RKS Travel and Wine: TAP Portugal Airlines Has its 750 mL Wine Bottles Crying

I frequently give most European Airlines a pat on the back for serving wine in economy class from 750 mL bottles instead of those obnoxious mini plastic bottles which is all the more obnoxious in the case of Air Canada which adds insult to injury by serving French wine! A national carrier of Canada serving French wine! Tsk Tsk!

A shining light in the Canadian air carrier category is Porter Airlines serving CANADIAN wine in REAL GLASSES! How come Porter and TAP Portugal Airlines serve wine from 750 mL bottles in economy but Air Canada can’t?

Porter’s onboard experience transforms expectations for economy air travel. Each partner was carefully selected for its locality, quality ingredients, brand alignment, and focus on sustainability. (CNW Group/Porter Airlines)

Flying on TAP Air Portugal from Toronto to Lisbon return this February I was shocked to have wine served to me in a paper cup! Of course plastic is a nasty environmental mess but please wine in a paper cups that are thrown in the trash by the TAP flight attendants seem not much better than plastic glasses! Oh my! This was not some “supply chain issue” but rather the way things are according to a TAP flight attendant.

TAP rewards its economy passengers with wine in paper cups like the ones your dentist gives you to flush out your mouth!: Photo Robert K. Stephen

In Pico Island in the Azores they have a saying that you should plant your vines where you can hear the crabs singing. On my TAP flights there were no crabs singing but I thought I could hear those 750 mL wine bottles crying.

RKS Literature: A Tobacco Addict in 1924 Speaks

“ I don’t understand how someone can not be a smoker-why it’s like robbing oneself of the best part of life, so as to speak, or at least of an absolutely first-rate pleasure. When I wake up I look forward to be able to smoke all day, and when I eat, I look forward to it again, in fact I can honestly say that I actually only eat so that I can smoke, although its an exaggeration of course. But a day without tobacco-that would be absolutely insipid, a dull totally wasted day. And if some morning I had to tell myself: there’s nothing left to smoke today, why I don’t think I’d find the courage to get up, I swear I’d say in bed.”

Thomas Mann “The Magic Mountain”, 1924.

RKS 2023 Wine: An Arinto from Pico Island in the Azores

Being in Pico Island lately I was lodged at the Azores Wine Company’s winery. Hipster heaven! Modern showcase winery, tasting room, great views of vineyards, volcanic mountains and lots of staff sporting a multitude of tattoos. Rather an opposite of, pardon me, an authentic Pico Island Winery. At Azores Wine Company eating in the restaurant, you’ll be eating nouvelle cuisine which you can consume in New York. London, Paris or Toronto. Generic upscale McDonalds?   Super high quality indeed but poor misguided me prefers the “authentic Pico Island cuisine” I had at Adega Czar or at Adega Amaral. Did I travel hours to eat what I can eat in many capitals of the world? No.

Sorry for the digression.

We move to an Arinto Sur Lies from the Azores Wine Company at 36 Euros a bottle!

The Arinto dos Açores is apparently a unique varietal native to the Azores Islands and is not related to the Portuguese mainland Arinto. The Arinto has been planted in the cracks of volcanic lava at the foothills of a volcanic mountain. 3,333 bottles were produced.

Aroma: That slight funky initial Arinto dos Açores possesses. Pineapple mango and guava. Almost creamy.

Palate: Brittle creaminess with pineapple, guava and rambutan notes. Minerality but no salinity. Slightly peppery.

Personality: Swaggering and confident.

Callability: Will improve but consume by end of 2026.

Price: 35.80 Euros in Portugal.

Food Match: Thai green curry. A real foodie wine. Will pair well with a “seafood steak”!

RKS 2023 Wine Rating: 90/100.

(Arinto dos Açores Sur Lies 2017 António Maçanita, D.O. Pico Açores, Azores Wine Company, Pico Island, Portugal, 750 mL)

RKS 2023 Wine and Travel: Pico Islander’s Maxim “Plant Your Vines Where You Can Hear the Crabs Singing”

On Pico Island in the Portuguese Azores  there is an old maxim with grape producers, “Plant your vines where you hear the crabs singing.” Why?

Vines protected by Currais: Photo Robert K. Stephen

Pico Island is blessed with a temperate climate being an island in the Atlantic ocean benefitting from a maritime climate. But Pico Island is really a volcanic mountain itself. And the higher you plant your vines the colder it gets which makes a difference in Pico Island as even in the summer months it never gets hot although I have heard from a Pico Islander that climate change has caused rises in summer temperatures. It is best then to plant your vines close to the ocean in currais which are micro plots encircled by square lava rock walls. These enclosures remind me by misguided analogy of terracing in the Douro region of Portugal. So what about the salt from the ocean spraying over the grapes. Well the abundant rainfall washes most of that salt of but in some Pico Island wines you may notice the salinity. As the best plots are close to the ocean you are in a location where you hear the crabs singing!

RKS 2023 Film: “Marjoram”: The Road to Hell is Paved with Good Intentions and an Horrific Past

“Marjoram”, a cutting-edge Greek film made in 2013, packs a serious punch. I can almost say it is a quasi Greek “Exorcist” except unlike Linda Blair it is not Satan destroying a little girl but rather 11 year old Anna is slowly being destroyed by her mother wanting what she believes to be the best for Anna. The best simply can’t obliterate a dirty little secret gnawing on Anna’s psyche.

Anna, a talented juvenile chef, is being relentlessly pushed by her mother to win a kiddie cooking show. No it is not a beauty contest  a la Jon Benet nor parents pushing or permitting their children to participate in drag contests. Even injuries both physical and mental provide no respite to Anna’s misery at being edged on by her mother.

It is a therapist at the network that detects something unusual with Anna when she cuts her fingers with a grater at a television rehearsal. Despite the flagging of a potential psychological issue both the producer and Anna’s mother blindly push Anna towards the precipice.

But there is something even more sinister clawing Anna’s back. Can she overcome the past and her mother blinded by self-failure?

This very disturbing film is available to be streamed 3-12March 2023 through the Hellenic Film Society USA “Greek Films on Demand”. See https://www.goelevent.com/HellenicFilmSociety/e/MARJORAMMATZOURANA

It is in Greek with English subtitles. Directed by Olga Malea.

You can see the trailer here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idkBjrr3UHc&t=3s

RKS 2023 Films Rating 92/100.

RKS 2023 Wine: Agiorgitiko from Greece

Aroma: Blackberry, cassis, black cherry and blueberry in a somewhat stiff format.

Palate: The tannins creep up on you with this wine. The fruit is there but wound up in a tight boundary giving the impression of either a young or stylistically austere wine. Almost a juicy streak of red cherries bubbling up threatening to break loose. There is a lightheartedness to the wine if you “taste deep”. Hence a chameleon characteristic.

Personality: I am or perhaps I think I am a ramrod British officer in East Berlin. But get me to the British Officer’s Club and after a few gin and tonics I have a slightly different personality.

Food Match: A “Holy Ghost” Azorean beef dish with bread soaked in broth. Or if in the Greek mood a Pourgouri Pilaf.

Cellarability: Will improve by softening into 2024. Hold until 2025.

Price: $19.95 (Ontario).

In a nutshell: Well put together this is a firm wine that will with a bit of age soften up and drink beautifully but until then a foodie wine.

RKS 2023 Wine Rating: 91/100. Decanter World Wine Awards (2021) 91.

(Neméa Agiorgitiko 2019, PDO Neméa, Lantides Winery, Neméa, Greece, 750 mL, 14%, Liquor Control Board of Ontario # 10874)

RKS 2023 Wine: Azores Wine Company Arinto dos Açores 2018

The grapes for this wine were planted in cracks in a lava bed at the foot of a volcanic mountain. The vineyards are planted close to the ocean so you can hear the crabs sing. The vines are protected by lava rock walls known as currais.

Aroma: A tad funky but not unappealingly so. Notes of cantaloupe, pineapple and pineapple jam on wholewheat toast.

Palate: The slight bit of funk on the nose dissipates and replaced by pineapple upside down cake. Not much depth.

Food Match: North American Chinese such as “pineapple chicken”.

Personality: I am short tempered with not a huge amount of intellectual ability.

Cellarbility: Will not improve but will hold until the end of 2024.

Price: In Portugal 33 Euros.

RKS 2023 Wine Rating: 88/100.

(Arinto dos Açores Antonio Macanita 2018, D.O. Pico, Azores Wine Company

RKS 2023 Wine: Ilha do Pico Co-op Vitivinicola

The Ilha do Pico Co-op Vitivinicola was established in 1949 and has 250 associates with 51 local grape producers participating. It is the largest winery in the Portuguese Azores. 50% of its wines are consumed in the Azores and the rest exported to the United States, Canada and Europe.

As any co-op purchasing grapes there will always be quality control issues. For example if a co-op purchases grapes by weight it would be tempting for grape growers to overcrop raising the weight and compromising the intensity of the juice. All parties eventually suffer including the consumer. So the Co-op prefers to consult and educate its growers rather than act as an enforcer. Grapes are tested for quality to meet CVR Açores requirements.

A group of ten of us visited the co-op for a brief tour and a tasting. Tastings were lacking in technical sheets, which make a wine writer’s job so much more difficult.

The white wines wines sampled were approachable and highly drinkable and mostly in the off dry category.

The reds were forgettable lacking character and depth. Reds are an afterthought on Pico Island and for that matter in the Azores.

The surprise was a liqueur called Ilha do Pico 10 Year that sells for 50 Euros and is one of the Co-op’s best sellers in 2022. Somewhat of a combination of a white Port and sherry is has spent 8 years in French oak with notes of orange, orange marmalade, butterscotch all contained in a lush and creamy mouthfeel.

Should you visit the Co-op they have a Wine Tourism Tasting Programme ranging from three wines at 15 Euros per person to 9 wines for 50 Euros per person. Cheese plates with three local cheeses are 10 Euros.

RKS 2023 Travel and Wine: Pico’s Museu do Vinho (Wine Museum)

The Pico Museum consists of three separate museums on the island of Pico in the Azores of Portugal. There is the Whaler’s Museum, the Wine Museum and the Whaling Industry Museum. Oh yes whaling and wine say much about the history of Pico Island.

Majestic Dragon Trees outside the Pico Wine Museum: Photo Robert K. Stephen

Wine has played an important part in the Pico Island culture that began with the inhabitation of the island. The Wine Museum is located at the Carmo Convent. It is small and basic but if you are interested in Pico wine a visit to the Wine Museum is mandatory. You’ll see the vineyards and majestic dragon trees.

Vineyards outside the Pico Wine Museum

Museu do Vinho, Rua do Carmo, 9950-364 Madalena do Pico, www.museu-pico.info.azores.gov.pt

RKS 2023 Travel and Wine: ,

Lucas Amaral may be the youngest winemaker in Portugal at least according to his proud mother Sandra. He started at 19 and now at 21 he is building up his profile. On my recent trip to Portugal a group of us had the opportunity to meet Lucas, have lunch and enjoy his wine. Lucas is also a very young father of a 6-month-old. He is a man who wastes no time in getting down to business!

Lucas Amaral opening up a bottle of his wine: Photo Robert K. Stephen

The cost of Pico Island wines may seem more than wines from mainland Portugal. Sandra explains to us that management of the vineyard is labour intensive due to its rocky ground. No mechanization in the fields is possible. Winemaking equipment and related supplies must be shipped in from the Portuguese mainland.

The Amaral family was once the biggest producer of grapes on Pico Island but COVID had the effect of shutting down one of its biggest buyers so Lucas started using the family grapes to make wine. His style captures the essence of Pico Island. Easy drinking and straight forward with just the right amount of acidity suitable for the multitude of PICO Island fish dishes.

And the food served started with plenty of flat cornbread, corn bread and sweet bread typical on a Pico Island plate.

Cornbread and sweet bread: Photo Robert K. Stephen

Pico Island cheese to start then sausages including a blood sausage. Limpets freshy scraped off the rocks in the morning followed. Crabs in a spicy garlic sauce next.

Crabs in a spicy sauce; Photo Robert K. Stephen

Next was “Holy Ghost Soup” with chunks of beef and bread soaked in broth. Holy Ghost Soup is often served at town lunches especially for those with health issues who it is thought are blessed by the soup.

Again for dessert Pico Island sweet rice.

Adega Amaral welcomes those wishing to eat incredible Pico Island food and easy drinking white wines! Here is a link to their Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/adegalucasamaral/ .