Artisan Wine Gallery, LLC

Lummi Island Wine Tasting

lummi island wine tasting june 18 ’21

No Bread This Week!  🙁

As those of you on the Bread Mailing List already know, our baker has taken this week off. Look for an email Sunday for next week’s choices.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wine of the Week: Domaine de l’Amauve La Daurèle Séguret ’18     

Domaine de l’Amauve, in the picturesque Southern Rhone region of Séguret, is a modest family winery of 10 ha that has been owned by the same family for generations.

The current owner-winemaker is Christian Vœux who isfollowing a very long family tradition, took over the vineyards and winery from his parents in 2006 after many years’ experience as winemaker for Château Mont-Redon in Chateauneuf du Pape.

The name of the property comes from the flower of mauve (Malva sylvestris), sometimes known as common mallow, which is prolific in the vineyard through the spring and provides both visual and sensory beauty. 

La Daurèle is a carefully crafted  blend of Grenache blanc (brings white fruit notes), Clairette (floral notes), Viognier (pear and texture), and Ugni blanc (crisp freshness), adding up to a round, well-balanced wine with appealing notes of hazelnut and heather.

 

 

Economics of the Heart: Irreconcilable Values

About a month ago an article in the Washington Post discussed findings from a CBS News poll showing that two thirds of Republican voters considered  maintaining loyalty to Donald Trump the main priority of the party and believed that the 2020 election had been “stolen” by Democrats. Nearly half preferred deliberate efforts to make it harder for Democrats to vote than to support policies to attract their support. These findings are consistent with the fact that in 2020, for the first time in its 160-year history, the RNC adopted no party platform–just Trump’s “America First” agenda. This level of mass hysteria is the direct and intended result of the five year, 24/7 Fake News campaign of Fox News and Right-Wing radio.

In her 1962 book Economic Philosophy, Joan Robinson looked deeply into the relationships among economics, values, and ideologies. We have often quoted her observation that “any economic system requires a set of values, a set of rules, and a will in the population to carry them out.”

She also said that “a society cannot exist unless its members have common feelings about the proper way of conducting its affairs; i.e., a common ideology. As the events of the past four years in general, and the past year in particular have shown, a large proportion of Americans no longer believe in the values adopted in our Constitution and which have held fast for 250 years.

Since the New Deal almost a hundred years ago, Republicans have been searching for a way to justify the entitlement of the rich to accumulate wealth without regard to the environment or the welfare of our own huddled masses. Under Reagan the Eighties became the Decade of the Bottom Line, the Nineties the Decade of Vapid Pragmatism, the Aughts the Decade of Republican Secession, and the Teens the Decade of Autocratic Consolidation.

They feel Entitled to have way more than any logical fair share. Like feudal Lords they really believe, as Dick Cheney put it, “It’s our Due.” (for being in power).

It is much broader than the 1/6 assault on the Capitol. There has been an ongoing war on Truth itself for forty years, and now they have succeeded in making nearly half the country unable to tell truth from lies.

 

This week’s $5 wine tasting

Villa Viva Cotes de Thau Rose ’20         France        $12

100% ruby color, notes of fresh strawberries and raspberries, a grapefruity tang and subtle undercurrent of mineral intrigue; clean soft, and balanced, with a lingering finish.

Domaine de l’Amauve La Daurèle, CdR Villages Séguret ’18      France       $18

Grenache blanc, clairette, viognier, & ugni blanc; expressive nose of white fruits, mirabel plum, and acacia honey; soft on the palate with lively citrus flavors…very Food Versatile!

St. Francis Merlot ’17       California  $15

A classic, rich, and soft merlot with aromas of cassis, plum, and dried currant that merge into layered flavors of dark berries, espresso bean, and bittersweet chocolate and a long, vibrant finish with a note of spice.

lummi island wine tasting june 11 ’21

Bread This Week

 

Island Bakery has developed a lengthy rotation cycle of several dozen breads and pastries. Each Sunday Janice emails the week’s bread offering to her mailing list. Orders received before Wednesday will be available for pickup at the wine shop each Friday from 4:00 – 5:30 pm. Go to Contact us to get on the bread email list.

Seeded Multi Grain Levain – Made with a sourdough culture and using a flavorful mix of bread flour and fresh milled whole wheat and rye. A nice mixture of flax, sesame sunflower and pumpkin seeds and some oatmeal adds great flavor and crunch. And just a little honey for some sweetness. A great all around bread that is full of flavor – $5/loaf

Polenta Levain – Also made with a levain in which the sourdough starter is fed and built up over several days, then mixed with bread flour and polenta in the final dough mix. This is not the sweet corn cranberry bread that I have done in the past that is enriched with milk and butter, this bread is a nice rustic loaf with great corn flavor. – 5/loaf…

and pastry this week…

Brioche Suisse- A rich brioche dough made with plenty of butter, eggs and sugar, rolled out and spread with pastry cream before sprinkling with dark chocolate. The dough is folded over all that delicious filling and cut into individual pieces. 2/$5

 

Wine of the Week: Willamette Valley Vineyards Estate Pinot Noir ’18

 

Aromas of raspberry, blackberry, currant, earth, dried herbs and roses, with full-bodied palate of cherry, bramble fruit, cedar, anise and minerality; silky mouthfeel and flavors, with exceptional balance of velvety tannins, lifting acidity, and a lingering finish. 

Objectively speaking, during our tasting Judy (our island wine professional) didn’t care for it particularly (usually we agree). But there is an elusive quality– part of it is a background nose of fresh roses– that is hard to define, but it does have a certain draw. See what you think!

 

 

RAF Mildenhall

Yesterday President Biden gave his first address to our European Allies at the RAF Mildenhall air base, located about 80 miles northeast of London.  The base first became an airfield in the 1920’s, very early days in the game of aviation.

It then became a key base for bombers during WWII, and after the war it became primarily a base for in-flight refueling tankers and transport aircraft in collaboration with the US Air Force. For some years during the Cold War it also was a primary base for the long-range, high altitude reconnaissance aircraft (“spy planes”) the U-2 and the SR-71 during the Cold War.

As it turns out, I spent several days at Mildenhall back in 1967, just after graduation from the Naval Academy as a new Ensign. I had been corresponding with a girl I had met in Copenhagen during a training cruise in 1964 (see photo, left). By 1967 she was working in London as an au pair, so before reporting to my first duty station, I caught a hop to England from Dover AFB in Delaware for a visit. By day I was a tourist on my own in London, and in the evenings we would meet up with an eclectic group of her international friends for food, conversation, and entertainment.

After most of a week in London, I took the train back across the countryside to Mildenhall to wait for a flight back home (about three days). In those days Mildenhall was much as it must have been during the War…small, tidy, friendly, easy-going. The accommodations and food were entirely pleasant, and there were trees and lawns, and I had enough time on my hands to read most of Dr. Zhivago. All of which is to say that Mildenhall represents a pretty comfortable set of memories and associations, and to my knowledge I have not seen or heard the name mentioned for a very long time. Have you ever heard of it before?

 

 

Economics of the Heart: Renewing Alliances for the Future

In 1939 at the very beginning of WWII, the movie The Lion Has Wings was released by the Brits to stir national support for the coming war effort. Back then, the Nazis had built a formidable war machine and gave every sign of intending to deploy it against the rest of Europe. Fascist dictators had taken over Germany, Italy, and Spain, and Stalin had not been an ally. Whatever hopes anyone had that Hitler would not use his arsenal against other European countries was dashed to pieces when he invaded Poland and put it firmly under the Nazi heel.

The history of American alliances with nations in Europe is largely a history of providing a common defense against the Hitlers of the world. President Biden is on a mission to repair and renew the apparatus of common defense as authoritarianism is on the rise around the world and even here in our own country as Red states rush to enact an orgy of voter suppression laws before the 2022 Congressional election.

At the same time, the common habits of humanity of irresponsible procreation, production, pollution, exploitation, acquisition, and hubris are relentlessly shredding the interwoven fabric that makes existence even possible on our tiny, isolated, and increasingly beleaguered planet.

We applaud Mr. Biden’s understanding of the gravity of this present moment in the history of life on Earth, and his efforts to unite us to save it from our collective hubris. 

Another way of looking at this is that some humans are like chimps, and some like bonobos. Chimps have a mean streak, and every once in while the dominant males cross into another tribe’s territory and stomp one of the Others to death. Bonobos don’t work like that, probably because they spend a lot more time making whoopee. Or, as Margaret Mead found in her research, the level of violence in a culture was most explained by the amount of physical contact with infants (more touching–> less violence), and the age of consent for sex (younger age –> less violent).

 

 

This week’s $5 wine tasting

K Vintners Art Den Hoed Viognier ’18    Washington    $22
Medium gold hue and beautiful notes of orange blossom, ripe peach, and a touch of quince; density and richness reminiscent of southern Rhone style; full-bodied with a solid center palate and a long, flavorful finish.

UDACA Eloquente Dao Tinto ’18      Portugal     $9
Touriga Nacional, Tinta Roriz, Jaen, and Alfrocheiro Pret; rich and intense, with clear ruby color, clean aromas of red and ripe fruits; soft, balanced flavor, and  a lingering finish.

Willamette Valley Vineyards Estate Pinot Noir ’18     Oregon     $28
Aromas of raspberry, blackberry, currant, earth, dried herbs and roses, with full-bodied palate of cherry, bramble fruit, cedar, anise and minerality; silky mouthfeel and flavors, with exceptional baance of velvety tannins, lifting acidity, and a lingering finish. 

 

 

 

lummi island wine tasting june 4 ’21

Bread This Week

 

Island Bakery has developed a lengthy rotation cycle of several dozen breads and pastries. Each Sunday Janice emails the week’s bread offering to her mailing list. Orders received before Wednesday will be available for pickup at the wine shop each Friday from 4:00 – 5:30 pm. Go to Contact us to get on the bread email list.

Seeded Multi Grain Levain – Made with a sourdough culture and using a flavorful mix of bread flour and fresh milled whole wheat and rye. A nice mixture of flax, sesame sunflower and pumpkin seeds and some oatmeal adds great flavor and crunch. And just a little honey for some sweetness. A great all around bread that is full of flavor – $5/loaf

Sesame Semolina – Uses a sponge that preferments some of the flour, water & yeast before mixing the final dough. Made with semolina and bread flour as well as a soaker of cornmeal, millet and sesame seeds, and olive oil to round out the flavor and tenderize the crumb. Rolled in more sesame seeds before baking for lots of great flavor! – $5/loaf…

and pastry this week…

Brioche Suisse- A rich brioche dough made with plenty of butter, eggs and sugar, rolled out and spread with pastry cream before sprinkling with dark chocolate. The dough is folded over all that delicious filling and cut into individual pieces. 2/$5

 

Artist Opening Reception Saturday 4-6 pm

 

Although we installed Anne Gibert’s latest paintings a few weeks ago, we are just now inviting you to meet the artist and take some time to view the show this Saturday, June 5. You can chat with Anne, enjoy our weekly wine tasting, and maybe even find a painting you would like to take home!

We have posted other photos in recent weeks; here are two more!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wine of the Week: Shatter Grenache Côtes Catalanes ’17      France       $19

The wine is made from grenache grown in vineyards located near Maury in the Roussillon region of Southwest France by California winemaker Joel Gott.

As it turns out, we were lost for a bit in this very area about ten years ago. We were staying in Lagrasse, at the northern edge of the Corbieres wine region, and drove south through the rugged landscape where centuries ago the heretic Cathars fortified themselves in remote mountain fortresses to practice their particular form of Catholicism. It’s a long, sad, and brutal story.

As we moved into Roussillon, we found ourselves on a narrow dirt road winding through farmland when the road took a sudden dip onto a Very Narrow one-lane “bridge,” close to the water and with no guard rails, and from our vantage point no clear sense of where it went after that.

Eventually we got up the nerve to cross it, and within a half mile came to a major highway along the boundary between Corbieres and Roussillon very close to Maury.

The area is known for its nutrient-poor schist soil which forces vines to grow deep to find nutrients, evoking concentrated flavors. The name Shatter and the bottle photo are an homage to the shattered schist soil.

 

 

Economics of the Heart: Attack of the Zombie Republicans

 

It has been a major source of cognitive dissonance over the past few months to try to sort out how worried we should be that Republican Zombies are now outnumbering actual human beings, and therefore posing an Existential Threat to Life As We Know It.

We hear lots of news stories quoting statistics like 75% of Republicans believe the Tweetster actually won the 2020 election. And we think to ourselves, “How can that possibly be…?!”  Who are these people? And more importantly, what proportion of the electorate are they? And most important: How Worried should we be??

It turns out that it is not easy to tweak out the essential facts here. In order to gauge how Afraid we should be, we would like to know:

1. % of R’s in voting population,
2. % of Trump R’s in that overall R base, so we can estimate
3. % of Trump R’s in overall population.

Last month a Gallup Poll found that voters self-identified into three roughly equal groups: Republicans 29%, Democrats 33%, Independents 35%. And a 538 poll in April had independents at 40%.

However, Independents habitually lean strongly D or R but are uncomfortable associating themselves with all elements of their habitual party. As a result, they generally continue to vote the same party while also disengaging from political discourse, which then suffers for want of moderating viewpoints.

And this leaves us with the disturbing yet likely possibility that the Silencing of an active Independent voice in recent years, for whatever reason, has contributed to the increasing dysfunction of our political discourse that has fostered the new and explicit rise of Authoritarianism from the ruins of the Dead-since-Gingrich Republican party.

Until we get this sorted out, best lock your doors before you go to bed…

 

This week’s $5 wine tasting

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!

Maryhill Winemaker’s Red ’16      Washington       $13 Ripe black fruit notes and a hint of fresh flowers are well backed by leather and cedar wood. Maple bar and black fruit of currant and blackberry appear on entry, with a mid-palate of rich tannins and a smooth finish.

Shatter Grenache Vin de Pays des Côtes Catalanes ’17      France       $19
From Old Vines in Roussillon’s black schist soil; nose of dark fruit with a hint of espresso; velvety texture with black currant, spice and cured meat flavors with a touch of coffee; firm structure, supple tannins, excellent acidity and overall balance.

 

 

 

lummi island wine tasting may 21 ’21

Last weekend we opened our first art show in well over a year. Our dear friend, neighbor, and indefatigable artist Anne Gibert has maintained great discipline throughout this strange period, completing more new paintings than we have room to show.

These are some wonderful works that will be up for some time so you  can all get a chance to come by and visit them…there are many scenes that Islanders will recognize…! Compare, for example, the landscape on the far left in the photo below with this photo that appeared in last week’s blog.

 

 

 

 

Argento Malbec ’20       Argentina       $11 
 This organically grown Malbec is deep purple, with powerful aromas of red berries and floral notes. Flavors of plum and sweet blackberry. Finishes with ripe, balanced tannins.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Economics of the Heart:   The Habit of War

Over the past two weeks Israel has once again been unleashing its military might against the long-suffering nation of Palestine. Since the invasion and takeover of Palestine in the late 1940’s, sanctioned by Britain and the League of Nations after WWII, Israel has thrived economically and internationally, while the former citizens of Palestine have been systematically and relentlessly crammed into ever smaller and more dire economic dead ends.

We and a lot of our wine club members, born about the same time as the modern State of Israel, have been witnessing the ongoing regional strife there for our entire lives. We have seen attempt after attempt at peace fail. We humans seem to believe that Our tribe is the deserving heir to certain historical property entitlements that were somehow “stolen unfairly” from us by other groups, or “won fairly” from others by Our group. The default organizational principle for most of human history has been to treat   ethics a matter of political luxury, and competition for limited resources a matter of life and death.

There is an old story about the seasoned samurai who encounters the spiritual Master on the road and asks him to be his teacher. When the Master asks him what he wants to learn, the warrior says he wants to learn about Heaven and Hell.

The Master laughs, and says with a dismissive gesture, “Oh, I could never teach something so complex to an idiot like you.” Angered, the warrior draws his sword as if to cut off the Master’s head. The Master interrupts with, “Welcome to Hell.” The warrior, taken aback, replaces his sword in its sheath. “Welcome to Heaven,” said the Master.

The Middle East– the whole World, really-  has been in dispute for millennia. Every participant in the conflict has some historic rationale for why their side is historically entitled to dominion over particular pieces of geography and their resources. As climate change advances, our collective ability to cooperate around the distribution and health of rainfall, temperature, fresh water quantity and quality, and wildlife sustainability might hold the key to the survival of our species.

 

 

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