Is Carmenère Chile’s signature grape? Well if it meets Miguel Torres one of Spain’s signature winemakers surely the result will be a stellar wine?
We try a Cordillera Reserva Especial 2019 from Valle del Cachapoal.
Aromatics: Black plum, blueberry, black cherry, charcoal, leather, black earth and pomegranate.
Palate: Smooth as butter and full of black fruit and a bit brackish on the back palate. The acids are restrained. The brackishness gives it a short if not abrupt finish.
Food match: Grilled flank steak with baked potatoes and honeyed carrots. Vegetarian lasagna.
Personality: Easygoing but not a push over.
Cellaring: It will hold until 2025 but not improve.
Price: $24.95 (Ontario, Canada)
Rating: 91/100
In a nutshell: I am easygoing initially but deserve to be taken seriously.
(Cordillera Reserva Especial 2019, Carmenère, Cachapoal Valley, D.O. Puemo, S.V. Miguel Torres S.A. Curicó, Chile, 750 mL, 14.5%)
He sits in his house reflecting on a failed romantic relationship on a couch the locale of some warm cuddles his mind muddles she has moved out leaving his heart encircled by acidic puddles her betrayal rouses so many angers all she has left behind are 48 hangers
One night at a favourite bar of mine called Marwin’s on Stanley Street in Montreal I met a couple of lively personalities Squid and Willie Montenez. They claimed to have been from other planets and even other dimensions. Initially I thought they were tripping on too much vodka and mescaline but I recalled that Jesus often spoke in parables and this must be the case with Squid and Willie Montenez. They were brilliant and passionate minds at work.
I had heard of their activities in Montreal before I had arrived there. Their enemy Eno Ergot from some far away planet had apparently landed at the campus of McGill University a few years back. They had battled Montreal mayor Jean Droolpoop during Expo 67 and had lead mutant revolts at the Queen Fairy Veterans Hospital and Douglas Psychiatric Institute. You might say they were the grandfathers of mutantism. Robert K. Stephen, my collaborator on this book, has written a brilliant history of mutantism in his seminal “Mutantism on the March” so I encourage you to read that serialized masterpiece for a complete historical treatise on mutantism.
What I will say is that mutantism involves advocates for the rights of mutants on a global scale. And who are mutants you ask. They are the limbless, the lepers, the deformed, the mentally challenged, some criminals, disadvantaged and exploited populations etc. Luminaries such as Santa Claus and Tarzan had been involved with mutantism so it was no far out pie in the sky irrelevant social and political movement.
I had worked with the United Mutations as a volunteer while a student at McGill University so I developed an excellent working relationship with Squid. Squid had contacted me in Toronto to congratulate me upon being called to the Ontario Bar and offered me a job in New York to help draft the Charter of Mutant Rights. I had written an article on the Canadian Bill of Rights so he thought this and my legal training qualified me for the job. It sure beat an offer for a full-time legal position with Mr. Donut. So here I was on the midnight Greyhound bus full of Amish from Toronto to New York.
The documentary “Love, Charlie” can be seen as a study of brilliance, passion, perfection and self destruction.
The late Chef Charlie Trotter was in the vanguard of new cuisine in the United States for those that could afford it. His story is told by himself, fellow chefs, his first wife, former employees, fellow family members, customers and through archival footage. It is not a study in glorification but a balanced picture of Trotter.
Raised in a meat and potato family he caught the culinary bug after working as a student in certain less than gastronomically noted restaurants. His ex-wife describes meeting him in university and noted his eccentricity. I couldn’t think but Trotter had ADHD very early on in the documentary.
We see and hear Trotter at the beginning of the documentary stating that if it wasn’t for employees and customers the restaurant business would be the greatest business in the world. While there may be grain of truth in that to publicly state that shows arrogance and disdain for those who propelled him to celebrity status.
One is never quite sure if Trotter was a tyrant and toxic. One can’t doubt his creativity, brilliance and obsession but did those qualities lead to his demise? One might conclude that as his fame grew in the mid 1980’s onwards and his empire grew to include foodie videos, books and more restaurants whether these character traits were magnified into a self-destructive fireball.
Think what you may but there is no doubt Trotter revolutionized food for upper class patrons that could afford fine dining. But the man was also a philanthropist and concerned with the development of young chefs. As Trotter and his rock star chef colleagues revolutionized cuisine and displaced the old French restaurant restaurants that were the pinnacle of American fine dining so was Trotter displaced by the new cadre of chefs experimenting with molecular gastronomy. What he “dished out” to the old guard eventually he was on the road of being displaced which happens to many great chefs.
Foodies will enjoy the film but even non foodies can witness the fleeting nature of high reputation, fame and success whether in the kitchen or in life.
Trotter died of a stroke in 2013 at the age of 54.
Not being lily white in the province of Ontario, home of Orangemen, a sort of Canadian Ku-Klux-Klan and in the City of Toronto well known for its anti-Greek riots in 1918 I was bypassed by the big Bay Street law firms who failed to realize my wealth and corporate structures I presided over! Their loss. This was before law firms and corporations jumped on the “global inclusion” bandwagon like the latest fad where lily white became somewhat of an evil (too late to benefit me) of course not including in senior management and in the boardrooms. So I articled with Mr. Donut in the east end of Toronto. You have to article for a year as a “lawyer in training” before you took Law Society of Upper Canada courses you had to pass to obtain your license to practice.
In Montreal often with a café au lait one ate a croissant. Here in Toronto it was a fattening sugar coated donut Torontonians were obsessed with. Premium coffees were unheard of as were croissants! Mr. Donut had some 155 franchised stores in Ontario most of which were in seedy neighbourhoods. I became an expert in negotiating franchise agreements. I represented the corporation in shoplifting matters, trespassing actions and all types of small claims litigation. Occasionally I would defend Mr. Donut delivery drivers for traffic infractions. It was all very exciting at a drastically pathetic salary and a box of 24 donuts each week which I fed the pigeons and gave to the homeless sleeping in the alleyways of our cockroach infested corporate office on Coxwell Avenue. Exploitation wages. I had to plod away at this for a year then it was a year of courses at the Law Society of Upper Canada with exams held mostly at decrepit bingo halls. I was called to the Bar as they say and ready to be a “real lawyer” 6 years after I started the process. Then the frenzy of applying for a job and again being part Indian the curry in my blood did not sit well with the roast beef brains of the Anglo-Saxon legal elite. I accepted a job back in New York working for an organization The United Mutations advocating for the rights of mutants throughout the world. I was working on drafting a very historic Charter of Rights for mutants. Being half Indian in Toronto I was a mutant anyways. So it was off to New York! I was no ambulance chaser! I was changing the world!
Our New Year’s Eve dinner is seafood focused which means white wine is called for given the suggested dishes.
Appetizer: Malpeque oysters
Your white wine selection:
I would go with a Brut or Extra Brut sparkler. Loaded with a good bead of bubbles the aromas are apple, pear, caramel, guava, honey and Brioche. On the palate a good crisp bite of acidity with Flemish pear, sweet white grapefruit with a little wave of applesauce. So the wine is far from one of those non-descript sparkling wines that lets its acids speak more than the fruit.
The wine is organic.
I’ll be looking for more sparkling Ontario Riesling in 2023.
Of course, if you want to go real classic Chablis is a tried-and-true accompaniment to raw oysters so you can try a Charton et Trébuchet Chablis 1ER Cru 2020 which you can pick up at the Liquor Control Board of Ontario for $36.95.
Hyper chilled vodka works very well too and I would go with a Tito’s from Texas.
Second appetizer: Moules Mariniere
Chop up garlic (as much as you want) and scallions and Sautee for a minute throw in a half bottle of dry white and a handful of parsley. Let it cook for a few minutes throw in mussels and cover cooking on medium heat for about 7 minutes until all mussels are open. Serve in a large bowl. Sop up the broth with chunks of baguette.
Your white wine selection:
Muscadet from the Loire region in France is a reliable wine to enhance the flavour of the dish but it is not always that easy to find so I suggest a Mâcon-Lugny made by Cave de Lugny from Burgundy. It is unoaked. Aromatics of pear, apple and quince. On the palate it is definitely a dry wine but not one of those leaving an acidic and meagre profile. The wine has character to it and for an unoaked Chardonnay it has some richness to it in a minimalist way.
(Mâcon-Lugny 2020 Grande Reserve, AC Mâcon-Lugny, Cave de Lugny, Lugny, France, $20.95, Liquor Control Board of Ontario # 26444, 750 mL, 13%, RKS Wine Rating 89/100).
Main: Butter garlic shrimp
Your white wine selection:
I would select a Cave Spring Estate 2019 Chardonnay which is moderately gold in colour. On the nose pineapple, mango, South African tangerine, marzipan and peach with moderate oak notes. On the palate Greaves apricot jam, Sweet Israeli grapefruit, Niagara pear Galette, butterscotch and guava with a peppery finish. Beautifully integrated acids so important to sippable white wines. The oak influence in the wine is moderately high.
(Cave Spring Estate 2019 Chardonnay, Cave Spring Vineyard, VQA Beamsville Bench, Niagara Escarpment, Cave Spring Vineyard, Jordan, Ontario, $19.95, Liquor Control Board of Ontario # 25652, 13.5%, RKS Wine Rating 92/100).
Dessert: Gateaux Verlaine (raspberry mousse, raspberry lychee gelée, lychee crémeux, raspberry rose jam and almond sponge cake)
A good choice would be Southbrook Canadian Framboise. As for aromatics it is replete with just picked ripe raspberries tinged with a miniscule bit of milk chocolate. The palate is silky and smooth with just plain old ripe raspberries with a moderately long finish. Not complex but straightforward and delicious. There is enough acidity to keep this wine from being cloying or sickly sweet.
It is organic and vegan.
(Southbrook Canadian Framboise, Southbrook Vineyards, Niagara-on-the-Lake, $19.95, Liquor Control Board of Ontario # 341024, 750 mL, 13.5% RKS 2023 Wine Rating 94/100).
The bubbly conclusion
To ring in the new year assuming you have the stamina to remain awake I would think the last wine you want is a bone dry brut or extra brut. Given the exorbitant cost of Champagne there is the eminently reliable Pierre Sparr Crémant D’Alsace Brut Rosé. I won’t break the bank at $19.95. There is some very nice strawberry, raspberry and bright red cherry mousse to welcome the year. (Pierre Sparr Crémant D’Alsace Brut Rosé, LCBO # 39016, $19.95)
Happy upcoming 2023. Best of health, happiness and the discovery of a wine that you will not forget!
Southbrook Vineyard’s Canadian Framboise would be more than happy to meet a chocolate-based dessert particularly cakes with some raspberry or cherry filling like a Black Forest Cake. I am sure there are some Canadians out there that will be having chocolatey desserts to end the year. Readers outside of Canada may try and find a raspberry fruit “wine” in their jurisdiction. Frambroise means “raspberry” in French. It is also just fine poured over vanilla or chocolate ice cream with a few fresh raspberries tossed in.
As for aromatics it is replete with just picked ripe raspberries tinged with a miniscule bit of milk chocolate. The palate is silky and smooth with just plain old ripe raspberries with a moderately long finish. Not complex but straightforward and delicious. There is enough acidity to keep this wine from being cloying or sickly sweet.
It is organic and vegan.
(Southbrook Canadian Framboise, Southbrook Vineyards, Niagara-on-the-Lake, $19.95, Liquor Control Board of Ontario # 341024, 750 mL, 13.5% RKS 2023 Wine Rating 94/100).
“The redbeard (Judas) growled and bared his teeth like a sheepdog that hears his master’s voice. Head bowed, he turned around and marched heavily over the bridge, talking to himself. He remembered when he roamed the mountains with Barabbas-God bless him-and the other rebels. What an atmosphere of ferocity and freedom. What a splendid leader of cut-throats was the God of Israel. That was the kind of leader he needed. Why did he follow this clairvoyant (Jesus) who was scared of blood and shouted, ‘Love! Love!’ like a panting-teen-aged girl. But let’s, be patient Judas reflected, and see what he brings from the desert! “
If you want to become a full fledged Porthead hopefully you will recognize the incredible luxury Port offers at a bargain basement price. Yes there are Vintage Ports declared only in exceptional years but there are cheaper Late Bottled Vintage Ports to keep in mind. Quite frankly sometimes the line between LBV’s and Vintage Port can be fuzzy. This Pocas is going on to eight years in age and still behaves like a spring chicken. LBV’s make the luxury of Port even more affordable.
Massive blackberry assault on the nose. Blueberry is behind the main blackberry attack. Lest we not forget the black cherry and milk chocolate. On the palate there are some tannins of a solid nature but barely climbing to the moderate level. Mostly blueberry and blackberry on the palate.
Port has a great capacity to age. While in Porto in 2014 our Port producing hosts knowing we were Canadian opened up an 1867 Vintage Port that still had years left to be consumed. Canada was born in 1867 as a country. This LBV won’t last as that Vintage Port would but I think it can cruise well into the 2030’s!
Try this with a Mary Macleod’s (located in Toronto but ships throughout North America) Dutch Chocolate shortbread cookie where all butter richness meets Pocas LBV richness and the combo causes the Pocas to go into a happy berserk raspberry romp. Sublime. In the meantime I look forward to some LBV with Portuguese ox in February. More about that later.
(Pocas 2015 Late Bottled Vintage Port, Manoel D. Pocas Junior, Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal, $21.25, Liquor Control Board of Ontario # 642058, RKS 2023 Wine Rating 92/100).
We must move from Inn Athens to Home Sweet Home Athens as the room was only available for two nights. The ankle is now a shiny red and gleaming and yes more pain. It is very frustrating and tiring. Spent the day in bed reading. The hotel room is very 1970’s except the bathroom has been updated. The shower stall is retro. The hotel is in the Plaka district. A very simple lobby if you can call it a lobby. There are a few chairs and a sofa just off the reception area. The breakfast area is just off the reception. Very simple. Breakfast is more simplistic than other hotels we have stayed at on this trip but more than adequate. French toast for the Americans with Norwegian maple syrup. The manager makes the rounds saying hello, chatting and asking if there are any questions about the food. Breakfasts are interesting here as they always have some sort of regional speciality. The homemade marmalade is delicious. Most interesting was a Pontic Greek “pizza”. There are Pontic speaking Greeks in Northern Greece and when the manager heard that Fotini had relatives in Thessaloniki in Northern Greece she had the kitchen prepare this special breakfast “pizza” for us. Pontic Greek is also spoken in Turkey, Russia, Georgia and Armenia. And yes they have lose leaf tea! The staff here are super friendly.
Entrance Home Sweet Home Athens; Photo Robert K. Stephen
A Bird's Eye View of Fashion, Food, Travel, Culture, Beverage and Curiosity 