RKS 2024 Wine: Some Higher End Bordeaux: Château Clarke 2016

There is an ample supply at Vintages (Liquor Control Board of Ontario) of red Bordeaux under $25. Are they so much inferior to a Château Clarke 2016 from Baron Edmond de Rothschild at $55?

This wine is a blend of 70 % Merlot and 30% Cabernet Sauvignon.

Aroma:  A forceful and dense nose of plum, blackberry, cassis and black cherry. You might want to comment Merlot at its best with a precise measure of oak that does not overpower

Palate: The 70% Merlot is quite apparent here. There is no doubting of the smoothness on the palate but what about the burn? At 14% is the wine just too big for its britches? The severe tannins kick in at the end palate. The tannins overtake the fruit so can we say, bearing in mind the Rothschild name, the wine is still youthful?  At one point in time high quality red Bordeaux was used to make long lasting wines at 12% alcohol that required years of ageing. At $55 a bottle is this a “tradition based” gamble you want to take. In this case, given the subliminal aroma I would.

Personality: Audrey Hepburn in “Nun’s Story” crossed with Telly Savalas in “The Dirty Dozen”.

Cellarbility: Best wait until 2027 to open and let it cruise until 2035.

Food Match: Grilled lamb (rare).

Price: $55 CDN (Ontario).

RKS 2024 Wine Rating: 91/100. Decanter.com 95. Natalie MacLean 93.

(Château Clarke 2016, AC Listrac-Médoc, Baron Edmond de Rothschild, Gironde, France, 750 mL, 14%)

RKS 2024 Film: “Kryptic”: No Horror but You’ll Be Caught in The Gordian Knot!

Kay (Chloe Pirrie) joins a newly formed walking ladies club and with their guide they hike up Kryptic Peak. Kay separates from the group and encounters a hairy brute creature called a Sook as it is referred to in local lore. As the guide explains thousands of hikers disappear in the mountains each year without explanation. In fact a well known cryptozoologist named Barb Valentine disappeared nearby over three years ago. Her specialty is the study of the hidden such as the Sook or Big Foot. And golly poor Kay encounters the Sook in the woods and momentarily some goo dribbles out of her ear. If the Sook is at the scene expect goo!

There is something very odd with Kay. She is hesitant, halting if not confused and at some points seem not to realize her own identity. After returning home she undertakes a bit of research about the missing Barb Valentine discovers numerous articles in newspapers about her disappearance. Whilst doing this research her front door window is smashed and terrorized Kay takes off on an adventure of an undetermined nature.

For some reason she decides to represent herself to the many strange characters she encounters as Barb Valentine. The characters are really bizarre adding fun to the film. They are “overdone caricatures” but so weird they add an entertainment value to the film whilst an any other film they would be simply ridiculous.

At this point I go no further lest I spoil your fun of trying to untie the Gordian Knot particularly who really is Kay? The film succeeds not on any obvious plot line but on the fact there are many possible interpretations and combinations of them and shiver me timbers if any of them are wrong but what might you walk away with is:

> mental illness such as bipolar disorder, PTSD or schizophrenia

> the possibility that the humans portrayed in the film are the monsters

> human sexuality can be monstrous, destructive and even deadly

> eroticism of the unknown beasts

> the destructive effects of fame

> the existence of a secretive side of many

> domestic abuse

A quirky thriller if you have a creative imagination but possibly pedantic if you are hoping for a linear plot. Pirrie plays the role so well so even when asserting her power she fails to realize it. I mean who goes in the forest in a miniskirt and boots with platform heels!

Directed by Kourtney Roy.

Plays at the Fantasia Film Festival in Montreal on 22/24July2024.

RKS 2024 Film Rating 84/100.

RKS 2024 Film: “Widow Clicquot”: A Champagne Adventure

“Widow Clicquot” is one of those historical dramas with lush cinematography, brooding music and period costumes. It is the struggle of Barbe-Nicole-Ponsardin Clicquot (b1777 d1866) to navigate a struggling Champagne operation inherited from her husband François Clicquot into a successful business enterprise. François (Tom Sturridge) was an innovator with revolutionary ideas which largely failed. A poor grape harvest the year prior to Widow Clicquot’s inheritance put her in a struggling financial position.

Despite rampant sexism, treachery, war and a lack of funds through her determination, hard work including working in the vineyards, innovation, experimentation, love and understanding of the concept of terroir, adhering to her vision, taking advice from men on a selective basis she revolutionized the production of Champagne with her methods still in use today. She had guts too!

The flashbacks in the film of her time with François lay the foundation for her innovative techniques and a drive to continue the experimentation initiated by François. Her dogged determination was not so much based on the desire by financial success but the honouring of her late husband.

Haley Bennett as Widow Clicquot and Sam Riley as Louis Bohne her distributor are standouts.

Being somewhat involved in the wine trade there were several aha moments for me that may be lost on the average viewer but in no way detracting from the quality of the film. Of course, the actors are all British for a truly French story has the flavour of a 1950’s American war movie, you know where the Germans are speaking with an American accent.

Directed by Thomas Napper.

Canadian theatrical release 19July2024.

You can see the trailer here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOFBDabjZt0

RKS 2024 Film Rating 87/100.

RKS 2024 Wine: A High-Risk Endeavour from Riverview Estate Winery: Baco Noir and Foch Blend!

Ontario Baco Noir flops more often than not. It has flopped many times in my glass but when managed in the vineyard and in the vat it can make exceptional Baco Noir e.g. Henry of Pelham. And Foch ripped out aplenty years ago can make some exceptional wine e.g. Malivoire.

54% Maréchal Foch and 46% Baco Noir. Fermented and aged separately for 6 months in American oak.

311 cases produced.

Can Riverview Estate Winery manage bad boy Baco Noir?

Aroma: Smoke, blackberry, black cherry, plum and blueberry.

Palate: Smooth and silky with minimal tannins. Dark fruit abounds. Fine acidity which is not disruptive but strongly suggests this wine flourishes as a foodie wine. Full bodied, winning and a creative blend.

Personality: I think I have shown my creators can manage Baco Noir which in the glass can exhibit enticing dark fruit but on the palate crumbles into nothingness. Gamay compliments me or is Baco Noir complimenting the Foch?

Food Match: I will not argue with the label stating the wine “pairs very well with smoked pulled pork or cheddar burgers”.  Great match for a celebratory turkey dinner! Vegheads would enjoy with stuffed field red peppers.

Cellarbility: Drink by 2024-year end.

Price: $20.15 CDN (Ontario).

RKS 2024 Wine Rating: 92/100.

(Riverview Cellars Estate Winery 2021 Baco-Foch, VQA Ontario, Riverview Cellars Estate Winery, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, 750 mL, 12%).

RKS 2024 Film: “The Contestant”: Can Anything Positive Emerge from Reality Television?

Inanity and reality television are bedfellows. The specialty of reality television is humiliating people for audience snickers. A prime example would be “90 Day Fiancée”. What is next “Romans Feeding Christians to the Lions: Live at the Coliseum!”

It may well be that reality television was born with the Japanese television show “Denpa Shonen” specializing in endurance tasks for its younger contestants. In 1998 a version of the show “A Life of Prizes” was launched. Tomoaki Hamatsu aka “Eggplant” (nasubi in Japanese) because of his longish face was selected to participate in the show. Not knowing if the show would ever be broadcast, he was placed in a room stripped naked and left to survive with magazines and postcards offering prizes including the food he needed to survive which include dog kibble. When his total prize value reached a million yen the contest would end. Real intelligent television. 

To the amusement of a television audience that reached 30 million people Nasubi demeaned himself and delighted the younger viewers. The older generation and his own family were not amused by what some family members referred to as cruel exploitation. Nasubi also maintained diaries which later became best sellers.

And when he reached one million yen there was an immediate spinoff Denpa Shonen in Korea. 15 months later that show was wrapped up and Nasubi was taken in front of a live audience and the shock on his face when the blindfold was removed was gigantic. He simply could not comprehend what was happening. I query if the audience enjoyed clips of his desperation in that room? He said that suicide was contemplated and he suffered loneliness. He had lost the ability to connect with people. He felt broken, lost his faith in humanity, his heart wrapped in loneliness, shame and an inability to keep up with people’s expectations.

Years later the Fukushima nuclear disaster and a deadly avalanche at the Everest base camp, which Nasubi survived unlike 19 people who lost their lives, healed, through the reaction of Nasubi, the devastating effects of a reality show.

Directed by Claire Titley.

“The Contestant” has its Hollywood Suite on Demand premiere on 1July2024 with a broadcast release on 20July2024.

RKS 2024 Film Rating 84/100.

PORTHEAD ALERT!  Kopke 2018 LBV

Late Bottle Vintage Port (LBV) is an affordable Port that can age well but certainly not as well as Vintage Port. For example the oldest Vintage Port I  have had was an 1867 and it still had life. The 1932 Vintage Port likewise.

How about the 2018 LBV from Kopke?

Aroma:  If there is one descriptor here it is massive blackberry. It has conquered the soul of this Port and I am not complaining.

Palate: Again massive blackberry with some blueberry and chocolate sneaking in an the after palate. At 20% there is some pleasurable and controlled heat with a finish that simply doesn’t want to get off the tram. Is that tingling good for the gums? Not as deep and expansive as a Vintage Port but pretty jolly good!

Personality: Not to be trite but Port is an affordable luxury. I am rich but will not deplete your pocket. A Port for the proletarian masses?

Food Match: Portuguese ox au jus or rare Prime Rib.

Price: $16 CDN (Ontario).

Cellarbility: This Port is at its peak. Perhaps enjoy at 2025 Christmas or New Year’s Eve at the latest. With a slice of mincemeat pie?

RKS 2024 Port Alert Rating: 89/100. Natalie MacLean 92.

(Kopke L.B.V. 2018 Porto, Sogevinus Fine Wines, Villa Nova de Gaia, Portugal, 750 mL, 20%).

RKS 2024 Wine: Portuguese Wines: The Way of the Dinosaur in Ontario

Over the course of 2024 a question has arisen and that is where Portuguese wines have migrated to as very few are heading into Ontario. Vintages releases of Portuguese wines at the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) have disappeared while Spanish wines “flourish” as such a term must be interpreted in the LCBO craze for profits from Housewives of New Jersey California wines. The LCBO sells its soul on the altar of California wines leaving homegrown Ontario wines languishing despite the plethora of LCBO doublespeak touting “local”. You’ll most likely see more wines from Georgia at the LCBO than you’ll see from Lake Erie North Shore!

So in this bombast against a powerful liquor monopoly was a rare drop of a Portuguese wine landing in my backyard courtesy of a rogue unit of the Portuguese Airforce based in Viseu. I am a Cavaliero in the Confraria do Vinho do Porto and have the utmost highest connections in the Portuguese Airforce.

It is from Casa de Cambres in Lamego, Portugal.

Aroma: Blackberry, cassis, black cherry, blueberry and milk chocolate.

Palate: Smoothness here of all variety of black fruit. Low tannins with a moderately long finish complimented by a bit of chalky schist.

Personality: OK Ontario readers let me be blunt. At this price range I will whup your butt as to quality and richness. Considering I am a blend of Tinta Roriz, Touriga Nacional and Touriga Franca I am pure Douro perhaps visually the most spectacular wine producing area in the world.

Cellarbility: In its prime now. Consume by 2025-year end.

Food Match: Spicy Mushroom and Tofu Mazemen https://sneakyguacamole.wordpress.com/2024/04/24/spicy-mushroom-and-tofu-mazemen/

Price: $14 CDN (Ontario). A Penniless Pensioner Biden Triple Gold Medal Winner at the Liverpool, New Jersey 2024 Old Geezer Wine Festival.

RKS 2024 Wine Rating: 91/100.

(Casa de Cambres Colheita 2019, Douro DOC, Solar de Cambres, Lamego, Portugal, 750 mL, 13.5%).

RKS 2024 Wine: Giersberger Crémant d’Alsace

Made with 80% Pinot Gris and 20% Auxerrois. While Pinot Gris is a permitted grape for Champagne Auxerrois is not.

Aroma: Pear, applesauce, Granny Smith apple, mango and peach.

Palate: Crisp and cutting. Granny Smith apple, kiwi, ginger with a hint of bitterness.

Personality: I can’t say I am elegant as I may come on a bit strong but I do the job a sparkling wine can do made by the traditional method. In other words I am made the same way that Champagne is but I can’t call myself Champagne!

Food Match: Food is not essential with a Crémant. Goes well with seafood particularly oysters.

Price: $ 19.25 CDN (Ontario).

Cellarbility: Drink by 2024-year end.

RKS 2024 Wine Rating: 86/100: Decanter World Wine Awards 90.

(Giersberger Crémant d’Alsace, NV, Cave de Ribeauville, France, 750 mL, 12%).

RKS Literature: The Individuality of American Women (F. Scott Fitzgerald)

“The trio of women at the table were representative of the enormous flux of American life. Nicole was the granddaughter of a self-made American capitalist and the granddaughter of a Count of the House of Lippe-Weissenfeld. Mary North was the daughter of a journeyman paper hanger and a descendant of President Tyler. Rosemary was from the middle of the middle class, catapulted by her mother onto the uncharted heights of Hollywood. Their point of resemblance to each other, and their difference from so many American women, lay in the fact that they were happy to exist in a man’s world-they preserved their individuality through men and not by opposition to them.”

F. Scott Fitzgerald, “Tender is the Night”, 1934.

RKS 2024 Wine: A Casa-Dea Rosé from the County

In Ontario when we speak of wine from “The County” we mean Prince Edward County. It is approximately two hours drive from Toronto when the traffic is good which it rarely is. There are over 40 wineries in The County which is the land of second homes of the bourgeoisie of Toronto. But is also an agricultural centre.

From Casa Dea we try a 2021 Rosé. Grape=Gamay.

Aroma: Cherry, raspberry, strawberry and wet rock (crudely said) or “minerality” if you wish.

Palate: Very dry and not much fruit. Some cherry and raspberry manages to squirt in the back palate. If it was a slab of beef I’d call it extra lean. Short tannic finish.

Personality: I fit into a profile of many County Wines. Lean!

Food Match: Mushroom Picatta over polenta.

Price: $19 CDN (Ontario).

Cellarbility: Drink by 2024-year end.

RKS 2024 Wine Rating: 84/100.

(Casa-Dea, 2021 Rosé, VQA Prince Edward County, Casa-Dea Estates Winery, Wellington, Ontario, 750 mL, 11.8%).