RKS Wine: Stag’s Hollow 2021 Muscat Frizzante

I know Stag’s Hollow in British Columbia’s Okanagan for some very serious high-quality wines. They are also not shy about pushing the boundaries with their Albariño, Dolcetto and Tempranillo. And they are at it again with a Muscat Frizzante. You will not see much Muscat wine produced in Canada.

More than a decade ago I attended the New York Wine Expo and sparkling Muscat was hot with rappers quaffing it and acreage was expanding rapidly in California. It certainly isn’t as hot as used to be. Can Stag’s Hollow bring back Muscat’s aura?

It is packaged in 250 mL cans with some playful colouring. On the nose a hallmark Muscat aroma of peach rules the roost with nectarines, Orri tangerine and a bit of honey. A light fizz but this is no Brut! The hegemony of peach asserts itself on the palate. The addition of 9% Albariño adds some acidity rescuing the wine from cloying sweetness. Sparkling Muscat is a wine I believe a glass or two might suffice so a can is perfect with its “large pour”. Great for people on the move in the summer. If you can find pizza with peaches as a topping this wine is for you. Similarly, if you can find a hot day as the slight fizz is a good thirst quencher. Serve chilled.

The wine is a blend of 53% Orange Muscat, 38% Muscat Ottonel and 9% Albariño.

Enjoy on a hot day.

$32 for a 4 pack of 250 mL cans. Perhaps it is best to order from the winery at stagshollowwinery.com

RKS Film: “Sam Now”: The Cycle Repeats

“Sam Now” is a creative adventure into self-discovery that casualties in life often repeat themselves inflicting harm on the next generation.

Sam Harkness and his bother Reed had been amateur filmmakers since childhood especially after discovering an old Super 8 camera in their garage. A favourite character in their movies was a superhero “Blue Panther” they created. Sam was the actor and Reed the cameraman. They lived a comfortable middle-class life in Seattle with mother Jois and father Randy.

Jois disappears without a note or a clue in 2000. Reed and Sam decide to make a movie about the Blue Panther finding Jois. Talking about police bureaucracy and an obsession with privacy the police respond to a missing persons report saying they have located Jois but she wants no contact with her family.

Through their own detective work they locate Jois living with Professor Edward Gosselin in Oregon. Jois had confided with a fellow employee at a local restaurant in Seattle she would be leaving with a man that took her to his speaking engagements throughout the world. An exciting life.

Sam claims not to have been affected by the defection of Jois. But life experiences dictate otherwise as he has trouble forming lasting relationships and he dips a bit too heavily in the bottle. Brother Jared was affected seriously by his abandonment.

After not seeing his mother in three years Jois presents no concrete answer for what she did to Sam other than saying she had to see herself and get out of the control of everybody. One might think she is a classic airhead with a cruel and selfish streak in her. But she has a secret that explains her lack of remorse about her abandonment of her family. She proclaims that she is not the one that needs mending. She seems above it all. As a viewer you may find some compassion to accept why she might have done what she did but it may be more difficult to forgive. In this regard that is the same conclusion you might reach after seeing another Hot Docs film “Silent Beauty” for which you can see my review here https://setthebarlifestyle.wordpress.com/2022/04/18/rks-film-silent-beauty-a-monstrous-chain-of-pedophilia/?fbclid=IwAR1PVCXylOto_tjE-UGGUCh2nunkgx-RRsIEo3yozNMblxmbWTyNEK8I4VU

In both films the cycle of bad is so easily transferable from generation to generation.

On the lighter side of things I wondered if “Sam Now” was a documentary about a movie or a movie about a documentary.

Playing in theatre at Toronto Hot Docs on May 1/5 and as of May 2 it will screen virtually for five days.

Directed by Reed Harkness.

RKS Film Rating 77/100.

“Travels to a Different Time” : 4July1975: Umea, Sweden: Germans Getting Piggish

Woke up freezing cold and with great bravery uncovered myself and quickly dressed. The Germans were up and stuffing themselves with breakfast and never even offered me some. I had no food. Come on guys have a heart as I got you in free to a couple of discos and beer to boot. Fortunately a gas station we stopped at was selling some milk so I had a litre for breakfast. I am drinking 3 litres of milk a day as it is so cheap as compared to other beverages. We stopped for lunch but again they stuffed their yappers not offering me a bite. God bless em. We ended up in Umea and thank goodness for a marketplace. I was ravenous. Made it to youth hostel in Umea and played some Frisbee with some Danes and a Swede.

“Travels to a Different Time” : 3July1975 : Sundvall, Sweden: Up in the Land of the Midnight Sun

Up early and to the German’s Simca heading North into the land of the Midnight Sun. Bought our breakfast supplies on the way and kept bombing around until 15:00 where we stopped at a lake. The owner of the house invited us to swim and use his chairs facing the lake. We ate lunch in the sun in his comfortable chairs. The water was cool and refreshing but I was dive bombed by a seagull several times. Perhaps it did not like Canadians. A lady in a VW showed us the way to the youth hostel in Sundvall. We had supper and after that I used my press pass to enter a bar and chat with the owner who bought us some beer. We stayed until 01:00 and it was still light outside!

RKS Film: “Atomic Hope”: The Bad Boys of Climate Change Advocacy (Toronto Hot Docs Festival)

There is nothing like documentary film to flip you on your head and make you realize that perhaps nuclear power is the most efficient and quick way to reverse climate change.

Initially the anti nuclear power people were on the fringe but decades later they are part of the establishment so the pro nuclear power movement now finds itself on the extreme fringe. I recall the day where open air atomic bomb testing occurred. And many of us are not far removed from Hiroshima and Nagasaki which led to blind opposition to anything nuclear. Many of us have perhaps an irrational fear of nuclear energy driven by our emotions and not by logic.

Fossil fuels account for 83% of total energy use. Demand for energy is on the rise. Climate change effects are rapidly threatening our lives and renewable energy such as wind and solar are helping but they are unreliable and when a source is unreliable you increase its use making it more expensive.

We have an interesting example of the West trying to stop tyrant Putin from decimating Ukraine and its populace and what is his weapon? It is fossil fuel. What would the situation be if Germany had not decommissioned its nuclear plants?

I will let you listen to the bad boys promoting nuclear energy and if you are concerned about climate change you owe it to yourself to watch this documentary. I am thinking they are not bad boys!

Directed by Frankie Fenton.

The film is part of the Toronto Hot Docs Documentary Festival and can be seen in theatre on May3/8 and for 5 days virtually commencing May 4.

RKS Film Rating 86/100.

“Travels to a Different Time” : 2July1975: Stockholm, Sweden: Too Many Winos and Police

Up at 07:00 thinking I would go to student employment office but gave up on that idea. Went back to sleep feeling like bugs were crawling all over me. Scratching and itching! I am into my austerity programme so today I will eat one meal only. I will go to the smorgasbord at Hotel Rydberg at 53 Drotting. I went to Kulterhuset to listen to a record which was very good. The two German guys I met were on the steps outside when I was leaving. So they came to Hotel Rydberg and ate daintily while I stuffed myself. No gourmet delight but it fills the stomach. We waddled out and I headed home at a slow pace. I had my last hot shower in Stockholm and planned my next stop. Then went into town and stopped at a park and counted 19 winos in a tiny park. They are all over the place and there are so many police! Home to bed early as on road tomorrow with the Germans.

RKS Film: “Million Dollar Pigeons”: Do You Still Think Pigeons Are Flying Rats?

“Million Dollar Pigeons” is a fascinating look into the exciting (yes I said exciting!) world of pigeon racing. Once a working man’s sport it has morphed into a multi-million-dollar business where recently two million dollars was spent by a Chinese bidder on a pigeon in an auction. The Chinese millionaires are in the auction arena spending money like it is going out of style. Chairman Mao would be turning in his grave with this capitalist decadence!

The big race, until recently, was the South Africa Million Dollar Pigeon Race. Cocktail parties, gala dinners and lots of nail biting. In this race the entrance fee is $1,000 a bird pricing is cutting out the working-class pigeon fanciers and favouring the wealthy. You have to feed and provide medical care for your birds. In fact as for medical care the documentary features a jet setting pigeon veterinarian who exclusively treats pigeons. One problem with these international races is that birds come from dozens of countries and combine them all in pigeon lofts and disease can spread like wildfire.

With any of these expensive birds you can entrust a fortune to race organizers to house, feed and train the birds. Yes they are released father and farther away from “homebase” as their “training”. They don’t call them “homing pigeons” for nothing.

In its 24th year the South African Million Dollar Pigeon Race runs into discord after suddenly increasing the length of the race which is inviting charges of cruelty from animal rights activists. Then despite having 9,000 pigeons from 40 countries where the entrance fee is $1,000 per pigeon the winners aren’t paid and lawsuits ensue. Apparently there are problems with some of the equity partners and COVID? But where did all the entrance fee money end up?

Well too bad so sad and it is sad as all the staff and non equity partners get stiffed out of hard-earned money. There are 5 other multi-million-dollar pigeon races and one that is featured is the Pattaya race in Thailand. The South African race seems focused on money and has a disregard for the pigeon fanciers. The Pattaya organizers have a reverence and respect for pigeons with almost a spiritual view of the sport and realize the trust pigeon fanciers have placed with them.

Pigeon race winners can make a small fortune off their winning birds by breeding them or selling them for breeding purposes. That and pigeon auctions seem to be where the sure money is.

You know what? It’s exciting to wait to see the winner flutter in!

Urban pigeons may be flying rats but don’t paint too wide a swath and apply that to all pigeons. These racing pigeons and pigeon fanciers are something else.

Directed by Gavin FitzGerald.

Festival screenings at Toronto Hot Docs will be April 29/May 3/7. For 5 days commencing April 30 it can be streamed but is geoblocked to Canada.

RKS Film Rating 88/100.

RKS Wines: Bonarda, Should Malbec Be Worried?

Years ago the Argentinians launched International Malbec Day. I suppose then we won’t be seeing Bonarda Day? There is a certain mass appeal to the plush and lush Malbec. Perhaps that is why you see so much more Argentinian Malbec than Bonarda in Canada.

How about the Lamadrid Bonarda which was ranked #37 in Wine Enthusiast’s Top 100 Best Buys of 2020 earning a score of 91. Like the best Argentinian Malbecs it is also from Mendoza. On the nose one gets the sense of a sharper and more peppy wine than a Malbec. Malbec reminds of a stout and sleepy goutish character. Loads of freshly picked red fruit with a tad of coal reminiscent of grapes grown in volcanic soil. On the palate the tannins are on the light side. The wine has a perky and fresh taste. Very well integrated acidity with a slightly peppery finish. Some coal, cactus pear, cola and black cherry in a tight anxiety ridden finish. I sense the fruit might make a “Great Escape” in a couple of years. For food I think a Bachalau might suit this or a shrimp and feta tart.

Malbec and Bonarda appear to be diametrically opposed.

(Lamadrid Single Vineyard Bonarda 2019, Agrelo, Luján de Cuyo, Mendoza, Argentina, Bodega    Lamadrid, Mendoza Argentina, $16.95, Liquor Control Board of Ontario # 232652, 750 mL, 14%, RKS Wine Rating 89/100).

RKS Film: “Images of a Nordic Drama”: Battle Royale in the Art World (Toronto Hot Docs Festival)

Norwegian art collector Haakon Mehren is reluctantly led to a barn in 1990 by his friend who has unearthed a huge cache of paintings by unknown Norwegian artist Aksel Waldemar Johannessen (1880-1922). Another collection of his paintings is held by his surviving daughter. Mehren thinking that “treasures in a barn” is a fairy tale is blown away by the depth and power of the paintings.

Haakon Mehran

Johannessen painted lumpenproletarian subjects very unfashionable and vulgar to many and rubbish to most directors of the Norwegian National Museum. One director Knut Berg had a hatred of Johannessen to the extent that he threatened a cultural director in Germany that should he exhibit him there would be no loans of any Norwegian art to German museums the cultural director was responsible for something the Germans took as a threat.

Johannessen was an artist who painted for himself and never entered the commercial market for art. He was poor and when his wife was diagnosed with cancer his drinking increased and he was eventually found in the gutter, transported to hospital where he died. His terminally ill wife mounted an exhibit of his art which was met with critical acclaim and Edvard Munch praised him. The public guardian took control of his art until his two daughters reached the age of majority. Johannessen fell off the radar screen until Mehren encounters his paintings in 1990 and from then on ceaselessly champions him battling against Berg of the National Museum and his allies. Being spurned by the National Museum and much of the Norwegian art establishment Mehren takes the paintings for exhibits in Italy and Vienna to huge acclaim. Berg battles against Mehren despite the public appreciation of a Norwegian treasure.

Allis Helleland is appointed as a new director of the National Museum and Mehren appears to finally have an ally at the National Museum but she leaves after infighting in some part due to her appreciation of Johannessen. The next director of the National Museum has no appreciation of Johannessen as he appears to be cozying up to a billionaire art collector and building “corporate partnerships” that shy away from anything different from bread and butter and since they start controlling purse strings of museums they get what they want. Been to the opera, ballet or public art gallery lately? These money sucking machines are kept afloat by corporate interests so what independence do they have? That’s a story for another day.

Mehren offers 30 paintings to the municipality of Oslo along with a large grant but they refuse it. The legacy of Berg remains strong Edvard Munch obsessed that they are. And in effect using Munch as a weapon against Mehren.

The exhibit of Johannessen in Italy was referred to the Italian press as a “Nordic Drama”.

The documentary concludes with a Johannessen hanging in the Met in New York.

You’ll be treated to many of his artworks in the documentary and I say it is tragic Johannessen never lived to see the admiration many have for his work and the fact Mehren has not managed to install Johannessen in the National Museum. The acidic politics of the Norwegian art world. You can see in theatre at Hot Docs on April 30 and May 5 and virtually for 5 days (geoblocked to Canada) as of May 1.

Directed by Nils Gaup.

RKS Film Rating 92/100.