic to all foods even parsley. While at dinner at her sister’s she has a few bites of a bizarre vegetarian dish and runs to the toilet to induce vomiting.

Her condition worsens. Her GP does not share her thoughts on a mass food allergy diagnosing her nasty rash as eczema caused by stress and prescribes hydrocortisone. Then consulting with Dr. Google, Cora watches “Joanna” espousing light therapy as a cure for eating disorders. Who needs food if you have the sun which offers all the nourishment you require? Incredibly ridiculous and dangerous but desperation often nullifies logic so off thirtyish Cora (Amy Forsyth) leaves Vancouver taking the ferry to Saturna Island to join a community of like minded desperados hanging on to the ridiculous flummox spewed by Joanna (Susanne Wuest).

Arriving at the community Joanna offers Cora her “last meal” but she self induces vomiting and her last meal never reaches her stomach. Even when Cora pikes some food leftovers from a child (Joanna believes growing children require nourishment) of a community member she expels it out and that terrible rash spreads rather strange as no food is consumed so how could there be an allergic reaction to it?

A veritable commune like that one portrayed in “Easy Rider” but at least in that commune they ate! I found it a bit strange that for those who don’t eat they all look rather well fed. Could that loaf of bread hidden in the tool shed found by Cora be evidence of widespread cheating?

Early on Cora is warned by a banished community member the entire “community” is founded by lies. Then a fatal tragedy strikes despite the faith by the community that Joanna knows everything and a doctor is not required.

Is Joanna an evil swindler? Hmm she looks very fit for a person who does not eat food. Criminal negligence?

Is Cora doomed or has she found refuge only to return to her death. Is that what transpires to both start and conclude the film?

Aside from the personal struggle of Cora the film is an interesting glimpse at the onset of bulimia nervosa and its psychological profile.

Wuest proffers a steely performance making some good “marketing sense” at times but mostly it is flakey palaver. She delivers a solid chilling performance bordering on a psychopath and a genuinely misguided prophet. Forsyth fits in well with the starry-eyed youngster community members. An excellent portrayal of a reluctant not fully convinced character.

Directed by Elizabeth Cairns.

Shows next on 29September2024 at the Vancouver International Film Festival.

RKS 2024 Film Rating 83/100.

RKS 2024 Wine: Vineland Estates 2021 Game Changer Red

A bold statement indeed to maintain any wine these days can change the game. More marketing fluff but as I have said many times a label really makes little difference as what matters is in the bottle. For example, this year the Toronto Blue Jays baseball team has changed professional baseball in Toronto to a pitiable state. The most important statistic at the ballpark this year was the 70,000 loonie hotdogs sold at the last loonie hotdog night for the season. So the game can be changed for the worse. Careful what you say Vineland Estates!

As a minimum knowing Vineland Estates one can expect a decent bottle of Cabernet Franc. This wine is 100% Cabernet Franc aged 12 months in oak. What type of oak is not stated on the label or on the Vineland Estates website and in fact even the varietal is not stated on the label.

Aroma: Fits the Ontario Cabernet Franc profile with gobs of black cherry complimented by some milk chocolate. Secondary notes of raspberry.

Palate: Moderate tannic profile. Acids perfectly restrained. Wobbly and somewhat weak-kneed fruit.

Food Match: Would have suited the beautiful Cornish Hen I had on the Vineland Estates restaurant patio last Saturday but then again it was such a glorious afternoon just about any wine would have been spot on. I did try some of a fellow diner’s fries and was extremely disappointed from my last visit. Now mundane. Once superb.

Personality: I suppose I am neither a positive or negative game changer.

Cellarbility: Drink prior to 2025-year end. Will not improve with age.

RKS 2024 Wine Rating: 84/100.

(Vineland Estates Winery 2021 Game Changer Red, VQA Niagara Escarpment, Vineland Estate Winery, Vineland, Ontario, 750 ml, 12.5%).

RKS Literature: Comrade Rusanov as a Proud Soviet Stoolie for Stalin (Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn)

“Rusanov was not afraid of any of them. He had helped establish the guilt of them all, more boldly and openly as time went on. On two occasions he had even gone to the confrontation, raised his voice and denounced them. At that time it was not considered the least shameful to do such a thing. In that excellent and honorable time, the years 1937 and 1938, the social atmosphere was noticeably cleansed and it became easier to breathe. The liars and slanderers, those who had been too bold in their criticism, the clever dick intellectuals, all of them disappeared, shut up or lay low, while the men of principle, the loyal and stable men, Rusanov’s friends and Rusanov himself, were able to walk with dignity, their heads held high.”

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, “Cancer Ward”, 1968.

RKS Literature: Soviet Party Bureaucrat Thinks He Deserves the Best (Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn)

“There was nothing wrong in a man in strengthening his material position with the help of a good salary from the state and a good pension (Pavel Nikolayevich’s dream was to be awarded a special, personal pension). Such a man has earned his car, his cottage in the country, and a small house in town to himself.  But a car of the same make from the same factory, or a country cottage of the same standard type, acquired a completely different criminal character if they had been bought through speculation. Pavel Nikolayevich deemed, literally dreamed of introducing public executions for speculators. Public executions would speedily bring complete health to our society.”

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, “Cancer Ward”, 1968.

RKS 2024 Wine: Canadian Pinot Noir Eh? Bachelder Les Villages Bench 2021 Pinot Noir

Any country with a couple of pesos to rub, and that includes Canada and France, can bottle up Pinot Noir but there is so much inferior product. Thomas Bachelder has been crafting excellent Niagara Pinot Noirs for years now garnering a top reputation initially with Le Clos Jordanne. Is he the king of Canadian Pinot Noir or is it Closson Chase or Norman Hardie in Prince Edward County. Or is it Meyer Family Vineyards in the British Columbia, Okanagan?

Aroma: Unmistakably a Pinot Noir. Niagara cherry, raspberry and just a bit of chocolate. Call it simple but I prefer elegant simplicity.

Palate: Tight and very guarded holding its fruit very close to the chest. But one senses in this restraint a wine that is about to bust out from shy to a beautiful sophisticate. But will it emerge from its cocoon into a beautiful butterfly? Ah the eternal risk to a wine buyer! Nastily delicious black cherry hanging around the edges…please knock the door and come in! A moderately long finish.

Food Match: Tonight, having enjoyed a homemade pizza with a sauce made with Niagara tomatoes, sweet Ontario garlic, Ontario red onions and a big splash of LBV Port and my backyard basil, rosemary and oregano this Pinot Noir would suit this pizza! A polite deep six to inferior red wines is to say pair it with a Friday night pizza. No disrespect meant with my suggestion!

Movie Pairing: Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Poor Things” although a pre dinner Martini may enhance your viewing pleasure.

Price: $35.

Cellarbility: Sorry not being Nostradamus here it is difficult to be meaningful here. But let the shit hit the fan here and my thoughts are no improvement with age.

Personality: An interesting “entry level” Pinot Noir from a master winemaker.

RKS 2024 Wine Rating: 89/100. Wine Align 89.

(Bachelder Les Villages Bench 2021 Pinot Noir, VQA Niagara Escarpment, Bachelder, Beamsville, Ontario, 750 mL, 12.5%).