A Zortixian spacecraft landed on Mount Royal that evening to take passengers back to Zortixia. Switchboards lit up at police stations throughout the island of Montreal reporting sightings of a UFO over the city! Squid had asked 10 earthling mutants to join him as a guest on the voyage but only two accepted. The first earthlings to visit another planet where there was a civilization opposed to rocks and an uninhabitable atmosphere. Montenez was staying behind for this trip and he gave Squid a warm embrace and suggested they make the next visit back to Zortixia together. Bertie Foonbean was there as well to say good-bye. Foonbean had just been released from jail after having embarked on a Canada wide tour advocating for the abolishment of psychiatric institutions except those for the most dangerous offenders. He had been picked up in Wa Wa, Ontario by the RCMP on a trumped-up charge of jay walking.
The Zortixian captain was anxious to get going as sensors had detected a large crowd of humans running up towards the mountain and the last thing the city wanted after the attack of the mutant killer ants was a confirmed UFO sighting!
The voyage from Earth to Zortixia took some twenty Earth hours and the two mutant earth observers aboard were given mild sedatives to calm them down for what they were about to see. One of them moaned “Shit….I’ve never even been in a plane before!”
Thousands of Zortixians were cheering as the craft docked in a landing station. A feverish excitement swept the crowd waiting to see the mutant Earthlings. When Squid emerged from the spacecraft the silence of the crowd was deafening. He waved and shouted, “Ami Tsech Curvi” the standard Zortixian greeting sending the crowd into orgasmic delight. A more restrained applause greeted the Earthlings. Garth Reseudo and Ergot stayed onboard the ship as they were travelling incognito lest they arouse suspicion of Zorollian spies who were no doubt on Zortixia.
The visitors were whisked to a State Hostel for a good sleep after their voyage and the next day there was a massive banquet in their honour. Eno had blown his cover after too many drinks of rum and marijuana after discovering them in his pirate and smuggling days on Earth. The Zortixians loved the rum and the weed and several prominent businessmen were already thinking about building a rum distillery and planting cannabis plantations.
Rumours began swirling about that Eno Ergot was on Zortixia to launch a mission to topple his despot uncle Redbeard. Zortixians has suffered under Oppositism for many years and they sympathized with Zorollians currently suffering under its oppressive yoke. The Zortixians had already executed one Jiber and they hoped Eno would do the same to Redbeard.
Eno was persuaded to take to the podium and say a few words, “There have been too many victims of Oppositism on both Zorollia and Zortixia. Zorollia must be liberated from the yoke of Oppositism eternally. The Zorollian status quo must be toppled by the Zorollian people and there is nothing that the tyrant Redbeard can do to stop it. Let Zorollians implement a government based on justice truth and equality.” After a round of hearty applause Eno lit up a cigarette (a bad habit he had developed on Earth) and continued, “I am positive there are Zorollian intelligence officers in our midst working for my evil uncle Redbeard and urge them to warn Redbeard that his time has come. Look to my left and you will see Garth Reseudo, an early protestor of the Redbeard regime, who was exiled to Earth for his beliefs. He will join me in my fight in a non-violent capacity. Both Squid and Reseudo have tirelessly carried on a struggle on Earth for dignity and civility. When we vanquish Redbeard I would be pleased to welcome Squid as an ambassador to Zorollia. We must thank Squid for the wonderful corruption smelling and battles against despotic rulers on Earth. My friends a toast to Zorollian-Zortixian friendship.
Yes a cute and a seemingly innocent and loveable character Big Bird seemed to choke on his impartial turd by saying to little children on November 6th in a Twitter Tweet get vaccinated and be safe on my ass his comments chafe he will soon be forming a Hitler Youth to be called “Vaccination Safe” turn in your parents, friends and anyone at all that is not buying in to vaccination safety that according to statistics is less than safe and effective except for the sacred profits of Big Pharma and their media and political backers really for profit hackers brainwashing children to get the jab you political-medico opportunistic scum beat the drum of the politico-medico elite
Boom boom boom you don’t say what we order you are destined to deathly doom an untested vaccine a profit making no liability Big Pharma Dream welcome to the brainwashed team if not all the masses agree with your profit ridden dream you’ll threaten us with a death statistic paper ream
If you hear the name Rhône you might be braced for sticker shock thinking of Châteauneuf de Pape or Gigondas. But Ventoux is not about ready just now to empty your wallet and again if you know the producers you can walk away with a smile on your face from both the price and the quality. One very respected producer is the Chaudiére brothers with their Pesquié label. By comparison just because you see or hear about a Bordeaux wine there are humdinger expensive wines but search within Bordeaux, you’ll find many regions long known for their quality and reasonable prices such as Côtes de Blaye. But isn’t searching part of the fun unless you are the consumer who just wants the same steady Eddy. I know a couple of friends that continually drink the same wines which are very poor representations of Chardonnay and Pinot Grigio. But if ignorance is bliss and I am just a nut that looks for Romanian, Hungarian, Israeli, Brazilian and Bulgarian wines!
Although summers can be hot the cool winds flowing down Mt. Ventoux in the evening keep the grapes cool and fresh.
Wine critic Robert Parker has given the 2019 Pesquié Edition 1912M a 90 rating and knowing his preferred style for favouring richer wines and that the predominant grape is Grenache in the blend I don’t expect it will be pussyfooting around your palate. Grenache always reminds me of very ripe strawberries, almost overripe! You might want to say it is just about the direct opposite of Pinot Noir.
Sorry for the blah blah blah.
On the nose there is a lightness I was not expecting with Grenache and I am attributing that to the cool winds flowing down Mt. Ventoux. While there is some strawberry there is a heavy raspberry streak, cherry cola and blackberry. It was very difficult to single out distinct influencers on the nose as they are tightly intertwined into a delightfully complex bouquet. I could wimp out by saying “a complex combination and black and red fruits” but that might confuse you more than I may have already confused you.
Some mild and broad tannins but a delightfully complex palate makes describing this wine like jumping over the Berlin Wall from the DDR to the GDR! But at the risk of an East German bullet in my back I’ll start by saying the palate is a beautiful mixture of fruit designed by the Chaudiére brothers to thwart a Canadian wine writer deprived of European travel and wine media trips for two years. His palate moans for drinking European wine and eating food IN EUROPE PLEASE! As I rant get me out of this COVID prison quick. Now getting back to the palate lots of black cherry, blueberry pie with a crosscurrent of black licorice and root beer. The finish is moderate with a bit of spice and heat. With 15% alcohol content to beat US tariff restrictions on French wine no wonder there is a bit of heat. A classic Trumpian era French wine!
Now as for food after not being in France for 3 years and eating almost exclusively Vietnamese food when I was last there except when staying at my friend’s Parisian condo where I ate far too much dirt-cheap French cheese, rillette, paté, tomatoes and baguettes which would suit this wine perfectly of course with a great Parisian jazz radio station.
To conclude this wine is no heavy hitter. It is an elusive mid-weight like Filipino boxer Manny Pacquiao. Tight, muscular and determined not to lose.
As for ageing Parker suggests 10 years I will beg to differ and say the wine is so well integrated right now it might improve in the bottle for a couple of years but I say drink up to 2025. Looking for a Christmas party wine if the COVID police are permitting it this might do the trick if you have munchies going of course with French cheeses, paté and that Parisian jazz station of which I have forgotten the co-ordinates for. Switzerland has a few great jazz stations so happy internet searching.
(Edition 1912M 2018, Appellation Ventoux Protégée, Famille Chaudiére, Momorion, France, $17.95, Liquor Control Board of Ontario # 636159, 750 mL, 15%, Robert K. Stephen A Little Birdie Told Me So Rating 92/100).
I am neither a pro or anti vaxxer. I believe in informed consent. Review the facts if you can find them in the waves of government propaganda disguised as public health information. Be aware if you aren’t already if you don’t roll up your sleeve you’ll be penalized in many ways unless you show your “papers” to the airlines, merchants, restaurants, hotels etc. that are being bullied into asking you for your papers all of course for the “good of public health”.
But when the propaganda is directed toward children isn’t that low, crude, manipulative and overreaching? What is the next step a new “Vaccine Youth” movement that rewards children for informing on their unvaccinated parents, relatives and neighbours?
Commenting on the use of popular children’s characters to promote vaccines, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., chairman of Children’s Health Defense, on November 6th said:
“The use of trusted and beloved figures in this propaganda assault to induce children into submitting as guinea pigs to injections with an experimental high-risk zero-liability medical product with no proven benefits for kids is unconscionable and revolting.
“Big Pharma has turned Big Bird into a child predator.”
CNN and Sesame Street collaborated on a 10 part series the “ABC’s of COVID” where Big Bird, Elmo and other Sesame Street characters are “educating” children on COVID.
(Photo Lawrence Jackson Official White House Photo)
This Sunday I will have my last shift as a Marshall. The course will close at 4:45 and I will help round up the power carts, park them in a locked facility and then perhaps take a last look at the darkened golf course I have spent seven months of my life at and breathe a sigh of relief this punishing schedule of golf and Marshalling has come to an end. But I know there will be some reminiscing and reflection about being a golf Marshall and playing 40 rounds of golf. There will no doubt be a bit of sadness too that an interesting part of my life I never ever expected to have will conclude. So what are my final reflections?
The Ratio of Good People to Dickheads
When I was trained for 15 minutes as opposed to 4 hours due to a frost delay my veteran trainer Marshall said 90% of the golfers here are great people and 10% are dickheads. I would revise to say that if you are looking for a simplified black and white picture 98% are good people and 2% are dickheads.
The Hesitant Golfer
More than dickheads the slow golfer irritates me to no end. These are the golfers that overestimate their abilities stupidly. Beginners playing from the expert tees when regardless of sex they should be playing from the ladies’ tees. Then there are those that perform a time-consuming ritual of setting up and taking far too many practice swings. This delays the flow. Pardon my foul language but to these golfers I would like to say ( but do not), “Hit the fucking ball you selfish and ignorant bastards.” Mandatory golf etiquette courses should be implemented in Canada.
People Skills
There is the expression that you get more things done than being sweeter than honey. I have realized that I must set aside my personal thoughts and treat golfers as “patrons” and customers deserving of as much respect as I can give them. So it has been pretty please which is often ignored or not understood by many Korean golfers that seem to not understand what I am saying to them. So I’d like to tell the selfish golfers to move your ass but I have to do this in the politest fashion. As a customer I’d expect nothing less. A golf Marshall is in customer service.
Racism in Golf?
Who are the golfers? 70% Caucasian, 25% Koreans and the rest “others”. At my course the course is managed by a Korean owned management company. The staff are about 90% retired Caucasians who are not working for the scant money but golfing privileges particularly in COVID times where there is no place to travel to and few bookings are available to the public. One could argue up the percentage of staff so there is a better racial balance but the best Marshalls are those who know the course inch by inch and the fact is that golf is really a white man’s sport. I am not trying to defend anyone here but simply make a point to reflect reality. Yes I know black lives matter but blacks playing golf at my course are less than 1% of golfers. How can you implement global inclusion and diversity amongst golf course employees without a solid base of experienced golfers that reflect racial diversity? To do so is empty philandering to the phrases of the day. Corporate Canada plays this game so well.
And yes I know there is reverse racism being told in violent terms by a group of black golfers to stick my head up my fucking white ass when I so politely asked them could they please pick up their pace as they were two holes behind in timing. And I have been in a foursome where a Korean couple exploded against a black guy I played with in what I can only call a racist attack. Golf is but an extension of “real life”.
The Golf Marshall at the Low-End of the Power Structure
Who has the best overall view of what is going on at the golf course? Is it the Pro-Shop people who sit in the clubhouse having no idea what is going on or the Marshall in the thick of the action? The Marshall responds to reality and the Pro-Shop to complaints and these complaints are their selfish priorities. If a golf course was a plantation the Pro-Shop employees are house slaves and Marshalls field slaves. There is no democracy in golf.
Keeping People Informed
Aggravated golfers are the Marshall’s worst enemy. It is usually those ahead of us that are slowing the game they say but it is often 6 to 7 holes ahead that the culprits can be tracked down. Then you ask these culprits to speed up and circle back and inform the delayed golfers you have asked the laggards to speed up and most will look at you in the eye and sincerely thank you. Basic customer service.
The Ultimate Flattery
Having played the course for 35 years and playing 40 or so rounds this year I know, or I think I know, each inch and angle so when I am asked for advice how to play a hole I really get engaged and briefly and concisely explain the conservative strategy and the aggressive strategy and when each may be appropriate. I know this course better than a radical white wing preacher in Aylmer, Ontario knows his Bible!
Comedy and Lightheartedness
I have been told by “management” my communication skills and humour have been appreciated by golfers. After a year there are some 100 golfers that address me by my first name! Who are these people?
Could it be that those hang dog faces I have tried to cure with a few mindfulness trained phrases I have picked up in being certified in mindfulness in Europe and Canada have worked. I bless a few golf balls as a Marshall and receive heartfelt thanks about improving a golf game and then like the Pope I am blessing cases of golf balls. At times Marshalling can be a riot. I bless tees and give out golf balls to create huge goodwill. It helps to ask friends to speed up as opposed to hostile adversaries.
Golf is Love
If only all the world played golf we could unite and bypass starvation, hatred, racism and war. We ae a golfing world. Stupid naïve me.
The Ultimate Lesson
Not to belittle golf but I love it and its foibles and wrinkles. If I can make a difference by making the 18 holes a pleasant experience, I will do all I can. So please treat a Marshall with respect as he or she is under the guillotine of pace management. A cruel but necessary god.
The Slovenian film “Inventory” invokes memories of Hitchcock and Kafka. It is an interesting mix of dark comedy, a thriller and a man in the dark about who his enemies might be until it drives him just about mad.
Boris Robič is man just past middle age who is a technical assistant at a business college. He is an unassuming man. One night after dinner in his study two shots pierce his window. Boris is not injured. The police are called and an investigation begins. Boris responds to police questioning that he has no known enemies. The police encourage him to create an inventory of all his relationships so they can try and identify suspects. Boris obliges the police who review all his relationships and conclude there are no suspects or witnesses hence the investigation will be closed. But it is not closed in the mind of Boris who starts his own investigation and finds his best friend dislikes him for stealing his girl and marrying her but only enough to spit in his beer and not kill him!
It is like Josef K. in Franz Kafka’s “The Trial” who is put on trial for crimes he does even know what they are. There may be a killer out for Boris but it is beginning to drive him mad as he can’t figure out who that assassin may be! The tension mounts and Boris seems to be heading for a mental smash up. He starts to think his wife is poisoning his food so she can be a benefactor under his life insurance policy.
His colleagues and superiors at the business college urge him to take some time off for his own good but this seems more of a tactic to distance themselves from Boris and his perceived nefarious dealings than concern for his well being. One gets the feeling that Boris is like Jimmy Stewart in Hitchcock’s 1954 “Rear Window” suspecting but not being able to prove that the person in his binocular’s sight is a killer. A feeling of hopelessness and the thrill awaiting the viewer of justice being done.
Then like magic the police appear to have cracked the case and discovered the assailant. Boris returns to his old self. Well the ballistics don’t match. Boris is back in the rabbit hole.
Boris played by Rados Bolcina is an everyday type of guy suddenly caught in a potentially terrible crime that at first puzzles him but then drives into unhealthy obsession very much like Jimmy Stewart in “Rear Window” but is not delivered the satisfaction of seeing the apprehension of a criminal.
“Inventory” is part of the 2021 Canadian European Union Film Festival and can be seen virtually on November 12 and 13.
The 106-minute film is written and directed by Darko Sinko. In Slovenian with English subtitles. For more information you can see the Festival’s website at https://www.cfi-icf.ca/euff
One might look at a bottle of California Cabernet Sauvignon and see the winery is located in Sonoma or Napa home to some high-end Cabernet Sauvignon. But look at the label closely and it may not refer to a specific American Viticultural Area (AVA) in California but state “California Cabernet Sauvignon” which means by law 100% of the grapes must be from California so in fact although the winery is located in Napa or Sonoma none of the grapes could be from those AVA’s. A similar note could be made for wines produced in Prince Edward County in Ontario. The label may state VQA Ontario but not VQA Prince Edward County. So the consumer may think the grapes are from Prince Edward County but in fact the grapes may have been trucked in from Niagara.
In this case we try a Mina Mesa Cabernet Sauvignon from Paso Robles. This means at least 85% of the grapes made to produce the wine are from the Paso Robles AVA. So purchase an AVA designated wine and you are drinking at least 85% of grapes from that AVA.
How about this Mina Mesa 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon from Paso Robles?
On the nose fresh picked blueberries, blueberry pie, black cherry, cassis and fresh sage leaves. On the palate some freshly baked blueberry pie predominates, pomegranate with a full mouth feel and gentle tannins. It has a gentle lingering finish with a tiny bit of brine to it. For $16.95 can we say a truly authentic Cabernet Sauvignon from Paso Robles.
The wine drinks well on its own but I think it has a calling for grilled beef with Portobello Mushrooms marinated in soy sauce, oyster sauce and sesame seed oil. Best consumed by the end of 2022.
(Mina Mesa Paso Robles 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon, Mina Mesa Wines, Greenfield, California, $16.95, 750 mL, 13.5% Liquor Control Board of Ontario # 17808, Robert K. Stephen A Little Birdie Told Me So Rating 90/100).
Montreal, Tuesday, November 9, 2021 – The 24th edition of the Montreal International Documentary Festival (RIDM) starts tomorrow, Wednesday, November 10. The festival will be held in theatres until November 21, and online from November 14 to 25 on the festival’s platform enligne.ridm.ca, accessible everywhere in Canada.
Opening night
The festival will open with the screening of Futura by Pietro Marcello, Alice Rohrwacher, and Francesco Munzi on Wednesday, November 10 at 7 p.m. at the Cineplex Odeon Quartier Latin (by invitation only). Presented in partnership with the Italian Institute of Culture in Montreal, Futura captures a troubled time in which the global pandemic forces us to reflect on what the future may hold. The film will be preceded by Des voisins dans ma cour, a Quebec-made short by Eli Jean Tahchi, which explores the boundary between the Parc-Extension neighbourhood and the Town of Mont-Royal: a physical barrier that highlights the divide between two neighbouring communities.
Vitaly Mansky comes to Montreal
Filmmaker and producer Vitaly Mansky will be in Montreal from November 15 to 19 for a retrospective featuring seven of his films.He will be in attendance at the screenings of Close Relations,Pipeline, Putin’s Witnesses, Under the Sun, and his most recent piece, Gorbachev. Heaven,for post-screening discussions with the audience. Festivalgoers also have the chance to attend a masterclass with the filmmaker. This free event (reservation required) will take place on Wednesday, November 17 at 5 p.m. at the Cinémathèque québécoise.
Quebec filmmakers in attendance
This first week of the festival includes several highly anticipated Quebec-made films. Furthermore, the filmmakers will be in attendance for discussions with the audience following the screenings.
On Thursday, November 11, festivalgoers can discover Henri Pardo’s film Dear Jackie, a cinematic letter to Jackie Robinson that draws an eloquent parallel between time periods, shedding light on the existence of racism and racial inequalities. Meanwhile, The Gig is Up by Shannon Walsh investigates the trickery inherent in what is often, erroneously, called the “collaborative economy.”
Friday, November 12 brings Under Silence and Earth, the first feature from Gisela Restrepo, in which she goes to her parents’ native Colombia to search for the body of her aunt, who took part in armed conflict; along with Alone by Paul Tom, which brings together three very different stories from people who fled their homeland as children to seek refugee status in Canada, leaving their parents behind. The filmmaker and the film’s protagonists will be in attendance to meet with the audience. This event is presented by Télé-Québec.
Three Quebec-made films will be shown on Saturday, November 13: Pier-Luc Latulippe and Martin Fournier address a sensitive subject and find a ray of light in the darkness in Upstairs; Far Beyond the Pasturelands by Maxime Lacoste-Lebuis and Maude Plante-Husuruk follows a young mother who hopes to improve her situation by taking part in a traditional expedition to the Himalayan mountains, in search of a priceless mushroom; and Resources, a sobering and thought-provoking film, gives a voice to the migrant workers at the heart of the food system that sustains this country.
On Sunday, November 14, Yasmine Mathurin’s One of Ours depicts a young man forced to question his identity: adopted in Haiti by a Calgary couple, he finds his Indigenous status, inherited from his adoptive father, denied by the authorities of the All Native basketball tournament.
International films not to be missed
The RIDM is pleased to present the best of international documentary filmmaking. Thursday, November 11 is a chance to see Zuhur’s Daughtersby Laurentia Genske and Robin Humboldt, which follows Lohan and Samar as they start a new life in Germany with their family after escaping war in Syria, and the newfound freedom that allows them to express themselves as young trans women. On Friday, November 12, Vincent Meessen’s Just a Movement takes an original perspective on the story of Omar Blondin Diop, a Senegalese Marxist activist also known for “acting” his own part in Jean-Luc Godard’s film La Chinoise.
Four years after winning the RIDM People’s Choice award for her powerful documentary Speak Up, Amandine Gay returns with A Story of One’s Own, which explores international adoption through five intertwining stories.The filmmaker, alongside producer Enrico Bartolucci, will be present for a discussion with the audience on Saturday, November 13.
Also followed by a discussion with the filmmaker is The Hill by Julien Chauzit, a hybrid feature film that witnesses a dawning ecological awareness among four young people. The film will be shown on Sunday, November 14. The same day, audiences can see Little Palestine, Diary of a Siegedirected by Abdallah Al-Khatib, a highly charged documentary in which the filmmaker, a political activist, turns his camera on the plight of the Palestinian refugees living in the Yarmouk camp. Filmed between 2011 and 2015, this is a record of a brutal siege imposed by the Syrian regime.
The Soirée de la relève is back
The Soirée de la relève, presented by Radio-Canada, is back for its seventh year. The selected films by emerging filmmakers will be shown on Sunday, November 14 at 7 p.m. at the Cinéma du Musée. This year’s films are 5:1 by Sara Ben-Saud, a personal yet universally relatable short exploring family dynamics during the pandemic; Casting Nelly by Jérémie Picard, a tribute to Nelly Arcand in the words of the actresses auditioning to play her role; The Future Innu by Stéphane Nepton, a poetic film that sees him walking through the streets of Montreal, his mind a portal to the far-off land where his roots lie; Sœurs by Julia Zahar, a touching and intimate piece that looks at the liberating power of creation; Le Vendeur de Broadway by Simon Larochelle, which follows a charismatic Québécois man selling Christmas trees in Manhattan; and The Southern Wind directed by Aucéane Roux, which examines the surprising transformation of a francophone village in northern Ontario.
INIS: 25 years of documentaries
To celebrate its 25th birthday, INIS presents a screening of some of its best documentaries on Thursday, November 11 at 7 p.m. at the Cinémathèque québécoise, followed by a discussion with INIS directors exploring their films and stories and how documentary cinema has evolved over time. The screening will comprise L’absence qu’il reste (Tobie Fraser), Chevette 83 (Luis Oliva), Of Insects and Men (Helgi Piccinin), Fissure (Eli Jean Tahchi), Floyd (Pierre-Yves Beaulieu), Jo (Carmen Rachiteanu), Le poids de la ressemblance (Marie-Claude Fournier), and Salomé & Joseph (Laurence Dompierre-Major).
Box office
To ensure that access to the program is simple and affordable, several ticketing options are available. Tickets for theatre screenings are $13 each; a $2 discount per ticket applies to purchases of five or more tickets. These tickets can be purchased via the online box office or at the festival’s physical box office at the Cinémathèque québécoise.
For online-only viewing, the RIDM Passport at $85 allows audiences to watch the vast majority of the festival’s films via the enligne.ridm.ca platform from November 14 to 25. Subscriptions for a single block, which covers one third of the online program, are also available at $30. All the details are available on the festival website.
THANK YOU TO THE RIDM’S PARTNERS
The RIDM gratefully acknowledges the support of its valued partners: the Gouvernement du Québec, the ministère de la Culture et des Communications, SODEC, the Secrétariat à la région métropolitaine, the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ville de Montréal, Téléfilm Canada, the Conseil des arts de Montréal, Tourisme Montréal, the Centre des Services aux Entreprises – Intégration en emploi (Emploi-Québec), the ministère des Affaires municipales et de l’Habitation, Crave, Canal D, the Canada Media Fund, Télé-Québec, the Confédération des syndicats nationaux (CSN), TV5, Radio-Canada, Post-Moderne, the Société civile des auteurs multimédia (SCAM), PRIM, BDO, the Cinémathèque québécoise, and Studio Chop Chop, as well as Benoît Parent and Arthur Gaumont-Marchant.
The RIDM’s 24th edition will be held in theatres from November 10 to 21
at the Cinémathèque québécoise, Cinéma du Parc, Cinéma du Musée,
Centre Pierre-Péladeau, and Cineplex Odeon Quartier Latin,
and online everywhere in Canada from November 14 to 25, 2021
For the past few years Meyer Family Vineyards (MFV) in British Columbia’s Okanagan Valley has released a tribute Chardonnay. This time it is a tribute to the late Terry Threlfall a Vancouver born sommelier operating at the time of his death in London. He was 43 when he passed in 2020.
The 2020 Chardonnay vintage was an excellent one. The grapes were from the Old Main Road Vineyard in the Naramata bench in British Columbia. The soil is comprised of alluvial deposits making up a silt loam overlying a clay loam. For most of the ferment it was done in stainless steel vessels and the wine was transferred to French oak (22% new) to complete fermentation. 500 cases were produced.
Yes the oak is noticeable but of sufficient intensity to give the wine character and not overtake it. As for aromas pineapple, guava, tangerine, honey and peach. On the palate the character-building quality of the oak is apparent. The palate is like a shy ballerina looking tiny and delicate but bursting with talent and grace. There is no other way of describing the wine as elegant and very polished. There are notes of tangerine, peach and butterscotch.
I raise up a phrase I have used to describe MFV Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs and that is do not bother spending a bundle for Burgundian counterparts. MFV does it so good. If you are looking for a lightly oaked Chardonnay that is elegant pick up this magnificent Chardonnay.
(Meyer Family Vineyards Okanagan Valley Naramata Bench 2020 Tribute Series Chardonnay-Terry Threfall, BC VQA, Meyer Family Vineyards, Okanagan Falls, British Columbia $ 30.52, 750 mL, 13.5%, Robert K. Stephen A Little Birdie Told Me So Rating 95/100).
MFV you have done Terry proud! The price may be daunting but given its quality grab a case before the rest of Canada figures out how good it is. Check out the MFV website at https://mfvwines.com/collections/chardonnay
Chris Carson is the winemaker.
This is so good it will be hard to resist consuming it this year. I think it will improve in the bottle over the next three years and hold steady after that until 2028.
I ran into a golfer today who related a semi-sweet story. Several years ago he was golfing with his ageing father at Scarlett Woods Golf Course in Toronto. On the 17th hole Dad smacked a decent drive that hit a sprinkler head from the irrigation system. It took an aggressive forward trajectory resulting in a very pleased Dad who said this was his best drive in ten years. His second shot hit the lip of the bunker and took a crazy bounce 10 feet from the hole! Dad drained the birdie putt and noticed a pain in his left side. His son noticed this and suggested they leave the course. Dad said no as he was on a roll. The 18th hole was a par three and Dad soared past the green hitting a tree behind the green which took a bounce back on the green 5 feet from the hole. Dad putted in for his second birdie as pleased as punch and beaming with delight son and Dad headed home. Son was getting concerned about Dad’s pain thinking it might he a heart attack which it was so off son rushed Dad to the hospital where he died with his last words being “With those birdies I am ready to go.” He then smiled and died. As per his request his ashes were scattered by the tree he hit on the 18th hole.
A Bird's Eye View of Fashion, Food, Travel, Culture, Beverage and Curiosity 