RKS 2025 Wine: DAC/Dão

On my last trip to Portugal’s Dão region I did not have the opportunity to visit Quinta Pellada where this wine was produced. The Dão is not so far from the Douro region but its topography is far different. Forested in places, green and almost verdant. Gigantic glacial boulders may appear in fields and exotic mushrooms in the forest.

Alvaro Castro inherited Quinta da Pellada, his family’s estate in 1980 which he replanted. The Quinta has been producing wine since the 16th century. It is surrounded by pine trees on a 500-meter-high hill overlooking Serra da Estrela Portugal’s tallest mountain (2,000 meters).

The wine is a blend of Touriga Nacional (30%), Jaen (20%), Tinta Roriz (30%) and Alfrochiero (20%). Fermented in stainless steel vats and aged for 12-18 months in used 2–3-year-old French oak barrels.

Alvaro Castro and his daughter Maria are the winemakers.

Aroma: Black cherry, cassis, root beer and blueberry all dense and compact.

Palate: Guarded tannins. Firm but not distracting acidity. Well integrated oak. Blueberry tucked in nicely. A husky finish smooths out at a leisurely pace. Distinctly different from a Douro red.

Personality: In terms of Canadian familiarity with Portuguese wine I fall behind wines from the Douro and Alentejo but that is a matter of volume exported and certainly not quality.

Food Pairing: The winery suggests, “Simple fare, charcuteries and smoked meats, hard cheese as Parmesan or Manchego. Meats like veal, pork and roasted turkey.” As for meats it all depends on how the meat is prepared. I would suggest pork tenderloin broiled and topped with a blueberry jam and red wine reduction sauce.

Cellarbility: Drink no later than the end of 2026.

Price: $24. CDN.

RKS 2024 Wine Rating: 91/100. 94 Joshua Greene wineandspiritsmagazine.com

(DAC 2019 Red Wine Blend, Dão DOP, Olé & Obrigado, Portugal, 750 mL, 13%).

RKS 2025 Documentary: “A New Kind of Wilderness”: A Metaphorical Yet Entirely Real Wilderness

Nik the Brit married Maria the Norwegian and with Maria’s daughter Ronja move to a small, dilapidated farm deep in the Norwegian countryside. They subsequently have three children Ulv, Falk and Freja.

Self admitted tree huggers, quite evident in the opening frames of the documentary, the children are home schooled without screens, learn how to farm including raising farm animals and interact with nature. The rat race has been left behind in the search for independence and a life full of love. Post modern hippiedom?

Tragedy strikes felling Maria at 41 years of age. Nik is left continuing on in Norway as per Maria’s wishes although moving back to his native England and his family would make his life so much easier as Maria’s photographer income is no longer and Nik is not working. Unable to pay the mortgage the farm is sold and the family moves to a small Norwegian farming community to a new life which is metaphorically a new kind of wilderness.

Homeschooling is replaced by kindergarten and schools which the children adapt to quickly and happily. iPads and an online existence are introduced and mastered by the children willingly perhaps even more so than for Nik their father.

Ronja, Maria’s daughter from a previous relationship felt alienated after her mother’s death and left the farm to live with her father.  The farm was not the same after the death of her mother Maria and in therapy she struggles to cope with her loss. Her loneliness is her wilderness. But over time and with a couple of visits with her siblings and Nik she adapts as well.

Adaptability means survival initially then flourishing in new lives thrust upon all by Maria’s death. Once refugees from society they rejoin it and initially become refugees in society and after Maria’s death at points become refugees amongst each other.

Watch the trailer here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WUX8Vxai3M

A “New Kind of Wilderness”, directed and written by Silje Evensmo Jacobsen, makes its broadcast premiere on PBS stations in the United States as part of PBS’ doc series POV on 25August2025/streaming premiere via PBS Passport App, also starting 25August2025 through 240ctober2025.

RKS 2025 Documentary Rating 69/100.

RKS 2025 Canadian Film: “Skeet”: Newfie Neo Noir?

“Skeet” a 2024 Canadian film shot in the Chalker Place east end neighborhood of St. John’s, Newfoundland indicates there is more to Canadian film than Ontario and British Columbia productions! Immediately prior to watching “Skeet”, “Sweet Angel Baby” another Newfoundlander film was on my screen and will soon be available in theatrical release in Canada. Is Newfoundland the new Hollywood North?

What is a “skeet”? It is a Newfie term for a tough guy with a heart.

What is a “Newfie”. For me it is a term of endearment for residents of the far eastern Canadian province and island of Newfoundland so Newfoundlanders please do not pelt me with dried cod when I arrive to receive my Order of Newfoundland” from the Vice Admiral of the “Newfoundland Fleet” on a date yet to be announced because for many less than culturally sensitive Canadians a Newfie is a derogatory term.

In this black and white film, imparting to it a raw a jagged feel, Billy Skinner (Sean Dalton) is released from Her Majesty’s custody after serving three years for a violent assault. Billy was a “manager” of crime boss Leo’s (Garth Sexton) drug operations. Fellow thugs attempted a hold up of Billy and his brother Bobby, blowing off the latter’s arm. Billy exacted revenge and bashed up one of the robbers leading to his incarceration.

Billy returns to his neighbourhood and a Syrian refugee community has sprung up to replace victims of drug overdoses.

Billy’s super raunchy pill popping mother Mae, brilliantly portrayed by Wendi Smallwood, “welcomes” home her son with baloney sandwiches as she sits in a disheveled fashion swilling beer from a coffee mug, pills in an ashtray by her side. Billy declines his welcome home feast stating he consumed far too many such sandwiches in prison. Leo had set up Billy with compensatory payments made to Mae while he was in custody. Mae spent the dough on her drug habit diverting these funds from Billy’s wife and son.

Billy is estranged from his son and embarks on a journey to develop a relationship with him but Billy is entirely snarled up by pride in the Skinner name hence his influence on his son is far from positive. Mr. Skinner, Billy’s dad was a nasty alcoholic that beat Billy regularly as a child. Billy carries on the violent Skinner tradition.

As a condition of Billy’s parole there is compulsory attendance at group “therapy” sessions most participants ravaged victims of drug addiction. There is a bad drug problem in the hood fuelled by Leo’s narcotics ironically noted by Leo who says the neighbourhood needs more paramedics not heroes.

Leo is a gentleman poet with a vicious psychotic core. Deservedly this poet, a delightfully disturbing character, meets “poetic justice”!

Billy befriends Mohamed, or Mo as he prefers to be called, a Syrian refugee living with his family in the hood. The immensely charismatic Mo (Jay Abdo) stands by Billy through thick and thin explaining his escape to Canada with his family’s stint in a refugee camp being comparable to Billy’s time in prison.

Billy’s marriage is shot but a love interest develops with yet another top notch Rauncho Leah Locke (Kate Corbett) so intertwined with narcotic abuse she has lost custody and visiting rights to her young son.

Amid a drug infested lumpenproletarian neighbourhood populated by a host of nefarious low life desperados and decent Syrians, belittled by the criminals in the hood, Billy struggles for redemption while working at a chicken processing plant. A man with the odds stacked against him from infancy.

Is this a Newfie Neo Noir film? Debate this from left to right you genre obsessionists but shot in stark black and white, full of shady characters, drug ridden and a pure and thick streak of desperation and a highly flawed love interest woman, far from a “babe” it could well be within the noir family but in lieu of theoretical discussions on genre I’d rather spend my time watching what should become a Canadian classic film replete with grit, rawness and unforgettable characters.

“Skeet” has recently played in Germany and Ireland and is currently available on VOD at Hollywood Suite in Canada.

You may watch a teaser here https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=352078724537674

Directed and written by Nik Sexton.

RKS 2025 CANADIAN Film Rating 92/100.

RKS Literature: “The Decline of the Japanese Man” (Yukio Mishima)

“In the present day-when places called cafés are springing up everywhere, drawing thousands of idle people with money to spare, when male and female students behave so shockingly in streetcars that it has become necessary to segregate them-men have lost all trace of that fervor that drove their ancestors to accept the most frightening challenges. Now they are good for nothing but to flutter their effeminate hands like dry, fragile leaves shaken by the merest puff of air.”

Yukio Mishima, “Spring Snow”, 1968.

RKS 2025 CANADIAN Wine: Norman Hardie’s County Unfiltered Cabernet Franc from Ontario’s Prince Edward County

Aroma: Heavy duty and intense black cherry and raspberry jam. Blackberry and cocoa.

Palate: High toned almost disinterested above it all raspberry, strawberry and Catania cactus pear.

Personality: Admire my bouquet worthy of a standing ovation expecting something stellar. Taste me and you might ask what just happened with the fruit?

Food Match: Pizza or spoonburgers.

Do spoonburgers still exist or were they lost in 1968?

Cellarbility: No sense in ageing.

Price: $35.20 CDN.

RKS 2025 Canadian Wine Rating: 85/100.

(Norman Hardie 2021 County Cabernet Franc Unfiltered, VQA Prince Edward County, Norman Hardie, Wellington, Ontario, 750 mL, 12%).

RKS Literature: Kiyaoki’s Nasty Letter to Satoko (Yukio Mishima)

“And perhaps you are smiling contemptuously, secure in the knowledge that my lust for paid women will only serve to enhance my esteem for pure ladies like yourself. No, let me disabuse you of any such notion. Since that night (enlightenment being exactly what it says) I have broken through all these standards into territory where there are no restraints. Geisha or princess, virgin or prostitute, factory girl or artist-there’s no distinction whatsoever. Every woman without exception is a liar and “nothing but a plump, lascivious little animal. All the rest is makeup and costumes. And I must say that I see you just like all others. Please believe that gentle Kiyo, whom you considered so sweet, so innocent, so malleable is gone forever.”

Yukio Mishima, “Spring Snow”, 1968.

RKS 2025 CANADIAN Wine: Featherstone’s Gemstone

As for price and quality Featherstone Estate Winery consistently delivers gems! This wine is a Cabernet Franc and Merlot blend.

Aroma: Black cherry, blackberry, cocoa, raspberry, lavender and plum.

Palate: Plummy with dark fruit. It is on the after palate that the fruit and tannin makes a more forceful appearance with heavy duty blackberry, frisky raspberry and cassis. Medium length finish.

Personality: Just because I have the eminent Featherstone pedigree, I hopefully have convinced you with the quality in your glass.

Food Match: Pork tenderloin medallions in Lingonberry Sauce.

Cellarbility: Consume by 2027-year end. One might expect more softness with age.

Price: $17.95 CDN.

RKS 2025 CANADIAN Wine Rating: 91/100. Natalie MacLean community score 89. Wine Align community score 86.

(Featherstone 2023 Gemstone, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Featherstone Estate Winery, Vineland, Ontario, 750 mL, 12.5%).

RKS 2025 Canadian Wine: Cooper’s Hawk Talon Red

I have been a fan of wines from the Lake Erie North Shore (LENS) appellation in Ontario for quite some time. I go back so far I remember the first wine from Cooper’s Hawk I reviewed was a Chardonnay and these guys were so new it wasn’t even VQA. Then fame crept up on LENS and samples dried up so my coverage did as well. What a shame so many good wines!

It seems LENS wine could use some allies. The Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) bravely touts in its 2August2025 Vintages release catalogue CANADIAN WINES! As far as red wines are concerned from Ontario there are 7 wines from the Niagara appellation and 2 from LENS. There are none from Prince Edward County. Enough said.

We try a Cooper’s Hawk Talon Red from Cooper’s Hawk in Harrow, Ontario. It is a blend of 60% Cabernet Franc and 40% Merlot.

Aroma:  Black cherry, cocoa, red currant, cactus pear, nutmeg and raspberry.

Palate: Bramble, kirsch, raspberry, rhubarb pie and wet stone. Mildly tannic. Somewhat austere. Reticent with its fruit. Short and smoky finish.

Personality: OK so I am not memorable but I can hold my own with the “big boys” of Niagara so there is no need to denigrate LENS wines by the LCBO ignoring them.

Food Match: The label suggests “fully loaded ballpark franks”. Dicey! I’d pair it with some pizza from nearby Kingsville! I once had a Hester Creek Merlot from British Columbia that was afflicted by a sulfuric hot dog smell so suffering from red wine hot dog PTSD I will not pair red wine with a hot dog!

Cellarbility: Might as well consume this year.

RKS 2025 CANADIAN Wine Rating: 87/100. Wine Align Community Rating 88.

(Cooper’s Hawk Vineyard 2021 Talon Red, VQA Ontario, Cooper’s Hawk Vineyards, Harrow, Ontario, 750 mL, 13%).

RKS Literature: Marriage and a Noble Japanese Family on the Decline (Yukio Mishima)

“I wonder what’s the matter with her? Or did they think he was too much beneath her? No matter how noble a family the Ayakuras once were, their present fortunes hardly allow them to turn down a young man like that, with a bright future ahead of him with the Ministry of the Interior. They should have been glad of him, shouldn’t they, without bothering about what kind of family he came from?”

Yukio Mishima, “Spring Snow”, 1968.

RKS Poetry: “Canadian Toronto Blue Jay Fans Caught on Kisscam”!

 Toronto Blue Jay Fans Caught on “Kisscam”

On televised broadcasts of the Toronto Blue Jays baseball games

At stadiums in the United States

Happy Canadian fans in attendance and on camera

Guilt free?

EXPOSED!

Caught in the act violating the majority rule to combat the unspoken one

You’ve been caught in the Kisscam but resigning from Canadian citizenship?

Robert K. Stephen