RKS 2023 Wine: Washington State Syrah from Chateau Ste Michelle

Aroma: Rich blasts of black fruit predominate especially blackberry.

Palate: Rich on the nose rich on the palate. Again blackberry plays the leading role. The finish is of moderate length. Tannins are just above smooth.

Personality: Simply being “rich” and full bodied is not enough. I have identifiable black fruit. In other words I not only have muscles but character too! But honestly I need a bit more complexity. You can easily sip me and while food and wine are the best of bed fellows in my case it is not a must.

Food match: Black bean, organic sweet potato and corn chili offers a bit of sweetness that might match the black fruit of the wine. There is no chili is my chilli!

Cellarbility: Will happily cruise into 2025 and soften just a tad.

Price: $20.95 (Ontario).

RKS 2023 Wine Rating: 90/100. Wine Enthusiast 89.  

Chateau Ste. Michelle 2019 Columbia Valley Syrah, Chateau Ste Michelle, Patterson, Washington, Liquor Control Board of Ontario # 949651, 750 mL, 13.5%

“The Penniless Pensioner: Misaligned, Maligned but Marvellous” : Chapter 51: Revolt at the Mugless Mental Hospital in Montreal

Squid whisked me away from Dorval International Airport in Montreal to downtown Montreal in his silver Studebaker. I took my usual suite at the Ritz-Carlton on Sherbrooke Street. After unpacking we went to Thursdays on Crescent Street for a quick Martini and then to an old favourite Greek restaurant of mine on Park Avenue called “Hesso”. After our grilled Porgy with a side of Vleta (greens) Squid explained the goings on at the Mugless Mental Hospital.

The Mugless was the psychiatric wing of the Royal Victoria Hospital in Montreal. The Royal Victoria Hospital was the teaching hospital for McGill medical students. It so happened that the United Mutations discovered McGill University accepted three sizeable donations from an anonymous donor for Mugless Mental Hospital “research”. Very noble and altruistic donor!

A disturbing trend of mysterious deaths by suicide struck the Mugless. There was no rush by public authorities nor the Mugless to investigate this alarming trend but the United Mutations, champions of detainees at psychiatric institutes, lent its ears to a deep throat in the admissions department of the Mugless who revealed the donations were from an American non-profit organization, “The Mental Relief Fund”. It wasn’t long before United Mutations forensic accountants traced the Mental Relief Fund to three high ranking bureaucrats at the CIA. Through investigative reporting the media was on the scent of blood. A mid-level sous chef at the Mugless claimed that he was instructed to put white powder from capsules into the food for specific inmates. Poison? The Royal Canadian Mounted Police ordered autopsies of deceased inmates over the period from when The Mental Relief Fund  made its first donation to the most recent Mugless patient death.

Squid had an inside track to the autopsy reports all of which except for 6 noted the presence of significant amounts of LSD in the tissues of the deceased. The United Mutations made the autopsy finding known to Mugless patients before they were broadcast nationally. Squid explained the result was a multi-day riot at the Mugless. The institute was trashed and all staff fled in fear of their lives. Large groups of inmates boarded buses chartered by the United Mutations and held demonstrations at the US consulate in Montreal and Toronto and the US embassy in Ottawa. Molotov cocktails were thrown which were answered by teargas. Then the petrol hit the fire. A United Mutations sympathizer at the CIA revealed the Mugless was administering LSD to certain inmates in a test to determine if it could be a debilitating chemical warfare weapon! An enormous civil unrest event tore through the streets of Montreal. The Mugless was set ablaze, McDonald’s restaurants were vandalized and American tourists threatened. Montreal was ablaze!

Squid asked if I would co-ordinate bail teams to liberate incarcerated Mugless patients and get to work on launching a class action lawsuit against yet determined defendants.

I agreed despite my inexperience with class action lawsuits and explained such to Squid who simply said he trusted me utterly and completely.

RKS 2023 Wine: Terras de Lava from Pico Island in the Portuguese Azores

Less than two weeks ago I was sitting in the tasting room of the Cooperativa Vitivinicola da Ilha do Pico in Madalena on Pico Island in the Portuguese Azores. There were 10 of us in the group all participating in Wine and Travel Week based in Porto. 8 were tour operators and two of us were journalists. The tour operators were happily drinking up the wine (and swallowing) while the writers (who were spitting) were frantically trying to evaluate the wine in 120 seconds which is no way to respectfully review a wine so much effort has been imparted to make what is in the bottle.

I did manage to contact an agent here in Ontario DOC Wine Imports that in addition to carrying an occasional wine from the Co-op has a tremendous selection of Portuguese wines including sparklers! You can check out their website at www.docwineimports.com

I did try the white 2019 Terras de Lava at the Co-op and found it highly approachable and managed to have DOC Wine Imports send me over a bottle. If you have been to Pico Island it is a beautiful yet harsh landscape with volcanic rock, high winds with vines being protected by walls made with volcanic rock called carrais. Given the temperate climate you really don’t want to grow the grapes at any elevation so the local growers have a saying that you should plant the vines where you can hear the crabs sing i.e. at a low altitude near the ocean.

The wine is a blend of Arinto dos Açores, Fernao Pires, Verdelho and Boal.

Aroma: This golden coloured wine has pineapple, pear, apple, tangerine and orange marmalade. It has a definite Pico Arinto nose to it. I would call it a friendly and approachable wine.

Palate: No doubt that this is a dry white but not one that is overly acidic lacking character. It has notes of lemon, Seville orange with creamy flashes. Moderate finish.

Food Match: Pico whites are best consumed with saltwater fish such as grouper or conger eel or even some of the Azorean spicy limpets or crab. It also went well with softer and tamer cheese like the two cheeses we had from the nearby island of St. Georges.

Personality: I am from a co-operative but that is absolutely no impairment to my quality. Arinto from Pico has a unique flavour and aroma so don’t be shy if you can’t readily recognize me. White fleshed seafood and shellfish are good friends of mine.

Cellarbility: Consume by the end of 2023.

Price: $29.95 plus tax (Ontario). Minimum of six required by order from DOC Wine Imports.

RKS 2023 Wine Rating: 90/100.

(Terras de Lava IG Açores 2019, Cooperativa Vitivinicola de Ilha do Pico, Madalena, Pico Island, Azores Portugal, 750 mL, 12.5%)

RKS 2023 Film: “All the World is Sleeping”

Haven’t we all watched the plot before? Drug addiction and the destruction it causes whether it be on film, countless documentaries or even television series was it called “Intervention”. Like the DEA in the United States the genre is somewhat over exposed if not tiresome. Perhaps faced with massive drug addiction problems in North America we just fall asleep hardened by the incessant human wreckage.

Is “All the World is Sleeping” just another tiresome remake of an unpleasant reality? As the plot goes it is. But the acting has a certain grittiness to it that lifts the film above the mundane. The acting is stellar throughout. Melissa Barrera as Chama leads a solid cast. In fact it is the acting that imparts somewhat of a reality to the tiresome addiction genre. I am not stirred by the community involvement of Bold Futures in New Mexico in the making and “inspiration” for the film. A pet project does not transform the tired genre. It is the acting here that does it.

While you will not be disappointed by the film don’t look for any originality. I am not a mean and insensitive bugger but I try and call it like it is. Been there. Seen that.

Ryan Lacen has written and directed the film. You can watch the trailer here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYtBGVY5lrk . Gravitas Ventures releases the film in theatres and on digital platforms 17March2023.

RKS 2023 Film Rating 79/100.

RKS 2023 Film: “Kubrick by Kubrick”: Kubrick Speaks

The documentary “Kubrick by Kubrick” through interview narrative lets American director Stanley Kubrick (1928-1999) discuss his films and reflect on life. Perhaps the most important observation made by Kubrick is that if you present life other than what you make of it then that is entertainment and that sums up many of the 13 films he made in 40 years as they hardly can be classified as pure entertainment. One actress quips all Kubrick films are an event and if you know his catalogue of films he directed I would have to agree with that actress.

French film critic Michel Ciment managed to establish a relationship with Kubrick and over ten years managed interviews with the elusive Kubrick. So Kubrick speaks to the audience through these tapes. Actors, cameramen and critics also give us insight into Kubrick. Other than a brief mention of his photographic experience for Look magazine we are not presented with his past life and formative years but as this documentary is about Kubrick and his films just accept it for what it is. A constant theme is his perfectionism almost bordering on an obsession. An actor from Dr. Strangelove comments on the 125 takes on one scene!

I am not sure out there in readerland if there is anyone who has not seen a Kubrick film and has a favourite. What is yours?

You can see the trailer here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTPlMzJFC5s

Directed by Gregory Monro this documentary will be released exclusively by Level 33 Entertainment on digital/VOD platforms on 21March23.

RKS 2023 Film Rating 85/100.

RKS 2023 Wine: Porto Memories: Sagrado Reserva

I have a boatload of Porto memories all good and many lighthearted. I have been somewhat of a regular visitor there since 2014.

One very pleasant memory is attending Port Wine Day in Porto pre COVID and having a memorable lunch with José Maria Cálem proprietor of Quinta Sagrado in the Douro region of Portugal. On a brilliant September afternoon in the Ribeira District of Porto we sat looking at Vila Nova de Gaia across the river eating many a seafood dish and trying several Sagrado wines. After lunch we moved to his home on the river for a tasting of some Sagrado field blend wines which were of impeccable quality and impossible to find in Canada.

We do receive a Sagrado wine now and then in the shelves of the Liquor Control Board of Ontario. The Sagrado Reserva is a wine that deserves some ageing most of which has taken place upon its release as in this case we have a 2015 Reserva.

Aroma: Even at 8 years from bottling the wine is a bit tight and cloistered. It has Douro written all over it being a blend of Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca and Tinta Roriz. It has a rich nose almost verging on Port and it is foot trodden in lagares! Old school. Loads of blackberry, cassis and black cherry. An almost Portish red wine!

Palate: Still tight and firm despite so much time in the bottle. One might say this is a Douro wine from years past as it has taken some time to form and is not one of those modern “easily accessible wines” manipulated by “flying winemakers”. Black cherry and cassis reluctantly hide in the formality of this wine.

Personality: José Maria Cálem, my boss, is a fifth-generation winemaker and this foot trodden in lagares wine shows my heritage of a wine that takes time to reach its peak. I am rich yet somewhat withdrawn and will need a couple more years to reach my peak. I am an old school wine and have no regrets.

Cellarbility: Drinkable now but give it until 2025 to really reward the palate. And I wouldn’t be surprised if this can cruise into 2028.

Food Match: Azorean cheese from St. George Island topped with some Azorean pumpkin jam. Roast baby goat and some Azorean Holy Ghost soup too! It would also suit a Douro duck casserole!

In a nutshell: An old school Douro red taking its time to delight you.

In a nutshell: Michel Rolland go home!

Price: $27. (Ontario)

RKS 2023 Wine Rating: 92/100. Roger Voss 94.

(Sagrado Reserva 2015 Douro DOC, Nova Quinta do Sagrado, Porto, Portugal, Liquor Control Board of Ontario # 568774, 750 mL, 14%).

RKS 2023 Wine: Are You Hunkering for a Hungarian?

Are we beggars here in Ontario at the mercy of state monopoly Liquor Control Board of Ontario? A dearth of Eastern European wines. I suppose the money trail leads to California, Italy and France. Eastern Europe is too risky. God help us if Polish Pinot Noir floods the market!

The LCBO gods throw us, the curious, a Hungarian red. It is a blend of Merlot (60%), Blaufrankish (30%), Pinot Noir (5%), Cabernet Sauvignon (3%) and Zweigelt (2%). It matured for 8 months in Hungarian oak barrels.

Aroma:  Earthy and smoky in the harem of Sultan Wine. Move beyond this initiality it lands somewhere between a Marechal Foch and a Baco Noir but it is the Blaufrankish speaking.

Palate: Light on its feet with some black cherry and cranberry lurking around or better said lolling in the oak. Some wandering fragments of oak intermingled with coal. Tannins are on the high moderate meter.

Personality: If you were in 1974 Budapest when the Communists were in power and you knocked at the door of a “private club” in the right part of Budapest you might have seen me in the shadows in a dimly lit table smoking Russian cigarettes. I have a husky voice and am full of mysteries.

Food Match:   For some reason I think of my favourite New York common people bistro Les Deux Amis. This would suit a “Bucky Burger” perfectly for a Sunday brunch. I can be stereotypical and say eat with Hungarian goulash over noodles. I have had my fill in Hungary of goulash as a poor student.

Cellarbility: This is a twisty turny wine and hard to read. I would say drink in 2023 but the smoke and Hungarian wood just might improve into 2026 or descend into hell.

Price: $15.95.

In a nutshell: Easy peasy to blow this one off but be a bit patient and inquisitive and you have a complex and difficult wine to deal with. This does not mean it wins a “gold medal” as you must pay for that but go Hungarian wild and enjoy.

RKS 2023 Wine Rating: 88/100. David Lawrason 89.

(Kuria Red 2017, Transdanubian PGI, Etyeki Kúria, Etyek, Hungary, Liquor Control Board of Ontario # 21272, 750 mL, 14%).

RKS 2023 Wine: Tourism and Algarve Wines

Tourism in Portugal’s Algarve has had both a negative and positive effect on Algarve wineries. Being initially a “sun and beach” destination ramping up in the 1970s the rush for profits and the development of the Algarvian economy focused on sun and beach! Build, build and build more and who cared if vineyard land was worth more to sell in those times than to produce wine or grow grapes.

The sun and beach mentality is changing in the Algarve and for that matter throughout Portugal so that touristic development goes beyond the high altar of sun and beach and folds into that or even discards it in favour of a hybrid form of touristic development giving the opportunity for wine, gastronomy and culture to symbiotically nourish each other. Some have given this approach a name of “wine tourism” but is it wine that leads the way or is it culture or gastronomy?

In the 21st century as the power of the co-operatives declined a new breed of winemakers emerged and perhaps their role is rescuing what otherwise might have been destroyed. A few years ago in the Rhone a small area called Condrieu produced some globally renowned Syrah and Viognier was threatened by a condo development. Fortunately, a national outrage prevented the condo development from gobbling up vineyards.

Sara Silva, whom I had the pleasure of meeting in Porto last February, is the President of the CVA (Comissão Vitivinicola do Algarve) Algarve and she points out, “The Algarve lives and breathes tourism. The wines of the Algarve and Algarve tourism need to go hand in hand offering tourists and residents (both Portuguese and foreign) an authentic experience that makes it stand out and provides an alternative to ‘sun and beach’.”

I am sure Ms. Silva would like Algarve wines to take the world by storm but she realizes the small Algarvian volume may make that difficult so being pragmatic local may be the first step to continue the growth of Algarvian wines. Ms. Silva states, “The Algarve’s hotels and restaurants should give priority to the wines of the Algarve in order to enrich people’s gastronomic experience by combining the region’s excellent wines with its excellent cuisine.”

RKS 2023 Wine: Drinking Prohibited Wine in The Azores: Apologies and Gifts from the Portuguese Government

It was another windy and overcast day on Pico Island. I see why the vines are protected by those carrais i.e. lava rock enclosures. So I am savouring my toasted cornbread with a conger eel omelette for breakfast. My friend Fortunato Garcia knows my passion for conger eel so he had brought over some nice fatty conger eel chunks which make an awesome omelette. With a big mug of Brazilian coffee I see 4 huge black Mercedes with Portuguese flags waving on them. They pull up in front of Adega Go Go and a group of very self-important politicos arrogantly survey a small group of locals and walk up to the door wanting to speak with Mr. Stephen. Why do Portuguese politicos need 4 huge Mercedes to visit me? Portuguese puffery?

There is nothing better than Portuguese cornbread with a conger eel omelette! Photo Robert K. Stephen

I approach a middle-aged lady who introduces herself as the acting sub minister for the temporary minister of the Department of Agriculture. With cameras rolling and I mean cameras from all over the world she gives a little speech (in an insincere manner) apologizing to me and the Government of Canada for an “innocent and unattended violation of human rights”. According to this politico I should have never been arrested blaming the “ill-disciplined” Pico Island police force. What a croc of spoilt cod liver oil as we all know it was that special task force of the Portuguese Wine and Food Police that arrested me. Politicians do lie in Portugal I suppose.

The moment before my arrest!

The European Parliament condemned my arrest calling it barbaric! The Portuguese ambassador to Canada was called to the carpet in Ottawa by the Canadian Prime Minister to explain my arrest and threatened with a complete boycott of Portuguese sardines! Oh Pico Island received a massive amount of press and the local government clapped their hands in delight. Touristic bookings to Pico had mushroomed.

As I was a Confrades in the Confraria do Vinho do Porto a special ball in my honour was to be held in Porto (Baile de Gala Confraria do Vinho do Porto). An unwarranted attack on a Confrade is an attack on us all said the Chanceller of the Confrairia! As a token of gratitude and penance for my suffering a small castle had been bestowed to me by the Confraria on Pico Island with the special designation of a Grand Pico Confrade being bestowed on me! As a knight (Confrades) in the Confraria I finally had my Portuguese castle!

Don’t mess with a Confrade! They bite you right back!
I am very proud of my new castle on Pico Island! Photo Robert K. Stephen

As atonement the Portuguese government awarded me honorary citizenship, 5 years of unlimited travel on TAP Portuguese Airlines, a 15,000 Euro gift certificate at Pestana Hotels in Portugal, 50 kilos of Azorean Honey, 10 wheels of the finest cheese from St. George Island, 50 kilos of Conger eel filets and 500 litres of caldo de peixe à moda do Pico! All I had to do was to appear at a press conference and forgive the actions of “certain Portuguese people” leading to my arrest. I really had no hard feelings so I gave the press conference in the Burger King beside the Continente store in Madalena. I said good-bye to the Portuguese delegation who told me the big trial of António Maçanita for atrocities toward Portuguese wine labels was soon beginning.

And to top matters off next Saturday I was to be the guest of honour in Madelena stadium for a football match between the Pico Island Singing Crabs and the Lagos Flying Sardines!

So I am a free man in Pico Island. I am not sure if you readers want to hear more. Do you know there may be a movie about all this affair with Nicole Kidman and that I was to found the Red Wine Institute of Pico Island. Robert Parker would soon be slobbering at my feet after giving my “Singing Crab Isabella 2024” a 99 rating!

RKS 2023Wine: Drinking Prohibited Wine in the Azores: Minimum Security Accommodations at Adega a Go Go!

My last report had me imprisoned in Pico Island in the Portuguese Azores for drinking a wine “Proibida”. I mean it was a free pour and I am not even sure I saw the label yet hours later the Pico police force, all 8 of them, sweep in on me speaking in Portuguese so I had no idea what the charges were. Geez all I had done was to head down to the ocean to “hear the crabs sing” as that is the best place to plant grapes on Pico Island. I just heard angry shouts saying, “Canadian” so thanks to that I could not hear the crabs singing.

Oh my this label has landed me in a big mess! : Photo Robert K. Stephen

I managed to contact the Canadian embassy in Lisbon for help. When I told them I was trying to locate singing crabs they hung up the phone on me! I vociferously demanded to know what the charges were but damned if the Pico Police force knew. They said the order came from Lisbon from the Portuguese Food and Wine Task Force (PFWTF).

I was transferred from my cell which was an unused wine cellar at Adega Go Go to accommodations at Adega Go Go. Adega Go Go was owned by two former Go Go dancers in their eighties who dressed in mini-skirts and white plastic Go Go boots. I had a beautiful room with no security presence around. You see without a passport and my distinctive face I could never leave Pico Island. I had become like that character in Kobo Abe’s “Woman of the Dunes”. The food was superlative and the open bar was second to none. God knows where I am though. I sure can’t hear those damn crabs singing!

Before going to bed one night I watched the Pico Evening news and my eyes popped open as my case had reached the European Parliament and was to be discussed the next day. 15 minutes later the Pico police chief banged on my door to say a special delegation from Lisbon would be arriving from Lisbon to “investigate”.