RKS Wine: Marynissen Estates: Two Strikes And You Are Out

How generous should you be before calling a winery out? My view is two strikeouts and that winery is out or if you are more forgiving perhaps on probation. I have called a strikeout on Marynissen’s 2019 Cabernet Franc giving that tired and anemic wine a 64/100. What will the 2019 Cabernet Merlot bring?

Considering it’s made with 15% of the 2019 Cabernet Franc coupled with 49% Merlot and 36% Cabernet Sauvignon the latter two grapes being Ontario weakling grapes I’d be seriously watching the batter and if he strikes out again maybe it is time to send him back to Triple A in Biddlypoop, Kansas.

Ok the pitcher winds up and releases the ball with the Marynissen batter tensing up. The aroma presents one with a relaxed black cherry, very ripe strawberry and cola. The batter at least makes some contact but it is a foul ball way down left field but in the stands. The pitcher winds up and here comes the ball. The tannins are moderate. But the Marynissen batter is having a flashback about the poor 2019 Cabernet Franc and a fastball whizzes by him over the strike zone while he suffers from embarrassment at his last strikeout at his previous at bat. The Marynissen batter takes another strike looking like a rabbit nibbling on the vines just before a vineyard hawk scoops him up for dinner. The batting coach comes onto the field seeing the Marynissen batter is in distress. A few calming words and a pat on the back and he trots back to the bench. Has this little break caused concentration to return for the Marynissen batter? The fans wait as the wine aerates. Here comes the ball and it’s the treacherous knuckleball looking like it is coming in at over 100 when actually it is the mid sixties. The Marynissen batter lifts his leg and readies the swing. He looks like he is going to pound that ball out of the park after all he had 26 home runs last year and a Golden Glove award but that was yesterday and today is today. The hometown crowd is on its feet. So before the call is made or the ball hit the taste of the wine is again what one might expect from depleted soil. Smack sounds the ball as it hits the catcher’s mitt and the umpire yells “Yuuuuur Out!” Marynissen strikes out again. I am staying away from their wines. Many ballplayers have had their day and struggle for a year or so before they retire. My last interaction with Marynissen was perhaps a decade ago and their win and loss record was far better than it is now.

(Marynissen Estates 2019 Cabernet Merlot, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Marynissen Estates, Niagara-on-the-Lake, $17.95, LCBO #16713, 750 mL, 13.5%, A Little Birdie Told Me So Rating 69/100).

Reflections of Reggie the Egyptian Rescue Dog: Malaria of a U.S. Marine in The Jungle 0f 1944 New Britain

“To lie on my back was torture, to lie on my stomach a torment. I tried to lie on my side, but even here my bones ached as though they were being cracked in the grip of giant pliers. I could not eat. I could not drink-not even water. They fed me through the veins, intravenously, for how long I do not know-ten days, two weeks. All the time I lay baking-not burning or flaming, understand , but baking as though I were in an oven-feeling the will to live shrivel within me, yearning only for a tiny trickle of sweat to burst from my desiccated flesh, hearing people alive and talking around me, the touch of the nurse, the momentary cool of the alcohol being rubbed on my back like a blissful reminder of the world I had left, but comprehending nothing. Lying there, only a rag of aching bones slowly shrinking in the glowing oven of malaria.”

Robert Leckie “Helmet for my Pillow” Bantam Books

“Travels to a Different Time” : 30June1972: Torremolinos, Spain: Finding an Apartment

We have moved to the ocean to Torremolinos which is relatively close to Malaga and is popular with European tourists. There is a big building boom on so this town is going to be an even huger tourist destination. Our apartment has a kitchen and a balcony facing the ocean. After unpacking we went to a local restaurant and had a delicious meal of paella. We retuned home for a swim in the pool and headed out for some tapas which are a whole bunch of small dishes. I loved the potatoes and the octopus. Back home to bed and I think we will be over the jet lag tomorrow.

3July1972: Torremolinos, Spain: The Beach Smells Like a Sewer: Off to the Tabu Discotheque: CAVA at 5 Cents a Bottle

We have a big market just around the corner full of meat, fish and vegetables. We bought two pounds of shrimp for $2 and some type of local fish. A North American meal of hamburgers for lunch. After a siesta it was to the beach down the street which smelt like a sewer. We met a couple of Americans and went back with them to their hotel and swam in their pool. We came home and had shrimp and fish for dinner and Mom had some sparkling wine she paid 5 cents a bottle for. We met the two Americans after dinner and I went off to the Tabu discotheque and Mom and the Americans went to Club Cleopatra. We met up at 1 a.m. and headed home

“Travels to A Different Time ” 29June1972: United States and Malaga, Spain: Back in Shape and on The Road: Air Sickness Bag Has a Visitor!

Having received medical clearance to fly and live a normal active life it is back in Europe to Malaga in Spain. Mom has been talking about wanting to visit Spain and here we are here. It was via Washington from New York. Poor Mom filled up an air sickness bag. First time she has been airsick. I am happy to be back in Europe but suffering from jet lag everything is a bit fuzzy. We ate in the hotel restaurant after having a swim. After this early dinner the joys of sleep! Diary Entry Margaret Stephen: I put out my swimsuit and stretched out in the sun and got a burnt stomach. I lost the Scrabble game I bought in New York. How dumb can you be?

“Travels to A Different Time” : 1972 Travel: The Warmup: A 16 Year Old In Europe Alone!

1972 adventures are coming up and it is the beginning of June and I have mononucleosis and I know the transmitter. The niece of the headmaster of my high school. Bad luck. I have to lay low. No sport. No parties. Strangely I am sort of a celebrity at school. A man of the world so as to speak. This will delay travel plans until I get medical clearance. I can swim and rest up in the sun so I am not in an Iron Lung!

Now in a big development Mom and I have agreed she will come with me for a couple of weeks wherever we go and then I will be on my own. As she has said I have in “training” experience for this for the last couple of summers. I have navigated a wild and woolly Europe and have turned from a boy into a man with street smarts. She says my father would be proud how I have turned into a man. That’s what he wanted on his dying bed and he was one tough guy fighting the The Battle of Britain. I will be 16 on my own in Europe. I am ready for it. I am looking forward to it. Again I think how many 16-year-olds are doing this. We have run into many hippies in Europe but they are all in their 20’s. I have listened to their stories and coping mechanisms and tips. I was living with and like them. Hat’s off to Mom for having the faith and confidence in me. She absolutely wants lots of letters from me. We have our sights on Spain. I know my mother had a favourite aunt, Marjorie who was a bon vivant so unlike my Temperance grandmother. She actually died in Spain while living there. I suppose I have one or two hurdles to pass before I go. I am having a terrible time with Algebra at school. I have my own logic about solving problems but it is wrong but my teacher Mr. Spencer understands my insights and appreciates it but it is strangely logical and consistent but wrong. I am so frustrated and am at the edge and I will fight like hell not to fail as I will not fail on my solo adventure in Europe. I must pass Algebra to prove to myself. I will not fail in Europe. Mr. Spencer said he would work with me so with my best friend Michael R we spend two hours a day after school for a month with Mr. Spencer working on Algebra. I look longingly at the field wishing I could be practicing pitching hardball with Michael R as I have a unique sidearm and submarine delivery. But we focus. And the provincial matriculation exam for Algebra takes place and it is a breeze. I am a student on the verge of failure but the provincial matriculation results are released and I AM IN THE TOP 1%! A person without hope obtaining this result. A life lesson. If someone cares about you anything is possible. I receive some award for this feat. I am feeling invincible. Bring it on Europe! I am sure my father will be watching over me with a grin on his face.

Reflections of Reggie the Egyptian Rescue Dog: Self Compassion and Pain

“As we cultivate mindfulness in our own hearts, we can direct similar compassion towards ourselves. Sometimes we need to care for ourselves as if that suffering is our own child. Why not show compassion, Kindness, and sympathy toward our own being, even as we openly fully to our pain? To treat ourselves with as much kindness as we would another person in pain is a wonderfully healing meditation in its own right. It cultivates lovingkindness and compassion, which know no boundaries “

Jon Kabat-Zinn “Full Catastrophe Living”

Dylan’s Passage of The Day: “The Fear of the Night”

” Morning’s pale light had offered an end to such fears for centuries, millennia, whatever dangers may come with the day. Shutters were banged open, curtains drawn, shop doors and windows were unlocked, city gates unbarred, swung wide, as women and men made their way out into the offered day.

On the other hand (in life there was almost always anther hand), daylight meant that intimacy, privacy, escape from the unwanted gaze, silence for meditation, the solace of unseen tears on a pillow-or of secret love on that same pillow before or after-were so much harder to claim. Rarer coinage in the clear light.

It is more difficult-much more difficult-to hide and not be found. “

Guy Gavriel Kay “Ysabel” 2010 Penguin Canada

“Travels to a Different Time” : 1971 Travel Reflections:

  • European communism has been a failure: East Germany is in shambles and has fallen so low and barbaric that it has built the Berlin Wall to imprison its citizens. Yugoslavia may have fared better but there is widespread poverty, a poor infrastructure and a shortage of food and consumer goods. Political freedom of expression does not exist in communist countries.
  • There is no real difference between citizens of a communist countries and Canadians. Both want peace, food on the table and freedom. It is the politicians that divide people.
  • Travelling widens the mind and gets you out of a mental ghetto.
  • Travel makes your life a series of compromises especially if you have a restricted budget that makes you live close to the ordinary citizens.
  • Travel brings you closer to the people in the country you are visiting.
  • For children and teens travel is an essential way towards understanding history, economics and politics.
  • Travelling causes you making sacrifices. Forget your daily routine you may have had. You have to be flexible. How important is that big Canadian breakfast. You can do without bacon and eggs and that glass of milk.
  • Travelling may change how people think about you back home. How can they relate to being surrounded by soldiers with machine guns with dogs? You may be wiser and more mature and view those who have not traveled and are ignorant.
  • You may start to understand what it is like to live in a democratic country and appreciate what democracy means.
  • You will appreciate different foods and ways of life.
  • The more you travel the more you want to travel.

Photo: Fotini Stephen : Guincho Beach Portugal

RKS Wine: A Couple of Tuscans

Tuscany is a beautiful part of the world and some years ago a friend and I rented a villa in the countryside so both our families had a base. Of course, we visited Montalcino and Montepulciano and admired their quaint beauty however tainted as it was by too many tourists. Yet look elsewhere to the smaller towns and you might find a quieter less tourist ravaged town. And the Pecorino cheese with so many varieties and at such reasonable prices! And fill er up water bottles so you could buy 1.5 litres of local wine for 2 Euros. We did have a great meal cooked by some local ladies outdoors and it was memorable but most of our meals were very simple with easy pasta sauces, bread, pecorino cheese, juicy sweet tomatoes and lots of cured ham. The easy life. Time to return.

Tuscan Countryside:: Photo Fotini Stephen

And of course, Chianti! A smooth oft cherry infused wine great with our food. Dragging back these pleasant memories we try a Le Cavane Quercione 2019 Chianti. A solid nose of black cherry with a touch of barnyard and only a touch. On the palate a slight bit of tannin which for me is one the building blocks for ageing a wine. Again that black cherry with cola, raspberry and Florida strawberries which are not as sweet as our local berries in season but far better than the wooden California strawberries I have given up on.

I think that the tannins rather require some food be it some Pecorino cheese, olives and cured meats. Or for more than some nibbles a Steak Florentine or Tuscan wild boar stew over pasta would do quite nicely. The wine might smooth out over the next few years but the question is will the barnyard notes amp up. Brett is spoilage yeast and there is always the risk that as the wine matures and loses some of its fruit the Brett intensifies. But for now it is “charming”. Next year?

(Le Calvane Quercione DOCG Chianti 2019, Fattoria di Vicchio, Montespertoli, Italy, $17.95, Liquor Control Board of Ontario # 454934, 750 mL, 13%, Robert K. Stephen A Little Birdie Told Me So Rating 89/100).

The next wine is a Guinzano San Gimignano Rosso DOC. It requires a minimum of 70% Sangiovese. San Gimignano is just north of Siena. A very solid aroma of red cherry dominates as is the case of most wines made with a high percentage of Sangiovese. There are also minor notes of raspberry and blackberry. On the palate the tannins are light and sweet red cherry dominates. A pleasant lightweight wine most cheerful and affable. You can drink now or hold until the end of 2025. A good wine for sipping or with some seared tuna.

(Guinzano San Gimignano Rosso DOC, Fattoria LaTorre, San Gimignano, Italy, $16.95, Liquor Control Board of Ontario # 480665,750mL, 14%, Robert K. Stephen A Little Birdie Told Me So Rating 90/100).

Reggie the Egyptian Rescue Dog’s Reflections: US Marine First Division Lands in 1943 Melbourne For R&R After Guadalcanal

“The exhilaration of that night! At first, I thought that it was my strange uniform and deep sunburn that marked me out for curiosity. But soon I realized that it was something more. I was the deliverer in the land that he has saved. The smiles and winks of the Melbourne crowds assured me of that: the street hawkers too, with their pennants- : “Good on you Yank. You saved Australia”-told me it was so. It was adulation and it was like a strong drink. I took it for a triumph and soon regarded every smile as a salute and every Melbourne girl as the fair reward for a sunburned deliverer. “

Robert Leckie “Helmet Under My Pillow” Bantam Books