RKS 2023 Travel: My Name is Wolfgang Volk! Living in a Different Portuguese Dimension

Our group of 10 meandered into our hotel Senhora da Rosa Tradition & Nature Hotel in Ponta Delgado. It has been a long day, the day of the aborted landing at Ponta Delgado Airport. It is past midnight and we have an early morning pick up for our flight to PICO Island. We have a tasty light supper waiting for us with my goodness no wine! Am I in Portugal? So we crack open a few bottles Quinta Morgado from the Algarve had sent me prior to leaving for the airport in Porto. It is good stuff. The sparkler wins great acclaim as akin to a Piper Heidsieck Brut Reserve. Those Algarvian winemakers know their stuff if this wine is any indication of the wines of the Algarve.

Wait there is no room that has been booked for me. An error of the hotel or of the organizers of Wine and Travel Week? A room is found for me thank goodness. I trudge into the room to a plate of fresh pineapple and a welcome note from the hotel’s manager starting with “Dear Wolfgang Volk. It is a great pleasure to welcome you to Senhora da Rosa Tradition and Nature Hotel.”

RKS Travel 2023: Portuguese Groundhog Day: A Bit of Terror in the Sky and Plenty of Boredom Down Below: SATA Air Azores

Part of being invited to attend Wine and Travel Week in Porto this February included a three day side trip to the Azores, Portuguese Islands in the Atlantic Ocean.

It is a bit over two hours as the crow flies but it was not a crow I was flying on but an Air Azores A321 Airbus from Porto to Nordela Airport in Ponta Delgado. Descending for a pitch black landing in the fog and rain the plane takes a sudden dip and jerks upward its engines making “unusual noises”. The plane then starts wobbling to and fro accelerating upwards with red and white lights from the plane being seen in the fog. The lady in the window seat starts to moan and cling to her husband, I rather expect a huge crash and I await the impact soon to be no more! But we circle the island not knowing what in God’s name is happening. An aborted landing perhaps? SATA gives no explanation. Flying for 50 years this is my first aborted landing and I hope it will be the last.

The next day the terror was replaced by sheer boredom. A SATA Air Azores Dash 8 was to take us from Ponta Delgado to Pico Island. It was late in arriving due to the repair of the ventilation system. So eventually it arrives and off we take only to return to Ponta Delgado with ventilation system problems. After several hours delay off we go to Pico Island missing most of our day’s activities. SATA Air Azores was so kind to give us a food voucher for some lunch. A whopping 4 Euros when the cheapest sandwich at the airport is 4.65 Euros. We were obligated to pick up our bags then check in again and go through security. Portuguese Groundhog Day.

RKS 2023 Food: Sardine Rehab

On my trips to Porto you might say I mainline on the tasty grilled sardines served up at Alexandre Osorio’s Postigo do Carvão right by the river in the historic Ribeira District of Porto. I have been sardining there for years. I mean the starters are great, like the octopus salad and the cod fritters. And the top rate Zalto Denkart glassware for an expertly curated selection of Portuguese wines such as the excellent Chapeleiro Arinto and Loureiro from the Vinho Verde which recently filled my glass.

Postigo appetizers: Robert K. Stephen Photo

So while attending Wine and Travel Week in Porto in late February I dropped by to see Alexandre at Postigo expecting a bash of those stinky, silvery but utterly delicious sardines! We chatted for a bit catching up and with a smile in his eyes said he was preparing a special dish for me. Yummy. Oh me o my SARDINES!!!!

BUT WAIT. What was that mound of salt being wheeled over to my table after my octopus salad was scoffed down? A whole wild caught Robalo (sea bass). What cruelty! What deprivation! No sardines in Portugal. Who cares if they are out of season. In the midst of a shaking fit that cruel Alexandre nonchalantly said can you believe this, “There is more to life than sardines!” Has my good friend now become a sardine withdrawal therapist! Sardine season runs from May to the end of September. I wanted the real thing and in some methadone fashion he offers me sea bass! I am a sardinestore cowboy!

Really man this isn’t a platter of sardines!: Photo Robert K. Stephen

After some soothing therapist talk Alexandre calmed my anxiety down and the salt was removed and the sea bass filleted served with kale and white beans, roast potatoes, cabbage and carrots puree along with purple kale. YES IT WAS EXCELLENT!

After a wickedly delicious Lime Almond Pie prepared by his wife Ana finished off by a Taylor’s 30-year-old port I proudly was presented with a sardine rehabilitation certificate.

The final result: Photo Robert K. Stephen

Robalo ain’t sardines but it is a damn good substitute at least until May when the frisky stinkers are back in season!

Postigo do Carvão, Rua da Fonte Taurina 24 a 34, Porto, Portugal Tel 351 22 200 45 39, www.postigodocarvao.webs.com

RKS Wine 2023: Azores Wine Company: 2018 Verdelho Original António Maçanita

This Verdelho has been grown in the volcanic soils of Pico Island in the Azores Islands of Portugal.

Photo: Robert K. Stephen

Aroma: Pineapple, honey, almonds and apple.

Palate: Noticeable minerality and salinity with a gentle acidic bite if not a tad of white pepper. Bits of pineapple, guava and lemon meringue.

Cellarability: Will not improve with age but will cruise into 2026 nicely.

Food Match: Simply prepared white fleshed “sea steak”.

Personality: Perky and a bit taut yet shy in its soul.

In a nutshell: An Azorean wine with a slightly outgoing personality held back by innate shyness. More than a merely drinkable wine its character should be savored.  

Price: At the winery on Pico Island 26 Euros.

RKS 2023 Wine Rating: 89/100.

(Azores Wine Company: 2018 Verdelho Original António Macanita, I.G. Açores, Azores Wine Company, Pico Island (Azores, Portugal), 750 mL)

RKS 2023 Film: “Katak the Brave Beluga”: Do You Need to be a Brave Parent?

Do you meet the requirement often intended with animated films offered to small children? Are you ready for sappy sweet voices and simplistic plot lines. Perhaps these kiddie animated films are cringeworthy? Even so being a parent put on a brave face and smile as don’t we all have to make sacrifices for our children?

Good news with “Katak the Brave Beluga”. Although the voices are a bit overdone with innocence this film is watchable by both parent and child.

Katak must travel a great distance to retrieve grandfather Beluga, cad that he was, for leaving pregnant grandma Beluga behind. Grandma Beluga is on her last fin and will seeing grandfather Beluga revive her? Suspense!

Katak makes all sorts of cute friends on the way including Canada Geese with Newfoundlander accents, cod, sturgeon, puffins, seagulls and seals. Humour!

Katak encounters enemies including a polar bear and a killer whale. Fear!

Katak is bullied. Social relevance!

Katak and his pod face dangers of commercial shipping. Educational relevance! Environmental messaging!

Katak is maturing and still has his puppy gray colour whereas he should be turning white. The nastiness of social exclusion!

Katak shows that physical aberrations can be overcome. Bravery and Global Inclusion!

All said and done parents. You won’t suffer terribly through their film. The little mites will love it.

This Quebec film will have an extensive theatrical release in Canada on February 24th.

You may see the trailer here  https://vimeo.com/780865650

RKS Literature: White Men and The Ravages of Their Diseases!

“It has been said, that the greatest curse to each of the South Sea Islands, was the first man that discovered it; and everyone who knows anything of the history of our commerce in these parts, knows how much truth there is in this; and that the white men, with their vices, have brought in diseases before unknown to islanders, which are now sweeping off the native population of the Sandwich Islands, at the rate of one fortieth of the entire population annually. They seem to be a doomed people. The curse of a people calling themselves Christian, seems to follow them everywhere.; and even here, in this obscure place, lay two young islanders whom I had left as active young men, in the vigour of health, wasting away under a disease, which they would have never known but for their intercourse with Christianized Mexico and people from Christian America.”

“Two Year’s Before the Mast” R.H. Dana Jr, 1840

RKS Literature: Revolutions in California!

“Revolutions in California are matters of constant occurrence in California. They are got up by men who are at the foot of the ladder and in desperate circumstances, just as a new political party is started by such men in our own country. The only object, of course, is the loaves and fishes; and instead of caucusing, paragraphing, libelling, feasting, promising, and lying, as with us, they take muskets and bayonets, and seizing upon the presido and custom house, divide the spoils, and declare a new dynasty. As for justice, they know no law but will and fear.”

“Two Year’s Before the Mast” R.H. Dana Jr, 1840

RKS 2023 Wine: Chilean Carménère from Viña Koyle

As far as Chilean Carménère goes this year it is hard to find a klunker but you never quite know do you? We put a Koyle Royale Carménère from the Alto Colchagua to the test.

Aroma: While many Chilean Carménères have a nice raspberry and strawberry touch characteristic of a  lighter red wine this one has some serious blueberry and blackberry influences. There is no delicate in this one. 

Palate: Full force and impressive blitzkrieg of blackberry and blueberry wastes no time in impressing your palate. There are tannins but they are broad based covering the entire mouth. A full bodied Carménère worth writing home about.

Personality: I am super confident of my excellence. You can enjoy me both as a foodie wine or a sipper. I have a distinct “on the heavy side” Carménère personality. No chemical crap on me as I am both organic and biodynamic. But no goat horn taste on me!

Cellarbility:  An impressive wine now just you wait until 2024!

Food Match: A spicy Azorean Pico Island crab or beef dish. God knows where you might find that other than on Pico Island!!! Perhaps some sort of Szechwan beef or crab dish might be a substitute. Spice and garlic please!

In a Nutshell: Rich without being overpowering. Not lost in its fruit.

Price: $26.95. (Ontario)

RKS 2023 Wine Rating: 92/100. Patricio Tapia 93.

(Koyle Royale 2019 Carménère, D.O. Colchagua Valley, Viña Koyle, Fundo El Carmen de Los Lingues, Chile, Liquor Control Board of Ontario # 27211, 750 mL, 14.5%,).

RKS Literature: A Sailor’s Leave

“A sailor’s liberty is but for one day: yet while it lasts it is perfect. He is under no one’s eye, and can do whatever, and go wherever he pleases. This day, for the first time, I may truly say, in my whole life, I felt the meaning of a term I had often heard-the sweets of liberty. My friend S was with me, and turning our backs upon the vessels, we walked slowly along, talking the pleasure of being our own masters, of the times past, and when we were free in the midst of friends, in America, and the prospect of our return; and planning where we would go, and what we would do when we reached home.”

“Two Year’s Before the Mast” R.H. Dana Jr, 1840

RKS 2023 Wine: Poor Ignored Greece!

Like so many European wine producing countries Greek wine receives very little attention from the Liquor Control Board of Ontario. California is “show me the money”. And as there is no meaningful competition in the Ontario marketplace consumer exploitation! Same old countries over and over and over again. I am off to Portugal shortly for some tastings in Porto and in the Azores. There are wineries to visit in the Azores but I simply do not recall ever seeing any of their wines on the shelves of the LCBO.

So beat the drum with joy to welcome a Greek wine a Nemea Agiorgitiko from Cavino.

Aromatics: Some black cherry wafts up. Black plum, toasted almonds with a minority stake being held by raspberry.

Palate: Mildly tannic. Slashing surges of black cherry. A bit raw mind you. Needs to be decanted an hour prior to serving.

Personality: I am far from sophisticated being a simple country wine for simple country fare. I am not poorly made just simplistic. And don’t insult me by calling me “a Friday night pizza or burger wine”. I won’t be insulted though if you really mean it. In my country where octopus is aplenty I would happily say I am an every day octopus wine.

Food Match: Need anymore be said…OCTOPUS.

Cellarbility: Drink in 2023.

Price: $14.95 (Ontario).

RKS 2023 Wine Rating: 85/100.

Cavino Nemea Agiorgitiko 2020, P.D.O. Nemea, Liquor Control Board of Ontario # 588723, 750 mL, 13%.