RKS Wine: Nyarai Cellars 2020 Folklore Sparkling Wine: Festive Tinged with Gratitude

Champagne producers have done an impeccable job making Champagne seemingly mandatory for celebrations. However, after chatting with Sharon Little the Director of Marketing and Promotions for Nyarai Cellars in St. Davids, Ontario she advised me that the wine was crafted in gratitude of the struggle, sacrifices and hardships endured by our ancestors. It is a “tribute wine” there to remind us celebrations can have a serious side to them and Nyarai Cellars 2020 Folklore Sparkling Wine might be a wine of gratitude, contemplation and reflection.

The Nyarai Cellars 2020 Folklore Sparkling Wine is a multi-blend wine of Riesling, Vidal Blanc, Muscat Ottonel, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Gewurztraminer. A ferocious congregation of bubbles in this light gold coloured wine. Lemon, lime, honey and apricot on the nose. On the palate there is good acidic bite as one expects in so many sparkling white wines that places us under the tyranny of Brut and Extra Brut. Yes that sharp bite of Brut and Extra Brut often is accompanied by a wave of harshness on the palate. No that is not bad but frankly it can be boring experiencing it time and time again. In this case the palate presents us with crispness but there is honey, apricot, tangerine with a bit of ginger.

Thank goodness there are winemakers like Steve Byfield at Nyarai to mix up and jostle snooty wine drinkers who scoff at anything less than Champagne. Yes we all like Champagne but its price range seems to warrant its consumption on the most special occasions. At $22.95 I’d rather take it over entry level Champagnes at $49.95 and let the Houston Astros celebrate their 2022 World Series with $388,000 worth of Chemin du Roi Champagne a label owned by rapper 50 Cent.

Le Chemin du Roi Champagne: The life of highly paid major league baseball players!

You will have to go online to order this wine (www.nyaraicellars.ca). 153 cases were made. The tech sheet states the wine pairs well with green salads with fresh herbs and goat cheese, steamed shellfish and asparagus risotto. Sharon added that it also pairs with nachos and oysters too! Moving ahead to Christmas considering it is not bone dry it just might pair well with turkey, capon or Cornish Hen.

(Nyarai Cellars 2020 Folklore Sparkling Wine, Nayari Cellars under license by West Avenue Cider House, $22.95, 750 mL, 11%, RKS Wine Rating 88/100).

RKS Film: “Riotsville USA”

Documentaries are rarely “neutral” and often can be political statements as is “Riotsville USA”. Given the degree of civil unrest in the United States between 1965-70 such as witnessed in Watts (1965), Chicago (1966) and Newark/Detroit (1967) the United States government constructed two simulated main streets in army bases in Virginia and Georgia. In these simulated towns soldiers and law enforcement officers learnt the techniques of crowd control in the face of simulated riots and civil disturbances.

This sounds reasonable but putting a political spin on this at the time it was perceived by the U.S. government and its white population that the “negroes were rioting. As blacks were subject to many forms of racism and discrimination was all this training really a question of “political repression”. That is the tone the narration establishes. There is no attempt to be “neutral”.

The documentary true to the times through archival footage shows a frightened and often racist white America and a frustrated and often angry black America. This anger and frustration of black America is seething again in our times but supported by many of all races in the face of police atrocities.

The documentary explains that in July 1967 President Lyndon Johnson established The National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders chaired by Governor Otto Kerner. LBJ’s view was that riots were most often caused by “agitators” whereas the reality is that maybe they were caused by poverty and discrimination. The Kerner Commission, as it was known, made 4 key recommendations. It called for more jobs to be created, more affordable housing, more education and so very relevant today the establishment of a minimum income. The black community was given some hope but the only measure implemented by the US Congress based on a Supplement to the Kerner Commission Report was an increase in federal funding to police. Again given today’s calls in the United States for “defunding the police” asserts more historical relevance.

Some importance in the documentary is given to the 1968 disturbances at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago and the 1969 Republican National Convention in Miami Beach.

There is an underlying theme to the documentary and that is America acts as a colonial power towards its poor people. It warns that the camera footage of the burning police car is only a moment in time and that the causes of that police car being set on fire may be a continuum of past oppression and abuse. There are two scenes of military and law enforcement in the stands watching the simulated riots in Riotsville. I did not see a single black face watching the simulation. That was not mentioned in the documentary but it speaks volumes to me of the isolation of American blacks from the power structure!

Once again given the recent events in the United States indicative of some elements of the police forces out of control “Riotsville USA” becomes more than a forage into unpleasant disturbance of the past.

RKS Film Rating 75/100.

The director is Sierra Pettengill

You can see the trailer here https://vimeo.com/753020230 .

The film begins its theatrical run in Canada on November 25.

RKS Literature: Passage of the Day: Messing with a Psychiatrist

“I discovered there was an endless source of robust enjoyment in trifling with psychiatrists: cunningly leading them on: never letting them see you know all the tricks of the trade: inventing for them elaborate dreams, pure classics in style (which make them the dream-extortionists, dream and wake up shrieking); teasing them with fake “primal scenes”; and never allowing them the slightest glimpse of one’s real sexual predicament.”

(“Lolita”, Vladimir Nabokov)

RKS Wine: Malivoire Analog Demo Series 2021 Gamay and Cabernet Franc

Somewhat like a West Highland terrier busily digging in the garden for goodness knows what Malivoire is busily digging about in the Gamay wine world experimenting with discovering Ontario’s Gamays. I think at present they have 8 different Gamays in the bottle. It would be interesting to line them all up for a tasting but that might be a subject for another article. While Gamay in Ontario seems to come and go with Malivoire it is a steady flow. The Demo Series looks experimental as far as its label speaks with handwriting found on both the front and back label. The back label states, “This series of rare demos is imbued with our winemaker’s intent to explore, investigate and experiment.” Experiments can go terribly wrong but we all trust Malivoire not to unleash a failed experiment on its customers.

This West Highland Terrier digs in Niagara-on-the-Lake for who knows what. Malivoire digs for the best possible Gamays!(Photo Robert K. Stephen)

65% Gamay from the Genova Vineyard and 35% Cabernet Franc from the Cascade Vineyard.

With this trust one goes forward and samples the wine knowing that Gamay and Cabernet Franc in Ontario are two red signature grapes! On the nose there is attractive fruit of raspberry, black cherry, sweet red cherry, blueberry and Croatian mocha wafer cookies. There is a tad of earthiness to the wine which adds to its mystique. Like many Beaujolais from France there is a light fruitiness to the wine which perhaps we can describe as freshness. There is the raspberry and sweet red cherry on the palate with light weight tannins and acidity completely under control. You might venture to say it is a happy light weight. It is a perfect sipping wine yet it can suit some bistro food like a Croque Monsieur. Serve chilled it might very well suit a Japanese Cod Curry or Cauliflower Curry. There are some broad-based tannins perhaps enough to justify holding until the end of 2023. This is not an ager.

This experiment has certainly not gone awry!

Malivoire Gamay and Cabernet Franc were respectively picked on October 21 and 28 . Carbonic Maceration for the Gamay which means whole clusters are subject to fermentation and then its fermented with Cabernet Franc in old oak barrels.

This is not a big assertive wine but more on the delicate and fragile side.

This vegan and certified sustainable wine saw 295 cases made.

You may order online at https://malivoire.com/

(Malivoire Analog Demo Series 2021 Gamay & Cabernet Franc, VQA Niagara Peninsula, $29.95, The Malivoire Wine Company Limited, Beamsville, Ontario, 750 mL, 12%, RKS Wine Rating 90/100).

RKS Film: “Lazaro and the Shark: Cuba Under the Surface”: Music, Repression, Poverty and Parental Sacrifice in Cuba

“Lazaro and the Shark” is filmed in Santiago de Cuba home of the famous July “Carnival”.  Neighbourhoods and surrounding villages snake through Santiago de Cuba’s streets in congas costumed, dancing, playing music and singing in a riotous explosion of colour and movement. It is an amazing spectacle and the documentary catches a snippet of it. I have been at the big Carnival Parade in Santiago de Cuba on July 6, 1996. It was not planned and  was haphazard but I enjoyed it immensely and the more that time passes I realize how special it was and that I had the opportunity to witness it. You can read a brief description of my experience from the following diary posting https://a-little-birdie-told-me.ca/2022/07/05/santiago-de-cuba-july-1996-carnival-and-begging-cuban-children/ .

Lazaro is director of a conga called “Conga Los Hoyos”. A conga is a Cuban musical group. He sees absolutely no future in Cuba and if it was not for his infant triplets he would have left Cuba. His wife has been conscripted for a three-year term serving as a physician in Venezuela in an arrangement where the Cuban government is paid a fixed sum and then later gives a small amount to the doctors. It used to be the corrupt landowners and gangsters exploited the population in pre-revolutionary Cuba but that has been replaced by the repressive government. We see her reunited with Lazaro and her children after an absence of two years.

“The Shark” is a rival conga leader of “Conga San Agustin”. He is pro revolution on camera but what is he in his heart? He might be better called “The Worm” for snuggling up with the police and praising the revolution. His conga float has pictures of Raoul and Fidel Castro cleverly bringing in politics to the annual conga contest held every year in July in Santiago de Cuba. While a worm he is also a clever predator so he deserves “The Shark”. Can you guess who wins the conga competition!

“The Poet” is a poet who chants his regime critical poetry a dangerous activity in heavily repressed Cuba. His mobile phones have been smashed by the police and he and his wife fear his arrest and imprisonment. At the year end conga parade called “The Invasion” he chants his poetry in the crowd and the police wade into the crowd bashing away with their batons and arrest The Poet.

The documentary exposes the poverty, squalid living conditions and political repression in Cuba supposedly basking in glory of the success of the revolution which is broadcasted by loudspeaker through the streets of Santiago de Cuba. It is also a testament to the sacrifices Cuban parents must endure if they choose to remain in Cuba.

Yes the documentary captures the joy of Carnival but also the ugly side of Cuba and the failure of the revolution. It is an exploration of culture, repression, poverty, sacrifice and opportunism of individuals such as The Shark who knows how to play the Cuban political system. Such joy and cultural expression would seem under the fist of the regime strangling the Cuban people of what little enjoyment they have in Cuba a failed Communist state.

The documentary enjoys a world premiere showing at Doc NYC which concludes on November 27. Those in the United Sates can also see virtually. But it is sure to make its way across the globe. Directed by William Sabourin O’Reilly. You can see the trailer here https://vimeo.com/547968635

“The Penniless Pensioner: Misaligned, Maligned but Marvellous” : Chapter 6: Juanita Joins Big Bopper and Buddy Holly

Flying to New Delhi from Montreal is far better than the Delhi Belly flight from New Delhi to Montreal as with the latter Indian food seeks its revenge on those not used to it. Flatulence and the runs created an unholy stench that not even eggplant curry could mask.

I arrived at home in Bombay after waiting some three hours for my connecting flight in Delhi. Raj the valet picked me up at the airport and I slept for 18 hours dreaming of Minah my Iraqi sweetheart. School started and life resumed to Bombay normal. In a few days recovering from jet lag I felt normal.

Before school one morning I received a call from Sobranj Airlines in Delhi saying the jet my mother Juanita had chartered had gone down somewhere in Finland. Search and rescue was in progress. My goodness this news was difficult to digest. With some help from my librarian contact at the Indira Gandhi Library in New Delhi I discovered the DC-9 that had been chartered had been purchased from a now defunct airline called Overseas National Airways in New York. It was over 20 years old. There had been two “incidents” with the plane related to metal fatigue according to the United States Federal Aviation Authority (FAA). The issues had been remedied according to the FAA and the plane was cleared to return to service. I mean there comes a time when horses and airplanes need to be retired.

Being realistic I thought this just had to be the end of dear old mom Juanita Billabong. And my suspicions were realized when Sobranj Airlines notified me three days later stating their sincerest condolences but all aboard had been lost except for a half-frozen dog and a guitar case with a guitar in it. It was Juanita’s Fender! I am not sure about who owned the dog. It was a West Highland Terrier. I asked them to send the survivor terrier to me as well as the guitar. I called this dog “Welshie” in honour of Juanita’s Welsh heritage.

A huge funeral was held in Cardiff, Wales. I was astounded at how many mourners attended. John Mayall, BB King, Albert King, Eric Clapton, Big Smokin Red, Ravi Shankar, Mel Torme, Scat Man Carothers, Arlo Guthrie, Stevie Wonder, Bob Dylan and Robbie Robertson to name a few. I had thought my mother an obscure musician singing an equally obscure genre of music called the “Bombay Blues”. Juanita had a massive influence on blues music. Many of these musicians invited me to visit them.  Juanita would have been proud of the tributes pouring in. I received several calls from record companies wanting to release multiple albums containing unreleased material.

My life had to continue. I will admit I refrained from crying but felt numb. The FAA and Indian aviation authorities were investigating the crash. That gave me some comfort to uncover the truth. There were rumours of falsified maintenance records by Sobranj Airlines. Whatever the result of the investigation the stark reality was that Juanita had joined the Big Bopper and Buddy Holly in the Land Beyond. All I had beside the memories was Welshie the West Highland Terrier and a half-melted Fender guitar.

RKS Food: Making Contact in the Produce Department? Your Grocery Intel! Confessions of a Proud Produceaholic

Being proximate to grocery chains Metro/Fortinos/No Frills and a much smaller non-chain Lady York in Toronto I can have some fun comparing prices of produce. Being mostly a vegetarian fresh and high-quality produce is essential. I saw California cauliflower at $6.00 today at No Frills but at the smaller Lady York local cauliflower without black mold tinges was $3.99. Miss Vickie’s Chips are $5.69 at Metro and $4.99 at No Frills. Blackberries can range “on sale” from $2.99-$4.99 depending on the store.

COSTCO can be a source of great produce but sources imports much earlier than grocery chains because they buy in huge quantities. Yet in the doldrums of winter you might find big juicy Israeli grapefruits where their counterparts at the grocery chains are dry and tough.

The large grocery chains are at their best for produce in summer months when local produce is available but a local farmer’s market I attend on Sundays also tops them all for a few short months but if you don’t comparison shop there you can get “taken’. You can find zucchini flowers at the farmer’s market but ask for them in a large grocery chain you’ll get a blank look.   In winter there is amongst some humans SAD known as Seasonal Affective Disorder but SAD is rampant in the large grocery chains with their produce!

In the last few months I do not know what came over me but at Lady York I have stated chatting with the produce guys and asking them what is really good this week. They appear somewhat startled at human contact but quickly warm up especially when I say I once worked as a fruit broker one summer.

Their advice is spot on. I can pick out quality produce but sometimes it is difficult. For example I saw some South African bagged tangerines that looked so so but far better than the anemic Spanish and Moroccan varieties.  My produce guy said the South African’s were excellent and they were. Same story with the eggplants as I managed to pick the last of the local eggplants. I asked about the Florida eggplants and a frown furrowed his brows. He said they are full of seeds and bitter!

Given that in North America local produce is shrivelling and restricted to carrots, potatoes, cabbages, squash, apples and pears imports will soon rule the roost and help from the produce guys pay off. I can’t take this personalized approach at most big chain stores due to the fact most produce staff are simply shelf stockers but once I did with a Greek man called Gus the produce manager at one of Toronto’s biggest grocery stores. He knew I was married to a Greek and that I had travelled to Greece frequently and we hit it off and he was my grocery intel!

I suppose it is a question of human contact. Yes, I love my fruits and veggies which has been made all the keener with all the produce markets I have attended in Europe over the decades. At 12 years old I was bargaining for watermelons in Greece. Eating is a part of life and shopping for what is on your plate should be a passion not to be shot down by people who callously call you a shopping addict.

RKS Wine: Wines of Chile: Dagaz Carménère: A Case of Mistaken Grape Identity

Chile is driving for a sustainable wine identity and this wine bucks that trend by not being sustainable but not playing the “party line” does not mean it should be put on a Stalinist show trial.

Argentina has its wine identity anchored in Malbec and it could be Chile’s is with Carménère. It originated in France but after the 19 th century phylloxera epidemic it was more or less wiped out. It was mistaken for Merlot in Chile until the mid 1990s!

The wine is from the Colchagua Valley once farmland now one of Chile’s most active wine producing regions. The relatively low elevation of the coastal hills allows the Pacific Ocean breezes to interplay with the Andean winds cooling the valley and extending the region’s ripening period

On the nose the Dagaz Estate Carménère 2018 there is a beam of rich black cherry, blackberry, coal and mocha with Santa Rosa plum. On the palate solid and muscular tannins which are restraining the eager beaver fruit from breaking out and stealing the show. The blackberry and black cherry are happily glowing in the background but in no way bullied by the tannins. The wine needs decanting for an hour if you are planning to drink now but it will be arriving at its peak in 2026 and gracefully ageing and softening through to 2028.

The 7% Petit Verdot takes a good wine a notch above here making it a bit lively but not an obnoxious party animal.

It is a big wine but not so big it is unapproachable now. The cherry in it is certainly willing to accommodate  peppered duck breast with a vanilla mash with peas and a wild mushroom ragout. https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/peppered-duck-vanilla-mash-pea-wild-mushroom-ragout

(Dagaz Estate Carménère 2018, D.O. Valle de Colchagua, Clos de Sol, Buin, Chile, $24.95, Liquor Control Board of Ontario # 24756, 750 mL, 14.5%, RKS Wine Rating 93/100).

“The Penniless Pensioner: Misaligned, Maligned but Marvellous”: Chapter 5: Bye Bye Juanita and My Iraqi Sweetheart

Juanita Wallabong’s tour was just about wrapping up in North America with a final performance in Montreal at “The Cote St. Luc Residence for Retired Musicians, Roadies and Groupies”. Well we were enjoying a few glorious days off as this trip was about my education not simply music. I fell in love with Montreal as it was in North America but so un-American! I discovered Fairmont bagels, Schwartz’s smoked meat and kosher dill pickles and of course Mont Royal a wonderful mountainous park just off the centre of the city. There were jazz and blues clubs galore. There was Vieux Montreal too that took you back two hundred years in time. And of course in addition to falling in love with the city I fell for a dusky eyed beauty at a falafel joint called Basha on St. Catherine Street. A daughter of an immigrant family from Iraq she was working slinging tabbouleh on falafel sandwiches. Our eyes met and it was all fire and brimstone. Being half Indian our relationship, or fling if you want to call it that, was tricky with strict parents that watched their little flower Minah like a hawk and if they knew that she was consorting with me it would be toast for us. It was bad enough she was refusing to wear a burka steadfastly saying to her parents, “I do not want to be a burka babe!”. Our relationship consisted of a few hot bagels, some kisses and some hand holding. Having been fed some anti-Muslim propaganda at King’s College for Young Men in Bombay I was aware this was a situation that might put Minah in danger if not in peril of her life through an honour killing. Her brother Abdul had suspected something was amiss and she thought she would be followed. He seemed to be sending an inordinate amount of time sharpening his sword.

Ahhhhh..memories of my Minah and falafel sandwiches!

Fate may have solved the danger as I had to return to the first term at my school. Juanita would finish off her tour in Japan and China and be home in a couple of weeks. I broke the news to Minah and we agreed to stay in touch. Somehow I knew I would be returning to Montreal as life without Fairmont bagels, Montreal smoked meat and the Iraqi gem Minah was going to be difficult.

Juanita took me to Dorval airport for my flight to New Delhi on Air India. Little did I know the finality of my good-bye to Juanita my mother.

RKS Film: “Nuestra Pelicula” (Our Movie): 1988 Colombian Blood Bath

“Nuestra Pelicula” starts off innocently with elementary students singing the Colombian national anthem replete with words such as “glory”, “goodness”, “liberty’ and “jubilance”. This opened and closed the broadcasting day on Colombia’s national television network. This innocence quickly fades with archival 1988 Colombian television footage showing a litany of assassinations, murders, kidnappings, funerals, distraught families. Politicians, workers, peasants, students et al gunned down individually or in methodical execution style. Sometimes the sicarios (assassins)are children as young as 15.

The narration of the documentary is sparse and at times poetic as the camera does the talking as chosen by the director of the film Diana Bustamante as the mountains of footage had to be edited to convey the message Bustamante desired. It is a trail of blood and violence. Some of the film is devoted to blood flowing like rivers, fresh blood, dried blood, blood on car seats and on many shoes and personal items streaked with blood. There are plenty of caskets. There is even live footage of the assassination of a politician. There seems no limit to violence, death and blood in 1988 Colombia where it is estimated over 18,000 people were killed.

The film has neutral and extremely limited narration. It is up to the viewer to be immersed in the violence and the film leaves absolutely no doubt about the extent of it in 1988 Colombia. Even the Pac Manish conclusion is constructed to convey the message.

Now it may be either a strength or weakness we are not told who is behind this violence. Is it the narco cartels fighting amongst each other? Is it the leftist guerillas? Is it the military or parts of the government itself? That may not be the point. The point is to present a bloody trail and pierce the heart of the viewer.

And these sweet children singing the national anthem? The children of Colombia witnessed the violence and many were affected directly by it. Perhaps the most disturbing footage is a multiple murder in a Colombian town with children jumping over rivulets of fresh blood. And then there is a cleaning lady at an airport cleaning up the blood of an assassinated politician with newspaper that stubbornly sticks to the blood on the floor.

You may see the trailer here https://vimeo.com/759234448

“Nuestra Pelicula” has its international premiere at DOC NYC taking place November 9-27. The film is geoblocked so only those in the United States can watch online but rest assured the film will be making its way around the globe. Its European premiere will be in Bilbao. You can check the film’s website for showing details http://dublinfilms.fr/en/portfolio/nuestra-pelicula/