RKS 2023 Wine: Bachelder Wismer Foxcroft 2021 Gamay Noir: Ontario Gamay Noir Establishing Itself in Ontario

I encountered Thomas Bachelder last Sunday at Toronto Hot Docs Theatre for a showing of “Crush; Message in a Bottle” and we exchanged brief pleasantries. Bachelder, Kelly Mason, Shiraz Mottiar and Anne-Marie Saunders were expressing their views as to growing grapes and making wine in the Niagara region of Ontario. I expressed my agreement with Balchelder’s comments made in the documentary Ontario winemaking is in in its infancy. It was only in the 1970’s that Ontario became serious about moving on from Baby Duck to something more serious. After all it took the monks of Burgundy hundreds of years to “perfect” Pinot Noir. So when I try a Niagara Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot and even for many Pinot Noirs I wince. Growing pains?

Bachelder has made his mark in France, Oregon and Ontario with Pinot Noir and Chardonnay and now with Gamay Noir. My views as to Niagara red wine is that Gamay and Cabernet Franc are in the game for Ontario wine excellence. Perhaps Gamay is behind Cabernet Franc in this game but not that far behind. Kudos to Shiraz Mottiar and Martin Malivoire of Malivoire Wines in Ontario for championing and experimenting with Gamay. Mottiar has the nickname of the King of Gamay in Ontario.

Now what about Bachelder Wismer Foxcroft 2021 Gamay Noir?

Aroma: Clean and pure is the name of the game here. Is this the Bachelder philosophy of wild yeast and low intervention speaking to us? In addition to the bright red cherry, blackberry, red currant, root beer and a gentle waft of healing smudge.

Palate: A bit of clinging minerality and acidity entangled with white pepper. Acidity in my book in red wine should be discrete and a backroom player like a quiet and wise investor banking and betting on this wine. However Bachelder may escape my early warning acidity system perhaps because of the counter balance of tannins boosted by 33% whole cluster composition. Blackberry and raspberry. Long spicy finish.

Personality: This writer has noted my acidity but I hope he understands that acidity is a natural component of all wine and that not all wine is meant to be consumed on its own. My acidity suits certain foods. I urge the writer here to not confuse acidity with minerality.

Food Match: The wine has spoken! A “foodie wine”. I’d pair with sauces made with local field tomatoes such as a Lasagna replacing the meat with Cremini mushrooms and Ontario Swiss Chard. As field tomatoes are no longer in season I would replace non-existent field tomatoes with Ontario canned tomatoes as opposed to less acidic Italian tomatoes.

Cellarbility: Sorry the acidity has me a bit worried and perhaps my sensitivity to it should be disclosed here! But could the acidity be more minerality than acidity! Bachelder recommends consuming between 2024-29. I say consume by the end of 2025. I respect Bachelder tremendously but the acidity (or minerality) has me concerned.

Price: $29.95 CDN (Ontario).

RKS 2023 Wine Rating: 87/100. Rick VanSickle 94.

(Bachelder Single Vineyard Wismer Foxcroft Vineyard 2021 33% Whole Cluster Gamay Noir, VQA Twenty Mile Bench, Bachelder, Beamsville, Ontario, 750 mL, 12.5%).

Keith Haring’s “Art is For Everybody” at Toronto’s Art Gallery of Ontario

Fotini Stephen (Toronto, 9November2023)

The Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) has collaborated with the Broad Los Angeles to assemble a major exhibition of Keith Haring’s work. The exhibit displays a broad range of Haring’s work created in the short and highly prolific 10-year period in which he painted. The last AGO exhibit of his work was 25 years ago. 

Photo: Fotini Stephen

Keith Haring lived and worked in New York City in the 1980’s and emerged contemporaneously with other well known artists who lived and worked in New York City such as fellow artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, pop singer Madonna, performer and model Grace Jones and photographer Robert Mapplethorpe. 

Many of these artists created art that reflected the rebellion of 1980’s urban youth. Although the artists may have captured a feeling and moment in time, their work continues to be relevant and has withstood the test of time. Keith Haring’s work is certainly no exception and in fact continues to grow in popularity since his death in 1990 at age 33, of AIDS related illnesses. One wonders what additional contributions and directions Haring would have taken had he lived longer.

Photo: Fotini Stephen

The AGO exhibit focuses on Haring’s concept that “Art is for Everybody” which for Haring meant that art is essential in creating a better world and should therefore be accessible to everybody. This point of view also reflects Haring’s activism on a broad range of social issues, including apartheid, nuclear disarmament, UNICEF and AIDS. 

The exhibit is divided into a number of sections including: Finding his Line, From Street Drawing to Gallery Walls, Party of Life, Monumental, Day-Glow, AIDS Activism, and Pop Shop Anti Capitalism. The latter referring to Haring’s pop shop opened in 1985 as a response to the theft of the public pictures he painted over blank and expired advertisements in the NYC subway. 

The AGO has put together a fabulous exhibit of Keith Haring’s art focusing on the various stages of his life and art. It is a must-see exhibit for those who admire Keith Haring’s art but also for anyone looking to discover his art for the first time.  People who have not grown up with Keith Haring’s art may be surprised to discover that a favourite T-shirt may actually contain a Keith Haring graphic.

Keith Haring, “Art is for Everybody” opens at the AGO from November 8, 2023 – March 17, 2024. 

Keith Haring at the Art Gallery of Ontario’s Exhibit “Art is For Everybody”: Behind the Scenes

One of the perks  of membership in the arts media is “the sneak preview” and in this case it was with the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto on 7November2023 which included a panel discussion and then a leisurely and uncrowded walk through the exhibits for the Haring exhibition, “Art is for Everybody” the first major Haring exhibit in Canada in 25 years running its only Canadian stop at the AGO which runs from 8November2023 to 17March2024.

Keith-Haring-Untitled-1982.-Baked-enamel-on-metal-109.2-×-109.2-cm.-Courtesy-of-The-Broad-Art-Foundation-©-Keith-Haring-Foundation.-Photo-Douglas-M.-Parker-Studio-Los-Angeles

Keith Haring was born in 1958 and grew up in Kutztown, Pennsylvania where his father taught him to draw cartoons from Walt Disney and Dr. Seuss. In 1978 he moved to New York City to attend The School of Visual Arts. It was here that he embraced his homosexuality and soaked in the emerging hip hop and graffiti scene. He developed his visual style alongside the artists Kenny Scharf and Jean-Michel Basquiat. Haring died of complications from AIDS in 1990 at age 33.

The AGO panel consisted of;

  • Gil Vazquez (Executive Director, Keith Haring Foundation)
  • Sarah Loyer (Curator and Exhibitions Manager, The Broad, Los Angeles)
  • Georgiana Uhlyarik (Fredrik S. Eaton, Curator of Canadian Art, AGO)

Vazquez met Haring at 18 years of age and later became Executive Director of the Keith Haring Foundation. Vazquez noted the amazing energy, warmth and generosity of Haring. Haring wanted art for everybody and not the New York cloistered art world. An example of art being for everybody was Haring’s subway murals bringing the art gallery to those who were not art gallery frequenters. Haring thought it was the responsibility of the artist to reach out to the people. Haring established the Foundation so that his art could be carried on to future generations. The Foundation focuses on children and the struggle of those afflicted with AIDS.

Loyer of The Broad in Los Angeles was responsible for organizing “Art is For Everybody”.  Loyer noted that Haring addressed global events in his art using images from around the globe including indigenous art. In 1986 he opened the Pop Shop a retail art shop which was a reaction to the capitalist art world. It was founded after his subway drawing period ended in 1985. Apparently his subway drawings were being stolen right after he finished them.

EXPLORING THE URGENT ACTIVISM OF A POP CULTURE ICON, KEITH HARING: ART IS FOR EVERYBODY OPENS AT THE AGO NOV. 8

THURSDAY, AUGUST 24, 2023

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Making its only Canadian stop at the AGO, exhibition reveals Keith Haring’s tireless commitment to social justice for environmentalism, AIDS awareness and anti-racism. Entrance to this special exhibition is with an AGO Membership or Annual Pass. Admission is always free for Indigenous peoples and visitors aged 25 and under.

TORONTO — A pop culture icon, synonymous with New York in the 1980s, Keith Haring’s bold images of barking dogs, dancing figures and radiant babies, have become part of our visual vocabulary. Opening Nov. 8, 2023, at the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO), the revealing new retrospective Keith Haring: Art Is for Everybody goes far beyond the familiar, to explore the artist’s foundational commitment to social justice. Organized by The Broad, Los Angeles, and curated by Sarah Loyer, Curator and Exhibitions Manager, Art Is for Everybody is presented at the AGO by Georgiana Uhlyarik, Fredrik S. Eaton, Curator of Canadian Art.  

The first exhibition of Haring’s work to be shown in Canada in more than 25 years, and reverberating with energy and love, Art Is for Everybody features more than 200 artworks and ephemera, including large-scale paintings on tarpaulin and canvas, sculptures, works on paper, videos, archival materials and representations of his famed subway drawings. Surveying Haring’s brief but intense decade-long career, the exhibition reveals an artist who used his art and celebrity to protest apartheid in South Africa, raise awareness of the crack cocaine epidemic and the AIDS pandemic and to denounce racism, capitalism, nuclear war, environmental degradation and the harmful impact of technology and mass media.

“With the words Art Is for Everbody, Haring summarized his approach to art and life. He chose imagery that was as direct as possible and he met people where they were – on the street, in the subway, and in dance clubs. He shared his work on posters, tshirts and buttons. Be it a line drawing of two figures entwined in a loving embrace, a hungry capitalist pig, or bleak warnings of nuclear destruction – the experience of seeing his large-scale work in person, is both a joyful jolt and a call to action,” says Georgiana Uhlyarik, AGO’s Fredrik S. Eaton Curator of Canadian Art. “We think we know who Keith Haring was – however, through this exhibition audiences will see his depth and ongoing impact, and realize his causes are still our causes, from the power of love and music to the necessity of speaking against injustice.”

On view on level 4 of the AGO, Art Is for Everyone brings together significant loans of art and ephemera from the Keith Haring Foundation, New York and The Broad, Los Angeles, with rarely seen works from numerous public and private collections. Ranging from his early days in New York City and the quick and impactful subway drawings Haring called “a public gift to the world”, to his breakout show at Tony Shafrazi Gallery, in Soho in 1982 to his (intentionally) Unfinished Painting (1989), Art Is for Everybody is organized in a loose chronology, and explores pertinent themes. The expansive exhibition features immersive elements, including a gallery lit by Day Glo paint, set to a soundtrack of songs from Haring’s personal mixtapes, featuring Eric B. & Rakim, the Beastie Boys, Aretha Franklin and Grace Jones.

Featured artworks include:

  • Photographs of Haring working in the New York City subway by the artist Tseng Kwong Chi
  • Video works including 1979’s Painting Myself in a Corner and A Circle Play, footage of Bill T. Jones’ collaboration with Haring and his 1982 Times Square animation
  • A selection of Haring’s early tabloid cut-out works on paper critical of Ronald Reagan and early journals
  • Snake Totem (1984), a metal sculpture created by Haring and jewelry designer David Spada for Grace Jones’s Interview magazine photoshoot with Robert Mapplethorpe
  • Two monumental carved wood sculptures that during the artist’s lifetime were featured at parties at the Paradise Garage nightclub
  • An Untitled painting, exclusively shown only at the AGO, used for the cover of David Bowie’s 1983 single Without You
  • A pink leather suit painted by Haring in collaboration with LA II and worn by Madonna
  • Haring’s 11 metre long tarpaulin mural, Untitled (1987), courtesy the Keith Haring Foundation, New York, affectionately known as “Devil Nose”
  • The Red Room (1988), an epic send up of Matisse’s 1908 painting of the same name, featuring references to Coco Chanel
  • A selection of posters Haring made in support of the anti-apartheid movement and about the AIDS crisis, including a poster for ACT UP, the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power

Keith Haring: Art is for Everybody, a 256 page, fully illustrated hardcover catalogue, co-published by The Broad and Delmonico Books, accompanies the exhibition. Featuring essays by The Broad’s Sarah Loyer, Kimberly Drew and Tom Finkelpearl; a roundtable conversation with Patti Astor, Kenny Scharf, and Kermit Oswald; and reflections by George Condo, Julia Gruen, Bill T Jones, Ann Magnuson, Tony Shafrazi and Gil Vazquez.  The catalogue will be available in shopAGO for $84.00 CAD ahead of the exhibition opening.  

Inspired by Haring’s The Pop Shop, first opened in 1986 in the SoHo neighbourhood of New York, the exhibition includes a display of archival ephemera from that store. In addition, shopAGO’s satellite retail shop features a selection of exhibition-inspired merchandise for sale including prints, textiles, gifts and homewares. Items will be available on the shopAGO website beginning November 7, 2023.

Admission to Keith Haring: Art Is for Everybody is a benefit for the AGO Community. To enter, show your AGO Membership or Annual Pass. AGO Members see it first, beginning November 8, 2023. Annual Pass holders see it beginning November 11, 2023. Annual Passes are only $35 ($5 more than General Admission) and include free access to the AGO Collection and all special exhibitions for twelve months. Annual Passes are free for visitors aged 14 to 25 and children 18 and under can visit for free when accompanying an AGO Member or Annual Pass holder. Admission is always free for Indigenous Peoples. The exhibition runs until March 17, 2024. For more details on how to become a Member or Annual Passholder, visit AGO.ca.

Programming highlights:

AGO Art Bash
On Thursday, September 28, from 8 p.m. to late, Art Bash! The museum’s signature fundraising event returns, presented by Tricon Residential.  This exciting one-night-only gala is inspired by the art of KAWS and Keith Haring. Tickets are on sale now. For more details, visit AGOArtBash.ca.

Senior Social: Art by Keith Haring
On Tuesday, Oct. 10 from 1p.m. to 2:30 p.m., seniors are invited to chat, learn and make as part of a virtual Keith Haring-inspired artmaking workshop. AGO Members receive a discount. To register and for more details, visit AGO.ca/events/seniors-social-inspired-keith-haring

Painting Explorations: The Art of Keith Haring
Beginning Saturday, October 14, in this 5-week studio workshop, designed for students with some experience in painting, participants will explore abstract painting techniques inspired by Keith Haring. AGO Members receive a discount. To register and for more details, visit AGO.ca/learn/courses/painting-explorations-inspired-keith-haring

Art-as-therapy workshops
On Saturday, November 18, from 10:30 a.m. to noon, inspired by Keith Haring’s socially conscious art, the AGO presents an adult workshop fostering well-being through art making. Led by trained art-therapists, participants will have the opportunity to play and self-reflect. AGO Members receive a discount. To register and for more details, visit AGO.ca/events/art-everybody-inspired-keith-haring

AGO Friday Nights presents Keith Haring: Art Is for Everybody opening party
On Friday, November 17 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., in partnership with Yohomo, the AGO celebrates the opening of Keith Haring: Art Is for Everybody with an all ages night of art, music and style. Legendary New York DJ Lina Bradford will perform. Free with General Admission. For more details visit, AGO.ca/events/ago-friday-nights-celebrating-keith-haring-art-everybody

Bold Lines: Exploring Keith Haring
Beginning Sunday, November 19, in this 5-week studio workshop for youths ages 14-18, students will create drawings, paintings and prints inspired by Keith Haring’s line work. All materials included. AGO Members receive a discount. To register and for more details, visit AGO.ca/learn/courses/bold-lines-exploring-keith-haring

Library & Archives Unshelved
On Wednesday, November 29 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., AGO Librarian Donald Rance invites visitors to the Marvin Gelber Prints & Drawing Centre, to explore the AGO’s collection of artist books and multiples, including some by Keith Haring.  Free with General Admission.

Additional programming details, including talks, screenings and studio courses, to be announced in January as part of AGO’s winter programming. 

ABOUT THE ARTIST
Keith Haring was born on May 4, 1958 in Reading, Pennsylvania, and was raised in nearby Kutztown, Pennsylvania. He developed a love for drawing at a very early age, learning basic cartooning skills from his father and from the popular culture around him, such as Dr. Seuss and Walt Disney.

After two semesters at the Ivy School of Professional Art in Pittsburgh, in 1978, Haring moved to New York City and enrolled in the School of Visual Arts (SVA). In New York, Haring found a thriving alternative art community that was developing outside the gallery and museum system, in the downtown streets, the subways and spaces in clubs and former dance halls.

In addition to being impressed by the innovation and energy of his contemporaries, Haring was also inspired by the work of Jean Dubuffet, Pierre Alechinsky, William Burroughs, Brion Gysin and Robert Henri’s manifesto The Art Spirit, which asserted the fundamental independence of the artist.  Haring was diagnosed with AIDS in 1988. In 1989, he established the Keith Haring Foundation, its mandate being to provide funding and imagery to AIDS organizations and children’s programs, and to expand the audience for Haring’s work through exhibitions, publications and the licensing of his images. Haring enlisted his imagery during the last years of his life to speak about his own illness and generate activism and awareness about AIDS.

Keith Haring died of AIDS related complications at the age of 31 on February 16, 1990. Since his death, Haring has been the subject of several international retrospectives. The work of Keith Haring can be seen today in the exhibitions and collections of major museums around the world.

Keith Haring: Art is for Everybody is organized by The Broad, Los Angeles. Curated by Sarah Loyer, Curator and Exhibitions Manager, The Broad. Art Gallery of Ontario’s presentation is curated by Georgiana Uhlyarik, AGO’s Fredrik S. Eaton Curator of Canadian Art.

@AGOToronto | #seeAGO
 
This exhibition is generously supported by:

Lead Support
The Balsillie Family Foundation

Generous Support
Bob & Angel Harding

Contemporary programming at the AGO is generously supported by the Canada Council for the Arts

ABOUT THE AGO
Located in Toronto, the Art Gallery of Ontario is one of the largest art museums in North America, attracting approximately one million visitors annually. The AGO Collection of more than 120,000 works of art ranges from cutting-edge contemporary art to significant works by Indigenous and Canadian artists to European masterpieces. The AGO presents wide-ranging exhibitions and programs, including solo exhibitions and acquisitions by diverse and underrepresented artists from around the world. The AGO is committed to being welcoming and accessible: admission is free for anyone under 25 years, and anyone can purchase an annual pass for $35. In 2022, the AGO began the design phase of an expansion project intended to increase exhibition space for the museum’s growing modern and contemporary collection. When construction begins in 2024, it will be the seventh expansion that the AGO has undertaken since it was founded in 1900.  Visit AGO.ca to learn more.

The AGO is funded in part by the Ontario Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport. Additional operating support is received from the City of Toronto, the Canada Council for the Arts and generous contributions from AGO Members, donors and private-sector partners.

RKS 2023 Wine: Global Inclusion is Not Profitable! A St. Laurent from Austria

You would expect a state liquor monopoly like our brave and fearless Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) would be a champion of “global inclusion” a popular term these days rammed down our throats not because it is indeed a worthy concept but rather a corporate game historically designed to meet bidding requirements of governmental bodies tendering out business. Interesting to witness a corporation internally championing global inclusion but when it was a question of bidding on some Saudi business all woman on the “corporate team” making the presentation were pulled so as not to “offend” the Saudis. Make no mistake corporate promoted global inclusion is shallow marketing…just look at the board of director composition of corporate global inclusion “champions” and see if they walk the talk.

Back to global inclusion and wine in the Province of Ontario. Very little attempt is made by the LCBO to sell a variety of different grapes from a variety of countries. The LCBO has a torrid love affair with California and aside from that profit driven relationship the usual suspects of Australia, Ontario, France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, New Zealand, Chile and Argentina dominate LCBO shelves.

Isn’t it time for all of us to stand up and say Romanian wines matter or more wines made from St. Laurent from Austria, Germany and the Czech Republic!

In this case a 2020 Ried Stiftsbreite St. Laurent wine from Austria. It is their “basic” St. Laurent as they also have a Reserve and Grand Reserve St. Laurent.

Aroma: A plethora of soft centred smokey cherry and blackberry.

Palate: Big time black cherry in this soft and almost juicy wine. Minimal tannins and acidity with a moderately long finish. The oak influence is gentle. The wine rested in large oak vats for 18 months and my guess is Hungarian oak.

Personality: I am so easy to drink and highly approachable so LCBO bring more St. Laurent into your stores.

Food Match: Cabbage rolls in a light tomato sauce.

Cellarbility: Best consumed fresh. BB end of 2024.

Price: $26.95 CDN (Ontario).

RKS 2023 Wine Rating: 91/100. Peter Moser, Falstaff.com 91.

(Ried Stiftsbreite St. Laurent Ausstich 2020, Thermenregion. Weingut Stifts Kloster Neuburg, Klosterneuburg, Austria, 750 mL, 13%).

RKS 2023 Film: “Another Body”: Misogynist “Sewage”

“Another Body” is a documentary journey into a filthy and disgusting pool of sickening misogynist sewage.

Taylor, a university student, (not her name and not her body in front of the doc camera) lives a quiet life in suburban United States until a friend messages her that she has seen Taylor on Pornhub a pornographic website. Indeed it is her face on a body that is not hers performing sexual acts she did not perform. Her name, address, school and other personal information is revealed. She is a victim as so many other women are of a deep fake.

She is devastated tumbling into big time anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Not assisted in any meaningful way by law enforcement and with the help of a friend from undergraduate school also victimized in the same manner she manages to piece together who it may be most likely a former boyfriend at her college. Despite the perpetrator using an untraceable VPN address there is a commonality of student victims leading to her fingering “Mike” a disturbed fellow engineering student. My personal experience with engineering students is that they are largely misogynist and proud of it. I dropped my daughter at university a few years ago. The poor girl was only somewhat terrified of this “leaving home” experience. It didn’t help that engineering students were verbally harassing women moving into residence. These purple faced louts (and proud of their loutish selves) exacerbated the situation by saying, “We got you now little girls. Your Mommy and Daddy won’t be here to protect you know.” Perverts in training.

These deep fakers target women 90% of the time in a pornographic fashion. There is precious little legislation assisting the thousands of American women victimized by deep fakes. One American deep fake website averages 14 million views a month. Researchers have predicted by 2024 there will be 5.2 million deep fakes 90% of which target women not surprising with over 9,500 deep fake websites. Easy to learn how to deep fake and it is no longer a hobby but a lucrative business. Easy to hire a deep faker expert to craft a video denigrating your enemy.

Lesson? Target deep fake websites and porn sites that use them or simply wait and treat all internet porn as fabricated and move on? Unfortunately, is there mass intellectual ability to ignore and laugh at deep fakes? I don’t think so.

One lawyer featured said he gives seminars to judges most of which have no idea of deep fake porn. Sad and disturbing. Unless legislative change is in the offing what more can be done except ignore just about everything online. Online equals risk and corruption?

Directed by Sophie Compton and Rueben Hamylin. Theatrical release in Canada is on 10November2023.

RKS 2023 Film Rating 90/100.

RKS 2023 Film: “Adventures of the Naked Umbrella”: Is it Bird With Glowing Eyes, a UFO or Possibly a Christmas Film?

Sam Wanoutsky (Jeremy Davies) is a frantic conspiracy theorist and that certainly shows by listening to his podcast “The Naked Umbrella”. He is a convicted arsonist currently out on parole so as one says, “He’s gotta keep his nose clean”. Even his parole officer Yolanda Johnston (Darnell Rhea) is pulling for Sam but the fact his wife Irene (Taryn Manning) inadvertently left the gas stove running and then lit a cigarette and kaboomed their trailer park home has certain fingers pointing to Sam’s pyro inclination.

Sam is deeply scarred by a childhood setting the pig sty and its occupants on fire egged on by his clansmen and deranged father so there is a flawed element to this quasi-comedic character. Can he confront his BBQ pork guilt? He has a wickedly savage Granny (Richard Riehle) who is cross dresser, dope dealer and loves a big bong now and then. Granny is a hoot and the only true purveyor of ribald comedic moments.

What conspiracy theorist doesn’t revel in the Kennedy assignation and UFO’s. Yes there is a rather hip and philosophical alien patiently enduring the limited intellectual capabilities of human beings. While Irene is deeply religious in her trailer park ways she can’t bring Jesus into Sam’s heart. You’ll be surprised at who is the savior of Sam and Irene but given the frantic pace and multi-directional spin of the film perhaps you will not be taken aback!

And then for a film critic notoriously” slow at the draw” it hit me like a ton of bricks 90% way through the film as the action occurs on Christmas Eve and the cacophony of Christmas songs intensified a revelation that “Adventures of the Naked Umbrella” could very well be a Christmas movie.

Directed by Gerald Brunskill and will be released On Demand and select American theatres on 10November2023.

You can watch the trailer here https://vimeo.com/784270065/14377a15b9?share=copy

RKS 2023 Film Rating 81/100.

RKS 2023 Wine: The Bad Oak Stink of A Bubonic Plague New Zealand Pinot Noir! Oak Murder of a Wine!

Wine can stink with a variety of contaminants. I recall having a Hester Creek Merlot from British Columbia a few years ago. It was jacked up with so much sulfur the wine tasted like hot dog juice. Oak can compliment the juice or it can embarrass itself by overpowering a wine.

I tried a Nor’Wester Greystone 2020 Pinot Noir from North Canterbury, New Zealand. No punches pulled but it stunk of new oak. My experience dictates never use new oak for your Pinot Noir but at best second or third fill oak barrels.

There was no fruit on the nose but simply overpowering oak. No fruit or much of anything on the palate other than perhaps a wine murdered by oak. This is the bubonic plague of Pinot Noir!

Stay away is my rating. A disgrace of winemaking. Jamessuckling.com gave this a 91! Priced at $22.75 CDN.

(Nor’wester by Greystone, Pinot Noir 2020 North Canterbury, New Zealand, Greystone Wines, North Canterbury, New Zealand, 750 mL, 13%).

RKS 2023 Literature: The Tight-Smiled Fury of Big Nurse (Ken Kesey)

“The Big Nurse tends to get real put out if something keeps her outfit from running like a smooth, accurate, precision-made machine. The slightest thing messy or out of kilter or in the way ties her into a little white knot of tight-smiled fury. She walks around with that same doll smile crimped between her chin and her nose and that same calm whir coming from her eyes, but down inside of her she’s as tense as steel. I know, I can feel it. And she doesn’t relax a hair till she gets the nuisance attended to- what she calls ‘adjusted to surroundings’. “

Ken Kesey “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”, 1962.

RKS 2023 Wine and RKS 2023 Film: “Crush: Message in a Bottle”: Life and Death in Wine

In the Canadian documentary “Crush: Message in a Bottle” the philosophy and life stories of Ann-Marie Saunders of Saunders Vineyard, Thomas Bachelder of Bachelder Wines and Le Clos Jordanne, Kelly Mason of Mason Vineyards and Shiraz Mottiar of Malivoire Wine Company and Mottiar Vineyard discuss their approach to making wines in the Niagara wine appellation of Ontario but to a degree get personal about their family life and history.

Over the years I have visited numerous wineries in Portugal, Italy, France, Spain, Ontario, California and New York. Let me simplify matters by saying if you have visited one winery you have visited them all. Being a member of the media, I have one advantage. I get behind the bottle. I have spoken with winery owners, vineyard managers, public relations teams, distributors and vineyard workers all important players behind the bottle. I have had many a lunch with vineyard workers in Portugal  and the ladies that feed them incredible chefs. Yes that bottle of wine sitting in front of you that you pour and hopefully enjoy is more than wine. “Crush” drives home that indeed there is a message in every bottle and the common thread is passion. A passion for technicalities that stare at you from the label but never speak. The result is an intimate look at the winemaking and wine growing philosophy of these Niagara characters on the Niagara wine stage but it is not simply representative of a certain winemaking region but applicable to all winemaking regions of the world.

Bravo to writer and director Maya Gallus for crafting this intimate portrait of winemakers and grape growers battling the elements and for some on the edge of financial calamity without getting lost in overly technical explanations and terms. You will encounter such terms as powdery mildew, wild ferment, sustainable and regenerative farming, brix, carbonic maceration and punching down but you will not get lost.

And death is covered here of Kelly Mason’s parents as she was orphaned at 21 and shook up to her bare soul. And Ann-Marie Saunders losing her mother and her father Warren after the film wrapped up. Warren summed it up nicely saying that you just gotta take what you can get when growing grapes as you can’t control nature.

As a final story about life, death and wine several years ago while on a press trip to Campania I attended Southern Italy’s big wine show Vitingo in Naples. I encountered an amazing Barbera. I sent my review to the owner of the winery. A few months later I received a thank you from her saying that the Barbera grape was the passion of her younger brother who died at the age of 34 of cancer. He never had the opportunity to try the Barbera that he bottled. She said to me that I had brought back her deceased brother back into her soul by my review. So dear reader there is indeed more than wine in that bottle and it can be joyous or it can be heartbreaking. And this big seasoned wine writer was reduced to tears even writing about this now.

“Crush: Message in a Bottle” will be screening at Toronto Hot Docs on Sunday 5November2023 at 19:30. Reps from the wineries and growers will be present for a pre-screening meet and greet and a post screening Q&A.

RKS 2023 Film Rating: 86/100.