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Wine of the Week: Edi Simcic Duet ’16

It has now been over a year since we have been able to order our usual semiannual wine order from Small Vineyards, the Seattle wine importer from whom we have bought a substantial portion of our Italian wines. They are consistently both good and modestly priced for the quality they deliver, which are exactly the criteria we use to select all the wines we offer. We are now down to our last wine from SV, and are including it in our tasting this weekend.

It differs from most of the SV wines in that it is definitely more expensive than most of their other offerings. The winemaker is Edi Simcic, whose vineyards and winery are in Slovenia near the Italian border between the Alps and the Aegean. Both the father and son winemakers and their wines are highly regarded for the quality of the fruit and the craftsmanship of the wines.

Here is a very seductive YouTube video of the wine estate. You should also know that a lot of people who know a lot more about wine than we do are big fans of these wines. Check it out this weekend, and see what you think! See tasting notes below…

This week’s $5 wine tasting

Maryhill Viognier ’16       Washington       $14
Vibrant aromas of orange zest, honeysuckle, and pink grapefruit; flavors of lemon, pear, and white peach. The mouthfeel is delicate, yet full-bodied, withnotes of fresh flowers.

Amalaya Malbec ’18      Argentina        $15
Richly colored, juicy and aromatic, with supple, caressing tannins, herbal black fruit aromas with notes of earthy spice and cured meat and flavors of blackberry, dark plum, herbs and spices.

Edi Simcic Duet ’16     Slovenia       $27
Merlot, Cab Sauv, Cab Franc; bold and compelling, with notes of chocolate, cherries, cheesecake, and coffee on silky tannins and a lush, ripe, fruit-full body that goes on and on.

The Economics of the Heart– The Overseers and the New New Deal

When Gollum found The Ring buried in a pool of water he acquired both a Power and a Curse. Or, as the Eagles sang, “Every form of Refuge has its Price.” We humans easily revert to hierarchy; Feudalism is our default form of social organization. It’s in our genes.

Therefore it is important to note that when Joe Biden stands before us and offers us the New New Deal, he is Frodo ready to throw the Ring of Power into the volcano. It is a different thing to want something for yourself than to want it for everyone. When we have not merely “just enough” but far more than we need while others do not we are Overseers. We are compromised. It’s pretty simple: is the world a better place if everyone has a little share of economic surplus (or deficit), or if only a very small few have all of it?

This week’s $5 wine tasting

Crios de Susana Balbo Torrontes ’19   Argentina    $11
Highly perfumed aromas of lemon drop, grapefruit, white flowers, peppermint and white pepper. Supple, pliant and easygoing, with citrus, herbal and floral flavors joined by a hint of licorice.

Portteus Bistro Red ’15   Washington    $12
Fun, smooth and easy-drinking blend of Malbec and Merlot. A food friendly wine with delicate, elegant texture. Notes of blackberry, pomegranate, cocoa, honey and licorice, with a creamy finish. Over-delivers for the $.

Pascual Toso Reserve Malbec ’17      Argentina       $22
Red ripe berries and plum notes. Smooth and delicious; focused, clean notes of violets, plum, and red cherry notes with very good freshness and a plush, elegant mouthfeel with  smooth oak and easy tannins.

Economics of the Heart– Attics and basements

This week has been an evolving metaphor of the American heart– a confluence of the dark and light of it, the tangled roots of it, the long-unfolding karma of it. We can look at it piece by piece and realize how deeply intertwined the pieces are, like a great tangle of multi-hooked fishing lines, where even the smallest tug in one place triggers response and reaction in others.

We have mused for some years now about how the ubiquitousness of cell phone cameras has changed the balance of power between police and their prey. We have all seen the videos, more than we can count, where black men, women, and even children are murdered before our eyes by one, two, or many anxious, aggressive, and over-armed police officers in some American city or town.

This week the sheer weight of all these years of all those images finally cracked open long enough and wide enough that the whole world could see through to the truth and the depth of racial injustice in our country. In this particular case, the one cell phone video that documented the entire 9+ minute execution was overwhelmingly damning, and the individual officer was convicted of second-degree murder. That is one piece of progress to measure against centuries of entrenched deprivation and disenfranchisement that has brought us to the almost daily community killings by police.

The photo at left (click to open larger version) is a piece Pat did some years ago, with the names of many of the reported victims of police killings for that particular year. There is a lot of baggage stored in our collective Unconscious that is going to take a long time to process. This is a dark place and we are just peering through the crack in the door. Sobering stuff.

This week’s $5  wine tasting

Terre d’Oro Chenin Blanc/Viognier ’18        California      $13
Lively, refreshing and well balanced. Inviting aromas of honeydew melon, grapefruit, orange blossom and tangerine lead into flavors of peach and mango, and a midpalate of lemon curd, quince and nectarine.

Kanankopf Kadette Cape Red Blend  ’17      South Africa    $15
Pinotage, cab, cab franc blend; offers ripe raspberry, black currant and mocha on the nose with dark chocolate and blackberry fruit on the palate. The dominant pinotage adds rustic charm.

Townshend Cellars T3 Red      Washington       $17
Bordeaux style blend of  cab, merlot and cab franc; fruit forward with hints of black currant and vanilla, with layers of complexity and depth through extensive oak aging in French and American barrels.

(Some photos may enlarge when clicked)

Bread This Week

The Economics of the Heart – Pundit Fatigue

We didn’t notice it was or ever would be a lasting “thing” when it first started. Well, yes and no. It has taken many years to become what it is today, when we all can see clearly that yes, it IS a Thing, but now it is so commonplace that it is accepted as a fundamental aspect of Reality, like the color of the sky or the state of liquid water.

The “Thing” is everyday garden variety, Fact v. Punditry, which used to be called, in an innocent and parochial way, “News.” We elders can remember when the “news” was Cronkite or Brinkley describing events as they had occurred on a particular day, around a certain time, at a particular place. The news was what you clipped out of the newspaper, memorized, and took to class in case you got called on to talk about Current Events. It was the descriptive narrative that grounded us  in a common, everyday Reality. Remember that?

Of course there have always been editorial opinions trying to tease meaning and intention, whether noble or nefarious, from the day’s events. For some years now, however, the business of News has become the business of polarization as entertainment, reaching a crescendo in the now Bygone Tweetster Era that coined the phrase (we are not making this up) “alternative facts.”

All of this is to say that to be informed and useful, citizens need to know– and agree– on the essential parameters of the Reality we all share. Even though we acknowledge and appreciate different opinions on the Meaning of events, if we cannot agree on the factual parameters of the events we can’t communicate about them.

While we are all enjoying the comparative serenity of our new government, there is still a nagging feeling that our society may have become unmoored from a common view of Reality itself. Like the myth of the Tower of Babel, today’s internet Reality has become a cacophony of dissonance from 8 billion souls all talking at once, and we are all feeling the need for a quiet, soul-restoring anchorage.

This week’s wine tasting…!!

Ryan Patrick Rock Island Chardonnay ’18        Washington       $15
Golden straw color; aromas and flavors of wildflowers, crisp apples, honey, and freshly baked cinnamon roll with a round, crisp, medium body and a graceful finish of sumac-spiced croutons; an appetizing, full-bodied Chardonnay.

La Vielle Ferme Rosé ’20    France    $10
Classic and tasty blend of grenache, syrah, and cinsault from northern Provence;  fruity, dry, crisp, delicious, and smooth, and at a bargain price!

Flying Trout Grenache  NV       Washington      $15
100% grenache; dark burgundy in color, with aromas and flavors of ripe dark plum and blackberry with lingering notes of clove and cinnamon. Soothing and seductive, this wine offers a lot of value for its modest price.