If there was it would have to be a wine that continually delivers in quality and sensory satisfaction irrespective of price.
From a Niagara, Ontario perspective we might suggest Cabernet Franc as a reliable wine. In British Columbia’s Okanagan Valley we might say Pinot Noir. From Portugal’s Douro we might suggest Touriga Franca/ Touriga Nacional. We could continue with such a list for many pages.
For Greece a reliable red I have encountered is Agiorgitiko. Damn near impossible to pronounce.
We try a Nemea Wine Cooperative Agiorgitiko. The cooperative was founded in 1937 and now has some 400 members. The wine was matured for 12 months in French oak.
Aroma: Black cherry, cassis, blackberry and notes of the arid summer Greek countryside.
Palate: Rich black fruit avoiding jamminess with the right amount of acidity and judicious use of oak. Hints of anise. Tinge of pepper on a moderately long yet full finish.
Personality: Admit it! My Agiorgitiko buddies and I rarely disappoint unlike Xinomavro with its roaring tannins requiring careful ageing. Call me everyday if you wish. Call me a mutt with so many growers in my blood. Sticks and stones won’t break my bones!
Food Match: Stewed lamb shank or goat or okra simmered in a rich tomato sauce.
Russia-a wealthy country with a highly educated population, a country that had peacefully gotten rid of serfdom and was on a path of rapid, successful industrial development-was handed over to the Bolsheviks without a real struggle. The Russian intelligentsia, the nation’s brain, underestimated the danger and allowed a great country which had been drawn into the global slaughterhouse of World War I to descend into complete anarchy and lawlessness-until power was seized by a group of ignorant, brutal, greedy people using the Marxian idea as a cover. It’s hard to say how sincere the Bolsheviks were about building a utopia of universal equality, and whether they had the faintest idea of what it meant.”
Vladimir Rott, “In Defiance of Fate Book 1 Joy From Sadness”, 2009.
“A Soil A Culture A River A People” is in the abstract museum-art galley genre. I watched this 15-minute short three times arriving at three different interpretations of its purpose. Perplexing, challenging and fun!
As a film critic I receive films to review from production companies or public relations firms attaching a viewing link for the film, stills and a synopsis of the film and a description of key production staff including actors. Occasionally a director’s statement is attached outlining the purpose or objective of the film as explained by the director.
Included in the materials for the film was a director’s statement from Viv Li which also appears on her website and its an artsy mouthful indeed! But viewers will seldom have a director’s statement to review before they watch a film. Such statements may serve the director’s vision but what about the viewers?
The more artsy and diffuse a film the more interpretations it may engender so here is mine.
Citizen Yu (Zezhi Long) in his modernistic Mao suit is an alien walking the streets of Hannover, Germany. He maintains a stone face keenly observing all about him which is not always pleasant; drunken skinheads, red light ladies squirming on storefront windows poles, gritty high rise apartment buildings and a taunting bar patron labelling him an “Ossi” (derogatory term for former East Germans after East Germany’s reunification with West Germany).
Citizen Yu appears fascinated with a stylishly dressed young woman and holds bark in his hand like he has never encountered such a substance. The same with the beer he consumes.
He wears a glowing fob and watch what happens and you’ll be convinced he is an alien….well I think so.
The title of the film “A Soil A Culture A River A People” just might be an apt title for an alien report on activities encountered on the planet earth! Add to that lyrics of a song Citizen Yu hears in a bar that include “Let us sing so that we can join together in the sky of hope”.
The short will be playing at the Venice International Film Festival 28August/September/4 and 5.
What the heck try some Hécula Monastrell from the Yecla region of Spain! It’s organic!
Monastrell is the Spanish name for Mourvèdre.
The grapes were grown at an altitude of 750 m in limestone soil. It has resided 6 months in French (80%) and American (20%) oak barrels.
Aroma: Raspberry galore. Black cherry and plum. Sharp, clean and vibrant.
Palate: Solid. Close to full bodied. Dry. A perfect coexistence of tannins and acids. Runs hot. Raspberry, black cherry with the tiniest hint of 100% dark chocolate.
Personality: I have loads of raspberry in my character. Not to overextend my profile but Pinot Noir drinkers might find me intriguing due to this raspberry. I am not going to say I am a Pinot Noir on steroids but I rather enjoy the cheeky comparison and you didn’t hear it from me.
Cellarbility: Don’t push your luck past 2026.
Food Match: The hot flow and peppery finish just might deserve spicy food. The winery suggests pair with lamb, meat stews, grilled meats and spicy food. I will try this with pork ribs marinated with a spicy peach BBQ sauce (with hot peppers just ready from my garden) which calls for a good shot of bourbon which most of us patriotic Canadians have rejected due to the aggressive Canada insulting carnival barking of the Orange Toad. I will substitute a maple infused Canadian whisky instead. When the going gets tough the tough get going!
Price: $15 CDN. Spanish wines continue to be a “bargain” in Canada on a quality to price ratio.
In the swirl of COVID Pamela Givers (Gabrielle Miller) as a registered clinical counsellor soothes and probes the emotions of emotionally afflicted clients. Pamela is mask and hand sanitizer obsessed so she is hardly COVID neutral and she is not without emotional problems herself.
A client of Pamela, film producer Dev Greene (Ben Immanuel) approaches Pamela with the idea of him producing a documentary on the possible effects of the COVID lockdown on society, particularly mental health and in doing so he will interview some of her clients all COVID afflicted to some degree but not so completely, spicing up what could have been yet another COVID centric production. The viewer may sigh and say not again as haven’t we heard all this before? Yes, we have so on rolls, through the documentary interviews and the therapy sessions, the usual side effects of the lockdown on personal relationships, incessant video calls, “stay safe” mutterings, endless radio stories, fears of physical proximity, toilet paper shortages, long distance seating, face shields and masks. It’s a yawner to start spruced up by the feisty wine swilling mother from hell Jenny (Camille Sullivan) blasting poor flaky daughter Lennon (Natalie Farrow). Sullivan kept me watching and I am glad she did as the film intensified as we are introduced to some eccentrics, deluded, motor mouths and COVID paranoiacs.
These cast of characters possess interesting case studies on humanity which is far more gripping than a “boring COVID story.” Emotions of the clients and their friends fly deeply making the film compelling with the intensity relieved by satire, lampooning and old-fashioned humor. There is rage, defiance, fear, gratitude, forgiveness and compassion not to mention a masterful lampooning of social media influencers.
The motto? COVID didn’t completely socially obliterate relationships it often altered them and sometimes for the better.
Impeccable casting but Camille Sullivan as Jenny, Natalie Farrow as Lennon and the loquacious Jayme (Elliot Ramsey) sparkle and draw you in.
“He believed that only a vulgar mentality was willing to acknowledge the possibility of catastrophe. He felt that taking naps was much more beneficial than confronting catastrophe. However precipitous the future might seem, he learned from the game of kemari that the ball must always come down. There was no call for consternation. Grief and rage, along with other outbursts of passion, were mistakes easily committed by a mind lacking in refinement. And the Count was certainly not a man that lacked refinement.”
In the Mexican state of Guanajuato, the town of La Cantera has a serious water quality problem. Independent professional testing and verifications have determined its drinking water drawn from the town’s well has a high degree of radioactivity associated with volcanic rocks leading to the formation of radon gas surfacing below from the groundwater where it mixes with the water and when entering the body radon remains permanently which was determined to be the cause of the death of three small children in La Cantera by leukemia.
Agribusiness consumes huge amounts of groundwater
The mothers of the deceased children address the town council and mayor to delve deeper into the issue of poisoned water causing the death of their children and failing to receive any redress form MAYOYE a civil group pressing for further investigation.
After the death of the three children health authorities appeared suddenly in La Cantera with loudspeakers asking the townsfolk to attend a meeting to reassure them there is no link between the deaths and “contaminated water”. Their view is that the deaths are normal. They never returned.
The Governor of Guanajuato states on a newscast show me what caused the deaths and I’ll act. He does not say he will investigate but leaves it to water quality complainants to show him causality between the deaths of the three children and the water quality before he acts.
The water commissioner of the national water commission CONAGUA in Guanajuato, Humberto Navarro, expresses the crucial importance of adequate water supplies for investors, industry and farmers. Guanajuato is a huge exporter of produce to the United States and Canada and enormous quantities of water are required. He dismisses testing results as they were not conducted by any governmental body rather through a university expert, Dr. Adríán Ortega, with expertise in water quality.
Dr. Ortega notes the groundwater supplying La Cantera is between 5,000-35,000 years old and is being drawn up at unsustainable levels and the water remaining contains high levels of fluoride and arsenic that in addition to use for agribusiness and the numerous auto manufacturing plants in Guanajuato is the source of water for households. Fluoride in concentrated levels decreases a child’s IQ by as much as 40% through its damage to neurotransmitters. Some 50,000 to 60,000 people in the area rely on this water for household use.
The MAYOYE ladies continue the struggle for clean water rights suffering harassment, job loss, delegitimization, threats and a lack of co-operation from any level of government.
After the making of the documentary in 2024 the newly elected mayor of La Cantera acknowledged MAYOYE’s efforts and publicly promised to reopen the issue.
Mexican politicians and bureaucrats appear to place more importance on industrial development than the damage caused to the health of its citizens by deadly water!
These same water quality issues are present in the Southwestern United States where groundwater is an important source of household water.
Directed by Isabel Alcántara Atalaya and Alfredo Alcántara and will premiere on PBS 8September2025 at 22:00 hours and will stream on the PBS app through 7December2025.
Magnotta Wines presents us with an Ontario VQA red blend of Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon. The wine is non-vintage with the winery website stating the wine is from “a combination of two outstanding vintages of premium red blends of which 50% is from appassimento wines.” What were the outstanding vintage years?
The website also sates that “selected” Limited Edition wines, of which this wine is described as one are barrel aged in French/American oak for 12-18 months then bottle aged for an additional 6 months. Is this wine one of those “selected” Limited Edition wines? Are the oak barrels new or old or a combination of the two? Befuddling consumers?
Aroma: Blueberry, cassis, black cherry in a raspberry frame.
Palate: Bit of a tannic kick accompanied by a dose of pepper. Blueberry, date, purple Ontario plum and some sour cherry nectar with a lingering pepper finish.
Personality: I try to show my sophistication with an enormously heavy bottle which some consumers may associate with top quality wines. I am certainly a decent wine but does the vague term “Limited Edition” really add anything to my quality? May I humbly suggest decanting me for an hour to draw out a bit more complexity?
Food Match: Tis the season for abundant Ontario produce so why not a sour dough crust pizza with field plum tomato sauce topped with Mortadella and Niagara peach slices.
Price: $19.45 CDN.
Cellarbility: No harm in hanging around until 2026-year end. Might soften a bit but don’t count on it.
RKS 2025 CANADIAN Wine Rating: 89/100. Wine Align Community Score 89.
“Even though he was plunged in meditation from morning to night, he was loath to direct his immense emotional reserves toward a single conclusion. Meditation had a great deal in common with kemari, the traditional sport of the Ayakuras. No matter how high one kicked the ball, it would obviously come back to earth again at once. Even if his illustrious ancestor Namba Munetate could excite cries of admiration when he picked up the white deerskin ball by its thongs of purple leather and kicked it to such incredible heights that it topped the ninety-foot roof of the imperial residence itself, it must inevitably fall back again into the garden.”
If one pauses momentarily in a wave of Canadian patriotism accentuated by Trumpian carnival barking annexation of Canada aggression and decides to buy Canadian wine one may discover Canadian wines can be pricier than many Chilean, Spanish, Argentinian and Portuguese wines. Chardonnay is no exception so with interest we try a $16 & Evermore 2023 Chardonnay from Niagara, Ontario. An Artisan Wine Co. brand sort of akin to E.J. Gallo in California?
Aroma: Typical Niagara Chard pear, apple and lemon but add to that custard and marzipan. Lean but hopefully not mean!
Palate: The leanness continues on the palate with apple, pineapple and Flemish pear with a surprisingly long yet somewhat bereft finish.
Personality: I am unoaked so you might well expect leanness as a starting point if you are comparing me to oaked Chardonnay. I am the naked grape!
Food Match: Fresh caught perch from Minor Fisheries at Port Colborne in Fort Erie made into a fish chowder.
Price: $16 CDN.
Cellarbility: Don’t surpass 2025 New Year’s Eve with your pre dinner oysters.
RKS 2025 CANADIAN Wine Rating: 86/100. Wine Align Community Score 86.
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