RKS 2023 Wine: Casas del Bosque 2019 Gran Reserva Cabernet Sauvignon

As we roll through Chile reasonable prices and high quality prevail but did I really need to relate that to you? The LCBO has been quite generous in listing Chilean wines in their Vintages releases. So get ready for a big Chilean invasion in 2023 in Canada. Can we push matters a bit and say buy Chilean and you’ll be laughing all the way to the bank?

Aromatics: Cheerful and chattering cherry, blueberry, rhubarb pie, red currants and a bit of leather.

Palate: The cheerful cherry isn’t relegating itself to aromas as it is on the palate again. Tannins are a bit chalky. There is also blueberry and raspberry. Short and authoritative finish.

Personality: With that cheerful cherry influence I am approachable yet be wary of a serious no nonsense wine.

Food Match: Sun died tomato and chickpea burger.

Price: $22.95 (Ontario).

Cellaring potential: The wine will marginally improve until 2027. Drink by end of 2029.

In a nutshell: Despite the cheerful cherry influence it is only an influence. A serious Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon with a unique character.

RKS 2023 Wine Rating: 91/100.

(Casas del Bosque 2019 Gran Reserva Cabernet Sauvignon, Maipo Valley, Casas del Bosque, Casablanca Valley, Chile, Liquor Control Board of Ontario # 353086, 750 mL, 14.5%).

“The Penniless Pensioner: Misaligned, Maligned but Marvellous” : Chapter 23: Strolling Central Park with John Lennon: Getting Shivers From Chapman

I met John in the lobby of the Dakota for our tour of Central Park. John explained to me the media was constantly on his tail as an ex-Beatle. We had a choice of a few service exits and we slipped out to a bright spring day and headed into the park. John had put his hair in a ponytail, was wearing sunglasses and a baseball cap so he simply looked like any other New Yorker. We walked undisturbed from one end of Central Park to the other. The lagoon, the zoo, the promenade, the baseball fields and hot chestnuts. Those warm honey coated peanuts were fantastic. John had a chuckle about the carts selling Nathan franks saying he had been dinged badly eating a chili dog from a cart a few years ago.

John explained to me that he was happy to have met me as so many people simply wanted to bask in his aura or exploit him for some purpose. He was pursued by other celebrities and was losing his touch with the common folk. He never forgot his humble days in Liverpool with Tony Sheridan, George and Paul. But gone were the days of anonymity. The price of fame. And they were attacking Yoko Ono mercilessly in the media labelling her as the breaker upper of the Beatles. As much as New York was bad for John he was addicted by its vibes but confessed he felt a bit like a prisoner in the cell of his Dakota pad. I offered him the use of my compound in Bombay and with its grounds he and Yoko could feel less like a prison. John thanked me and said he would think about it.

John showed me the Met and the Guggenheim and suggested when I have some time that I should go there. He avoided these museums as there were so many British tourists he felt he would be “outed”. At 5th and 92 we stopped at the Jewish Museum of New York and headed downstairs to the cafeteria for some lox and bagels. John loved the cafeteria for its good food and lack of hordes of tourists.

We returned to the Dakota and John asked me to join him for some ice cream. Yoko had a strange looking woman called Yayoi Kusama dressed half like a doll and a clown. John said she was a famous Japanese artist. We had some of John’s favourite ice cream from Toronto. It was Chapman’s a brand I knew well but that name Chapman suddenly sent shivers up and down my spine. Strange. Did I sense something foreboding? I thanked John for his hospitality and asked him if I could read his tea leaves. My granny in India Sula had taught me the skill. Essentially it was a question of luck meeting the obvious. On occasion I was spot on. It was set up for high tea at my place. John said that after that he was flying to Nashville for a recording session.

RKS 2023 Wine: Chilean Carignan: Undurraga T.H. (Terroir Hunter)

The Undurraga 2019 T.H. Carignan is from the Maule Valley of Chile which is Chile’s largest viticultural region and one of the most geographically and climatically diverse, encompassing the Andes to the east and the rolling costal hills to the west, which makes it possible for both red and white varieties to thrive. Unlike many of Chile’s viticultural growing regions the Maule Valley does not have maritime influences. This wine is from 50-year-old vines planted in granitic soils. 2,160 cases were produced. Undurraga was established in 1885. The wine was aged for 16 months in aged French oak barrels.

Aromatics: Raspberry, blackberry, black cherry and loganberry jam.

Palate: Moderate tannins with a lightning bolt of raspberry striking the palate immediately. Chalky finish. A gentle acidity prevents this wine from being jammy.

Cellaring potential: 3-5 years improving in the first three years and holding steady for another 2.

Price: $ 29.95. (Ontario)

Personality: Easy going but not flippant. I’m a real charmer!

Food matches: Duck breast in a Port reduction sauce.

In a nutshell: A wine that woke up on the wrong side of the bed and wandered into a raspberry patch.

RKS 2023 Wine Rating: 93/100.

(Undurraga 2019 T.H. (Terroir Hunter) Carignan , Maule Valley D.O. (Cauquenes Zone) Vina Undurraga, Chile, 750 mL, 14.5%)

“The Penniless Pensioner: Misaligned, Maligned but Marvellous” : Chapter 22: My Stint in New York Begins with a John Lennon Friendship

I arrived in New York off my Greyhound bus from Toronto. US immigration tossed off at least half of the Amish on the bus sending them back to Canada. I proceeded to the United Mutations headquarters near the corner of 43rd and Third very close to the United Nations where I met United Mutations representative Melanie Stumps. Stumps was kind enough to put me up at the International Hostel for Mutants way up in the 90’s in Harlem. Stumps said to me you have two weeks to find an apartment before you start your assignment. I would have preferred the Ritz-Carlton Central Park South but wanting to appear “part of the team” I took the bus up to Harlem. Being a bit sick of lodging in luxury hotels I bought a two-bedroom condo in a charming Gothic building called “The Dakota” very close to Central Park. I was having some trouble with my keys entering my condo and a long-haired fellow with glasses helped me. Being a neighbourly fellow, he invited the newby to tea at his “pad”.

What a jolly fellow with a British accent. I felt like I was back home in Bombay. Upon entering his pad he introduced me to his “old lady” Poko Tonyroma I believe her name was. His name was John Lennon. It had a familiar ring to it. We had a lovely pot of tea and some pot brownies and chatted for an hour or so.

I asked Mr. Lennon about all the guitars he had all over his “pad” and he explained he was a musician. I explained I was half Welsh and half Indian. My late mom was Juanita Wallabong a well-known singer of Bombay Blues and my dad was Paneer Gupta an entrepreneur. Well to my surprise Mr. Lennon was a fan of my mom and knew my father! How could that be! Well Mr. Lennon was John Lennon of that British group “The Beatles”! Damn it I knew that band. He told me he had just recorded one of my mom’s songs “Give Peace a Chance”! And when the Beatles were in India my dad had supplied them with lots of ganja! What a small world!

Poko Tonyrama sat by herself writing poetry and said nary a word. Mr. Lennon insisted I call him John. John invited me to take a long walk with him in Central Park the next day.

RKS Poetry: “Galen Weston Jr. Did You Forget About Kraft Dinner?”

Galen Weston Jr. Did You Forget About Kraft Dinner?

With family wealth estimated at close to 9 billion what wealth!
So many heartfelt thanks for freezing prices on Loblaws house brands showing concern for Canadian’s financial health!
But please at $2.99 at Shoppers Drug Mart for a box of Kraft Dinner
and 4 for $3.99 at competitor Metro that kind of makes you like a sinner
I’m shopping at Metro instead of Shoppers just to show you I am a winner

Robert K. Stephen

RKS 2023 Wine: More Carmenère from Chile

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%)

RKS Poetry: “48 Hangers”

48 Hangers

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

Robert K. Stephen

“The Penniless Pensioner: Misaligned, Maligned but Marvellous” : Chapter 21 Hot Shot Lawyer with The United Mutations in New York City

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.

RKS 2023 Film: “Love, Charlie: The Rise and Fall of Chef Charlie Trotter”

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.

You can see the trailer here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9dYyg5VcvA

The film will have a theatrical release on January 2,2023.

RKS 2023 Film Rating 87/100.