RKS Wine: The Great Turkey Compromise?

A good many of you out there will be having turkey over the holidays and that begs the question what wine to pour. That query could lead to a PHD thesis. Given the trusty or rusty if you prefer match the colour of wine with food then turkey is almost entirely white meat so white wine of course? Ooops but what about the dark meat? And what about those loving their cranberry sauce where white wine will be a sour experience!

Given the white meat and accompanying vegetables with my beloved gravy I say a white like a Chardonnay or Encruzado might do the trick. Lest you be muttering what is this turkey (pun intended) talking about I can suggest a compromise of a rosé!

One top choice for Ontario residents if they can find it would be a Featherstone Rosé from Niagara. Readers with good access to French wines why not a Mas des Bressades from the Costières de Nîmes? It is not quite red nor white but a bit of both. On the nose the fruit is “light” with watermelon, strawberries, raspberries and yes a smidge of cranberries. On the palate the fruit is light as well with some bing cherry, pepper and raspberry. If I can be so bold I would say this rosé is 70% white and 30% red.

Being an obstinate type my choice for a roast turkey with bread stuffing, Brussel sprouts, green beans, mashed potatoes and butternut squash in ankle deep pools of my gravy would be a lightly oaked Chardonnay or a Portuguese Encruzado from the Dão region. I have travelled to Portugal many times but not over Christmas but turkey there is in the shadows. I think the big festive Christmas dish is Bachalau a cod casserole if I can bastardize such a wonderful dish by calling it a casserole where a light red would be a spectacular match based on my consumption of that dish.

Stay tuned for “Turkey Meets a Wild Red” soon which is by the way not a flog for cheap American bourbon!

Mas des Bressades Cuvée Tradition, 2021 AOP Costières de Nîmes, France. A blend of Grenache, Syrah and Cinsault.

RKS Film: “No Bears”: Jafar Panahi Weaves a Great Film

“No Bears” is Iranian director Jafar Panahi’s latest film. Panahi has been a thorn in the side of the Iranian regime for years and is prohibited from leaving Iran. He has previously been arrested, charged, placed under house arrest and prohibited from making films. “No Bears” was filmed secretly in Iran. In “No Bears” Jafar Panahi weaves an intricate film innocent and amusing on one hand yet threatening and frightening to an increasing degree as the film progresses.

Panahi plays himself as a director in a village called Jaban proximate to the Turkish border. Since he is prohibited from leaving Iran he must direct the film being shot in Turkey remotely. It appears as if the film being filmed in Turkey is a documentary about husband Bakhtiar and wife Zara both Iranians who have escaped to Turkey and are seeking to enter Europe with false documentation. Zara has been imprisoned, beaten and tortured in Iran.

Panahi receives regular discs with shoots of the film in his role as a virtual director. He has rented a room in the rural village from Ghanbar (Vahid Mobaseri) and becomes involved in a village dispute about villagers Gozal and Soldooz who are in love with each other to the chagrin of the Yaghoob family who through some tradition involving a cut umbilical cord believes one of their sons is to marry Gozal. A nine-year-old boy says he has seen Panahi photographing Gozal and Soldooz which would prove their “dishonourable” relationship. Panahi denies ever taking the photo and offers to give the villagers a disc from his camera that would prove his assertion he never took the photo. The situation escalates quickly. As one villager tells Panahi townsfolk worry about authority and country folk about superstition. This strange situation might be amusing initially until it turns deadly.

His film in Turkey is imploding due to Zara’s unwillingness to leave Turkey without her husband Bakhtiar who is having difficulty obtaining a false passport. That story ends tragically.

Nothing in the film really amounts to an explicit criticism of the regime as that criticism is buried deep in the film which at first glance seems to be the telling of two stories but lurking below that is a ripping criticism of life under the Iranian regime including:

  • Lack of freedom of expression
  • Harassment by political, security and civilian authorities of those considered a threat to the regime  
  • The relentless flow of those seeking to flee Iran many via human smugglers
  • Confessions extracted as a matter of show lacking a grounding in reality
  • Fear instilled by lies
  • The willingness to blame foreign elements for domestic problems
  • Being driven from your own homeland by desperation

As one villager warns Panahi as he is walking the streets of the village one night be careful because there are bears on the street. The villager shortly after recants telling Panahi there are no bears in the street as that is simply a story made to scare us as our fear empowers others. So true of many countries both past and present and not simply Iran.

You can see the trailer here https://vimeo.com/765806753 . The film opens a Canadian theatrical run on December 23.

RKS Film Rating 96/100.

RKS Literature: Passage of the Day: Charity and the Day of Reckoning at the Gates of Heaven

“And you whose immortal soul opened a money changing shop: you sit on the threshold, plunge your hand into the sack, give alms to the poor, lend to God. You keep a ledger and write: I gave so many florins for charity so and so on such and such a day, and at such an hour. You leave instructions for the ledger to be put in your coffin so that you will be able to open it in front of God, present your bill and collect the immortal millions…”

Nikos Kazantzakis: “The Last Temptation”: 1961

RKS Film: “Entre Nous” (Between Us): Harlequin Result? Non-Harlequin Journey?

So in a Harlequin scenario true love reigns? Where does true love reign between lesbians Élodie (Amandine Noworyta) and Laétitia (Iris Jodorowsky) and what role does a rather quirky Simon (William Mesguich) and his pet rat play in his attempt to break up the lesbian relationship?

Élodie and Laétitia are 30 something Parisian lesbians happily living together but a bit short on money so they take a magician Simon (and his pet rat) as roommates. Simon works as a magician in a gay nightclub and he pulls rats from his hat. He is a bit edgy and off standish initially but that ends when he transforms into a pushy and obsessed lesbian breaker upper. The clever magician impregnates Laétitia in a “test scenario” and the lesbian relationship implodes as Élodie leaves with papa Simon not for the man but the child! Rather weak writing here.

It is quite conceivable all three characters will die by suicide, poisoning or murder but damn it why didn’t Élodie spike Simon’s orange juice so fittingly with rat poison as after all he is more than simply a cad. He is a rat!

The movie could have ended in many ways. Death by rat poison. A suicidal fall. A deadly beating. Is it a Harlequin ending? Even if that was not the case a good cinematic French romantic voyage. Discrete and low keyed with a great soundtrack and occasionally wonderful cinematographic shots of the Narbonne region of France. No sleaze here just a couple tasteful romantic scenes that French cinema is so good at.

A good study of gender uncertainty, jealously, lust, obsession, abuse and stupidity.

“Entre Nous” is now available on DVD and VOD including iTunes, Amazon Prime Video, Google Play, Vudu, Vimeo and local cable and satellite providers.

You can see the trailer here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXLYExuJvR4

Jude Bauman directs this French film with English subtitles.

RKS Film Rating 74/100.

RKS Wines: Tawse 2019 Spark Limestone Ridge Riesling

Quite literally Ontario Riesling leaves a sour taste in my mouth. But what happens when Ontario Riesling is used to make a sparkling wine. Could that be the Great Riesling Hope for Ontario? The Jerry Quarry of the Ontario Riesling boxing ring?  I suppose we should have Tawse speak for itself.

The label and the website do not state whether this is made in the Traditional Method so consider it made by the Tank Method. That disclosure on the label might be appreciated.

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.

The wine would suit Malpeque Oysters beautifully

(Tawse 2019 Spark Limestone Ridge Riesling Brut, VQA Twenty Mile Bench, Tawse Winery Inc., Vineland, Ontario, $19.95, Liquor Control Board of Ontario # 370361, 750 mL,  12%, RKS Wine Rating 88/100).

RKS History: Grumbling Housewives and the Gestapo

“The inapparent inability of the regime to guarantee either stable prices or a regular supply of daily necessities, including food and clothing, was deeply disconcerting. According to a Gestapo report, the popular mood in the autumn of 1934 was apathetic and gloomy. Irritation with the many petty restrictions of everyday life was widespread and outright protest was not far beneath the surface. As one report commented, ‘The housewives in the markets still hold their tongues. But if one of them protests-which happens quite often-nobody contradicts her.’ According to the Potsdam Gestapo office this was symptomatic of the repressed mood of frustration. Wherever crowds gathered in the autumn of 1934- in the queues at the labour exchanges, at bus stops-there was more or less open rebellion against the regime.”

“The Wages of Destruction: The Making and Breaking of the Nazi Economy” : Adam Tooze Penguin Books 2006

RKS The Tea Meister: Organic Wuyi Rock Oolong from Genuine Tea in Toronto

Also known as Da Hong Pao or “big red robe” this rock oolong from the Wuyi Mountains of Fujian province is a truly unique dark oolong. It is said that the mother of the Emperor in the Ming Dynasty was very ill but after drinking this tea was cured, the Emperor then sent big red robes to clothe the tea bushes as a sign of admiration.

Rock Oolong has a unique flavour and hints at a black tea while still being considered an Oolong. It has heavily oxidized to around 75-80% and exudes notes of roasted mushrooms, whole wheat toast, marmalade, barley, brown rice and orange peels. On the palate a smooth tea low in tannins and acids with notes of mushroom broth and Greaves apricot jam.

$12.95 per 25 grams.

Region: Fujian, China | Elevation: 800m
Serving: 3g | Temp: 85C | Steep time: 3min
Ingredients: organic oolong tea

RKS Literature: Passage of the Day: The Death of a Child

“When a child dies, there is no land to be handed down, hardly any possessions to be divided up, no job or role unfulfilled, no debts that need be paid off. A child is a small sun that shines in the shadow of its parents, and when the sun goes out there is darkness only for the parents. “

Yann Martel: “The High Mountains of Portugal”: Vintage Canada 2016

RKS Literature: Passage of the Day: Living our Own Murder Mystery

“The sad fact is that there are no natural deaths, despite what doctors say. Every death is felt by someone as a murder, as the unjust taking of a loved being. And even the luckiest of us will encounter one murder in our lives: our own. It is our fate. We all live a murder mystery of which we are the victim.”

Yann Martel: “The High Mountains of Portugal”: Vintage Canada 2016

RKS Wine: Wine in a Can: Malivoire Lady Bug Rosé

Malivoire was kind enough to send me a few cans of Lady Bug Rosé. Yes, I said “cans”. Wine in a can is not something to suffer anxiety from however a few years ago when wine in a can was even more novel than it is now a producer sent me three different types of canned wine and all three were suffering from the “fizzies” through a flawed canning process. The next batch was flawless. So there is a science to canning wine!

There is also a science to lady bugs which are cute but are laden with stinky type of chemicals called methoxypyrazines and when those cute little insects are crushed in with the grapes those nasty stinking chemicals are released into the wine causing “ladybug taint”. Some say it gives a peanut flavour to a tainted wine.

So “Lady Bug” perhaps is a gutsy name to give a wine! The Malivoire Lady Bug 2021 Rosé comes in an attractively designed 250 mL can with a cute ladybug part of the graphics.

As for aromatics cherry, raspberry, watermelon and raspberry Dreamwhip. On the palate the fruit is much more reticent than it is on the nose. This is a firm rosé where both tannins and acids are soft. I would say these characteristics make it a great foodie wine particularly with a roasted red pepper cream sauce over fettucine egg noodles.

As luck would have it 12 cans are on sale for $59.40 and 24 cans for $118 and a 750 mL bottle retails for $17.95. The bottle is relatively ubiquitous on Liquor Control Board of Ontario shelves but the cans may be way more difficult to find so contacting the winery may be the best way to order cans. Cans do have a utilitarian purpose on summer picnics and times where simply a glass will do.

(Malivoire Lady Bug 2021 Rosé, VQA Niagara Peninsula, The Malivoire Wine Company, Beamsville, Ontario, RKS Wine Rating 88/100).