RKS 2024 Wine:  Stunning Shiraz From Kangaroo Island

Just when I was thinking Australia was becoming a bit tiresome with the same wines from the same appellations my ears perked up and my eyes bulged, just a bit, when I saw a Springs Road Shiraz from Battle of Bosworth Wines on Kangaroo Island. I did a quick dig on Kangaroo Island finding out it is a thirty-minute flight from Adelaide. It is a bit of a nature paradise with 1/3 of its area dedicated to nature preserves. Spectacular coastal cliffs. Penguins! Varied accommodations and eateries. Why is it I have had no previous desire to visit Australia but have a sudden urge to visit and discover Kangaroo Island. It could be I lived there in a previous life? Or it could it be my childhood optometrist had Gafney as a surname the same as the location of the winery on Gafney Road. The spirits of my past beckon me to Kangaroo Island for a great cosmic experience and some great wine?

Will the wines of Kangaroo Island sing a siren song for me?

Aroma: Solid and dense notes of blackberry and almost too ripe raspberries with subtle vanilla notes.

Palate: A Salzburgian salt mine depth to the wine with a finish as long as the wooden slides one rockets down to get to the heart of the salt mines. The blackberry continues to hog the stage like an experienced Shakespearian actor and not like a K-Pop boy band. In other words a serious and dignified Shiraz not a bowl of jam. Just the perfect amount of residual sugar. Moderate tannins and no lurking nasty acid. Northern Rhone?

Personality: I am a hidden gem both in quality and geographic uniqueness. Consider me a welcome escape from Barossa and McLaren Vale. Imagine at your next party you bring a bottle of me! Kangaroo Island mate….bollocks!

Food Match: I would like to pair this with Kangaroo Island speciality dishes but as my calling has yet to materialize as the spirits are a bit slow on a Saturday night could it be a chance to say this would pair with a Kangaroo steak or some Kangaroo Island mutton?

Cellarbility: Drink by 2026-year end.

Price: $23 CDN as a manager discount otherwise $33 CDN.

RKS 2024 Wine Rating: 94/100. Jamessuckling.com 95.

(Springs Road 2017 Kangaroo Island Shiraz, Battle of Bosworth Wines, Willunga, South Australia, 750 mL,14.5%).

P.S. This wine only strengthens my cosmic connection to Kangaroo Island a location where I think wine tourism may reach perfection! I am damn certain this wine beckons me to Kangaroo Island!

RKS Literature: Priests Wallowing in Squalid Ignorance (Gustave Flaubert)

“I believe in the Supreme Being, in a Creator whatever he may be. I care little who has placed us here below to fulfill our duties as citizens and parents; but I don’t need to go to a church to kiss silver plates and fatten, out of my pocket, a lot of good-for-nothings who live better than we do. For one can know him as well in a wood, in a field, or even contemplating the ethereal heavens like the ancients. My God is the God of Socrates, of Franklin or Voltaire, and of Béranger. And I can’t admit of an old boy of a God who takes walks in his garden with a cane in his hand, who lodges his friends in the belly of whales, dies uttering a cry, and rises again at the end of three days; things absurd in themselves, and completely opposed, moreover, to all physical laws, which proves to us, by the way, that priests have always wallowed in squalid ignorance, and tried to drag the whole nations down after them.”

“Madame Bovary”, Gustave Flaubert,1857

RKS Literature: “Madame Bovary”: Her Useless Husband Charles (Gustave Flaubert)

“Why, at least, was not her husband one of those silently determined men who work at their books all night, and at last, when at sixty rheumatism was upon them, wear a string of medals on their ill-fitting black coat? She would have wished this name of Bovary, which was hers, to be illustrious. To see it displayed at the booksellers’, repeated in the newspapers, known to all France. But Charles had no ambition.”

“Madame Bovary”, Gustave Flaubert, 1857

Travels to a Different Time: Travels of My Mother: 3August1970: Bled, Yugoslavia: The Terrible Food in Yugoslavia: My Last Time in Yugoslavia!

Dear Mother, Meg and Murph:

We are now in the republic of Slovenia in a fairytale town of Bled. We arrived yesterday and will remain here until August 9th when we will take the train to Munich. We will meet our friend there who has a car and we will be visiting the Black Forest (Schwartzwald). Then a boat trip up the Rhine and then after to Berlin then back to Frankfurt in early September for our trip back to New York.

Bled is like a town in a story all very alpine. There is also a castle and a beautiful lake with wonderful swimming. Marshall Tito spends part of his summers here. We are surrounded by the Julian Alps. Tonight we go to a park right on the lake for an opera. The last one was too much for Robert.

It is hard to believe our long trip of almost 4 months is coming to an end. And no blazing heat up in the North of Yugoslavia. We are but 8 hours by train to Munich. I do not wish to return to Yugoslavia as I am too used to comfort. There is a shortage of just about everything. The food is poor full of starch and a lack of vegetables unlike Greece with its varied and delicious food with fruits and vegetables in abundance.

We had a miserable trip here on my birthday. We started at 4:30 a.m. and arrived here at 3:30 p.m. We took a bus, then a ferry then three more bus trips. Oh boy. The seats on the bus were like a park bench with a leather headrest. I sure hope they are not like that on our train trip to Munich or they will need a stretcher to take me off. It is too damp here for my back. The dry heat in Greece was much better. I am looking forward to Germany where we will be sleeping in a house in the forest. Germany is having a heat wave now with Munich having had a temperature of 94 degrees. Although Slovenia is beautiful the people are cold and rude but then again I said that about Germany and look where we are going next.

I just went outside to collect our bathing suits that were drying outside and I noticed there is a pear tree full of pears. We have a cute room just below the sloping Alpine roof. It is much cooler here than in Croatia and Serbia with an average temperature of 75. It is strange to see they have comforters here on the beds which is quite a change from the islands. The food here is just about the same as the rest of Yugoslavia. Thank goodness for the markets where usually but not always you can buy fruit and now tomato is the king here.

In the last island we met a girl Sonya who is a nurse in an army hospital. She had a car. She was beautiful and charming and took us around. We visited a couple of her friends who had summer homes. Beautiful outside but very poor inside.

Love M

Reggie the Egyptian Rescue Dog: The Final Cut: Bob and Fay Speak About Reggie: Chapter Nineteen (19)

Our initial meeting with Reggie was a chance one at Sherwood Park in Toronto at an off-leash trail. Reggie was with his foster parents Anthony and Susan. Our West Highland Terrier Dillie and Reggie hit it off right off the bat. Reggie was well mannered and even shook Bob’s hand. Buddhists believe in auspicious connections meaning that a random meeting is not so random. There is a purpose to such a meeting. Call it fate if you wish. We learnt from the foster parents that Reggie was with a rescue society and was up for adoption. We completed the application too late and missed out on our destiny with fate.

Fate revisited two weeks later as Reggie’s “parents” were both to be transferred by the bank they worked for to Singapore and Reggie was not in those plans so we became owners of the cute fellow. Aside from nipping Bob on the first day and being a bit surly and hiding behind the sofa he quickly fit into our family life. Most importantly he and Dillie got along like brothers, you know the ones that actually get along with each other.

What is Reggie like? He is one very smart dog and we swear he understands English! He has a strange passion for watching the BBC and we can’t figure that out. He also loves that British never ending soap opera “Coronation Street”. Dillie hangs out with Bob more than with Fay and prefers jazz and classical music to television.

We know rescue dogs can suffer from trauma but aside from that first day we see no outward signs of trauma. It was as if some voice had spoken to him after nipping Bob on day 1 as he very quickly nuzzled up to him and whimpered as if he was apologizing. Isn’t that so strange? We know his rough past with the loss of his master Anwar, his time on the street and the injury caused to him by a big dog on the streets of Cairo. If he is hurting emotionally he is hiding it well.

He does have a strange habit of prostrating himself at the same time each morning and evening for 5 minutes or so. It is almost as if he is praying?

Reggie enjoys his kibble and lots of cold water. He looks at us after dinner in a thankful fashion as if he is thanking us.

One reason we adopted Reggie was to keep our ageing Dillie on his toes and stimulated both to enrich and lengthen his life.

Reggie has only been with us for a few months but is popular with humans and their dogs. He has a very unique story about living on the streets of a tough city and I wonder if the neighbourhood dogs know that but how could they as dogs don’t talk to each other! And my goodness he loves his walks especially the long ones. We are apprehensive about letting him off leash until we finish with his training at “puppy school”. But we know he has had enough of wandering alone and we think off leash he will stay close to us like Dillie.

Is he different from Dillie? Both love belly rubs, walking, food, treats and toys but Reggie is quieter than Dillie. Dillie is more territorial when it comes to anyone coming in our house that he does not know well. Reggie might give a few barks but soon is wagging his tail and greeting them looking for a pat on the head. Not exactly a guard dog.

He is now a member of our family!

RKS 2024 Wine: No Indigenous Greek Grapes Here

Unfortunately, in Ontario we receive only a small amount of Greek red wine and that which has flowed our way on the retail shelves of our state liquor monopoly fails to impress much of it Xinomavro if not aged sufficiently can be unpleasantly tannic.

 I was piqued when I saw this Dyo Elies from the administrative area of Greece, Macedonia. Thessaloniki, Greece’s second largest city, is in Macedonia. Much smaller than Athens it is a rich gastronomic, cultural, historical and coffee and cocktail obsessed city. I can’t recall any European city where so many delicious aromas permeate the air. On my last visit there at Thessaloniki restaurants very little wine could be seen but rather cocktails the younger set is clearly in love with. In the restaurants serving up some of the city’s best food it will be the “old guard” and tourists you see drinking wine.

This Dyo Elies is 70% Syrah and 30% Merlot. No Greek indigenous grapes here! Some earlier vintages had a small amount of Xinomavro in the blend. The wine spent 14 months in 225 litre French and American oak and a further 8 months in the bottle.

Aroma: Although the Merlot here is in the minority it shows its gratitude about its inclusivity by asserting its soft character and a distinctive toasty tinge oaked Merlot can lend to a wine. The Syrah adds some spiciness to the blackberry and black cherry aromatics.

Palate: Full bodied with unique cedar, carob, coffee and licorice interlopers but as for fruit blackberry doesn’t want to leave the show. The Syrah leaves some white pepper and at 14.5% alcohol the wine is a bit hot, not James Cagney “White Heat” but it is noticeable. Moderate broad-based tannins.

Personality: I mean business. Nothing flippant or exhibitionist about me. I am built for food and nothing light and frivolous please.

Food Match: Pastitso.

Cellarbility: Drink by 2026-year end.

Price: $28.20 CDN (Ontario) as a manager discount otherwise a steep $35.45.

RKS 2024 Wine Rating: 91/100.

(Dyo Elies 2018, PGI Imathia, Kir-Yanni, Naoussa, Greece, 750 mL, 14.5%).

Travels to a Different Time: Travels of My Mother: 20July1970: Pag Island, Yugoslavia: The Terrible Food in Yugoslavia

We are all packed and ready to leave for the other end of Pag where will spend a few days before going to Rab and then after to Krk. Look at the map. We are on the coast of Yugoslavia nearing Italy.

Had a long letter yesterday from Fritz and he has all kinds of plans for us in Germany. He will meet us in Munich and show us around for a couple of days. Then to Cologne and then to the Black Forest and stay in a wooden cabin so he can take Robert hunting (good thing they like each other). When we go to West Berlin, he will meet us for 4 days and will probably see us in Frankfurt before we return to New York. We will be driving on the Autobahn in Fritz’s Alfa Romeo. Fritz tells me he drives up to 230 kilometers and hour!

Barb I would love to go to Jamaica but not now. My clothes are a wreck. I will be glad to return to American soil and if you have a few days perhaps we can stay with you.

I don’t know how the old babes get to the each here so early. The beach begins to fill up at 8:30 in the morning. Not for me as I like the good life. I hope the next place we stay at has running water. We have to get a big jug filled up at the public square and lug it back to the room, strange that we have a full bathroom but no running water but boy does it stink. I was in such a hurry last night I spilt toothpaste all over my shirt. I had to go for a swim to get it clean. Rob goes to the night club each night. He finally got the courage to ask a girl to dance but it was a slow one and he changed his mind. He has just gone to the P.O. to give them our change of address. Then we will wander into town and have some lunch.

The knapsack is a godsend for travelling as you can put the heavy stuff in it. Rob with his water jug and our lousy luggage we will look like a couple of hippies when we return to Montreal. I will bring back my Yugoslav string bag as a memento. The plan is to return in late August or the first week of September. Rob must be back for school on September 9. I would like to come back in January to Spain but also Germany either first or last.

I’m getting to be like a real native going out at 7 a.m. with my string back buying bread and meat for breakfast. I am getting tired with the food here in Yugoslavia. I have to be slim for Germany even if I have to starve myself. I am here finishing the bottle of wine so I don’t have to pack it. Barb what are the name of the weight reducing pills you can buy in Germany. Please don’t forget. The meals are terrible here. No one who has been to Yugoslavia can complain about my cooking! So much starch and so few vegetables. No wonder they are so huge. I am on a diet to get rid of this fat. Fritz is so meticulous he might take one look at me and turn around.

Very windy here today unlike our first day. We have run out of books and there are no English books to buy here so we play cards to pass the time.

Love Mum

Rab July 23, 1970

Arrived here this morning. It is about 90 minutes from Pag on the ship. We are staying in a brand-new pension with lots of hot water. We haven’t found the beach yet but no desire to swim today. We found Time magazine and an English paper and that is a good thing as I was about to go mad with nothing to read. That must mean there are some English about so I can talk to them.

Love Mum

Reggie the Egyptian Rescue Dog: Anwar Speaks From The Land Beyond: Allah’s Hint About Reggie! Chapter Eighteen

My name is Anwar. I was Reggie’s master after the demise of his previous one. I was given Reggie when he was still a puppy. The wife of a good friend of mine gave Reggie to me. Her husband was a journalist with an Egyptian television network based in Cairo. He hosted a political commentary show and frequently had guests who were critical of the Egyptian government and I think he had one too many guests who were critical of the government and one day he disappeared never to be seen again. Journalists throughout the world and his wife knew what had happened to him. Prior to his “disappearance” he had received several death threats at the hands of an extremist group “The Brothers of the Correct and Only Islam”. Our journalistic investigations gave us preliminary indications this group was a branch of the secret service of the government of Egypt so we assume he was kidnapped and executed. His wife fled to Wa Wa in Ontario, Canada fearing her life as she was a feminist demanding equal rights for women in Egypt very dangerous in the political climate. So, I ended up with Reggie!

Habibi was his original name but to give everyone a fresh start I renamed him Reggie after a character in an American cartoon I often watched called “Archie”. I never owned a dog before so I had to do some research on the raising of dogs. That helped me and Reggie was a very smart dog which made both our lives easier. Reggie was toilet trained in under a week. I worked mostly from home but when I was out researching and interviewing, I had a dog sitting service take care of Reggie.

I watched a lot of BBC news and documentaries to get a realistic view of the world. Egyptian media was largely controlled by the government so it was difficult to get the truth about your own country! Reggie and I watched the BBC news every night and I swear he was beginning to understand English. In fact the practice of my English was helped by talking to Reggie in English. I prayed to Allah every morning and night and Reggie watched and listened intently to me.

As I had no wife and very little family in Cairo, Reggie was a great comfort and companionship for me but as many people in Egypt experienced good things can come to an end. One night the secret police and army came and arrested me for treason for slandering the government in my articles. A soldier told me Reggie escaped telling me Reggie was most fortunate as often pets of arrested “traitors” were shot by the soldiers on sight.

I was executed by a firing squad and I entered The Land Beyond being furious at the government for taking my life and turning Reggie into a street dog. I wanted to remain as a ghost in Cairo and haunt my wrongdoers. Allah himself spoke to me and asked that I forgive those who had murdered me taking his name in vain to gain and retain power. So I made a deal with Allah that he let my spirit remain on earth until Reggie was safe and taken care of. One does not make deals with God! But Allah said he would do all he could to help Reggie. And in his mysterious ways he did. And Allah tells me Reggie will change history. You never hear about Allah and his sense of humour but believe you me in this screwed up world you don’t get to be Allah without one! A small dog like changing the world. Allah is joking me!

I see my Reggie now with people called Bob and Fay in Toronto, Canada. I hear his prayers to Allah and to me so my spirit appears to him to help him adapt and I can see he will be safe and loved and well taken care of. I am still sad he and I are parted but so happy to see he has a good life ahead of him so my anger and fear has been alleviated so I must now go to The Land Beyond” and wait one day to be reunited with Reggie. So I close my eyes and I leave earth and go to The Land Beyond with a light heart. Good-bye.

RKS 2024 Wine: The Great Ontario Merlot Redemption Meets Dale Carnegie

Merlot as a single varietal wine has a bleak future in Ontario. But blend it with Ontario wunderkid Cabernet Franc and lackluster Cabernet Sauvignon and you can consistently have a great Ontario Meritage in both Niagara and Lake Erie North Shore. Sometimes the sum can outshine some of the parts.

For example, the Queen Bee 2019 Meritage from Lakeview Wine Company in Niagara-on-the-Lake is a blend of 42% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Merlot and 23% Cabernet Franc. The juice was transferred to stainless steel tanks and fermented on their skins and then transferred to 70% Hungarian and 30% American oak.

Aroma: An immediately approachable, accessible and delightful aroma greets the nose. Toasty and smoky. Blackberry dominates the landscape of the wine.

Palate: Yet more blackberry but not jammy as it has lightness almost hovering over the wine as opposed to burrowing down in it. Just a tiny bit of dark chocolate on the finish courtesy of the Cabernet Franc. Unidimensional but so delicious no complaints from these sidelines. Acids and tannins in complete harmony. Assuming you do not have a cellar a maximum of 15 minutes in the refrigerator please. Not what you would label a long finish but the faint impression of blackberry hangs in there.

Personality:  Dale Carnegie “How to Make Friends and Influence People” is the name of my game.

Food Match: A Navy Bean Soup from Kingston’s Chez Piggy jazzed up with Parmesan rinds Ribolla style.

Cellarbility: Consume by 2025-year end.

Price: $20 CDN (Ontario) LCBO Store Manager Discount Price otherwise $24.95.

RKS 2024 Wine Rating: 91/100. Tony Aspler 89-91.

(Queen Bee 2019 Meritage, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Lakeview Wine Company, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, 750 mL, 13%).

Reggie The Egyptian Rescue Dog: The Final Cut: Karim Tells us About Himself: Chapter Seventeen

My name is Karim and I think I am about three years old. I was born in Egypt like Reggie. I am part Schnauzer and weigh the same as Reggie which is about 18 pounds. All that delicious chicken kibble and of course the chunks of cheese that “accidentally fall” on the floor have plumped me out a bit.

I was bought in an Egyptian marketplace by a family with a little girl. I forget their names. This may be selective forgetfulness as I do not want to remember my life with that family. They fed me and gave me water. The little girl was nice to me in the beginning but the parents soon changed their mind about having me as a pet. I spent most of my young life in a crate even when the humans were around in their home. They ignored me except for that little girl who was too young to properly care for a dog. Although she was nice to me most of the time, she pulled my tail hard and that made me squeal in pain.

You might want to say I was ignored and abused. Can you imagine a dog being locked in a crate almost all the time? I was sad and lonely and grew to really hate these humans. A dog likes to move around and be as free as a domesticated dog can be. These humans were cruel and the man smoked cigarettes a smell that really bothered me. His wife thought I was dirty and cursed at me for being a filthy creature. I was locked up so much I never made any friends with the neighbourhood dogs. In fact, dogs began to frighten me.

Then a terrible plague COVID struck Egypt. The man and his wife owned a small local restaurant and because people were afraid of contracting COVID they stopped eating out at restaurants and the man and his wife had to close their restaurant. They became mean with me claiming I brought them bad luck and one day they took me far away from my home on a bus and left me in a very run-down part of Cairo. They returned home without me so I became a street dog.

Reggie has already told you what it was like for him. It was really the same for me. But instead of being frightened I felt free. I felt what I think a dog should feel like. But food and water were hard to come by. Like Reggie there were kind people that sometimes would give me food and water but a dog had to learn how to steal food and rummage in garbage to live to see tomorrow. The big dogs were not nice to us smaller dogs so I formed a pack of small tough dogs to defend ourselves and steal and hunt for food including rats. Reggie always protected my flank in our fights and he was fearless.

After living on the streets for over a year my fur was matted and I was covered in flees. Like Reggie I was injured and found myself in an animal hospital. It was the same hospital Reggie was in. I was not bitten by another dog but intentionally hit by a motorcycle “for fun” as when I lay on the street with a big gash on my scalp I heard laughing. Like Reggie a policeman took me to the animal hospital. It might have been the same good policeman. I am not one to pray to Allah like Reggie because Allah deserted me the moment I was born. Humans deserted me except for the kind policeman and animal doctors. I had much anger toward humans. The same Canadian rescue society that brought Reggie to Canada brought me there too. I ended up with Bob and Fay.

Bob and Fay have shown me nothing but kindness so much so I began to trust them quickly and of course Reggie was in and out of my pack so I could trust him. But for dogs and humans I do not know I become frightened and lunge out at them. They have done nothing wrong to me so why am I so bad?

Reggie tells me it is post traumatic stress disorder caused by my past life. I don’t understand these complicated words but Reggie puts it another way saying I had such a terrible life in Egypt I lose my head and lunge as a way of forgetting those terrible times but a special person called a trainer has been working with me every day for awhile now and I have just about stopped lunging except for humans on skateboards, rollerblades, scooters and joggers. Dillie and Reggie do the same thing so Fay and Bob are willing to live with a little bit of lunging when I am on the leash.

Speaking of Dillie I think he is a spoilt dog that knows little about life and I snarled at him a few times when I arrived at Fay and Bob’s house but Reggie set me straight telling me that was a stupid thing to do for a rescue dog. I recognized this and apologized to Dillie who understood enough about my past to forgive me. He is a true leader and from a tradition of great and fearless Scottish hunting dogs. Reggie told me some of the brave things that Dylan did and I would have welcomed his fighting spirit in my pack. He comes from a noble tradition but I am from the gutters of Cairo. Being street smart, I let Dillie be the leader of the pack. I also like him as he helps me understand humans that care and respect dogs. These are not humans I have much experience in dealing with.

I love my life in Canada and the snow is so much fun. Reggie and I love rollicking in the snow but Dillie prefers the warmth of inside the house. After two years on the street and homeless and hungry I was deserted by him. I think of my brothers and sisters in Egypt and hope they are well.