RKS Wines: Quinta Da Devesa 30-Year-Old Tawny Port: This Will Take you to where Musk and Branson Were for a Lot Less!

If you have been reading my reviews of Tawny Ports we started with a 10 year old, then a twenty and now a 30 year old Tawny.

This 30-year old’s colour has moved from an orange to a brownish red. On the nose there has been an evolution from a rather flippant 10-year-old to a maturing 20-year-old. This one has a more concentrated Tawny aroma. There is caramel, burnt orange, nuts, smoke and dried apricots. On the palate any vestiges of alcohol have vanished. There is marmalade, nuts, candied pineapple and a strong streak of maple syrup with a twist of root beer. A never-ending finish with a subtle burn but at 20% this is to be expected. But unlike the 10-year-old Tawny no alcohol can be picked up on the nose or palate.

This is one decadent and delicious Tawny that would suit rich mushroom dishes and also egg based desserts like those delicious Portuguese custard tarts (Pasteis de Nata) served warm and freshly baked with this Tawny will take you to where Elon Musk and Richard Branson flashed their obscene wealth in our faces. You can get to the same place for a lot less with this Tawny.

Pasteis de Nata

(Quinta da Devesa 30-Year-Old Tawny Port, Quinta da Devesa, Régua, Portugal, $112.45, Liquor Control Board of Ontario # 280296, 750 mL, Robert K. Stephen A Little Birdie Told Me So Rating 94/100).

RKS Films: “Intimate Enemy”: Who Controls the System?

This Slovakian film was part of the 2021 European Union Canadian Film Festival but I am sure it will be circulating around the globe as it asks an important question and that is who controls the computer system?

The next time you look at a security camera spying on you well this film might come to mind.

Andrej is a developer and his wife Suzana is a sculptress. They are offered an opportunity to live in a smart home Andrej and his company are testing and they move into the smart house that is designed to cater to every wish of its occupants empathetically and humanly.

Well at some point you are going to say this computer has turned evil. Is it a programme fault or is a third party controlling it making it a murderous force? You’ll be surprised by the result which is the system did too good of a job. Its evil was not a faulty system or a third-party hack but simply its own programmed empathy.

We have seen many a film production dealing with rogue computers so that part of the film could be a case of “seen that already” but the conclusion of the film should cause some deep thought about just how smart is smart and when does smart become dangerous. Or it may take you back to the fable of Midas where everything he touched turned to gold. As there is such a thing then as a wish that is apparently too good the same goes for a computer system.

This 109-minute film is directed by Karl Janák.

There are still some films left to watch at the Festival. You can check out their website at https://watch.eventive.org/euff2021

All films in this Festival can only be seen within Canada.

RKS Wines: Taylor Fladgate 20 Year Old Tawny Port

Taylor’s has been a family company since 1692. Walk into any liquor store of repute in the world and you’ll see their Port. You don’t have that longevity without producing a good product. Remember that chilling it will bring down the alcohol and enhance its flavour. It matches extremely well with soft cheeses and egg-based desserts. It will keep well for several weeks once opened provided it is stored in cool conditions.

The Douro Valley: Home of Port Wine: Photo Robert K. Stephen

Like the Niepoort 10 year old Tawny we reviewed recently the colour is similar being orange brickish and transparent. The nose has lost the minute brandy nose the Niepoort had as It has incorporated itself seamlessly into the wine. The nose definitely is heavily influenced by essence or orange, but there are honey, nuts and some chocolate covered cherries. On the palate the first characteristic that strikes you is its long finish and the burn experienced with the Niepoort 10 year old is not there most likely due to the disappearance of the brandy on the nose and palate. Conclusion is that Tawny Port mellows and softens with age. You might pick up some apricot and orange. They often look at me with a puzzled expression in the Douro when I say some Tawny Ports have a touch of raisin pie on the palate as this one does. I think raisin pie has become extinct in Montreal where it seemed to have born! Perhaps I can refer to something Canadians are familiar with being butter tarts and say this Tawny is kissed by butter tarts! There is a hint of Grand Marnier in the palate.

On a personal note one can through descriptive terms wax about the nose and palate of a Tawny Port which is a difficult job as Tawny is a sensory experience. Have enough Tawny Port over the years and you can nod your head. You’ll know it’s a Tawny the minute you taste it. Of course as a wine writer I am supposed to come with magic descriptive words which were so easy for me 7 years ago after my first massive Port attack in Portugal. This week trying Tawny Ports extensively supplied to me through various Toronto agents to celebrate virtual Port Wine Day I struggle to break down such a complicated product into ABC’s. I am either maturing in my appreciation of Tawny Port or in a bad tailspin. I’ll close and say a damn fine Tawny!

If there are Port re-education camps in Porto perhaps they’ll haul me away there for another Port attack!

What I will say I will be ordering a mincemeat pie for Christmas and this Tawny will be at my side. A mincemeat pie is a sort of boozed up raisin pie. Does this make sense?

I recall visiting Taylor’s Quinta Vargellas in 2013 on a media tour with yours truly and a columnist from The Globe and Mail. We had an extensive tasting, a fantastic dinner and after dinner everyone off duty we had some “very special Ports” in front of a blazing fireplace and after trying our hand at poetry we headed off to bed. Vargellas may be the most famous vineyard in the world and staying at the Quinta that night might have been the finest of my life. It was magical somewhat akin to Port. I recall disembarking at the train station in the setting November sun and walking along the railroad tracks towards the Quinta just like it was yesterday. You don’t develop appreciation and true love of Port as a writer you can gain by attending tutored tastings in Toronto. You have to go to the heart and soul of the Douro and you’ll be a happy aficionado for eternity.

(Taylor Fladgate 20 Year Old Tawny Port $69.95, Liquor Control Board of Ontario # 14907, 750 mL, 20%, Robert K. Stephen A Little Birdie Told Me So Rating 92/100) .                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

“Mutantism on the March ” :Chapter 112 Redbeard and Zorollia Start to Wobble

Squid was deeply moved with the warmth of the Zortixians, their openness and concern with the struggles of the mutant community on Earth. Could it be that they realized if they were to visit Earth they too would be considered as mutants? Squid was popular not only because of his Montenez heritage but because of his fierce struggle for mutant dignity. He was surprised to see some of his works available in Zortixian bookstores. Mutant discrimination fascinated the Zortixians and they were delighted when he accepted an honorary professorship at the Zortixian Earth Institute. At his first lecture he gave a moving account of sad conditions of mutants on Earth especially the plight of the mutants in the lesser developed countries and how the ruling classes turned screws on mutants and the poverty stricken through armed force. He was certain if there had been an American embassy on Zortixia it would have been besieged by angry students of the Earth Institute!

Squid spoke with students after his lecture saying, “I am overwhelmed by the attention and warmth which you have showered on me. After all I am but the toe of your Montenez. At best I feel as if I am a half brother to him yet you treat me as a full fledged Zortixian dignitary. If only Earth was permeated with kind people as yourself who treat your own Slug People with dignity and respect. The majority of Earthlings would rather not see or acknowledge mutants as they are a cloud on their day where perfection is a goal and mutants don’t fit into their mold of perfection. Let me give you a example of the Roma people in Europe otherwise known by the name of gypsies. A very bad political leader viewed them as imperfections not fitting into his idea of the perfect race so 600,000 were exterminated. I think Earthlings and Zortixians truly know the line between good and evil. There was nothing evil about the Roma people just a pack of lies fabricated to justify their extermination. Yet we know both Jibers were truly evil and served their execution after a fair trial may I add.

Meanwhile on Zorollia the apprehension amongst the leadership of the Zorollian Opposite party was increasing. Eno Ergot’s threats to topple Redbeard quickly found the ears of Redbeard. Imagine a Zorollian relative of the leader of Zorollia threatening to topple him. This gave food for thought of the masses. The fabric of Redbeard’s leadership was rotting away about him. There were general strikes. Even the media had fired up the masses with increasing virulent attacks against Redbeard and his ruling circle. His media censors were losing their authority and even a few choice assassinations of journalists could not stem the tide. Jails were full and his blackbooters fearing reprisals from the population refused to carry out executions of political opponents.

The earlier rule of Redbeard was somewhat bearable and profitable for the elite but as economic conditions deteriorated so did the mental health and alacrity of Redbeard. There were food shortages and inflation was creeping its way into the faltering economy. The population was at the breaking point. Too many family members had mysteriously disappeared. Zorollia was restless. Redbeard and his ruling circle were rotten apples reading to be cut off the tree.

RKS Wine: Same Grape but Different Countries: Malbec from Argentina and France; Julie Andrews vs. Marylin Monroe?

There is nothing like travelling on a wine media tour to really understand the grapes of a country or region. I have yet to visit Argentina or Cahors in France to make insightful general comparisons on their differing styles of Malbec. But I’ll try and see where my general experience leads us. Argentinian Malbecs produced with grapes grown at lower altitudes have a certain plushness and lushness to them. As the altitude increases, they tighten up and become more “disciplined”. Malbecs from Cahors would be firmer.

So we try a Mission de Picpus 2018 Malbec from Cahors. On the palate there is nothing oozing and gushing but rather a strict assemblage of blackberry, cassis, black cherry and a dose of sour cherry. On the palate a rather traditional French style of many of their red wines and that is the fruit saying, “I am hiding. Come and find me.” A peek a boo Malbec? Concentrate and you’ll find notes of black cherry and black plum encircled by moderate tannins. The finish is short. I think 3-4 years in the bottle will loosen up the wine but free and easy I think it will never be. For cinematographic comparisons this is Julie Andrews in “The Sound of Music”. It would suit a Greek Stifado (stew) of wild rabbit or octopus.

(Mission de Picpus 2018 Cahors Malbec, Vignobles Saint Didier Parnac, Parnac, France, $15.25, Liquor Control Board of Ontario # 10573, 750 mL, 14%, Robert K. Stephen A Little Birdie Told Me So Rating 89/100).

Now to an Argentinian Malbec from ace winemaker Susana Balbo from grapes grown at 1,500 metres altitude in Mendoza. On the palate it is definitely fleshier that the Cahors Malbec. It has a rather expansive nose of blueberry, blueberry pie and some deep blackberry notes. On the palate you are zapped with loads of blueberry. It’s a lip smacker but not jammy. This is no Julie Andrews wine but I can see Dean Martin and Marilyn Monroe enjoying a glass of this over a big steak dinner after Dean’s show in Las Vegas.

The 4% Merlot helps give the wine some lushness. The wine spent 13 months in French oak 30% of which was new and 70% which was seasoned. Enjoy with a steak and a Dean Martin recording in the background. This one is a real crowd pleaser. I would say it will hold well into 2024.

(Susana Balbo 2019 Signature Malbec, Valle de Uco, Mendoza, Argentina, $20.95, Liquor Control Board of Ontario # 79798, 14.5%, 750 mL, Robert K. Stephen A Little Birdie Told Me So Rating 94/100).

Poetry Corner : “The Devil’s Game? Have We been Sold a Bill of Goods?”

The Devil’s Game? Have we Been Sold a Bill of Goods?

I recall arriving home on Sunday to hear 666 cases of new COVID
300 amongst those fully vaccinated
has the god saving power of the vaccine been overrated?
they will say at least the fully vaxxed don’t need hospitalization
isn’t that a bit of gyration from the claims of Big Pharma their vaccines were 96% effective
and any attempt to challenge that let the fifth estate claim anti-vaxxer invective
please go ahead and obtain the jab if you want
but beware there may be some “damage control” of Big Pharma claims
the government medico political elite ignores what maims
as the profit of the magic juice makers
by statistics makes them fakers
are we Canadians obedient
or blasted by propaganda subservient?

Robert K. Stephen

RKS Films: “HAB” (Cream): A Quirky, Cutting and Quasi Absurd Hungarian Film

Although “HAB” has already been screened at the 2021 Canadian European Union Film Festival it no doubt may surface throughout the world at various “Indie” cinemas.

Dora (Vica Kerekes) is a quirky young Hungarian lady. She berates herself for always trying to get what she simply can’t have. She has a torrid love affair with a man that is engaged and leaves her. Her bakery “HAB” has pastries named after on screen romantic actors but she has over invested in top notch equipment and her expenses are far greater than her revenue. But the Hungarian government is awarding 95,000€ to certain deserving family businesses. Problem is that she is not married and has no children so when invited to a retreat to discuss the grants she “borrows” a husband Adam who she met 4 days ago and a next door 11-year-old Lacika as her son who has the intellect of a 31-year-old.

Off this “family “goes to this retreat run by an overdone if not absurd woman so full of it she’s comical if not hysterical if she believes the crap she is spouting. And there is a facilitator a hokey pokey New Age author full of ridiculous platitudes. And the few families participating just may not be families. The retreat denigrates into a contest attempting to exploit and demean its participants. Now you may be chortling at the idiocy of this retreat but having been on a few myself there is a thunderbolt of sad reality where the goal is to inculcate you through simulated business cases and exhaust you. Sort of like a re-education camp. But the film resists the inclination to launch a frontal attack on these business retreats instead mocking them through absurdity and the stupidity of its sponsors. If you have been through it you find the film satirically on point. If not you’ll wonder what idiots designed this retreat. After purposeful humiliation exercises the retreat more or less collapses.

Then in its last minutes it becomes a romantic film with Dora not wanting to live a life of lies and fantasy and reopens her bakery on-line renaming her pastries after everyday situations such as “I had a flat tire.”

I am uncertain if director Nóra Lakos intended this to be a savage insight into the corporate retreat but that is the message I took away. This is no romantic comedy as some have described it. At points it reminds me of “The Truman Show”.

This 2020 Hungarian movie is in Hungarian with English subtitles.

The trailer is here https://vimeo.com/518094704

RKS Wines: Niepoort 10 Years Old Tawny Port

If Late Bottled Vintage Port and Vintage Port are the lions in the Port den Tawny Port is the gazelle elegantly leaping in the tall grasses of the savannah.

Aged Tawnies are blends of Ports from several years which are then kept for long periods of time in the barrel. Think of an aged Tawny as finesse and an LBV and Vintage Ports as pure power. While a Vintage Port can be purple in colour Tawnies can have an orange brickish colour. In terms of alcohol they are just about the same as LBV’s and Vintage Ports. Generally speaking it is fair so say they mellow out with age and they suit chocolate desserts, nuts and egg-based desserts like flan or a Molotov.

This Niepoort is transparent in colour and is orange and garnet in colour. On the nose caramel, Christmas cake, burnt orange, overripe strawberry and Grand Marnier. There is a certain marriage of fruit and brandy. Brandy is added to stop the fermentation of the wine making it sweeter than fully fermented table wine.

On the palate there is a bit of a burn but in no way unpleasant and at 19.5% to be expected. Well integrated notes of marmalade galette, orange spice cake, Portuguese roasted almonds and overall a dominance of orange as fruit. There is a bit of a nutty finish. The finish is very long as with most Ports but wanders a bit and lacks precision

Consider this as an introduction to an aged Tawny. A 40-year-old Tawny will be mellower on the palate and complex too. This 10-year-old is playing with our palate and inviting us to up the age.

(Niepoort 10 Years Old Tawny Port, Niepoort, Villa Nova de Gaia, $48.30, Liquor Control Board of Ontario # 699727, 750 ml, Robert K. Stephen A Little Birdie Told Me So Rating 89/100).

RKS Wine: Wine from the Outer Limits: Bulgarian Mavrud

Mavrud is mainly found in Bulgaria making tannic wines that take well to ageing. The wines are said to have character but little elegance.

But what the heck! Escape the rabbit hole of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Zinfandel, Gamay, Pinot Noir and the usual red wine suspects and jump into Groundhog Day with a Mavrud.

Way back in the day I spent a month in Bulgaria. Great people living unhappily under the yoke of Communism. Line ups for food. No shower in my bathroom at a low-end hostel so it was off to a public bath house for the proletarian and not the LGBTQ community. I must have been a strange character with a ponytail particularly if you arrived in Bulgaria by land the border guard would shave your head like you were joining the Marines! Stop that Western decadence and corruption. Yes I had many a people stare at me with my long hair and Romanian shepherd vest. But they were all good and hospitable people perhaps because my presence was a quasi celebrity one. Outside the capital city of Sofia I was an object of disbelief and viewed like an alien.

I arrived in Sofia from Athens on a Balkanair flight. Refreshments were sparkling water and a quasi edible sandwich served Alcatraz style but customs were so awed by the spectacle they saw I escaped without a haircut!

On the nose there is some black cherry and it is indeed charming mixed with chocolate, blackberry, pomegranate, blueberry waffles and cassis. The nose reminds me of a Tawny Port in a straight jacket but there is none of the neutral spirit sweet heft to it. The tannins are moderate. On the palate a very earthy wine but concentrate hard enough there is some fruit lurking on the fringes mostly blackberry and some juicy cherry. Generally speaking an unimpressive finish. However the lurking fruit and moderate tannins hint that the wine might mature over the next few years.

Quite frankly readers often organic wine has a certain purity and vibrancy to it. Sorry to say this wine tastes like it was from grapes grown in overworked and lifeless soil.

No the wine isn’t going to bite you and will suit, as they politely say, a Friday night dinner of pasta, wings or burgers.

I say bring on the Bulgarians! They have been making wine for centuries so there must be some gems out there still in Bulgaria as the Iron Curtain fell decades ago and there has been time for wine to escape the Politburo’s 5 year economic plan as a commodity.

(Zagreus Reserve Mavrud 2018, Zagreus AD, Parvomay, Bulgaria, (organic), $15.95, Liquor Control Board of Ontario # 21275, 750 mL, 14%, Robert K. Stephen A Little Birdie Told Me So Rating 87/100).

Research paper A naturalistic examination of the perceived effects of cannabis on negative affect (Journal of Affective Disorders) (1August2018)

Author links open overlay panelCarrieCuttlerabAlexanderSpradlinaRyan J.McLaughlinabcShow moreAdd to MendeleyShareCitehttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2018.04.054Get rights and contentUnder a Creative Commons licenseopen access

Highlights

•

Cannabis significantly reduced ratings of depression, anxiety, and stress.•

Women reported larger reductions in anxiety as a function of cannabis than did men.•

Low THC/high CBD cannabis was best for reducing perceived symptoms of depression.•

High THC/high CBD cannabis was best for reducing perceived symptoms of stress.•

Use of cannabis to treat depression appears to exacerbate depression over time.

Abstract

Background

Cannabis is commonly used to alleviate symptoms of negative affect. However, a paucity of research has examined the acute effects of cannabis on negative affect in everyday life. The current study provides a naturalistic account of perceived changes in symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress as a function of dose and concentration of Δ9tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD).

Method

Data from the app StrainprintTM (which provides medical cannabis users a means of tracking changes in symptoms as a function of different doses and chemotypes of cannabis) were analyzed using multilevel modeling. In total, 11,953 tracked sessions were analyzed (3,151 for depression, 5,085 for anxiety, and 3,717 for stress).

Results

Medical cannabis users perceived a 50% reduction in depression and a 58% reduction in anxiety and stress following cannabis use. Two puffs were sufficient to reduce ratings of depression and anxiety, while 10+ puffs produced the greatest perceived reductions in stress. High CBD (>9.5%)/low THC (<5.5%) cannabis was associated with the largest changes in depression ratings, while high CBD (>11%)/high THC (>26.5%) cannabis produced the largest perceived changes in stress. No changes in the perceived efficacy of cannabis were detected across time. However, baseline symptoms of depression (but not anxiety or stress) appeared to be exacerbated across time/tracked sessions.

Limitations

The primary limitations are the self-selected nature of the sample and the inability to control for expectancy effects.

Conclusions

Cannabis reduces perceived symptoms of negative affect in the short-term, but continued use may exacerbate baseline symptoms of depression over time.