RKS Wine 2023: Azores Wine Company: 2018 Verdelho Original António Maçanita

This Verdelho has been grown in the volcanic soils of Pico Island in the Azores Islands of Portugal.

Photo: Robert K. Stephen

Aroma: Pineapple, honey, almonds and apple.

Palate: Noticeable minerality and salinity with a gentle acidic bite if not a tad of white pepper. Bits of pineapple, guava and lemon meringue.

Cellarability: Will not improve with age but will cruise into 2026 nicely.

Food Match: Simply prepared white fleshed “sea steak”.

Personality: Perky and a bit taut yet shy in its soul.

In a nutshell: An Azorean wine with a slightly outgoing personality held back by innate shyness. More than a merely drinkable wine its character should be savored.  

Price: At the winery on Pico Island 26 Euros.

RKS 2023 Wine Rating: 89/100.

(Azores Wine Company: 2018 Verdelho Original António Macanita, I.G. Açores, Azores Wine Company, Pico Island (Azores, Portugal), 750 mL)

RKS 2023 Film: “Katak the Brave Beluga”: Do You Need to be a Brave Parent?

Do you meet the requirement often intended with animated films offered to small children? Are you ready for sappy sweet voices and simplistic plot lines. Perhaps these kiddie animated films are cringeworthy? Even so being a parent put on a brave face and smile as don’t we all have to make sacrifices for our children?

Good news with “Katak the Brave Beluga”. Although the voices are a bit overdone with innocence this film is watchable by both parent and child.

Katak must travel a great distance to retrieve grandfather Beluga, cad that he was, for leaving pregnant grandma Beluga behind. Grandma Beluga is on her last fin and will seeing grandfather Beluga revive her? Suspense!

Katak makes all sorts of cute friends on the way including Canada Geese with Newfoundlander accents, cod, sturgeon, puffins, seagulls and seals. Humour!

Katak encounters enemies including a polar bear and a killer whale. Fear!

Katak is bullied. Social relevance!

Katak and his pod face dangers of commercial shipping. Educational relevance! Environmental messaging!

Katak is maturing and still has his puppy gray colour whereas he should be turning white. The nastiness of social exclusion!

Katak shows that physical aberrations can be overcome. Bravery and Global Inclusion!

All said and done parents. You won’t suffer terribly through their film. The little mites will love it.

This Quebec film will have an extensive theatrical release in Canada on February 24th.

You may see the trailer here  https://vimeo.com/780865650

RKS Literature: White Men and The Ravages of Their Diseases!

“It has been said, that the greatest curse to each of the South Sea Islands, was the first man that discovered it; and everyone who knows anything of the history of our commerce in these parts, knows how much truth there is in this; and that the white men, with their vices, have brought in diseases before unknown to islanders, which are now sweeping off the native population of the Sandwich Islands, at the rate of one fortieth of the entire population annually. They seem to be a doomed people. The curse of a people calling themselves Christian, seems to follow them everywhere.; and even here, in this obscure place, lay two young islanders whom I had left as active young men, in the vigour of health, wasting away under a disease, which they would have never known but for their intercourse with Christianized Mexico and people from Christian America.”

“Two Year’s Before the Mast” R.H. Dana Jr, 1840

RKS Literature: Revolutions in California!

“Revolutions in California are matters of constant occurrence in California. They are got up by men who are at the foot of the ladder and in desperate circumstances, just as a new political party is started by such men in our own country. The only object, of course, is the loaves and fishes; and instead of caucusing, paragraphing, libelling, feasting, promising, and lying, as with us, they take muskets and bayonets, and seizing upon the presido and custom house, divide the spoils, and declare a new dynasty. As for justice, they know no law but will and fear.”

“Two Year’s Before the Mast” R.H. Dana Jr, 1840

RKS 2023 Wine: Chilean Carménère from Viña Koyle

As far as Chilean Carménère goes this year it is hard to find a klunker but you never quite know do you? We put a Koyle Royale Carménère from the Alto Colchagua to the test.

Aroma: While many Chilean Carménères have a nice raspberry and strawberry touch characteristic of a  lighter red wine this one has some serious blueberry and blackberry influences. There is no delicate in this one. 

Palate: Full force and impressive blitzkrieg of blackberry and blueberry wastes no time in impressing your palate. There are tannins but they are broad based covering the entire mouth. A full bodied Carménère worth writing home about.

Personality: I am super confident of my excellence. You can enjoy me both as a foodie wine or a sipper. I have a distinct “on the heavy side” Carménère personality. No chemical crap on me as I am both organic and biodynamic. But no goat horn taste on me!

Cellarbility:  An impressive wine now just you wait until 2024!

Food Match: A spicy Azorean Pico Island crab or beef dish. God knows where you might find that other than on Pico Island!!! Perhaps some sort of Szechwan beef or crab dish might be a substitute. Spice and garlic please!

In a Nutshell: Rich without being overpowering. Not lost in its fruit.

Price: $26.95. (Ontario)

RKS 2023 Wine Rating: 92/100. Patricio Tapia 93.

(Koyle Royale 2019 Carménère, D.O. Colchagua Valley, Viña Koyle, Fundo El Carmen de Los Lingues, Chile, Liquor Control Board of Ontario # 27211, 750 mL, 14.5%,).

RKS Literature: A Sailor’s Leave

“A sailor’s liberty is but for one day: yet while it lasts it is perfect. He is under no one’s eye, and can do whatever, and go wherever he pleases. This day, for the first time, I may truly say, in my whole life, I felt the meaning of a term I had often heard-the sweets of liberty. My friend S was with me, and turning our backs upon the vessels, we walked slowly along, talking the pleasure of being our own masters, of the times past, and when we were free in the midst of friends, in America, and the prospect of our return; and planning where we would go, and what we would do when we reached home.”

“Two Year’s Before the Mast” R.H. Dana Jr, 1840

RKS 2023 Wine: Poor Ignored Greece!

Like so many European wine producing countries Greek wine receives very little attention from the Liquor Control Board of Ontario. California is “show me the money”. And as there is no meaningful competition in the Ontario marketplace consumer exploitation! Same old countries over and over and over again. I am off to Portugal shortly for some tastings in Porto and in the Azores. There are wineries to visit in the Azores but I simply do not recall ever seeing any of their wines on the shelves of the LCBO.

So beat the drum with joy to welcome a Greek wine a Nemea Agiorgitiko from Cavino.

Aromatics: Some black cherry wafts up. Black plum, toasted almonds with a minority stake being held by raspberry.

Palate: Mildly tannic. Slashing surges of black cherry. A bit raw mind you. Needs to be decanted an hour prior to serving.

Personality: I am far from sophisticated being a simple country wine for simple country fare. I am not poorly made just simplistic. And don’t insult me by calling me “a Friday night pizza or burger wine”. I won’t be insulted though if you really mean it. In my country where octopus is aplenty I would happily say I am an every day octopus wine.

Food Match: Need anymore be said…OCTOPUS.

Cellarbility: Drink in 2023.

Price: $14.95 (Ontario).

RKS 2023 Wine Rating: 85/100.

Cavino Nemea Agiorgitiko 2020, P.D.O. Nemea, Liquor Control Board of Ontario # 588723, 750 mL, 13%.

RKS Literature: “Two Years Before the Mast”: The Captain Flogs a Sailor

“A man-a human being, made in God’s likeness-fastened up and flogged like a beast. A man, too whom I had lived with and eaten with for months and knew almost as well as a brother. The first and almost uncontrollable impulse was resistance. But what was to be done? The time for it had gone by. But beside the numbers, what is there for sailors to do? If they resist, it is a mutiny: and if they succeed, and take the vessel, it is piracy. If they ever yield again, their punishment must come; and if they do not yield, they are pirates for life. If a sailor resists his commander, he resists the law, and piracy and submission are his only alternatives.”

“Two Years Before the Mast”, R.H Dana Jr., 1840

RKS 2023 Wine: CREW and Ontario Cabernet Franc

CREW has a long record of producing excellent Lake Erie North Shore Cabernet Franc. Ontario should be proud of its Cabernet Franc. What is going down with CREW’s 2019 Cabernet Franc?

Aromatics: Some very bright cherry and raspberry cheer up the glass. Additional notes of black cherry, cedar and milk chocolate

Palate: The tannins are moderate and the wine has a firm grip with a solid streak of cherry and lesser notes of strawberry. Short finish.

Personality: I have both a serious and a fun-loving streak. I am firm and more suited for food than for casual sipping. But don’t ignore my flippancy with cherry, raspberry and strawberry. I do not flaunt my oak like some hussy!

Cellarbility: A couple of years in the bottle will drag out the fun-loving nature of the wine and shunt the serious side out of the spotlight. Consume by the end of 2025.

Food Pairing: Egg noodles calling for some roasted cherry tomatoes and feta cheese and whatever else you would like to add.

In a nutshell: A delightful Cabernet Franc. Count on CREW to get it right as it always does!

Price: $22.95 (Ontario).

RKS 2023 Wine Rating: 92/100.

CREW 2019 Cabernet Franc, VQA Ontario, Colchester Ridge Estate Winery, Harrow, Ontario, Liquor Control Board of Ontario # 315945, 750 mL, 13%.

“The Penniless Pensioner: Misaligned, Maligned but Marvellous” : Chapter 50: Revolt of the Mutants in Montreal: Hijacked by the Sons of Westmount

In the midst of packing up in Naples to go to some undetermined destination I received a telephone call from Squid in Montreal. As you may recall Squid was the top man with the United Mutations and I had worked for the United Mutations in New York drafting the Charter of Mutant Rights. You may also further recall it was in New York I had met Ginevra.

I don’t really understand the United Mutations. I know they stand for all oppressed mutants in the world. There are body mutants that are missing limbs or are deformed in some way and there are mind mutants categorised as having some form of mental illness. There are also political mutants oppressed by undemocratic forces. Well the body and mind mutants at the Mugless Mental Institute and the Queen Fairy Veterans Hospital had apparently gone on some sort of rampage and Squid needed my legal expertise to deal with the problem. Many of the Montreal Mutants had been arrested and Squid asked if I could bail them out. Not exactly up my alley.

My flight from Naples to Montreal was far from uneventful. Over the Atlantic 5 men in kilts hijacked the airplane. They called themselves the “Sons of Westmount”. They were tanked up, fittingly, on Johnny Walker Scotch Whisky and were passing huge quantities of gastric gas caused by too much haggis.

The Sons of Westmount were hijacking to draw attention to their cause which was freedom from damn Quebec nationalists who wanted to tear the Province of Quebec away from the loving grip of the British monarchy. I certainly supported their cause but not their methods. Holding innocent passengers hostage is a cowardly way to make a political point. Their idol and rallying call was the memory of James Dentalfloss kidnaped and later executed by Freedom Quebec a rowdy and dangerous group of thugs seeking the independence of Quebec from Canada. They had no demands at hand other a few placards stating, “Long Live the Queen” and “Anglophone Power”.

Come to think of it this was a publicity stunt more than a hijacking. They simply shouted out slogans and downed so much scotch from the duty free cart they were all passed out when the plane landed in Montreal. The police carted them away and all passengers received a coupon for a free pizza next time they were in Naples. Alitalia hospitality.

Squid was at Dorval Airport in his silver Studebaker. What was going on with the patients at the Mugless Mental Institute and the veterans at the Queen Fairy Veterans Hospital?