Metronom (Romania) 96
Holy Emy (Greece) 96
Woman Meets Girl (Canada/Short) 96
Subtraction (Iran) 96
Scarpedicemente (Canada) 96
The Marines That Never Returned (Korea 1963) 96
Rose (Denmark) 96
Godland (Denmark) 95
Bloom (Canada/short) 95
Iman (Cyprus) 95
Sisu (Finland) 94
Eight Mountains (Italy) 93
Jules (USA) 93
Blackstone (Greece) 93
The Beasts (France) 93
Seagrass (Canada) 92
Kanaval (Canada) 92
If there is a constant impression I receive from organic wines it is they have a pureness and clarity to them. They are sharp and lively. It is not a question of omnipresent superiority. Many non-organic wines taste like they are dead and terribly blunt and dull. Constant soil abuse through spraying and use of insecticides kill the soil. Killing the soil deadens the grape hence neuters the wine. And all these chemicals in your body?
After all this blah blah why not try a Southbrook Organic Triomphe Gamay from Niagara Peninsula in Ontario.
Aroma: Clean and vibrant. Raspberry, strawberry, blackberry and high-toned cherry.
Palate: Straight on fruit with nothing detracting from its purity. Minimal tannins and disciplined acids. Initial hit of strawberry jam. Then raspberry with Serbian hazelnut wafer cookies with a short clean finish.
Personality: Simple and honest and far from the non-organic dead zone.
Cellarbility: Can’t see improvement by cellaring. Drink by 2024-year end.
Food Match: Duck rillette.
Price: $28.95 CDN (Ontario).
RKS 2023 Wine Rating: 92/100.
(Southbrook Triomphe 2021 Organic Gamay, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Southbrook Vineyards, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario 750 mL, 12.5%).
Artificial Intelligence has a bit of a double-edged sword. AI will decimate the middle class if it has its way. What a profit seeking corporation needs is rock bottom low labour costs. Eliminate costs, increase profitability and pump-up bonuses to the “senior management team” and throw a few extra pesos to shareholders. Worth celebrating for some at least. And the revolutionaries will need something to toast when millions of displaced employees face starvation after foodbanks run out and the state has no cash placate the unemployed who storm Mar-a-Lago.
While those with puffed pockets will celebrate with Champagne the more economical revolutionaries will toast with Crémant after the plundering the wine cellars of the 1% in the revolution. Why not as Crémant is made the same way Champagne is but very much cheaper.
To get you in the mood for the revolution why not try a Crémant?
Aroma: Citrusy and biscuity complimented by peach, tangerine and pineapple. Very much of a chattery sparkler.
Palate: A nice acidic bite but hardly a ripping one. Peach, ginger and pear. Moderately long finish a bit fruity yet still crisp.
Food Match: Cobb Salad. Caeser Salad.
Personality: I am no second-class citizen. Perhaps suitable as I am from the land of the French Revolution. So I have experience with revolutions. In North America and Europe who knows another revolution may be on the horizon.
Cellarbility: Drink now.
Price: $23.95 CDN (Ontario).
RKS 2023 Wine Rating: 87/100. And ethics be questioned here at the LCBO whom supplies consumers with a three-year-old review by Wine Enthusiast 91 (Dear LCBO we weren’t born yesterday).
(Emile Beyer Blanc de Blancs Extra Brut Crémant d’Alsace NV, Emile Beyer, Eguisheim, France, 12.5%, 750 mL).
“ROJEK” is Canada’s official selection for Best International Feature Film and Best Documentary Feature Film at the upcoming 96th Academy Awards.
“ROJEK” is available on all major VOD platforms in North America and will be launched on CRAVE on 8December2023, Canada’s prestige entertainment streaming platform.
“ROJEX” was directed by Canadian director Zaynê Akyol who was born in Turkey and is of Kurdish origins.
While most of ISIS (DAESH) was driven out of Syria many ISIS members were imprisoned there. Although some of ISIS prisoners spout crocodile tears about their bad choice in joining ISIS interviews with many of them explain how they were willingly recruited. Many in Germany were “shown the way” by imams.
At the core of “ROJEK” is a series of interviews with mostly male inmates with a couple of burka clad women.
Death and murder is the way of Allah for infidels. The way to paradise is to destroy all infidels and as the men say there are many virgins waiting for them there who will let you do what you want to them. A Playboy Mansion! Women inmates look forward to eating well and to fruit trees that bend over and offer you their fruit.
As one inmate states a jihad is in every Muslim’s heart and at the core of Islam as after all Mohammed fought until his death and we want to fight like him to the end of our lives. ISIS jihadists wage war on “disbelievers” which are any force fighting them such as the Iraqi army, Americans, journalists and “anyone connected with their governments”. One of the inmates says that in Germany he had all the material comforts but it was only in rediscovering Islam that his life had any meaning and that lead to joining ISIS. Many of the young men were smuggled in to Syria through Turkey almost as if the Turks encouraged them to join ISIS.
We learn about female ISIS converts who were housed in “reception houses” under the iron fist of a male “judge”. Freedom of movement was severely restricted until they decided to marry and be put under the iron fist of a husband who may have had multiple wives. A misogynist group these men were and one inmate said if you asked me a question about my wife I would put a bullet through your head.
There is a clear hatred streak for the LGBTQ community and what could be wrong with stoning adulterers and beheading “wizards” as these acts are ordered by God.
ISIS members also have a hatred for democracy as if you are a disbeliever you are not following God’s way. A Muslim wants the way of God and wanting to be ruled by the will of the people is against the will of God. Those who oppose us are international disbelievers and are legitimate ISIS targets.
Recruits were taught in military school training camps.
ISIS funding was primarily derived through oil production and its smuggling. ISIS also plundered cultural artifacts and as one inmate stated European museums were the buyers.
ISIS sleeper cells carried out assassinations, murders, planning of suicide missions and intelligence outside ISIS territories.
Then there were the “media units” creating propaganda to convert or intimidate. Beheading and executions were prime time productions. We see one disturbing video of a pumped-up ISIS fighter sitting amidst dead bodies praising God after every sentence. “Glory to Allah” and the like punctuates many sentences spoken by the inmates in these interviews.
As one fighter muses every Muslim has a jihad in his heart but it is the fundamentalists that hold it as a sacred duty and they want ISIS to last forever. ISIS is like a glass plate, the more broken pieces the more strength it gains. Somewhat like the Israeli’s creating legions of new terrorists in its invasion of Gaza.
You may be initially confused by the beautiful shots of oil being refined and burning fields but this will make sense as the film rolls. Beautiful cinematography throughout. An appropriate and foreboding musical score.
Several mentions are made of “jinns” a sort of devilish possession which may prompt you to believe ISIS fighters suffer from PTSD.
All said and done a compelling chronicle of hatred germinating bloodthirsty killing justified by a twisted interpretation of Islam.
RKS 2023 Film Rating 93/100.
Hopefully wine drinkers are not swayed by a “Gold Medal” seal and a 92 James Suckling seal on the bottle of the Knappstein Clare Valley 2020 Cabernet Sauvignon. There is nothing inscribed on the “Gold Medal” seal to indicate who issued it. Could it be from some children’s colouring book? As for a jamessuckling.com 92 do we pay homage to wineflation ratings from that source and how much must a winery pay to put that seal on the bottle?
Put the manufactured hoopla aside and try the wine.
Aroma: Blueberry dominated but there is also some blackberry and vanilla. Hints of a dense and concentrated wine perhaps plush.
Palate: A blueberry tidal wave and for good measure blueberry pie hot from the oven. Dense and plush full-bodied wine with not a lot of tannins. Approachable and certainly can be sipped on its own.
Personality: I am a classic poster boy of many South Australian Cabernet Sauvignons. Perhaps not sophisticated or a superstar but very good.
Food Match: Eggplant parmesan.
Cellarbility: Consume by 2025-year end. Lack of tannins don’t give the wine much staying power.
Price: $18.95 CDN (Ontario).
RKS 2023 Wine Rating: 91/100. Jamessuckling.com and Sam Kim 92.
(Knappstein 2020 Clare Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, Knappstein Wines, Clare, South Australia, 750 mL, 14%).
As for outstanding Ontario Merlot about the only one that turns my crank is Merlot from Niagara-on-the-Lake’s Two Sisters but not being a cardiologist or a captain of industry can you afford $57.80 for a bottle of their Merlot?
Ontario Merlot may be suitable for blending but then is blending with a less than stellar grape what could the product of such blending amount to? By way of analogy would you cook with a wine you wouldn’t drink?
Aged in 100% French oak from Tonnellerie Sirgue-Nuits Saint Georges, 25% new for 10 months. 499 cases were produced.
Featherstone Estate Winery in Niagara makes a world class Rosé so throwing caution and experience to the wind I venture to determine how they handle Merlot.
Aroma: An attractive melange of blackberry, black cherry, black raspberry, rhubarb and a smidge of chocolate. A light hand with the oak.
Palate: An intriguing light touch of Ginja D’Òbidos complimented by a splash of Niagara cherry. Smooth tannins with a moderate and high-toned finish. A very good Niagara Merlot at a regular folk price. I sense that many camouflage Niagara Merlot weakness with terroir as an excuse. With this Featherstone Red Tail Merlot I venture to agree it proudly reflects its terroir. I am giving it an honorary key to my cellar.
Personality: If I were an opera singer think of me as Maria Callas. I will let your brain probe that analogy!
Food Match: Have a good laugh when I say the wine will pair with a cod curry prepared with Japanese Glico or S&B curry paste. I discovered a subliminal match by accident and I don’t regret that!
Cellarbility: Give it until 2024-year end and just maybe until 2025 year-end to consume it by.
Price: $19.95 CDN (Ontario).
RKS 2023 Wine Rating: 90/100. Rick VanSickle 92.
(Featherstone 2021 Red Tail Merlot, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Featherstone Estate Winery, Vineland, Ontario, 750 mL, 13%).
On 1July1997 British rule ended in Hong Kong and its fate was handed over to the People’s Republic of China which promised democracy would live on but who believed that? And authoritarian rule gradually seeped into Hong Kong. Youth led protests to the anti-democratic manoeuvres by PRC to eliminate democracy really crystallized with promulgation of the National Security Law in 2020 a real Kristallnacht for Hong Kong. A backlash led by the youth of Hong Kong battled Carrie Lam the puppet master of Hong Kong. Smashed about and doused with tear gas the youth fought on and “Hong Kong Mixtape” delves into the resistance mounted by the artistic community through dance, animation, painting, plays, photography, art and music.
Using her own voice to guide us through this time, filmmaker San San F Young pieces together works by underground artists, musicians, dancers, illustrators and performance artists, showcasing how art can provide some of the most powerful forms of activism. This mixtape serves as a love letter that ignites passion, celebrates artistic expression, and shows that in the face of being silenced, people always find ways of speaking out louder than ever.
A remarkable effort and use of tone that commences with the vibrancy of the protest and gradually is subsumed by gloom and resignation at least in Hong Kong but not in those cities where young exiles fled fearing prison sentences and deportation to PRC. Lady Liberty will live on!
Part of the Human Rights Film Festival in Toronto and will be screening on 9December2023.
RKS Film Rating 86/100.
“Dreams are the bright creatures of poem and legend, who sport earth in the night season and melt away at the first beam of sun, which lights grim care and stern reality to their pilgrimage through the world.”
Charles Dickens, “Nicholas Nickleby”, 1839
This is Tea Squared’s “favourite nighttime blend”. Kind of makes sense with this caffeine less brew. It consists of apple pieces, lemon verbena, lemon balm, lemongrass, citrus peel, lime pieces, hibiscus flowers, corn flowers and lime oil. If you are suffering from scurvy it is just for you!
Aroma: Certainly lots of lemon verbena in this herbal infusion. Lime charges ahead hand in hand with hibiscus. Baked apple with brown sugar rules the roost on the nose though.
Palate: Soothing with no tannic presence. Hints of lemon meringue pie and apple pie too. And yes Key Lime pie. Short finish.
Food Match: baked apple pie with vanilla ice cream.
Price: $7.49 for 50 grams. Free shipping in Canada on orders of $69 and greater and for the U.S.A. on orders of $99 and greater.
The Canadian documentary “Coming Around” could be seen by some as a classic Liar Liar Your Pants Are on Fire story. Eman Abdelhadi is a Muslim queer of Palestinian descent living in Brooklyn, New York. She drinks, smokes weed, dances living a hajibless and openly queer lifestyle at least in Brooklyn. Her mother is a devout Muslim and is a psychiatrist in Columbus, Missouri.
The documentary flips between Brooklyn and Columbus. Her sister is also a devout Muslim. Eman simply can’t come out to her mother preferring to live a double life. In Brooklyn she is a feminist and even is a featured speaker at a Coming Out event but in Columbus she lives a live of deception on her frequent visits. Eman even enters into a 8 month long disaster of a “heterosexual” marriage celebrated in a Columbus mosque in an attempt to please her mother and half heartedly convince herself she can live the straight life. Hints galore have been thrown her mother’s way but at no point do I hear a frank and direct admission to her mother she is queer. The end result is not that her pants are on fire but her soul is.
One may derive the impression all queers come out like it is some sort of duty. Eman has great difficulty if not an existential dilemma in coming out so with deception to herself and her family she skirts the issue and “comes around” somewhat discounting her role and credibility as a feminist and a queer advising and mentoring on coming out. Is this a life of lies and deception or a poignant story of the agony queers may face coming out of the closet?
“Coming Around” is directed by Sandra Itäinen and premiers in Toronto at the Human Rights Film Festival on 8December2023.
Fascinating and creative.
RKS 2023 Film Rating: 84/100.
A Bird's Eye View of Fashion, Food, Travel, Culture, Beverage and Curiosity